How To Tell If Your Katy, TX Property Has Termites
Here in the Katy area, there is a wide variety of pests capable of infesting homes and businesses. Thanks to our warm weather conditions and humid climate, pests can infest at almost any time of year. From rodents and insects to arachnids and wild creatures, many wild creatures look for hiding places near residential or commercial properties.
Perhaps the worst of these includes the notorious termite. There are thousands of termite species worldwide, hundreds of which are found here in the United States. The termite gets its interesting name from the Latin phrase ‘to erode,’ pointing to its ability to break down, erode, and consume copious amounts of wood. There are three major termites found here in Katy: the subterranean termite, the drywood termite, and the Formosan termite. While you are not likely to be infested by all three species at once, your chances for some form of termite activity in Katy are incredibly high.
Termites are frequently thought of as pest creatures or dangerous animals, although this is not true in all parts of the world. In certain areas, the termite is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a snack or along with meals. In other parts of the world, termites help break down embedded stumps or rotten wood, making room for new growth and greenery.
It is always a good thing to see termites at work in the natural world. However, you should not see them in or around your Katy home. Let's take a closer look at identifying a termite infestation, understanding proper prevention, and using do-it-yourself (DIY) and professional management techniques.
Identifying A Termite Infestation
Termites are some of the most easily recognizable pests in the Katy area. Although these creatures are rarely spotted during the summer, fall, and winter months, they can be found virtually year-round.
Most termites share a similar set of characteristics:
Most termites appear in color patterns of grey, cream, or off white.
Soldier termites have enlarged heads and engorged mandibles, which can be plainly seen with the human eye.
Termites often have orange or dark brown colored heads with different colored bodies.
Termite swarmers, also called alates, are best identified by their long wings and thick thoraxes.
One of the biggest reasons why termites are so feared in the Katy area is the amount of damage they cause. Unlike other types of insects, termites never need to rest, sleep, or take breaks. Instead, these pests can wage war against your property for long periods of time, consuming wood 24 hours a day. As you might imagine, it doesn't take long for termites to significantly weaken or destroy the structure of a home. According to recent statistics, termites cause over five billion dollars worth of damage per year. This includes homes, businesses, and specialty properties all over the world.
Termites prefer to stay hidden if possible and are difficult to spot without proper training. However, some signs or symptoms in the home may make it easier to discover their presence.
Below are some helpful signs and symptoms of a termite infestation in the average Katy home:
You may begin to notice fine sawdust around floors, baseboards, and walls. Called ‘frass’ by entomologists, these fine woodpiles are the excrement of voracious termite colonies.
As termites consume the wood around windows, doors, and other frames, you may begin to notice some difficulty closing or opening entry points. Tight-fitting doors or windows could be a sign of long-term termite damage.
Spotting swarmers inside or around the house could be a sign of a nearby colony. Termite swarmers may be found near windows, the foundations of the home, or near certain entry points. While one or two vectors are not out of the ordinary, 10 or more may cause alarm.
Catching sight of shed wings around the floor could indicate an embedded infestation with long-term consequences.
Mud tunnels, or hollow tubes of soil, running up and down the walls of the home. Cutting open a mud tunnel may reveal a host of termite drones, with the occasional soldier for protection.
Termites are hazardous pests that are not worth ignoring, no matter how tempting. To keep your home and safe and termite-free, it will be important to turn to professional control and maintenance as soon as you are able.
The Difficulties Of Managing A Termite Problem
Termite infestations are unlike any other type of pest problem in Katy. For one thing, these pests do not give up without a fight. For another, they are almost impossible to discover until it is too late.
It may be tough to spot termite infestations at their earliest stages. Termites do not make any sounds and may occasionally give off clicking or scratching noises while consuming wood. These sounds are usually only heard at night and once the population has swelled to at least 60,000 members.
Termite colonies are built out of sight, usually within the walls of your home. Only once you have begun to see the signs of a termite problem will you realize there is an infestation at work.
It does not take long for termite populations to swell considerably. The queen termite only lays about 10 to 20 eggs per day in the earliest stages of the colony. Once several months have passed, the queen will ramp production to 40 or even 50 eggs per day. The colony's size will continue to swell exponentially, eventually reaching 1,000 eggs a day when the hive is several years old. The greatest number of eggs laid per day by a termite queen was recorded at more than 40,000. As you may imagine, numbers like these could overrun a home within a few short years.
