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The Difference Between Flying Black Ants and Alates When
the humitdity is high termites can be found swarning. This swarming does not mean that they will
attack your home and eat it like seen in a cartoon, but be aware, their
swarming is more secretive and slower in action and can be more permanent. Flying
termites are called alates, and direr from flying
ants in many ways. Below is a drawing to help with the three main
differences. The
smaller differences are: ·
Termites have smokey to brown wings while ants
have transparent wings. ·
Termites tend to flutter in flight and drift with the wind while ants
have a lot of flight control and land and take off at will. ·
Termites are not white but their colour can
vary from cream to black. ·
Termites will snap their wings off when they land and look for a mate. The
procedure followed by alates is well defined: As
termites need 65% humidity to survive, the alates
will only leave the nest on warm humid days or evenings, when they leave it
is in mass and can be compared to smoke coming from the nest with thousand
upon thousand flying at once, they drift with the wind currents until they
land, most of the time after crashing. When on the ground they snap their
wings off and the female emits a pheromone (sent) attract a male, once a pair
have located each other they find the nearest place to dig into the soil,
mate and start a new colony. The
process works well in the wild. Usually the alates
will crash into a tree and end up forming a nest at the bas of the tree (a
ready made food source). However when a building (which is much wider than a
tree and more termites do crash into it) is involved, the termites usually
end up under external concrete areas which provide food shelter from
predators like black ants. The big down side is that the building becomes the
ready made food source! High risk
areas like Atriums, indoor gardens, court yards and alike,
are prime areas for alates to start a nest an dare
usually within the building. The main
concerns are: 1.
You should at least have had an up to date termite perimeter treatment
carried out by Stewarts, to help prevent the new nest from starting or
entering the building. 2.
You should also have Stewarts carry out regular termite inspection in
case termite alates form a nest in the building
within the perimeter treatment. No one can tell or guarantee that termite alates will not land or fly from your property and
inspection may detect a nest early. Both the
above are a minimum first step in trying to protect buildings from termite alates invading and starting a nest on the property.
Stewarts have numerous control methods that can be used for termites. So if you
think you have found alates, have a go at
identifying whether it is an ant or an alate. If
you are in doubt or need any advice as to what you need to do phone Stewarts
(08) 9479 1111 or 13BUGS (13-2847).
Also
see Equipment
needed to do termite inspection work Warning
on following up inspection work Or
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