Everyone knows termites are detrimental to homes. They can infest and destroy your home and many times you don’t even know it until it is too late. But besides being annoying and destructive tiny critters, they serve ecological growth and have some truly fascinating facts surrounding them.
A-Tex Pest Management would like to relate some interesting termite facts
1. Queen termites can reach approximately 2 inches in length and are served as a food delicacy in Singapore. The people enjoy a queen termite served alive and dipped in alcohol. They are also presented in rice wine. Macu Indians will dine on termites if crops and gardens don’t produce enough food.
2. There are approximately 1000 termites to one human.
3. In Africa, termites create mounds to live in. One mound was measured to be about the size of a 2 story building, coming in at 42 feet.
4. Found in various locations of the U.S., to reach the wood, termites will build freestanding mud tubes. In one home, it was documented that termites created a mud tube from floor to ceiling, measuring in at 12 feet. In the air conditioning breeze, it would sway back and forth.
5. Deep in the Amazon, there are cultures that believe if a home gets infested with termites, it is a bad omen, signifying the death of someone who lives there. The only way to rectify the situation is to have the termites terminated or to move away from the home.
6. The queen termite occupying African regions, can grow to be approximately 5 inches long, and lay up to 30,000 eggs a year. To put the number of eggs to light, a chicken usually lays about 320 eggs a year.
7. Termites work an entire 24 hours a day, straight through with no sleep.
8. Termites are believed to be roaming the earth far longer than when dinosaurs sauntered through the world. The early humans have been around for near 4 1/2 million years. Dinosaurs were dated around 230 million years ago and termites are traced back 250 million years ago.
9. A termite species are known as Formosans have been known to be extremely aggressive. One colony can consume 650 little league baseball bats, or up to 1,000 pounds of wood each year.
10. A colony of termites typically consists of 1 million citizens and when termites move into a home, usually 3-4 colonies can be found within.
11. Termites avoid light whenever possible.
12. Alaska is the only state where subterranean termites are not found.
13. A termite worker will scout for food up to 250 feet away from their colony. That be the equivalent of a human walking 4 1/2 miles to find food.
14. Termite queens live longer than most other termites, reigning for 15-25 years and able to lay an egg every 15 seconds.
15. The United States houses 40 species of termites and there are over 2,700 species found around the world.
16. Different cultures in the Amazon believe, a smoking termite nest can cure the flu and drinking sweetened boiled termites can cure whooping cough.