Termites, Termites, Everywhere

I was recently visiting a friend when I glanced over at the sliding glass window.  As I looked at the floor it appeared to be discolored and moving.  I got up to inspect and realized that the floor in front of the door was covered with bugs.  There were thousands (my friend says over a million) of them. They covered an area of approximately 3 foot by 10 foot.  As we were vacuuming them up we realized that most of the bugs appeared to be dead.  There were small black bodies and larger white wings.  Many of the wings were detached from the bodies.  I suspected they were termites but I had never seen so many dead ones at one time. 

My friend did not know what to think.  She had swept the kitchen floor earlier that day.  What the heck?!?  How could so many bugs congregate and die in such a short amount of time?  First we went on the internet and confirmed that they were termites.  We determined where they were coming from.  We noticed that we kept seeing a few stranglers by the refrigerator.  When we pulled out the frig we discovered where they were coming from. 

Subterranean Termites

Oh no.  Would they need to tent and would she have to deal with finding a place to stay for a couple of days and don't even mention the hassle of bagging up food and dishes.  We called Scott from Truly Nolan, a pest inspector I often recommend for my real estate transactions.  He came out and did the inspection and confirmed they were subterraean termites.  He did a thorough inspection and much to our relief there was no evidence of the wood eating termites in the home.  He also told us tenting is not used to treat the subterranean termites because they are in the ground.  They come out to breed and take off to establish new colonies.  This is what happened in my friend's kitchen.  They came up and tried to leave but only got as far as the closed sliding door and that is where they met their fate.

The work is scheduled for next week and should be completed in one day.  My friend does not have to leave the home and her cat will be fine inside the house.  They will squirt chemical into holes and trenches around the exterior of her home to create a barrier.  They will do the same under her frig.  While it is never pleasant to have to deal with unexpected home expenses, in this case it could have been much worse!