How to Identify Termite Species. Don't get it wrong!

hi this is Guy today we're going to talk about termite identification before you start treating for termites it's probably a pretty good idea to know what species you were dealing with there are about 2 000 different species of termites in the world and about 40 different species in the United States luckily there are only about three species that cause the vast majority of damage in the U.S there are the common varieties of subterranean termites that you see in all you know you see all throughout the United States but you may also have for most in termites and drying with termites in Southern States California and Hawaii additionally we are now seeing conehead termites in some areas of Florida and I expect that they will probably spread to other areas as time passes now I do not have a video on how to treat these guys yet because they are fairly new to the U.S and limited to Florida however I will show you a photo of them in just a little bit so that you can identify them okay let's talk about subterranean termites first because they account for something like 90 percent of all the termite damage in the United States and most of the time this is the type of termite that you are probably going to be dealing with if you live in a Northern State then I'm going to make this super easy for you I call it in this map for you based on my own research if you live outside of the red and orange areas on the map then there is a very very high probability that you have plain vanilla subterranean termites that are very easily treated the most common of these are Eastern Subterranean termites regardless of the specific species they all operate pretty much the same way please note though that the lines on this map are estimates so if you live close to the line then you still may have a problem with a species that is close to you listen the termites do not always get the memo about where they are supposed to be now here's the good news if you live outside of the red and orange areas on the map then your termites are very easy to treat okay the next type of termite that I want to discuss or for most in termites if you live in the orange or red areas on the map then in addition to the possibility that you have a that you have a common species of subterranean termites you may be facing a problem with formosan termites now for most in termites are also subterranean but unlike other species of subterranean termites that cannot colonize in your home for most in termites can they have the ability to ability to build what we call cartons in your walls and those Cottons allow them the ability to stay in your walls without returning to the ground that is because those cartons provide them with enough moisture for them to survive so they don't have to return to the ground also you should know that for most in termites or by far the most destructive termites in the U.S and maybe the entire world so if you have them you need to deal with them as soon as you can these guys are such fast eaters that they are sometimes known as super termites lastly you could have dry wood termites and again this kind of termite needs to be treated differently than your plain vanilla run-of-the-mill subterranean termites and they too enjoy warm weather if you live in the red areas on the map then you are in drywood termite territory unlike subterranean termites these guys do not live in the ground at all they literally fly to your house and they enter through cracks and crevices on the exterior of the building such as Windows Doors pipe penetrations and in the eaves then they create galleries in the wood and those galleries can be located throughout the entire building so in the case of both formosin and dry wood termites it is a lot harder to treat them because we cannot simply place a pesticide barrier around the the exterior of the building like we can with other subterranean termites you literally need to find all the places where they're hanging out that are inside your house okay so how do you know what kind of termite you have like I said earlier if you live outside the red and orange areas on the map you most likely have a common species of subterranean termites that are easily treated however if you live inside the red or orange areas then the best way to tell is by observation take a walk around the outside of your house and look for mud tubes regardless of the specific species all subterranean termites create these mud tubes so if you see mud tubes then you do have subterranean termites these mud tubes can be found up the side of your home from the ground up to the wood and you may also find them in your crawl space basement or even up in the attic at times so be sure to inspect all of these places as well dry with termites do not create these mud tubes so if you do see mud tubes then you know that you were dealing with some kind of subterranean termites they may be the more common species that are easy to treat but they may also be for motion but they are subterranean if you cannot find mud tubes then look inside the house for frass and kick out holes frass looks a little like Sawdust or tiny pellets and you can find it near walls under windows in the Attic in the basement crawl space and even inside your cabinets if you see frass then you can be pretty sure that there is a kick out hole just above the pile and when you see France and kick out holes then you most likely do have dry wood termites but what if you find mud tubes and you live in the red or orange areas on the map how do you know if these guys are for motion Conehead or some easier species that you can treat well the best way is to obtain a specimen and the specimen that you want is going to have a red head these guys are the soldiers and they have a pretty distinct head that makes it fairly easy to determine the species you can obtain a specimen by either breaking open a mud tube or by digging into a damaged piece of wood with something like a flathead screwdriver place a live specimen in a jar and it's going to die fairly quickly then you can take it out and have a good look at it just compare the specimen to these photos as you can see Eastern Subterranean termites have rectangular heads and for most of termites have more of a teardrop shaped head also notice that with foremost in termites they have mandibles that cross now you may not see the mandibles crossed on the specimen you have but the teardrop head is a dead giveaway finally you can see that the conehead termite is exactly as the name suggests they have heads that well look like a cone another way to determine the species is to look for swarmers these are basically flying termites they are the they are the kings and queens that are looking to establish a new Colony somewhere as you can see from these photos the Eastern Subterranean termites are very easy to identify because they have a solid black body and four wings of equal length so if you are looking at a swarmer that is black then you are most likely looking at a fairly common species of subterranean termites and again those are very easily treated however if these guys are tan orange or a reddish color with four wings of equal length then it can be somewhat more difficult to determine the exact species this is because for most in termites and dry wood termites look quite similar to the untrained eye therefore unless you are a professional I do not recommend this means of identification alone don't worry though I'm going to make this really simple for you if you were looking at a tan orange or reddish-colored swarmer and you have mud tubes then you are most likely looking at for most in termites however if you are looking at a tan orange or reddish color swarmer and you have frass around the house and kick out holes but no mud tubes then you are most likely looking at dry wood termites keep in mind that there are different species of dry wood termites and they are located in different areas of the United States and other places around around the world as well so the color of these guys may vary from one species to another now if all of this inspecting and digging for termites is a bit over the top for you then you can always call a pest controller to do a free inspection most of the time they can tell you what this what what species it is that you're dealing with but be careful though they have been known to get it wrong also keep in mind that they are going to want to do the job for you so ask them to leave an estimate and let them know that you plan to get several estimates before you go with any specific company okay that's it for me today but before you leave please click on one of the videos above and check out the links in the description so that you can treat these specific species of termites that are a problem for you

Channel: Guy's Pest Solutions

Views: 34,337

Keywords: Drywood termties, termites, Pest control, pests, extermination, bugs, cockroaches, roaches, do it yourself, DIY, spraying, entomology, infestation, pest supplies, pesticides, homeowner, exterminate, pest controllers, how to, treatment, termite stations, pest control, Formosan termites, conehead termites, eastern subterranean termites, swarmers, alates, flying termites

Id: dIs_a0nfVjg

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 25 2023