They may migrate from one part of a structure to another depending on temperature and moisture fluctuations. They will move away from extreme heat. During the day, they may be in the attic and as the attic heats up, during the summer, they may move towards the eaves or down the inside structure walls. In the summer they may be eating in a wooden patio deck, and then as the winter rains come, it will force them out of the deck and into structure walls. As the rains stop, they would move back out into the patio area unless the food source that they found inside the structure is more to their liking.

Several times each year drywood termites will SWARM to form new colonies. They will grow wings and turn a deep reddish brown. When the conditions are just right, usually in late summer, as much as half of the colony may fly off in search of a new food source while the other half of the colony will remain where they are. This is called a SWARM. They land and loose their wings to start the new colony which could be in a window sill, patio deck, a wooden roof or eaves, trellises, walkways, external electrical meter box, or other weak points in a structure.

How do we treat them?

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written by David J. Roe