While gardening or mowing your Monmouth County, NJ lawn, have you ever stumbled across a “puddle” of what seem to be hundreds of winged ants milling around on the ground? If so, you have come across a group of swarmers, a sure signal that a massive termite or carpenter ant colony is located nearby and is chewing away on the wood in your home. Swarmers signal a serious pest problem and should not be ignored. Mark the spot; capture a few specimens if you can so the insect can be correctly identified; and call a termite exterminator NJ immediately.
Why Do Insects Swarm?
Termite and carpenter ant colonies swarm when they outgrow local resources and need to expand. When this occurs, the colony queen produces hundreds of winged reproductives. Reproductives leave the nest and climb to the surface where they congregate before flying off in mating pairs to start new colonies. Swarming typically begins in March as soon as the ground thaws and can continue through July.
Identifying Swarmers
To the untrained eye, swarming termites and carpenter ants look pretty much alike. Both have dark, ant-like bodies and long grayish-white wings. On close inspection, swarming carpenter ants exhibit an ant’s classic pinched waist and elbowed antennae; but these characteristics are usually hidden from view by their wings. Their wings are the easiest way to tell these two wood-destroying insects apart. Carpenter ants have a longer fore wing than hind wing while termites’ wings are the same size and nearly twice as long as their bodies.
The discovery of swarmers indicates that your Monmouth, NJ home is under serious attack by wood-destroying pests. Calling an experienced termite exterminator NJ immediately is the only way to stop damage to your home.