But that should only be done after an inspection by a professional that confirms the presence of active termites. If the termites are attacking your home, they should be dealt with via a comprehensive termite control program inside and on the perimeter of your home. What it does not necessarily mean is that the termite colony is presently attacking your home or your trees. Obviously, what a termite swarm means is that a termite colony is close by. If you have a termite swarm inside your home, what does that mean, and what should be done? Sometimes, though, they will emerge inside your home. Most of the time the swarms emerge from the ground outside your home. Usually the swarm lasts one to three days, though sometimes it will last a week or more. When they swarm, their winged reproductives (kings and queens) emerge by the hundreds or thousands from the colony’s workings, intending to fly into the sky, mate with other reproductives, and search for a site to start a new colony. What about termite swarms? Termite colonies swarm once they reach a certain stage in their colonial development. Unless that cellulose comes from the rootstock of valuable trees in your yard, their consumption of subterranean stores of cellulosic matter is mostly beneficial, as it primarily functions to enrich the soil. But even youthful, robust termite colonies can become so enamored with other, abundant sources of cellulose submerged in the ground, that its workers have no interest in consuming cellulose from anywhere else. ![]() Young colonies are more robust than older ones, sort of like people. Furthermore, even when a species that is known to pose such a danger is discovered nearby, the risk to homes, growing crops and living shrubs and trees may be minimal simply because that specific termite colony may be senescent. Yet, even in those locales, it is important to recognize that not all of the termites inhabiting the soil of a yard pose these dangers. This is true particularly in those places where environmental conditions favor the propagation of the more voracious termite species. Those whose homes and trees are subject to termite damage have good reason to fear these insects. Their mandibles are weaker than those of termites that attack wooden structures, which prevents them from causing widespread damage, but the microbes in their intestinal tracts are more efficient at digesting lignocellulose. ![]() ![]() Termites in this family (Termitidae) include the desert termite, Gnathamitermes tubiformes. Safely inside these humidity-controlled structures they feed on the cellulose-and-lignin-containing tissues of these plants. Agricultural termites construct fecal sheaths over grasses and other soft, easily masticated forms of plant-life.
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