What do termites seem like? Professional weighs in on insect

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Here is a video of termites.

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – If insects were teenagers in a high school cafeteria, cicadas would be at the popular table.

Everyone is talking about you right now.

And termites were way across the dining room, wondering, “What do they have that we don’t?”

For one thing, termites haven’t disappeared for 17 years and everyone shows up dressed and ready to date.

Termites, said an insect expert, don’t really go away. Even in the cold months, they don’t die, said Curtis Rand, a Purdue University graduate and self-proclaimed termite enthusiast.

Yes, there is such a thing.

“Termites are one of my favorite insects,” said Rand, vice president of Franklin Pest Solutions, the Journal & Courier. “I came into contact with termites when I got into this business and learned more about them. It’s not what I studied at Purdue, but I’ve studied it ever since. They are neat when you think about it. If you have to treat her, you have to think like her. “

Preferring the warm soil found in central Indiana during the spring and summer, termites head to the top of the earth in search of wood to eat. (Photo: Courtesy Franklin Pest Solutions)

Right now they are thinking about taking a breath. In the winter months, termites penetrate deeper underground until the topsoil heats up again.

Things are hot for termites in Indiana. You could say this is their prom season, the best time to keep an eye out.

Central Indiana is prime termite land, Rand said, because of the rich soil that drew farmers here in the first place.

“Think about the Indianapolis area, Lafayette, West Lafayette,” Rand said. “Think of all the vegetation you have, especially where the Wabash River runs through the heart of the city, all the moisture.

“Indiana built up when the farmers tilled the land, which is very fertile soil. They took the trees for farming, but the termites didn’t go anywhere. “

So the termites had to nibble on something.

“When we think of termites, most of our world was wood – water, the earth – and termites were there to take care of the undergrowth,” Rand said. “You are serving a very good cause to cut trees.”

With his professional insect studies, Rand believes that all inspections have a purpose – except one. Mosquitoes.

“I still haven’t figured out the reason for it.”

Preferring the warm soil found in central Indiana during the spring and summer, termites head to the top of the earth in search of wood to eat. (Photo: Courtesy Franklin Pest Solutions)

Back to termites.

“Unfortunately we put a few houses where these trees used to be so that they could eat up our houses. We want termites in our world, we just don’t want them in our homes. “

Termites especially like Indiana and Illinois, he said, because the soil temperature doesn’t get too cold.

In Alaska, for example, “you don’t find a lot of termites,” Rand said.

Termites, which are beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole, are not considered “pests” until they invade our homes. Remember that they meet us around them, said Rand.

“Termites are much older than humans,” Rand reminds us. “You have seen a lot.”

This particular insect can be a real pest as it only takes about 1/64 of an inch to squeeze into your world. Remember to tap a piece of paper with a pencil to get this picture in your head. Did you just do that? That’s as small a hole as a termite needs.

One key to keeping termites out of your home is to keep untreated wood at bay.

“You can’t prevent termites,” Rand said, “but what you can do is mitigate potential problems. Some people may have a wooden fence touching a house. five, 10, 15 feet away. “

Curtis Rand, a Purdue University graduate and vice president of Franklin Pest Solutions, is fascinated by termites, a “pest” that serves a specific purpose. (Photo: Courtesy Franklin Pest Solutions)

While termites will stay in our environment indefinitely, Rand described a successful, non-invasive method of removing them from your immediate environment.

And this non-invasive trick plays with the food hierarchy of a termite: the worker termite eats, then she throws the food for the soldier termite, who then feeds the queen.

According to experts, the workers termite is the only species that actually eats wood. The rest – the soldier and the queen – eat what the workers termite supplies.

For example, a Sentricon bait trap, according to Rand, attracts the worker termites who feed on the bait and vomit – yuck! – as a source of food for the soldier termites and the queen. When the workers die, they cannot feed the queen and / or the soldiers, who then die.

The queen and soldiers die in one of two ways: either from feeding the bait with the vomited food, or from starvation because the workers who feed them have died.

“If a queen dies,” said Rand, “the colony dies.”

Rand said exterminators were not so busy killing pests as they were trying to get them off our path. In his decades of work he has encountered many a pest with any number of legs and eyes.

A memorable visit included a tour of a large kitchen.

“When I removed one of the ceiling tiles, thousands of cockroaches fell on my head,” he said.

On another notable inspection, Rand found several books. On the surface, a particular book appeared to be in good condition. But when he opened the spine, the insides were eaten away.

And what was the name of the book?

“The Bible.”

Deanna Watson is the Editor-in-Chief at Journal & Courier. Contact her at dwatson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ deannawatson66.

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