Drywood termites are a common pest infesting many homes in Malaysia. They can be identified by their droppings left behind after eating through wood and paper products. The most common places to find these droppings are window sills, door frames, baseboards, and any other area where they have access to food sources. Homeowners should hire a specialist for termite control solutions once they identify any signs of pest infestations.
If not treated right away, dry wood termites can cause thousands of ringgit worth of damage over time.
This blog post will cover how to identify drywood termite droppings so you can keep your home safe from this destructive insect!
What Are Drywood Termites?
Have you ever experienced going up to your attic to get a few things and suddenly saw sawdust-like droppings near old wooden beams? These droppings are likely the leftover of these destructive insects called drywood termites.
Drywood termites are termites that do not require a high moisture content in the wood to survive. Instead, they inhabit dead or dying trees that have already dried out. They are usually found only in warmer climates but they can find their way to homes as well.
These termites are like ants. but unlike normal swarming ants where you would see a large number in one place at once time or around your food source (pests like this is called “sugar ant” – where they found near sugar/sweet foods), dry wood termite infestations start out small before increasing over time as more termites keep coming back to their existing colonies for food continuing to eat away at your home’s wooden foundation.
How to Identify Drywood Termite Droppings
There are several signs to help you determine if your home might be infested by drywood termites. The most common sign of an infestation is seeing droppings near window sills, door frames, and baseboards where the insects gain access to food sources.
These droppings are usually sawdust-like in appearance but there’s a chance that they might have small wings attached to them as well which would indicate winged adults present in the area.
Another way to determine if you have a dry wood termite problem is by tapping on walls or floorboards before walking across it with bare feet – this helps avoid false positives from normal cracks/crevices found throughout your home. If you hear hollow noises, you may have a significant drywood termite infestation.
There are many different ways to identify these droppings but they all come down to the same concept of using your senses and looking for evidence of an insect that leaves behind sawdust-like waste after eating wood products. This is important because if found early enough, it can prevent damage from occurring in high amounts over time.
Where Do Drywood Termites Form Colonies?
Generally, drywood termite colonies are found in dead or dying trees. They do not require a high moisture content to survive and can find their way into homes as well if there are any gaps/holes where they gain access from.
In nature, these pests would eat through the wood of the tree itself but when living inside walls or other wooden structures humans have built for themselves, they will instead go after paper products like bookshelves and baseboards since it offers them an easy food source with little effort required on their part.
Drywood colonies can have up to thousands and even millions of termites living in them and they will never leave the colony once they’re adults. Because of this, it’s important to get rid of these pests as soon as possible before symptoms start appearing throughout your home and significant damage is caused over time.
Are Drywood Termites Dangerous?
If you factor in the things that can happen with an active drywood infestation such as weakened structures, structural damage, and the chance of fire due to build-up over time, these pests can be unbelievably dangerous.
Of course, the last thing you want to happen is walking down your stairs and suddenly tripping because the stair’s floorboards aren’t as strong as they were because of termites.
Aside from this danger though, you won’t find much in terms of health risks when it comes to drywood termites unless they’re disturbed or you accidentally ingest them (which is not likely). However, people with allergies should take extra precautions since actual symptoms are rare but could happen if there’s enough exposure.
Ways to Stop Drywood Termites
The best way to stop drywood termites from sabotaging your peace is by hiring a professional pest control company that specializes in termite removal and prevention. This will not only save you money since they offer service plans at reasonable prices but it also ensures your safety from having to deal with these pests on your own.
Professionals will be able to provide you with a warranty and the best guarantee possible in terms of protecting your home from future infestations.
If you’re interested in learning more about drywood termite droppings, there’s plenty of information online that can help give you an idea on how to identify this threat if it happens to be present within your home – just remember not every sawdust-like pile is related to these destructive pests!
What to Keep In Mind
In general, drywood infestations can go undetected for years before being found which is why getting rid of them as early as possible is the best way to avoid damage over time. If left untreated long enough, significant structural damages may occur throughout homes.
By keeping the information we’ve listed, we’re sure you’ll be able to protect your home better. If you need more help in dealing with these creatures, then don’t hesitate to reach out!