Which termites eat wood

Termites silently attack your basement, attic or any other part of your home where wood is present, without it showing immediate signs of damage. Your house provides the food, moisture, shelter and ideal temperature termites need to survive. Here's what you need to know about a termite's favorite meal:. Termites seek out cellulose, the most plentiful organic compound found in nature. It is the main building block of plants and found in many materials humans use every day.

Termites feed on many of these materials to get the cellulose they need: plants, plant byproducts, cotton fibers your t-shirt, for example , paper products and, of course, wood. Termites eat wood to derive the cellulose and nutrients they need to live. Termites have protozoa and bacteria in their gut that allow them to break down the cellulose fibers in wood, which is difficult for other creatures to digest.

These organisms turn those cellulose fibers into a nutritious meal and allow termites access to a food source that's largely ignored by other species. Subterranean termites like to eat the soft fibers of springwood and leave the harder summerwood behind.

Wood eaten by subterranean termites resembles a honeycomb, and many of its galleries contain dirt and fecal particles. Drywood termites seek out dry wood such as the wood in your home's framing, structural timbers, hardwood floors and furniture. They do not make contact with the soil and are able to glean the water they need directly from the wood they inhabit. Call Termites' diets are primarily made up of cellulose, an organic fiber plentiful in wood and other plants such as grass.

When digested, cellulose provides termites with the nutrients they need to survive. Since wood is difficult to consume and digest, termites are at an advantage and rarely compete with many other insect species for food. Termites are equipped with special mouthparts for chewing wood and other sources of cellulose, plus microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoans and an organism similar to bacteria called Achaea. These microorganisms enable termites to break down cellulose into digestible substances, thus enabling the insects to obtain life-sustaining energy and other necessary nutrients.

Not only do termites eat wood, but many species of the insect live in it, too. This makes finding food sources easier for the pests. Generally, termites live in trees, lumber, soil, and wooden structures.

Therefore, homes are vulnerable to damage caused by termite feeding. In a number of cases, termite invasions in homes go unnoticed for long periods of time. Once colonies are established deep inside the structure, termites can stay permanently without being noticed by the homeowner. Thinking so and not taking action can be a very costly mistake on the long term.

Call us as soon as you notice any of the signs presented above, and we will help you get rid of the colony before it will cause more damage to your property. You might think that by eliminating the infested source of wood, you will eliminate the problem. Their colonies are deep under the ground, and they only climb to the surface looking for wood. If you eliminate the affected wood, you will only kill a small part of the colony, those who were feeding there at the moment.

The others will simply look for the next target. Do your own research, but most important of all, call an expert. Even some bait stations used to attract and then to kill termites are filled with Tasmanian Oak, which is a hardwood. So as you can see, these insects definitely feed on it. But unfortunately, homeowners of hardwood houses usually avoid doing their annual termite inspections , thinking that they are safe. This could be a big mistake and might cause a lot more economic damage than the small cost of an inspection.

If your home gets infested right now and you only do the inspection 2 years later, you give them plenty of time to destroy multiple wooden areas in your home. We once had a client who found a nest of termites on a tree in their backyard. He called another pest control company which told him that this species will not feed on hardwood and that his home is safe, yet he, later on, found holes and galleries inside a wall. That company was not experienced and they misidentified the species of termites.

They thought it was the Heterotermes which feed only on softwood , but it was actually the Nasutitermes, a species that feeds on the hardwood. The damage to the home was significant, and the nasty pests even reached some hardwood beams in his roof. The process of eradicating the colony was long and costly, and it could have been avoided if the problem had been detected earlier. Also, do not use home remedies as they are ineffective.

Not only this, but they can even do more harm, by dispersing the colony to multiple other places around your home. Instead, give us a call and we will inspect your property and then come up with a customized plan of eradication and protection.