Termite Identification
Is it termites, and if so, which kind? That one answer decides everything else: where to look, how to treat, and what it should cost.
Start with the clue you found
Most people meet termites through a clue, not a termite. Wings on a windowsill. A pile of pellets that keeps coming back. A brown tunnel up the foundation. A baseboard that sounds hollow.
Each clue points to a different kind of termite, and the kind matters. Subterranean termites live in the soil and build mud tubes. Drywood termites live inside the wood and push out pellets. Formosan termites build colonies big enough to change the treatment plan.
The guides below take you from the clue to the answer. If you're holding a winged bug right now, the termite or flying ant quiz is the fastest place to start.
Guides in this section
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Do Termites Bite People or Pets?
Finding termites in your house is alarming enough without wondering whether they'll bite you in your sleep. They won't. Termites are built …
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Termites in Hardwood Floors: Signs and Fixes
A hardwood floor is a strange place to find termites: it's off the ground, finished and walked on every day. But floors sit right on top of…
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Can Termites Get Through Concrete?
A concrete slab feels like armor. To a termite, it's a ceiling with gaps in it. Termites can't chew through concrete, but they don't need t…
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Carpenter Ants vs Termites: Damage, Debris and Treatment
Both live in your wood. Only one eats it. Carpenter ants and termites leave very different evidence behind, and once you know what to look …
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How Fast Can Termites Damage a House?
Finding termites can feel like an emergency. It almost never is. Termite damage builds over months and years, not days, which is good news …
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Termite Damage vs Water Damage: How to Tell
Termites, rot and leaks leave damage that looks a lot alike from across the room, and they often show up together, because water invites al…
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Termites in Trees and Stumps: Should You Worry?
Finding termites in a tree can mean almost nothing or something serious, and the difference is the species. Native termites are cleaning up…
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What Attracts Termites to a House?
Termites don't pick a house the way a mosquito picks a person. Subterranean termites find houses by bumping into them while they forage und…
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What Do Termites Look Like? Workers, Soldiers, Swarmers
Most people picture one termite. There are really four or five, depending on the job, and the one you're most likely to see, the winged swa…
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Drywood Termites: Signs, Pellets and Treatment
Drywood termites skip the soil, the mud tubes and the foundation entirely. They fly in, move into a piece of dry wood and stay there for a …
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Flying Ants vs Termites: How to Tell in 10 Seconds
Same season, same window, same panic. One of them means a few dollars of ant bait. The other means a termite inspection. Three body parts t…
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Formosan Termites: Why They're Different and Where They've Spread
The Formosan termite is the one entomologists call by name when they want to sound worried. It's a subterranean termite like the natives, b…
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Signs of Termites: 9 Clues and What Each One Means
Termites almost never show themselves, so you find them by the mess they leave. Here are the nine clues worth knowing, what each one is tel…
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Subterranean Termites: The Ones in Your Soil
Most termite trouble in America starts underground. Subterranean termites live in the soil, travel through it to find wood, and reach your …
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Termite Droppings but No Termites? What It Means and What to Do
Little piles of "pepper" and not a bug in sight is exactly what drywood termites look like. Here's how to read the pile, test whether anyon…
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Termite Mud Tubes: What They Are and What to Do
That crooked brown line running up your foundation isn't dirt. It's a covered highway for subterranean termites, and it can tell an inspect…
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Termite Wings on the Windowsill: What They Mean
A small heap of see-through wings on a windowsill is the most common termite clue in America, and the easiest one to wipe away without thin…
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Termites Swarming in Your House: What to Do Today
Dozens of winged insects pouring out of a wall is alarming. The good news: the swarmers themselves are harmless and will be dead by tomorro…
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Types of Termites in the U.S. and Where They Live
About 45 kinds of termites live in the continental U.S., but only a handful cause real trouble in houses. Knowing which one you have decide…
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What Does a Termite King Do? How a Termite Colony Works
Ant and bee colonies are run by a queen alone. Termite colonies have a king too, and he sticks around for years. Here's what he does, and w…
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When Do Termites Swarm? Season, Time of Day, Weather
Most termites swarm in spring, on a warm day after rain. But "most" leaves out the Formosans at dusk in May, the western termites after the…
Questions people ask
What are the first signs of termites?
The most common first signs are swarmers or their shed wings near windows and doors in spring, mud tubes on the foundation, and small piles of pellets under wood trim. Damage itself usually shows up later.
How can I tell what kind of termite I have?
Look at the evidence. Mud tubes mean subterranean termites. Six-sided pellet piles mean drywood termites. Swarm timing and where you live narrow it down further, and an inspector can confirm.