If you find discarded insect wings littering the floor of your basement or garage or scattered over the windowsills of your Monmouth County, NJ home; you have a serious insect problem and should call an experienced insect exterminator NJ immediately. A litter of discarded insect wings indicates a mature infestation of either termites or carpenter ants. Both of these wood destroying insects can cause severe damage to Monmouth County homes and businesses.
Which Is It Termites or Carpenter Ants?
As we’ve noted in previous posts, when termite and carpenter ant colonies grow too large for available resources, they expand by swarming. Both insect species create specialized winged reproductives which crawl to the surface either from underground nests (termites) or nesting galleries tunneled into the wood (carpenter ants). Swarmers of both species look like winged ants and can only be correctly identified by close inspection of their body shapes and wing sizes by an experienced termite and ant exterminator NJ.
What Discarded Wings Mean
Once they reach the surface, winged reproductives pair off and fly away in mating flights. Males die after mating. Females land, bite off their wings and burrow into the ground to begin new colonies. Because swarmers are poor fliers, they frequently land nearby and are easily stopped by obstructions like windows and doors. Discovering a litter of discarded wings is an indication that swarmers have landed and burrowed in to begin new colonies. It is not unusual to find multiple termite or carpenter ant colonies on the same property.
Successfully ridding your property of termites and carpenter ants requires professional services from an experienced termite and ant exterminator NJ. If you see insect wings in your Monmouth County home, call Allison Pest Control today.