Treat houses, buildings before swarming termites are found
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi’s native subterranean termites have started swarming, and these structure-destroying insects will continue to swarm across the state over the next few months.
John Riggins, professor of forest entomology in the Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural Science and Plant Protection, said termites swarm to produce new colonies when the weather warms up, often after a rain.
“Eastern subterranean termite swarmers are black with long, straight, bead-like antennae. Their most distinctive feature is two sets of clear white wings that are much longer than their body, but both sets of wings are equal in length,” Riggins said.
“These wings drop off after the swarmers mate, so in some instances, the only sign of these swarmers is large amounts of light-colored wings in areas such as windowsills,” he said.
Eastern subterranean termites swarm during daytime hours. This normally happens in the spring, but swarm season can begin as early as late January or February along the Gulf Coast and extend into May and potentially early June in north Mississippi.
“Termites swarm at the same time as do many species of ants, so those who find a swarm at home must determine what type of insect they have found,” Riggins said. “Swarming ants have elbow-shaped antennae and wings, but the front wings are considerably longer than the hind wings.”
Santos Portugal, urban entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said if these termites are found indoors dead or alive, it’s time to bring in the professionals.
“Finding eastern subterranean termite swarmers inside a building is a pretty good sign the building has an active termite infestation and needs to be professionally inspected and treated by a licensed professional pest management company,” Portugal said. “It takes several years for a colony of eastern subterranean termites to grow large enough to produce swarmers.
“This means that if you have hundreds of these termite swarmers in the building, there are probably tens of thousands of termite workers eating the wood in that building,” he said.
Termite control is not a do-it-yourself project. Treatment costs vary with the size of the building, its type of construction and the treatment used. Treating an average-size house may cost around $1,200 to $1,750, but this is just an estimate for Mississippi, and several variables can move the final cost higher or lower by several hundred dollars.
“That’s a significant chunk of the family budget, but it is far better than having to potentially spend many thousands of dollars to repair heavy termite damage,” Portugal said.
With termites, the best prevention is a good offense. Maintain an annual termite contract with a reputable pest control company and make sure to keep up with preventative treatments. These preventive treatments will help keep termites from infesting homes or buildings.
MSU Extension Publication 2568, “Protect Your House from Termites,” has more information on termite biology, signs of infestation and control. Additional resources on termites are available at .
