How To Tell If Your Phoenix Home Has A Termite Problem

Workers Can Dry Out Easily

If you're hoping to see worker termites and stop them before they damage your Phoenix home, don't hold your breath. They stay almost exclusively inside their tunnels. When you are in your yard, you won't see them crawling around by the thousands in tunnels under the ground. When you're in your home, you won't see them tunneling by the thousands inside the wood of your home. The primary reason is because a worker termite has a thin skin that dries out easily. It needs to stay hydrated or it will die.

One sign that can make a termite infestation obvious is the appearance of mud tubes on exterior foundation walls. Workers make these above-ground tunnels so that they can go from the ground to the wood of your home. If mud tubes are created in a location that is visible, you could detect termite activity this way. Unfortunately, their need for moisture causes them to create shelter tubes in hidden places, such as foundation walls behind landscape vegetation or in the shaded space underneath exterior structures.

Sometimes the damage that worker termites cause to wood is visible. If there is wood-to-soil contact in a damp location, you might see erosion or trenching of wood near the ground. This type of damage will also likely be in hidden places.

Do you see the problem? While mud tubes and damage can be seen, it is often hidden where moisture and humidity are high. These locations tend to be hidden from view both on the outside and inside of your home. If you hope to find these termite warning signs, you'll probably have to roll up your sleeves and do some work. You may even have to get a little dirty. 

Workers Live In Utter Darkness

While termite workers are born blind, they have the ability to detect light. The receptors they use are highly sensitive so the slightest amount of light will make workers uncomfortable. This is why researchers have observed workers feed on wood without breaching their tunnel walls. They sense the light and stop short of breaching through to the outside. This aversion to light has a few implications.

• Your home can have millions of workers feeding on it without any visible evidence.
• Workers are prone to create shelter tubes in dark spaces.
• Workers are prone to create damage in dark spaces. 

Let's Talk Swarmers

When a termite colony matures, a queen will begin developing workers into reproductive alates. These winged insects are called swarmers because they gather together during the mating process. Swarmers are able to see, and they are attracted to the light. Their attraction to light helps them find their way out of their colony and out of their tunnels. If you see swarmers, it can be a warning sign of a mature nest on or near your property. But termite swarmers can be hard to detect.

• Swarmers are only ? of an inch long.
• Swarmers usually exit the colony outside of man-made structures because it is brighter outside than on the interior.
• Swarms only last for less than 30 minutes.
• Often it is only the shed wings of termites that provide a warning sign that there was a swarm.