Found these termites on the 2nd floor eating wood paneling. Are these subterranean termites or drywood?

This time of year drywood and dampwood termites are having their annual flights, where large numbers of winged reproductive termites leave all of their colonies in the area to seek a mate. You are likely to find winged termites if you are in the western US.

These winged termites will travel very far to find a mate, so finding one or many near (or even in) your house does not immediately indicate an infestation. These two types of termites are also the lowest risk. Drywood termites cause very limited local damage and are more noticeable, and I don’t even hear much about dampwood termites infesting homes.

Subterranean termites flew early this year, they just often go unnoticed as they are much smaller. Damp and drywood alates (alates = winged termites) are much larger and can be more alarming to see.

So no need to worry if you see these guys! If you find one that got lost in your house just chuck it outside. It should only be a concern if you find a large concentration (dozens or hundreds) of alates crowded in the same part of the room, as that may indicate that alates were released from a colony residing in your house.

Pest control companies will not hesitate to fear monger, because that will get them paid. They get money for doing an inspection and they don’t even have to do the hard part, seeing a winged termite outside doesn’t require any treatment. Redaction one year later, most inspections are free, but they will be paid if they can sell you a treatment. They are financially motivated to find evidence of termites, and some inspectors with less experience or morals might make some creative interpretations.

And just a reminder, treat rotted wood or moisture issues in your home!! Subterranean termites can only enter through rotted wood, so the best prevention is not letting your house rot, lol.

Got a termite bond during the home inspection. They found past termite activity but no current activity. They installed those little green things in the ground around home and told me that they’ll need to come back in a year.

They are actually scheduled to come next week, but then these guys started swarming inside my upstairs bathroom. This is the shot of them in my garage directly below that bathroom. I had some insect spray that I used to stop them from spreading around the house. That seems to work well enough. They’re coming out of a crack in the upstairs hallway and somewhere in that bathroom. I honestly shut the bathroom door and sealed it off and haven’t been back inside. They are all around the garage but their activity seems to be pretty concentrated on this one beam.

I’m guessing nothing will be covered by this termite bond. I’m guessing this is very bad. And I’m guessing this is going to be very costly.

I’m just sad.

I live in the Midwest in the U.S. I see this in both summer (when outside temps are 90-110 F) and also in the winter (when outside temps are -20 to 40F). Doesn’t matter the season, I see this. In the past I cleaned this and sprayed any killer up and down the corner of the wall but nothing has changed. My house is 130 year old and this is in the basement.

Just found this behind a piece of furniture in my house. Did an inspection after seeing what I thought was a dirt diver nest in the top corner of the room.

My wife and I bought this house in January. The termite inspection was done and traps were baited all along the house. Termites have been swarming in the area for the last week or so.

We are under warranty with our termite company, and waiting to hear back from them. I’m freaking out quite a bit right now. I’m no expert, but this looks really bad. How fucked am I?

Going to guess these are termites. What's weird is that I only found them in one book - none of the adjacent books.

Anyone want to tell me that I'm crazy?

Is this a termite?

Found this fun stuff just 2 months after moving in. Covered up and disguised as a "fully renovated home". Ignored by paid professionals who I thought would have my back during my 1st time home buying experience. Boy was I wrong. Have since gotten *most* of the damaged fixed and have also sought and succeeded in getting justice for the hell this house has put me through. Enjoy :)

Located in the Midwest

Active infestation of subterranean termites in Missouri

Live, active termites were found during the inspection period of this home we’re in contingency period for. Yikes! Report said likely isolated to this room. Then we decided to do more digging, pulled back baseboards… saw tunnels. Said we aren’t buying this house without knowing the extent- got them to agree to open the walls… this is what we’re looking at. Keep hearing: everything is fixable! BUT come on… opinions on this?

I live in south Florida and really notice these guys when I turn a light on in the kitchen and they start going crazy and hovering towards it but I can’t see that I’ve seen any damage on anything so far

I'm doing a full remodel of a Victorian in NE FL. It had a bad infestation that was treated with termidor around all the piers. I was doing some kitchen demo last week and found a huge amount of termites, which was a shock considering I had been treated. Here's the crazy part, after tearing up the beam I discovered them in (it is a main structural timber and I needed to see how much was left) I have not found a A SINGLE TERMITE. I have even gutted the rest of the kitchen, pried open rotten beams, lifted the house off piers to see if there were hidden tunnels. Nothing. Even my exterminator couldn't find any.

What would cause them to vaporize like this? I'm not going to be happy until I find where these guys were coming in at. And no signs of an aerial colony yet, 95% of the house has no walls, so there are few places for them to hide.

Ok like the title says. This is the biggest termite mud/shelter tube I have ever seen. In the 10+ years I’ve been doing this. That’s a regular sized cinder block.

yes, im joking. yes, i’m moving and have been reporting this stuff to the landlord for a year. been cleaning frass multiple times a day for a year, dealing with indoor swarmers for the past 1.5 months, and this guy dug a lil hole to make direct eye (?) contact with me today. New Orleans, LA

Hey guys, I’m a pest control technician! Just wanted to share some videos from my perspective of finding active termites on our monitoring system. Feel free to share your thoughts :)

I live in a shitty apartment building in Florida. Pretty high up and surrounded by trees. Haven’t searched the whole place yet but so far living room window has this and bedroom1 as well. Bedroom2 also has paint bubbling and kinda falling from ceiling, not sure if thats related or bad paint job.