How Many Eggs do Termites Lay
You’ve got a big problem when you’ve got a termite problem. These pests can cause some of all pest animals’ most expensive property damage. On our website, we’ve previously talked about what attracts termites and how to start dealing with them… Today we’d like to explain why termites are such a big problem. We’re going to cover how quick and aggressive they are when it comes to expansion. We’ll also cover the basics of how termite colonies work, alongside how much termites lay, to give you a better idea of what’s happening.
First off, let’s start with those basics.
The Structure of a Termite Colony
You may have seen some dramatic pictures of huge dirt mounds taller than a grown man. Luckily, the termites in Florida aren’t going to be building any skyscrapers. They mostly live underground or in wooden structures like carpenter ants. We can break termite colonies down into three different castes:
Workers: Basic termites that carry out day-to-day tasks.
Soldiers: Larger, stronger termites that defend the colony.
Reproductives: This caste includes egg-laying queens and winged alates that form new colonies.
Unlike wasps, ants, bees, and other social insects, the workers and soldiers can be male or female. In other social insects, the only males are reproductives. In termites, the only individuals that can reproduce are reproductive caste members.
Termite Queens
Young termite queens look like flying termites. After they mate, they start a new colony, digging into the ground or wood and becoming massive. An enormous number of eggs stretches out her abdomen until she almost resembles a tiny baguette or maybe a grub. She can get up to the size of your pointer finger, which is huge.
A termite queen can live for 15-20 years, longer than most Americans own a single home. Do you know how many eggs these huge insects can lay? A single queen termite can lay 25 eggs a minute. If you’re any good at math, you can work that out to around 11 million eggs every year!
How to Kill a Queen Termite
Killing a queen termite specifically is challenging. They’re safe under layers and layers of dirt in a huge mound. Every termite colony has a central chamber where the heavily gravid queen rests with her king. Early on in a colony’s life, it’s just these two adult termites caring for several young. It can be hard to find this central chamber… So forget about digging for them.
Instead, your options usually consist of poisoning the colony or killing all the workers, so the queen starves. Unfortunately, even if a queen dies, some eggs will hatch into queens, which may take over the existing colony.
The best and most surefire way to get rid of termites in Plant City, Florida, is to get professional help. Consolidated Pest Control has been serving the area since 1981 – That’s over 40 years of experience. So if you’ve got a termite problem in your home, do yourself a favor and call us. Not only will we treat you right, but we’ll make sure your termite problem ends.
There won’t be any queens left to take over by the time we’re finished. We will kill the termites you have, but we’ll stop them from coming back. So stop worrying about how much termites lay, and start enjoying a house free of termites.
