It’s that time of year again - beautifully sunny days, light drizzles of rain here and there but generally limited to early morning showers or late afternoon showers, a light breeze ….. AND agggghhhh Termites! Flying termites… everywhere! You guessed it! It’s now the season for those pesky swarming termites to be released from the nest in search of new places to inhabit.
Conquer Termites often get questioned about the difference between flying ants and flying termites. There are three easy ways to tell them apart:
- 1 WINGS - flying termites have equal wing lengths whereas flying ants have unequal wing lengths (one set of wings is also noticeably larger than the others).
- 2 ANTENNAE - flying termites have straight antennae vs the bent antennae of flying ants and
- 3 WAIST - flying termites have a straight waist vs the pinched waist of flying ants.
See the below picture for a great comparison - Source: https://www.trulynolen.com/pest-advice-blog/flying-ants-vs-termite-swarmers-charlotte/
Flying termites are sent out in search of new food sources and to set up a new colony, so one way to help protect your home is to limit the reasons for them to swarm towards your property. Remove loose timbers from the ground, always recycle cardboard using your bins (don’t leave it in the garage etc), check for leaking taps or pooling water around the perimeter of the house, check any external timber structures (chook pens, fences, pool gazebos etc) for termite mudding regularly and try to use treated timber where possible.
Treatments differ for flying ants and termites so if you are unsure always check first before applying a regular insect spray. It’s best if you don’t alarm the termites, that way your inspector has a better chance of identifying where the flying termites originated from and then may be able to find the nest.
If you are worried that you may have found flying termites it’s always best to contact your local, trusted termite inspector - Conquer Termites - phone: 1300 417 007, email: info@conquertermites.com.au.
