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Mike Stewart
Welcome again to the Faith Pest Control podcast and folks, termites are swarming termites are swarming. Yes, in North Georgia in Jasper, in Ellijay, in Blue Ridge, and Ball Ground, in Canton and Waleska, the termites are coming the termites are swarming. And there’s no better expert in the world to tell you in North Georgia and in Jasper and Ball Ground, Canton and Waleska. What to do about the swarming termites? You know, you see those termites. You see them swarming, you need to know certain things. And Fred, tell us all about it.
Fred Talley
Well, Mikey, termites in Jasper, Georgia, and our surrounding areas are so similar to most other areas in the southeastern United States. The danger is that the existence of the termites themselves can remain undetected for long periods of time, which could allow them to do serious damage without being discovered. Now, you know, I’m gonna specifically talk about the swarmers – they are the reproductive cast of the termite colony. Today, in a lot of times, that is the first indication that someone has termites in their home. Termites are considered truly social insects; therefore, the Queen dictates when it’s time for a colony to cast a swarm. They know now what it means when a colony does cast a swarm, that’s an indication that it is a mature colony in you might also think of that as a large colony. The swarmers are actually the reproductive cast of the colony. There’s both male and female swarmers. Their job is to mate, procreate, and then find a suitable place in the ground to establish another colony. The success rate to the best of my recollection, is only in the 2 or 3% range, most of the swarmers actually die without successfully reproducing the swarm cast, that that part of the termite colony does no damage to your home, none whatsoever. What they are, is evidence in the indication that a mature colony exist, which does damage your home.
Now, this is the this is the third week of March 2021. We had our first swarm call a week ago today actually had two calls, but we could go today. And then the following Monday, we had one swarm call. So right now we’re in the heat of the season. Swarmers most often occur during the spring time, swarms can be somewhat abrupt, they just happen all of a sudden, and they are overwhelming because there are 1000s of them. A lot of people confuse them with with flying ants. But we’re not here to discuss that part today. But there are 1000s of them and you think oh my god, that they will generally come out on the interior of your home. Their lifespan generally is measured in hours so that they will die relatively quickly. Like I said, they don’t do any damage to your home. But you can use almost anything to kill them you can use soapy water to kill them. If if that for humans they present more of a nuisance than anything else.
Generally speaking, a colony that is mature enough to swarm but is has just reached that point of maturity will generally only swarm once per season, but colonies can swarm two or more times during the season dependent on the size of the colony. The first swarm will be the most intense, with the second lighter swarms being you know the less intensity they will they will swarm most frequently and with the greatest intensity during the early spring. Environmental conditions such as the temperature, humidity level, light conditions, barometric pressure all heavily influence when termites swarmers, emerge. They will emerge on a warm, sunny day when the humidity is high. These conditions are frequent on days following rain showers. That’s my own personal observation is that a colony will cast the swarm in early spring. Generally, the day after it rains, if the temperature reached seventy degrees, before noon; they are attracted to light. So you are likely to see a swarm begin, say begin, ie, a lot of times you don’t know from where in the house, the swarm originates, sometimes you can find it, sometimes you can’t. A lot of times, the only thing you’re gonna see as a homeowner is wings and or bodies and wings in a wind to sail or in front of the door. If it has a window in it or in front of a window, you know on the floor, they are they are naturally are attracted to the light, they go to the lights; they know that they need to mate and get to the ground. Swarmers are not good fliers and the wings shed after relatively moderate use, so swarm flights are brief. And sometimes they can rely on prevailing winds to carry the insects on their way.
Now, if you if you’re outside, it’s very, very, very common to see the termite swarm out of a stump. It’s pretty amazing to see if you’re a bug guy. If you’re a homeowner, it’s probably if you see termites swarm out of a stump, it’s probably a good time to have your house inspected for termites. Because you know, at that point, they are at very least in the area, but they don’t have the swarmers don’t fly very far before landed on the ground and shedding their wings. And then they attempt to start a new colony. You can see where the swarm came from in your home sometimes, but the evidence is extremely subtle. And really you need to get a professional in there to look most times the evidence is so subtle that the homeowner does not really even see it as evidence. Like I said, you’ll see the wings and or bodies and wings laying on when to sail lane and floor and printable wind lane and for in front of a door that has a window because it’s their natural instinct to go towards the light. As they know, they’ve been in darkness all our life and they know that their job is to get outside to so that they can procreate.
If you suspect that you have a termite infestation in your home, it’s time to call a pest expert or termite expert to come in and in, inspect your home and do an evaluation just to see if if you have them or not that like I said right in the beginning though, there are a lot of times you can do an inspection and there can be active termites, but you don’t find them because they’re inside the wood. Not necessarily on the outside of the wood. But anyway, as always at Faith Pest Control, we offer a free consultation. We offer of 100% make you happy Money Back Guarantee. If you hire Faith Pest Control to get rid of your bug problem and at the end of 30 days, you’re not 100% happy, we’ll come back and retreat your home for free. We’ll keep on treating it for free until tell us that you are happy. If that still doesn’t make you happy, we will give back every penny of the money you spent on the original treatment, plus, we’ll pay you an additional $25 for your time in trouble just for fooling with us. That’s how confident we are in our degree of customer service and our commitment to doing the job right. If you feel like what I’ve said makes sense today, please call Faith Pest Control 770-823-9202 and ask to speak to me Fred Talley. I’ll be more than happy to speak with you and answer any questions you might have.
Mike Stewart
Well, thank you, Fred. You know, we’ve seen those flying ants. I’ve called them that, but we do know they’re termite swarms, and that’s evidence that the termites are active and they can threaten your home. So you want to definitely be protected, especially if you live in Jasper, Georgia, Ellijay, Blue Ridge, Ball Ground, Canton, all those wonderful towns in North Georgia, you’re in the midst of a lot of of termite activity and you just want to protect your most valuable investment your home from one of the worst pests that can destroy wood, can destroy homes. Those are termites. So the termites are swarming. If you’re hearing this podcast in the winter, just remember that you know, every year you’re going to be greeted with the swarming of termites. And we do this as a community service. This podcast is just for information to let you know that there is an ally out there that can help you solve the problems and what are the problems and how severe those problems are. You can find this in Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon and an on the web at faith Pest Control calm so be sure to subscribe, be sure to share us and we’ll see you next time on the Faith Pest Control podcast.
