Why do I respect termites?

Mumbai is a city of dreams, a city of opportunities. And everyone is well aware of that. But Chennai, it is no less. Chennai is a city of dreams and opportunities too. And I can tell you that with confidence. That’s because I’ve been living in Chennai for the past 8 years, and it is indeed a wonderful city to live in.

Every individual here is passionate, career oriented and most importantly, optimistic. No matter what comes their way, they never stop. Sorry, I mean we never stop. If there’s something that stops us from living the way we want, we ignore.

However, there’s one thing that forces us to pay attention. Ignorance is bliss, but not every time. And this problem that I am going to talk about is such a small one, yet a devastating one.

It’s the problem of termites. And that is why, somewhere inside me, I have respect for termites. So many obstacles, so many problems, but these tiny insects do not let us ignore them.

Termites are insects that feed on dead plants and trees. Their mains source of nutrition is wood and plants. Apart from that, they also consume materials like plastic, paper and drywall.

Here begins the problem. All those basic things that we have at home are their daily routine diet. And there are various signs that indicate their presence in our houses.

These signs include discoloured drywall, peeling paint causing water damage, buckling wooden floor boards, etc. And their biggest strength is that they will reside in the foundations, windows and door frames without being visible or ages.

All they need is 3–5 years to reach maturity and they will cause major damage. A known fact is that every year, they cause more than 5 billion dollars in property damage.

Also, their family is just too vast. The world has about 2000 different varieties.

Different species have different styles of doing their job. For example, drywood termites consume any piece of wood found in and around your house.

And they are absolutely loyal and lovable to each other. Like humans, they are social too. They feed their families, their young ones, and they protect their members too. One of the signs of this is their head banging.

Head banging is a clicking sound that comes from the walls. They bang their heads against the wall every time they sense disturbance or danger by any other community.

Another example is the worker termites. These junks are too noisy, and they love eating your precious wood work. Put your ears close to the wood infested wall and you will hear them munching.

Although they cause severe damage, there’s something I really appreciate about these species. And that’s something not many people know about. It’s the fact that these creatures love rock music. These wood addicted insects will work faster when they hear rock. That’s very similar to my habit.

Flying termites are interesting too. These are males and females who leave their nests, look for a mate and establish a new colony. And that colony might be your house.

There’s a lot to know about termites. Another amazing fact is that the total weight of all the termites in the world is more than all the humans.

These creatures are indeed interesting, but cause damage too. And so it is important to know how to get rid of them. And to do so, an important step is to regularly examine any decking, fencing and other wood components and act immediately if found.

Contact a pest control team, and they’ll take care of your problem. They’ll help you get rid of such infestations, and will also seal their entry points to avoid such problems in future.

Because termites are interesting as long as they aren’t at your place.