When the spring or summer season hits, the Australian people start asking questions like Can termites fly? Can termites have wings? Because they start seeing a lot of light, golden-coloured pests around the bright lights or windowsills of their home.
Especially after a rain shower or when the humidity or moisture level is high in the air during the months of December, January, and February. The answer is yes, termites can fly and eat up all the wood in your home, including the structure.
But the catch is not all termites are capable of flying and infesting new places. So you just need to tackle only specific species to save your commercial or residential properties from getting damaged.
Understanding Termites’ Biology: Science Behind Their Flight
Termites prefer to live in colonies where a king and queen mate to lay eggs and multiply their number in thousands. There are usually three types of termites that eat up the wood of homes or furniture. The first one is the wingless worker termites, which are responsible for bringing food to the colony.
The second one is the soldiers with no wings, who are responsible for defending the structure of the colony. The third one is alates or swarmers with wings that can fly and are solely responsible for setting new colonies and increasing the production of termites.
The kings and queens are from this caste, only working to find partners from the same species when the weather is ideal and set up new colonies by reproducing.
Decoding: Can All Termites Fly? Separating Fact from Fiction
As mentioned above, termites can fly, but of a specific species called alates or swarmers because of their two wings. They are only 1-3% of the colony and can develop wings during reproductive maturity. Alates only fly once in their lifetime and shed wings after mating and landing on the infestation colony.
On the other hand, workers or soldiers are 95-98% of the whole colony and can never develop wings at any stage of life. They only damage the wooden structure of your home, furniture, timber items, and even wood outside your home.
So the answer to the most asked question: Do all termites fly? Is no. Only the winged termites can fly and colonise more spaces for their fellows.
What are the Ideal Conditions for Alates or Swarmers to Thrive?
Termites thrive in places where the humidity and moisture level is high, so to relocate and build new colonies, they will wait for the spring and early summer. Because from December to February, it is the ideal time for them to fly and find new places for infestation.
You may have noticed that after a rain shower, the number of flying termites gets attracted to the bright lights of your home and function venues. The subterranean termite type prefers to fly during 6–10 PM and is attracted to artificial lights, like lamp posts.
The drywood termite type prefers to fly from 10 AM to 2 PM and is attracted to natural sunlight. The dampwood termite type prefers to fly during 6–8 PM and is attracted to moderate lights.
Ideal Conditions to Fly
- Warm Temperatures: Moderate temperatures allow termites to fly easily and colonise new areas.
- High Humidity: Moisture in the air makes the survival of these pests easy and favours flight.
- Calm Winds: A still condition of the air flow facilitates the dispersal of alates or swarmers.
What’s the Difference Between Flying Ants and Termites?
Most people learning about how to kill termites often take flying ants as members of the termite family and use the same repellents or sprays to get rid of both. Which is not the right approach because if you ask any pest control specialist, are flying ants termites?
The answer would be no, and the same methodology will be of no use. Though they are similar in appearance due to wings and colour, there are still several differences that make them distinct from each other.
Flying Termites
- Straight thick waist with no constrictions.
- Antennas are straight but slightly bent at the top.
- Body colour is usually brownish-black.
- Wings are crystal clear and milky in colour.
- Four wings of equal length.
- Wings extending even beyond the body.
- Wings break off easily and can be found scattered.
Flying Ants
- Pinched waist with clear constrictions.
- Elbowed antennas are set at a 90-degree angle.
- Body colour is usually brownish-black.
- Wings are crystal clear to smoky in colour.
- Four wings of unequal length (front wings are larger).
- Wings are in proportion to the body size.
- Wings can’t break off easily and remain attached for longer.
How to Identify Whether Your Place is Under a Termite Attack or Not?
Now you will be clear can a termite fly or do termites fly to protect your home or restaurant against these dangerous pests. It is the right time to learn the tricks to find signs of flying termites, alates or swarmers, to ensure your space is safe from being a colony of these property destroyers.
Remember to always go for early prevention rather than going for complete termite pest control after getting your furniture, building structure, or other valuable items damaged. Termites, whether capable of flying or not, are always attracted to wooden items.
Look for the signs mentioned below to know whether your place is safe from these property destroyers or not, and take preventive measures.
- Discarded Wings: Broken wings scattered around the windowsills, lights, and entry points indicate the presence of flying termites.
- Mud Tubes: If you have narrow tunnels around the foundation of homes. Then, the foundation structure is under attack.
- Hollow-Sounding Wooden Items: Simply tap the timber items like doors, closets, furniture, and if you hear a hollow sound. It is surely termites slowly eating up the wood from the inside.
- Termite Droppings: If you ever see sawdust near wooden structures, then it is of termites, and you are under serious threat.
How to Get Rid of Flying Termites?
When you are sure about the presence of flying termites, like alates or swarmers. Promptly take action and use instant killing or preventive methods to stop termites from building more colonies around your space and damaging your valuables.
- Using Repellents
You can use orange, neem, peppermint, and lemon oil to deter pests. Apply these repellents to affected areas and stop further infestation. To get instant results, you can use chemical-based sprays as well to wipe out entire colonies.
- Using Light Traps
Place a bowl of soapy water on a table at a high place and position a bright light towards it. When the fluorescent light attracts the flying termites, they can get trapped in the bowl, and you can just discard the water.
- Installing Physical Barriers
You can also use steel mesh or sand barriers to prevent termites from accessing the core foundations of your home. It is the best method to resist alates or swarmers from building their colonies around your space.
- Fixing Leakages
The most attractive things to termites are leaking taps or pipes in your bathroom because they provide them with an abundance of moisture required for infestations. You can simply fix the leakages and repel termites from your place.
Conclusion
It is not true that every type of termite comes with wings and takes flight from one place to another just to set up colonies. But alates or swarmers answer the question, can termites fly? in yes, because it is a specific species only responsible for multiplying their population and building new places for infestation.
