How Serious Are Subterranean Termites?

Subterranean termites are the most common and destructive termites for buildings and structures. They aren’t covered by home insurance and can cause expensive damage. There are three main types of subterranean termites; Formosan, Asian, and native ones. Native termites do not cause as much damage because they are less invasive and aggressive by nature. On the other hand, in the US Asian subterranean termites and Formosan subterranean termites cause $1 billion in damages annually. Termites can decrease home value and cause structural damage or in bad cases, building collapse.

Formosan subterranean worker termites will consume anything that contains cellulose. They are aggressive when it comes to choosing food sources and will eat almost anything including live trees, structural timbers, and utility poles, and are even known to chew through electrical wiring. On the other hand, Asian subterranean termites will eat through rubber and plastic to find food.
Subterranean termites have gigantic colonies. As the population grows, the workers must find more food sources. Subterranean termites, as the name suggests, like underground. They need water and food to survive so they send worker termites to leave the underground colonies and search for these things. To avoid the weather conditions and predators, they create mud tubes. If you spot mud tubes along exterior walls and/or up trees on your property these termites are likely feasting on your buildings.

These termites find moist weak wood near the ground and work their way through and up other parts of the structure. Aggressive colonies can destroy structures in a few months and go undetected for most of them.

It is crucial to know that termites are preventable. Why wait until it’s too late and thousands in damages have already occurred? A professional pest team can set bait traps that are more attractive to termites than other types of wood. These cellulose poison points will eliminate the termites at their source and prevent them from growing and destroying your building.

Call Asset Pest Management today for more information.