Termites are continually active, thus termite management is a year-round affair. Therefore, leaking pipes shouldn’t just worry you because they impact your water bill but it should get your guards up as they can serve as an invitation for termites to infiltrate your residence when you least expect it.
With that in mind, termite inspections are best done right away. For the most part, an inspection is required if you suspect termites. Luckily, termites are less active in the cooler months and they become active and reproduce rapidly when temperatures increase during early spring.
With increased colony size, some termites depart to start new colonies, generally on your land. Swarmers are termites that depart throughout the spring and early summer. Keep them at bay and you effectively prevent damage to your house or building and consequently save money.
Performing a winter investigation will reveal termite feeding sites. Winter is the best time to catch termites as they may not wreak as much damage to your property then than during the warmer months.
What to Look For If You Have a Termite Problem
If you know where the building’s strong support studs are situated, you may attempt banging on the wall in those spots. A hollow sound that is out of the ordinary might suggest a termite infestation beneath the walls.
Examine the outer walls of the house as well as the area around the foundation. Termite tunnels are little tubes composed of dirt that attach to the walls or the ground and they are a clear sign of an infestation. They construct these to gain entry into a structure. Look for other signs of termite infestation, too, such as decaying tree bark, moist firewood, and the presence of dying wood.
Occasionally, you may see visible gnawed wood in a garage or along the eaves of a building. If you have dampwood termites in your home, you may realise that your furniture, linens, and wallpaper have been gnawed through as a result. Swarmers, as well as their lost wings, might potentially signify a major problem, too.
What You Should Do If You Need Immediate Treatment
When you think or know that you have a termite infestation, don’t put off treatment. It is possible that allowing the infestation to develop for even a single week may cost you hundreds of dollars in additional damage.
Do not experiment with chemicals purchased from home improvement shops or try DIY techniques you discovered on the Internet either. These extermination tactics merely serve to drive termites to more difficult-to-reach locations under the building or behind walls.
Termites are a major problem since they may quickly devastate your house or company, as well as your finances. Luckily, professionals are trained to locate every termite colony on your property and destroy them as rapidly as possible.
Do termites hibernate during the winter?
No doubt, this is a question often asked by many and the answer is a categorical “NO!”. Termites can be active on all 365 days of the year; however, the colder the weather, the less active they are.
Termites are less active in the late winter months because they can only travel shorter distances to locate food because of the brutal temperature during winter.
The fact that termites are cold-blooded and like to congregate in and around their nests throughout the winter months makes it simpler to find and manage them at this time of year.
Is it possible for termites to die in the winter?
While termites may perish if they get too cold or too hot, the reason they often remain in their nests and do not wander far in search of food is to maintain a comfortable body temperature.
With that said, termites will almost definitely not die if they are in your house, which will aid in their protection throughout the winter months.
Once termites have gained entry into your house, they will likely stay there for many years. They won’t just get up and depart on their own. If termites are permitted to continue with their destructive behaviour, they will definitely take their time causing permanent structural damage.
Termites currently inflict more damage to Australian houses than all other natural disasters, including storms, fires, and burglary combined. As a result, no insurance provider in Australia will cover the costs of termite-related property damage.
The optimum time to get a termite examination is during the winter, right before the spring season comes. The temperature heats up in the spring and termites begin to grow and roam more in search of food, making it more difficult to detect and manage their population.
In this regard, a professional pest treatment company can do an annual termite check any time, which costs insignificant less compared to the damage that termites cause. After all, termites will gladly subsist on the paper-based composition of your drywall all year round.
Identity and Habitat
Termites are also referred to as ‘white ants’ in certain circles. They are typically white in colour and quite minute in size. A colony is made up of workers who are overseen by a queen who is in charge of the colony. The labourers have a life expectancy of one to two years while the queen may survive for up to a decade under ideal environmental conditions.
The fact that they are so little and may be mistaken for flying ants makes it difficult to distinguish them from other insects.
In part because of their size, termites prefer to reside in fissures, cracks, and other locations that are tough to get to. However, since they graze on wood, the location in which they inhabit is nearly always related to some kind of forest or wooded area.
Because of wooden frames and nooks and crannies, windows and doors are among their favourite places to infest. Aside from that, you’re more likely to encounter them in wet, leaky environments where moisture or leakage is abundant.
Winter Is the Best Time for a Termite Inspection
In the winter, they aren’t at their most destructive but this is no excuse to be careless with them. Indeed, termites are considerably less active during the winter months yet they are still active in other ways.
To keep an infestation from getting worse, you cannot afford to take a break. They prefer to stay closest to their nest to remain warm, but there’s a strong possibility that if your house is warm and comfy enough, you may persuade them to relocate farther away from their nest and closer to your home instead. And the warmer and more comfortable they are, the more active they will become.
To make matters worse, winter is the time of year when we curl up in front of a warm fire. Keeping a stockpile of firewood during this time is a given, which, once again, serves as an open invitation for termites to enter your home.
Signs of a Termite Infestation During Winter
As previously mentioned, termites do not go into hiding throughout the winter months. Consequently, you should be on the alert for any signs of infestation as soon as they appear. The signs will be the same as they are for the rest of the year, though.
Mud tunnels, jammed doors and windows, hollow-sounding walls, warped wood, and shed wings are all signs that you should be bringing in an expert for a professional termite examination. It is important to remember that even if it is winter, you should not let your guard down as these menaces will not stop chewing through your property—literally, in this case—from within.
Summary
Regardless of the time of the year, termites are engrossed with destroying someone’s valued property. So while you pride yourself in being an esteemed and gracious host, these guests are just not the sort you want in your house.
Throughout the year, they will continue to eat on the wooden parts of your house, causing them to get weaker and weaker with each day that passes. And having untreated wooden artefacts merely serves to amplify the already crowded buffet you’re offering them. The abundance of wood will convince them to be a bit more deliberate in their assault but sadly, your house is their target.
Having a termite infestation in your house is the very last thing you want to happen. It’s the equivalent of putting money in a pocket riddled with holes. Termites not only inflict irrevocable damage to your property, but they also cause the value of your home to deteriorate.
It is advisable to get termite problems treated as soon as possible to avoid this heartbreak and the financial ruin that it might lead to. If you already had a termite infestation, keep an eye out for signs of recurrence.
This means that even if winter arrives, you should not let up on safeguarding your property. Termites are a ‘year-round worker’ and they will gradually encircle your home or other wooden structures. A little foresight today will pay dividends in the future. So while you’re getting into the holiday spirit, don’t forget to be as determined in your efforts to keep your house safe from white ants.
For your peace of mind in the knowledge that one of your most important assets—your property—stays protected from termite infestation in the midst of winter, call us to perform a termite inspection! We will send our skilled pest inspectors to get rid of your worries using a potent combination of comprehensive termite inspection and safe pest control solutions.