The most destructive pest on Long Island, and the quietest. A colony feeds for years before anything shows above ground, and what finally shows is usually a swarm at a window in spring.
Signs in the house
- Pencil-width mud tubes running up the foundation, a pier or a crawlspace wall.
- Piles of identical discarded wings on window sills in March or April.
- Trim or baseboard that sounds hollow and dents under a screwdriver.
- Paint that looks blistered or rippled over a flat surface.
- Floors that have started to sag in one place rather than generally.
Size
3-4 mm workers; swarmers about 10 mm with wings.
Active
Year-round below ground. Swarms March through June.
Nests in
Soil, with tubes up to any wood in contact with the ground.
Risk
Structural, and cumulative. Damage is measured in years, not weeks.
Treatment window
Same week. A full barrier takes one day.