The Importance Of Quality Termite Control For Your Plymouth Property

About The Termite Caste System

A termite colony is rich and diverse. Everyone has a job, from the queen to the humble worker. Let's take a moment to discuss the jobs or "castes" in a termite colony. They offer insights into what is needed for quality termite control in Plymouth.

• Queen: She is at the heart of her colony, and you won't ever see her unless you dig into the ground and expose her nest. If you expose her, you'll find a big blob of a creature, with a black head and thorax attached. The blob is the abdomen of the queen, which grows as she produces offspring. The enlarged abdomen is tan with brown crosssection lines. Some termite queens can produce one egg every three seconds. In the course of one day, she may produce more than 28,800 eggs. That is 10,512,000 eggs a year! There are factors that limit this growth, but you can see how things can quickly get out of hand. 
• King: The termite king is somewhat different from many other male insects. He stays by his queen and continually helps with the production of offspring long after the establishment of a colony. Unlike the queen, the king doesn't grow into a blob. He continues to look the same as he did when he became a king. The king starts as a winged reproductive. The only difference after the colony is established is that he loses his wings. His queen does this as well. The wings shed by the kings and queens may be you're only warning sign of an infestation.
• Reproductives: In a termite colony, worker termites may develop into reproductives to assist the queen and the king. Under the ground, reproductives may move out of their original nests and create new nests, called satellite colonies. These new nests are created without the reproductives coming above ground.
• Swarmers: These are winged reproductives. They exit the colony, take to the air, and mate. Once the mating process is done, the swarmers shed their wings and disappear back into the ground. A swarmer is about ? of an inch in length and has long, white wings that are a stretched teardrop shape. The wings stack on top of each other and do not have a cleft at the tips, like the wings of an ant swarmer. The swarming and mating behavior of male and female termite reproductives takes less than an hour.
• Soldiers: These termites are generally twice as large as the workers. They have large orange heads and black pincers. The job of the soldiers is to protect the workers. When termite tunnels are exposed, these are the termites you are likely to see first.
• Workers: These are the most plentiful termites in a colony by a long shot. Workers are the only termites that eat wood. All other termites get their food from the workers through the sharing of fluids. A worker looks like a pale, fat ant. It is about ? of an inch long and has six legs, two antennae, and three body parts. Worker termites have a strong aversion to light and will avoid even the reflection of light off the moon. Termite identification is essential as catching a glimpse of termites in your yard can alert you to danger and allow you to call a professional for a subterranean termite treatment in Plymouth. 

Now that you know what you're up against, and the difficulty of detecting these insects, let's talk about how termites will damage your Plymouth home or business. It is not commonly understood why termites are a serious threat in New England. These facts will shed some light on this secret threat.