After Returning From A Nine

There are Carpenter Ants, Powder Post Beetles, and even Old House Borers.This leads me to my final piece worth noting: never assume someone is an expect on Wood Destroying Insects unless it's what they do for a living.After returning from a nine day short-term missions trip to Central America, my wife told me the story of an excursion they took to the highest mountain of Honduras to view some of the most incredible sights of nature. When I arrived, I had a hard time convincing him he did not need a termite job; he had a good swarm of Citronella Ants (named for their citronella-like odor). Just like you would not go to a podiatrist for advice about that nagging toothache, make sure you talk to someone in the Pest Control industry when it comes to Wood Destroying Insects. He then craftily removed his handy machete and chopped it in half. The saying, "out of sight, out of mind," might apply. These kinds of termites work under the cover of darkness--actually, more like--under houses!The subject of termites seems to be taboo, unless of course, you or one of your clients has had them infest a structure. Bite by bite, they can literally "eat you out of house and home". I don't think it helped. While some of us may be entertaining, I don't think you will find us eating termites. A little while ago, a soon-to-be-client called me and insisted that he had termites in his country-club home. While they may be equivalent to an indoor hurricane, one should not panic, these guys are not the ones doing the damage; it's the rest of their family you need to worry about: the workers--underground and in the structure. Embarrassed, the guide tried to regain the group's respect and quipped, "Tastes like chicken!". In the end, he was thankful for my honesty and became a routine general pest customer..As you might expect, this drew mixed reactions from the crowd including gagging, laughing, and heads nodding in disbelief.Well, thankfully, you won't find one of these termite nests dangling from your neighbor's tree over your property line here in the northeastern US. The amused group looked on until, as to their horror, he reached down and picked up a scrambling termite, and ate it. Not all wood damage is from termites. That is, until your walls look like they are moving from just the 1st wave of termite "swarms"..While enjoying a natural bird sanctuary, their native tour guide stumbled upon a nest of termites hanging on a tree. However, what you could find is even scarier--Subterranean Termites. If any of these are suspected, it may be worth a second opinion. But don't ever assume that everything that swarms inside a structure is a termite: many species of ants.