Fun Fact about Termites: Cool Creatures …But Not in Your Home!
Jun 12, 2023Animal fun facts make life enjoyable, and who doesn’t want to ‘wow’ their friends with tidbits of trivia? You can use them to impress the co-worker in the next cubicle or ensure your children think you are the coolest. There is, however, one bug that leaves many people frustrated instead of fascinated—the tiny, tenacious, termite. Termites eat on homes 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and cause billions of dollars in damage each year. Without a thorough termite inspection of your Hayward home, you may be providing them with a gourmet buffet, and not know it!
There is more to these tiny wood-chewing machines. They have some fascinating and fun facts you may have never realized.
6 Fun Termite Facts to Impress Your Friends and Neighbors
While talking about bugs might bug many people, some fun facts can serve as cool conversation starters.
- Termites are vital to the circle of life. Everything that lives must die—trees, animals, and bugs. When a tree dies and falls into the soil, it decomposes. Termites aid the process by eating the wood. At the same time, their tunnels help aerate the dirt around them. Without them, we’d have quite a few trees lying around for several years, breeding mold, mildew, and rot.
- Termites need help digesting their food. Baby birds can’t eat without the mother bird first catching some food, eating it, and regurgitating it. Termites are similar. They have microorganisms in their stomach that help them break down the cellulose and plant fibers they ingest.
- Co-parenting is a thing for termites. There is no “I” in the word ‘team’! When it comes to king and queen termites raising their young, they work as partners. The king doesn’t leave his queen alone to handle the thousands of eggs she lays. He is there to help feed the young with predigested food.
- Termites must eat each other’s fecal matter. It’s true, and disturbing, but termites are not born with the necessary microorganisms in their stomach. To get them, the wood chewers must get them from their neighbors.
- Termites are meticulous groomers. These blind bugs groom each other to keep the colony healthy and survive. They could bring harmful bacteria or parasites to their colony without proper grooming, and they are very conscious of this fact.
- Termites depend on pheromones to communicate within the colony. Each colony has its own scent, which they use to leave trails for each other and share information.
A Regular Termite Inspection Lets You Enjoy Termite Trivia, without the Bugs!
Summer is a time for parties with friends, not fretting about termite damage. Times Up Termite helps you keep a bug-free home with our professional termite inspections. Our licensed technicians know what they are looking for and will provide you with options to eradicate these wood-boring insects. We often recommend Altriset, an eco-friendly, reduced-risk pesticide for homes with children, pets, or pregnant moms. We also recommend using termite monitoring/ bait stations by BASF to eradicate these wood-chewing insects of the subterranean variety.
Call 510-568-7200 to speak with our team of experienced, licensed professionals at Times Up Termite, Inc. You can also contact us online to request a free termite inspection in Hayward.