Termites hide. They are little white, soft-bodied weaklings. Termites avoid light and rarely come out into the open. Termite attack can escape anyone's notice for a very long time, which can be horribly expensive, not to mention dangerous.  A lot of houses that collapse during hurricanes or earthquakes really break due to weakening by termites.

So, how are termites in houses detected?

Termites fly

Most termites spend their whole life walking around in the dark, either in tunnels in their food or in nests and tunnels made of mud and faeces.  A few though, get to grow up like normal insects, developing large gossamer wings and waiting about like paratroopers for the big event.  It is quite an event, often the sky seems filled with fluttering termites.

About Dr Don

Don is a scientist, specializing in termites, but working much more widely than that.

Who runs the colony?

Stopping termites need not be scary. Termite control comes in four forms: cultural, physical, biological and chemical.

Chemical control is the least desireable.

There are some slick and very shonky sales people out there lining up to rip you off. There are honest pest managers who just want to give you a good job at a fair price. Then there's all the rest. How can you decide who to employ?
Here's a few simple pointers. I hope they help.

Termites as Pests

Sometimes termites find great places to live and good food to eat in the things we make.  Around the world, this costs us several billions of dollars each year.  Many companies take advantage of this market, usually adapting the use of poisons they've developed first for agricultural pests, like the little things that eat cotton.  That means that there are a lot of people interested in your pest problem and hoping to profit from it.

Behaviour

Termites do stuff, they 'behave'.  This topic covers a huge range of things such as reproduction and flight, colony foundation, nest site selection, food searching, tunnel creation, mound building, defence (OK, defense if you like), communication, colony organisation, the roles of the various castes . . . the list seems endless.

This is the catch-all page.  Its a good spot tell you about my list of termite oddities, the bizarre page, which explores the strange-but-true side of termites.