Termites have remarkable resilience. They may live far longer than most people would anticipate. Termites typically have a two-year lifespan inside a house before they eventually perish on their own. Termites cannot, however, be completely eliminated from the environment. If you have a termite infestation in your home, don’t expect the termites to die or disappear on their own for the issue to be over. Professional termite treatment can help you prevent and control a termite infestation. While it may be tempting to try to get rid of termites on your own, prevention and treatment are most effective when left to professionals like Horne’s Pest Control. Read on to learn more about termite stages of life.
During various termite stages of life, they may affect the structure of your home and other properties, sometimes leading to expensive damages. Here are the five life stages of termites.
Depending on the species, a termite queen can lay anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 eggs per day. The entire termite colony takes care of and protects the eggs while the queen produces them since the eggs are essential for the colony’s long-term survival. When the eggs hatch, the majority of them develop into destructive termite workers. Workers are the most destructive of the termite castes since they seek food for the colony and feed on the cellulose found in your property’s wooden structures. Some of the eggs will hatch into army termites, while others will hatch into reproductive termites, also known as alates.
A nymph is a young termite that is molting or losing its exoskeleton to develop into a reproductive organism. Under its current hard exoskeleton, a termite first develops a soft exoskeleton. The termite’s outermost skeleton rips open once it reaches adulthood, and the newly formed exoskeleton grows and hardens. Depending on the requirements of the colony, this molting process continues throughout a termite’s life cycle.
These larvae grow through multiple molts to become members of one of the three termite colony castes: workers, soldiers, and reproductive termites, commonly known as alates.
Physically, each caste is distinct. Workers are in charge of tunneling and chamber construction, as well as feeding and grooming other termite castes. Soldier termites have yellow-brown bodies and huge mandibles. These are effective in fighting, but they make soldiers unable to eat themselves. The reproductive alates are deeper in color and have two pairs of wings when they hatch.
Swarming is part of the termite life cycle. When reproductives reach full maturity and are capable of reproducing, they gain wings and functional eyes. These termites’ bodies, now known as alates, harden and darken to assist the swarming termites to resist exposure to light and less humid air.
Termites are thought to be excellent survivors since their colonies are exposed to a plethora of fungi and predators that live in the soil and can attack the termites.
According to studies, workers and soldiers can live for one to two years on average, whereas queen termites can live for more than a decade in suitable climate circumstances. Even if the long-living queen dies, the secondary reproductive termites and queens from other colonies will continue to procreate. The infestation will persist, and the colony can cover a large area.
Termites are a problem no matter what kind they are or where in the termite life cycle they are. However, they are simpler to eradicate with Horne’s Termite Control Service’s three-prong method of treating termite-infested properties. The longer an infestation lasts, the more damage it can do. If you have an infestation, contact us for a free assessment and to learn more about our efficient termite treatment.
