Although woody plants and wood products are eaten by most termites, some eat grass, leaf mold, manure, algae, and soil. Some termites cultivate fungi as food for the colony. Wood-eating termites have protozoa's (one-celled organisms) in their digestive tracts. The protozoans digest cellulose, a fibrous substance in the wood, breaking it down into substances that are easily absorbed by the termites' digestive system.Most species of termites tunnel down, building nests underground or in trees or wood buildings. But some species build up!
How do termites build towers?
When termites dig, they bring the soil to the surface. They mix their saliva with the soil so that it hardens. The more soil the termites dig, the higher the tower grows.
How Termites Live
We also give importance to control mosquitoes at the larval stage by treating stagnant water with Insect Growth regulators. These IGR prevent the larvae attain full maturity and they fail to become adult mosquitoes. These IGR don’t harm other life forms in the water and only affect the mosquito larvae.
Once or twice a year, well-established colonies produce swarms of winged reproductive which may number in the millions. Many are caught on the wing by birds and bats. The survivors drop to the ground and break off their wings. Males and females, often from different colonies, pair off and start building a nest. Later, they mate and together tend the first small broods of eggs and nymphs.
For several years the colony produces only workers and soldiers. After three or four years, reproductive termites are produced. The workers tend the reproductive termites, young, and eggs. The number of eggs laid by the queen increases through the years until she is producing about 10,000 a day during most of her life. A queen may live for 50 years. Secondary and tertiary reproductive termites develop from nymphs, usually after the death of one or both of the primary reproductive termites. In certain species, some soldiers lay eggs.
Our Termite control Program:
Subterranean termites require moist environments. To satisfy this need, they usually nest in or near the soil and maintain some connection with the soil through tunnels in wood or through shelter tubes they construct. These shelter tubes are made of soil with bits of wood or even plasterboard (drywall). Much of the damage they cause occurs in foundation and structural support wood. Because of the moisture requirements of subterranean termites, they are often found in wood that has wood rot.
Life cycle
New kings and queens are winged during their early adult life but lose their wings after dispersing from their original colony. An infestation begins when a mated pair finds a suitable nesting site near or in wood and constructs a small chamber, which they enter and seal. Soon afterward, the female begins egg laying, and both the king and queen feed the young on predigested food until they are able to feed themselves. Most species of termites have microscopic, one-celled animals called protozoa within their intestines that help in converting wood (cellulose) into food for the colony. Once workers and nymphs are produced, the king and queen are fed by the workers and cease feeding on wood. Termites go through incomplete metamorphosis with egg, nymph, and adult stages. Nymphs resemble adults but are smaller and are the most numerous stage in the colony. They also groom and feed one another and other colony members. The egg-laying termite queen lays her eggs, the termite larvae transform into termite workers, termite soldiers or reproductive termites
HOW TO CHECK TERMITE INFESTATION
Swarms of winged reproductive flying from soil or wood
Presence of wings cast off by termites
Presence of earth like shelter tubes or mud tubes
Blistering of wood surface
Hollow sound on tapping structural timber
