What pest is eating your home? Distinguishing between termites, ants, and other pests
When considering what insect may be eating your home, many jump to the termite being the one and only culprit. You would be surprised to learn that a few pests actually do the dirty work of eating your floorboards, degrading the structure of your home, and cause holes in the walls. Critters such as carpenter ants, powderpost beetles, carpenter bees, and of course termites all work to destroy the house you call home.
Differences between flying ants and termites
The difference between flying ants vs termites. Flying ants can be quite a nuisance, but they are harmless and don’t cause structural damage to your home. However, termites do pose a threat and can destroy your home if you let them stay for too long. That’s why contacting an expert like your friends at University Termite and Pest Control is so important. They know how to treat issues like these before they become serious problems that can cost thousands of dollars to repair.
Major physical differences that may be able to be seen if a close enough examination is done would be to look at their waists. To tell the difference, ants will have straight antennae and a narrow waist vs the much hardier termite. Click here.
Flying Ants
As their name suggests, these tiny winged bugs fly from one place to another searching for food sources. They usually appear once or twice each year in most U.S. states during their mating season and have been spotted throughout North America since the early 1990s.
To deal with these flying insects, treat the ground around your home to create a barrier against their path. To do that, you can use products like diatomaceous earth or spray pesticide on the surface of the Earth where they land. You should also try to eliminate potential food sources that attract them by cleaning up any spills and sealing off crumbs so other ants can’t get access to them. Also, keep in mind that once you remove these winged pests from your home, you should seal holes and crevices so no new ones will come inside again and continue the infestation cycle.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants make their distinction by their name. They are a species of ant that mainly resides in wood, generally those with 28-40 percent moisture content. Carpenter ants will gnaw through drywall or other materials to get into your home and nest under the floors, inside walls, or walkways. Once one carpenter ant finds food sources, it attracts more by laying down pheromone trails that lead others straight to their newfound food source until you have hundreds of them all carrying debris back to their nest causing damage on the way.
Carpenter ant issues can be easily determined if you see flying ants inside your home during the summer months as this is when they go looking for water and moisture amongst plants and flowers outside your house which can then attract a swarm of ants into your home. If you have noticed flying ants in the house, the first thing to do is contact a professional immediately who will inspect your home for a carpenter ant infestation.
Termites
Termites are similar to ants in that they both live in a colony, however, termites are generally much larger than ants and can cause a lot of damage if left unfixed. They will usually first show up inside your home as flying bugs, but with the proper inspection, you should be able to determine what type of bug you have. The risk of leaving termites untreated is the amount of wood damage they do to the home. The wood will eventually be destroyed and the cost to replace that kind of damage isn’t cheap.
Termite infestation
A common type of termite in Phoenix, Arizona is the desert subterranean termite. This particular species can severely damage any home if not treated promptly. Within just a few years, you could end up spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on repairs. The good news is that there are many ways to treat these pests before they become too much of an annoyance or cause irreparable harm to your home. Pest control companies, such as University Termite and Pest Control, have been using liquid soil termiticides for years and it has proven quite effective at eliminating these pests from your home and keeping them out for good!
While termites can be beneficial to remove and break down dead plant matter, they will infest the home of someone who has built over their living space. They can start as a single termite or a small group and spread to the level of infestation within days, needing professional treatment to eradicate them.
Solving Your Pest Problem
Once you are able to identify the problem, the next step is making sure you have a long-lasting solution. Although they are small, they cause a much bigger problem if not addressed. Their damage increases exponentially the longer they live in your home, so contact a professional to assess the damage and eradicate the pests before they cause thousands of dollars in repairs.
Learning the differences between these can allow you to make the right call on what to do when you see ants or termites. When you are able to determine that you have something eating your floorboards, make sure you make the call to University Termite and Pest Control to handle your pest problem and get rid of your unwanted guests. To extend the life of your home, bring in professionals as soon as you think there is a problem.