Termite Inspector CT: Facts About Termites
Termite Inspector CT: Termite Facts
- Termite colonies eat non-stop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Sorry, no break folks!
- Termite colonies can live with no problem for many generations of worker termites, which can be as long as 50-70 years.
- In the USA, an average termite colony has about 500,000 insects.
- Termites provide a valuable service by breaking down dead wood in forests into soil. They are one of the earth’s first recyclers.
- Subterranean termites MUST have constant access to water. If they dry out, they die.
- Above ground, termites maintain mud tunnels or tubes to the ground, which they keep wet with water from the ground.
- Termites’ main predator is the ant. Ants can attack termite colonies or termite workers looking for food.
- It is possible to get rid of termites completely.
- There are over 2,000 species of termites, with most living in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
- About 40 termite species live in the United States, most in the southeast.
- Subterranean termites are found in every state but Alaska.
- More than 90% of all termite damage in the US is caused by subterranean termites.
- Termites can’t eat their way through concrete, but their soft bodies are really good at maneuvering through tiny cracks.
- The total weight of all of the termites in the world is more than the weight of all the humans in the world.
- Only worker termites can chew and digest cellulose. So, along with gathering food, they have to digest and regurgitate it for everyone else.
- A queen termite can live over 20 years and can lay thousands of eggs a day.
- Those round metal circles you see on the sidewalk in the French Quarter of New Orleans are not secret stashes for beads. They’re Sentricon station covers.
