Dry Wood Termites

An Orkin inspection is scheduled for Thursday, March 27, but we should be vigilant ourselves, because the inspector can't see everything. Balconies are a favorite termite location, especially inside balcony closets and around sliding glass doors.

From Bob Vila's website:

Drywood termites infest dry, undecayed wood, including structural lumber as well as dead limbs of native trees and shade and orchard trees, utility poles, posts, and lumber in storage. From these areas, winged reproductives seasonally migrate to nearby buildings and other structures usually on sunny days during fall months. Drywood termites are the most typical termite in southern California, but also occur along most coastal regions, the central valley, and southern desert. Drywood termites have a low moisture requirement and can tolerate dry conditions for prolonged periods. They remain entirely above ground and do not connect their nests to the soil, but piles of their fecal pellets, which are distinctive in appearance, may be a clue to their presence. The fecal pellets are elongate (about 0.03 inch or 0.8 mm long) with rounded ends and have six flattened or roundly depressed surfaces separated by six longitudinal ridges. Winged adults of western drywood termites (Incisitermes minor) are dark brown with smoky black wings and have a reddish brown head and thorax; wing veins are black. These insects are noticeably larger than subterranean termites. Winged forms of the desert drywood termite, Marginitermes hubbardi, are pale. Soldiers of this species have a clublike third antennal segment that is almost as long as all the succeeding segments combined, easily distinguishing them from other species.

From the U.C. Davis website:

"During a visual inspection for drywood termites, inspectors look for feeding damage, shed wings, termite fecal pellets, and kickout holes, which are small holes the size of BB shot through which termites push fecal pellets out of the wood. Fecal pellets, hexagonal in shape, are diagnostic for drywood termites. However, whether the infestation is currently active or what the extent of the infestation is cannot be determined from pellets alone. Cleaning up the fecal pellets around a kickout hole and checking a few days later to see if new pellets have appeared can help to determine if an infestation is active. (Building vibrations/movements may cause some pellets to appear.) If an active infestation of drywood termites is found in your structure, you should have it treated."

Termite fecal pellets can look like small, sandy piles. We expect you to get out your magnifying glasses to check those fecal pellets. Are they hexagonal?