Failure to spot a termite infestation in its earliest stages may lead to problems for you, your family, and the very structure of your home. For this reason, it is paramount to understand the signs and symptoms of their presence and and and any other problems that could arise from long-term feeding. Prevention steps and treatment programs can be beneficial and annual professional inspections from an agency such as Modern Pest Control.
Prevention Steps For Termite Infestations In Katy
Termite infestations may come about for many reasons and are not necessarily due to failings on your part. Like other household pests, termites are opportunistic at heart. If there is any form of entry point, wooden object, or humidity factor present, termite populations may be tempted to build a colony near your home.
Termite infestations are often attracted by three primary factors: food, food, abundant water sources, and the ability to take shelter. Although termites are not seasonal (and are active year-round), they may become more prone to infestations as the weather cools down. Freezing temperatures, coupled with drier weather and less powerful sunshine, may lead pests to seek shelter inside your house.
Additionally, termites could be attracted to an abundance of rotten or waterlogged wood inside the home. Recent natural disasters, or leaks you are not aware of, could be drawing pests even closer. Finally, water that is affecting the wood of your house could also create small, stagnant puddles. This provides the termite with everything it needs to survive and even a little extra.
If you're looking to keep termite infestations far away from your Katy, TX home, check out the following prevention steps:
Start by sealing any potential entry points around the house, from windows and doors to the house's foundations. Invest in waterproof caulking that will withstand severe weather patterns, and purchase an applicator that can address hard-to-reach places.
If possible, consider purchasing some weatherproofing for doors and windows. If you do not feel comfortable with installation on your own, reach out to a local professional.
Have the wood in your home pretreated against termite activity. If your home is already built, you can seek helpful mitigation steps from a team like Modern Pest Control.
Remove any mulching that may be present in the yard. While pleasant looking for human populations, mulching may lock in moisture that is attractive to termite species. Consider landscaping with a harder, more dense material, such as peat stone, river rock, or gravel.
Stack any firewood cords away from home, at least 25 feet or more.
Maintain the yard during all times of the year, cutting grass frequently, trimming back hedges, and otherwise managing vegetation overgrowth.
Receive annual termite inspections from a local pest agency. The folks at Modern Pest Control make it easier than ever to control termite outbreaks, removing the guesswork from pest control and simply providing solutions.
To learn more about Modern Pest Control’s outstanding termite management programs, don’t hesitate to call our Katy office right away.
How Modern Pest Control Keeps Termites Far Away From Your Katy Home
Since 1952, the professionals at Modern Pest Control have been supplying Katy homeowners with the terms, treatments, and termite guarantees they need to keep their homes safe and sound. With over 60 years of experience under our belts, we are proud to have made a lasting impact on homeowners, business managers, and specialty properties all over the area.
Unlike many of our competitors, Modern Pest Control makes the termite treatment focus all about you. We want to eliminate all the problems you face with tangible, authoritative programs tailored to your needs. That’s why we offer termite treatment programs that are 100% adaptable to the home or business in question.
Each termite control program comes with the following benefits:
We begin all of our services with a thorough home inspection. We will investigate your entire property for signs of termites or their infestation, noting any attractant factors that may be a leading culprit. Next, we speak with you one-on-one to discuss our findings and explain how and where we discovered the issue's root.
We provide each of our clients with a myriad of termite treatment options. We offer traditional programs with high-quality results, and modern approaches that fuse prevention with long-term treatment. One of our most popular methods includes Sentricon® with Always Active™, a unique treatment that addresses subterranean termites and their colonies. This treatment method is so highly regarded that it is used by national landmarks such as the White House, the United States Capitol Building, and even the Statue of Liberty.
Once we have applied our treatment services to your property, we will begin checking up every few weeks. This ensures that we get right to the heart of the issue and completely exterminate the colony in question.
If our treatment methods have failed to get the entire termite infestation, we will return immediately to address the problem. Call our team right away if you see evidence of pests two weeks after our first visit, and our technicians will be on the scene right away.
If termites are already present around your Katy property, don't waste time and money attempting to deal with them on your own. Instead, it is important to call the professionals at Modern Pest Control at your earliest convenience. Please submit an online contact form to connect with a technician in your area or schedule a free inspection with us right away.