They can cause serious damage to structures such as houses and buildings and even to plant fields. They thrive

on dead plant material so even your books, cabinets and cupboards are not safe! They do their attack in an

organized fashion, in one group! And Houston City, which is known for its almost tropical climate, is just the right place for colonies like theirs to flourish. Who knows, maybe their next target could be your house! We're talking about termite colonies, the silent invaders of our homes.

You've probably seen it before, that conspicuous brown tunnel running across your cupboard wall and that trail of wood dust that's left of what used to be your perfect wooden cabinet. And upon close inspection of the rest of your home, you'll see that they've penetrated your other wood cabinets, your walls and most any other wooden material in your home as well. And yes, even some of your books were not spared.

What are termites? How and why can they do so much damage?

Termites are insects that feed on wood-based materials such as furnitures, ceilings and walls. They are sometimes called "white ants", although other than having an organized division of labor, they are not related to each other. Because they have the habit of eating wood, termites can do severe wood damage to structures important to you. Termite colonies are formidable in number, some of which have a few hundred individual termites while some colonies have up to millions of individual termites.

Members of a termite colony include the following:

Termite queen - whose main function is to mate and produce eggs.

Termite king - the one who mates with the queen.

Worker termites - they are the ones tasked to look for food and oversee the maintenance of their nest or mounds.
Because of the nature of their jobs, worker termites the ones most likely to be found in infested wood.
Soldiers - these termites are anatomically able to provide shelter from ant attacks.
Nasute - these are specialized soldier termites tasked to protect the other termites from ant invasion, for instance.

Termites may be killed in four different ways. The first one is liquid terminate treatment which sprays chemicals around the house.. The second way is to use termite baits like applying small amounts of pesticides. The third way to kill termites is thru the Borate termite treatment which is applied directly to our woods. The last way to kill tetmites is thru fumigation which works best for the type of termites commonly found in our homes.

How do we prevent termites from invading our homes? To survive, termites need food and water. It is best not to let any food or water source be available for termites to start thriving. Soil and wood that have accumulated moisture are the best sites for the beginning of termite infestation. Since most termite infestations go undetected until it's too late, the only best solution is call for professional assistance.

If you suspect the presence of termites in your home, the first step that you should do is call an exterminator since getting rid of it yourself can be hard and difficult. With the best exterminators, termites will find it hard to thrive even in the subtropical weather of Houston City!