How Lindsey Pest Services Can Protect Jacksonville Properties From Termites

Subterranean termites are scary. If you have invested in a home in Jacksonville, the last thing you want to hear are the words: we found termites. This is because you probably know that termite damage is often invisible on the outside of your home. When termites are found, the damage is usually extensive and sometimes irreparable. Why? Because subterranean termites are wired to be sneaky. Today, we're talking about this natural sneaky behavior and sharing with you how the team here at Lindsey Pest Services detects and eliminates these sneaky pests.

Why Are Termites So Sneaky?

The vast majority of termites in a termite colony are called workers. These are the only termites that feed on the wood of a home. It's true. All the other termites get their sustenance from the workers. So the workers are essential to their colony. Without them, the others would starve.

Light — Worker termites are born without the ability to see—well, sort of. They can see light, but they are unable to see as we do. They can't detect shapes or colors. Fortunately for those worker termites, they don't have to. They spend their entire lives in absolute darkness, using their senses of touch and smell to communicate and navigate. While they may be able to see light, they have a strong aversion to it. This aversion causes them to do a few sneaky things, such as:

• Feed on the inside of wood and consume it right up to the paint. This is why a home can look completely sound and be filled with termites.
• Create mud tubes in dark places. One helpful sign of a termite infestation becomes very little help because workers often build these shelter tubes in dark areas that are hard to get into or see.

Moisture — A worker termite has thin skin that requires a lot of moisture. This is why they build shelter tubes. The shelter tubes protect the workers and soldiers as they come up from the ground to feed on your home. This need for moisture can make workers sneaky.

• They will not climb around on top of the ground where you can see them. They tunnel under the ground and travel great distances. Termite workers can tunnel through the ground as far as the length of a football field to find food. That means a colony of termites feeding on your Jacksonville home might not even be on your property. If you think you'll see winged termites before termites damage your property, you may want to reconsider that line of thinking. When people claim to see "white ants," which termite workers are often called, it is usually during a home renovation or when the soil around a home is excavated. You may also see white ants if you break open a stump.
• The need for moisture will have worker termites staying inside the wood of your home, even at night when there is no light.

How Do You Detect Sneaky Termites?

At Lindsey Pest Services, we use the behavior of worker termites against them. While workers have behaviors that prevent them from being detected visually, they have a behavior that helps our termite control professionals quickly detect termite worker activity. Workers constantly look for more food. What do we mean? When ants find food, they often create a trail to the food, and all the ants work together to bring the food back to the colony. Termite workers only do this in part. While they recruit other workers to come and consume wood sources that are found, they don't recruit all the workers. Many workers will continue to search for food. This behavior ensures that they will find the bait inside stations strategically placed around your home. When your technician comes to check your bait stations, they will easily be able to tell that there was termite activity.
 
Another way our team can locate sneaky termites is with TermaTrack T3i All Sensors. These hand-held, state-of-the-art sensors use radar technology, a moisture sensor, and a thermal sensor to detect termites with incredible precision. When you need to know whether or not you have termites, we've got you covered.

Termite Control

You don't have to let sneaky termites destroy your home. Connect with us and schedule to meet with one of our licensed termite control professionals. We can help you safeguard your equity. This is protection no Jacksonville home or business should ever be without. Get your protection in place today.