Fox Pest Control Long Island
Holbrook, Suffolk County
NYSDEC registration checked: #18576
The termite in Long Island houses is the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. Advanced Pest Management, which works out of Garden City, says it is the only species that produces real swarms here. The colony lives in the soil and travels up into the wood of the house, so the damage is usually out of sight.
Three kinds of termite in one colony
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station describes the castes:
- Workers. Pale, soft, blind and wingless. People sometimes call them white ants.
- Soldiers. Like workers but with large jaws, there to defend the colony.
- Swarmers. Dark brown or black with wings. They leave the colony to mate and start new ones.
When termites swarm on Long Island
The experiment station gives the season as March through June. Advanced Pest Management narrows it for Long Island and Queens: swarms start in late March, peak in April and taper off through May, with early June possible after a cold spring. The company says its first indoor swarm calls come from Queens around March 22, from Nassau about a week later, and from Suffolk a week after that.
What sets a swarm off, by Advanced’s account:
| Condition | What to watch for |
|---|---|
| Soil temperature | High 50s to mid 60s |
| Rain | A soaking rain that saturates the soil |
| The day after | Warm and sunny, usually 65 degrees or warmer |
| Time of day | Often late morning |
Termite or flying ant
Winged carpenter ants come out in spring too. Three things tell them apart:
| Feature | Termite swarmer | Flying ant |
|---|---|---|
| Antennae | Straight and beaded | Bent at an elbow |
| Waist | Thick, no pinch | Narrow, pinched waist |
| Wings | Four wings the same length, longer than the body | Front wings longer than the back pair |
Source: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and Advanced Pest Management. The experiment station adds one more clue in the wood itself: carpenter ant galleries are clean and leave piles of speckled sawdust, while termite galleries are lined with soil and leave no sawdust.
Signs of termites without a swarm
Advanced Pest Management and Knockout Pest Control in Uniondale list the signs they find in Long Island houses:
- mud tubes about as wide as a pencil, running up foundation walls, posts, sill plates and pipes
- wood that sounds hollow or papery when you tap it
- piles of shed wings on window sills, in light fixtures or along baseboards
- eaten wooden tack strips under basement carpet
- damage behind wood paneling in a finished basement
- paint on wood trim that cracks or bubbles with no moisture problem behind it
The experiment station says termites eat along the grain and avoid breaking through the surface, so a board can look fine from outside and be hollow inside.
What to do next
Sweep up or bag a few of the swarmers so a company can see them. Then book an inspection. Knockout recommends getting the inspection done in spring, before the season peaks. When you are ready to compare prices for liquid treatment and bait stations, our termite treatment page lays out what Long Island companies charge.