There are two ways drywood termites to begin infesting a house.  By far the most common is by when they fly in and find a good place to live (in an exposed piece of timber).  The second way is for a colony to hitch a ride.  Often this happens when they come in with furniture, even in new furniture, but just about any lump of wood can do it- such as a bread board, ornament or violin.  I've had reports of new hollow-core internal doors being installed with drywood termites already in them. 

Inspection is the only way to know that you have them.

It's a misnomer.  Absolutely all termites do need water to live and none can survive long in totally dry wood.  The drywood termites, though are very good at getting by with surprisingly little moisture and this enables them to live in small colonies in small pieces of wood.  Just so long as the wood is good food that stays sufficiently moist and doesn't get too hot or too cold, they can thrive.  Mostly they are found in the tropics, in forests and along water courses, in fact anywhere that re

A few times each year the sky seems to fill with fluttering termites, but not all of the termites get to fly. The colony lets a few grow wings and strike out into the world. A rare time when termites act as individuals. These fliers (called alates) are just for colony reproduction. They seek to find a mate and start a new nest of their own. Just like most of we do.