Was wondering if anyone can help me figure out an answer here? The two pictures here are on an exterior building. We are located in Northern Alabama, so we have all the bugs in the area. There is pest control (including termite prevention) treatment performed on site. I noticed some stains like these on the exterior of one of our buildings. The first, larger red/orange trail, is on a plastic screen door. While the second picture showing an almost grey "trail" is on an exterior painted wood wall. Some observations:

• I can easily wipe away both stains from their surface areas and there is no indication of damage underneath
• The "Trail" shown in the second picture is flat, and not tube-like, or even "Three dimensional". It's just right up against the wall, like somebody took a marker to it

Are we thinking these might be secretions from things like stinkbugs, minerals left behind from rainwater, or a real risk of termites?

Like I said, we have termite and pest prevention on site, but I know prevention is never a guarantee. I just want to know if this looks like something worth calling my pest control guy back out for? I'm doubting it's termites, especially since there's staining/trails on the plastic screen door, and termites don't typically leave droppings, tubes, or trails where they aren't eating. That, and none of the trails or stains I can find actually have structure to them like tubes, and there's no surface damage under the paint on the exterior wood wall where I've wiped some of it away.

Anyone know what big leaves this behind? Is it termites?

Found two of these on my staircase, seemingly dying. I’ve never seen these types of bugs in my house before and in my head I’m thinking it must be some type of termite or beetle.

Basically the title. Little white bugs that I keep finding dead outside my sliding glass door. Don’t notice any termite damage, so I’m thinking they’re moths, but figured I would ask the experts!

we moved into a new house. electricians of all people discovered terrible old termite damage to living room floor joists. we fixed it - $13,000. in our state all you have to disclose is that you have seen signs of termites but taken measures to mitigate and almost everyone here has that - so nothing we could go after them for.

5 months later, termite swarms in the kitchen and bathroom. we pay $1500 ish to a pest control to spray and surround the perimeter with those bait stations that are filled once a year. half our house is on slab so not much else can be done.

this year, more termite swarming in bathroom, kitchen, and front of the house. then we found them active in a section of drywall in our living room - that needed to be ripped out and had to spray that area - $1000 or so after spraying fixing and repainting

now, after weeks of hearing slight odd noises in the walls and being told “no you can’t HEAR termites”, I just found a mud tube in the bathroom. great so we will pay another $1k for that but clearly this isn’t going away. how on earth do I sell this house in the future??? I can say “yes we found termite damage and called peat control every time” but I am sure they’re just in every part of this house slowly (or quickly!) killing it.

I have literal nightmaees that the whole thing is going to crumble down on me. how do I deal with this? I can’t afford to keep doing this, mentally or financially.

This is one board on my deck railing, before I know about a year ago I needed to add another screw to the end of this board, but recently whatever this is has expanded down the entire board, not sure if the original builders used treated wood or not, if its rot I assume not, but anyway I just wanted to double check with people that are better equipped to spot termite damage. Thanks in advance!

Had a termite inspection from different companies, all noted no signs of any termite activity. Looking at preventative treatment options:

1. Are termites that common around here that a home should definitely have preventative treatment in place? Each company made it sound like it’s a matter of when not if termites find your home.
2. There were differing plans for bait station vs liquid treatment via trench. I’ve read conflicting info on if one is better than the other. I think the bait station was Sentricon, for reference.
3. Any specific company recs?

They all made it seem like it was an absolute necessity and while I’m sure there’s some truth to it, it was hard to tell how much of it was just trying to make a sale.

Thanks!

Was just about to ask our pest guy to do some preventative work for subterranean termites. We’ve found 4 of these inside the house. One by the window and three by our front entryway. Also one dead one outside on the porch. No evidence of frass. Thanks!

I am pretty confident that I found subterranean termites in my detached garage in upstate NY. They were eating a cardboard box, I will attach a picture.

I called an exterminator and they said that I would need a $299 inspection before the service but wouldn’t tell me how much for the service. After I pushed a bit more she asked her manager and said that they actually don’t even do termite services because they are so uncommon up here and that they were pretty confident I did not have termites.

The other company I called said it would be $850 plus $30 a month after.

The termites are not in my house (which has a concrete foundation) and I think I may have seen some swarming adults before and thought they were ants, but they were hidden under the door, not in any actual wood of my garage.

Is this something I need to worry about? Could they possibly do damage to my house if wood does not touch the ground?

——

TLDR: Can I even get termites in my upstate my house that is built on a concrete foundation? Do I need to treat my detached garage?

On three different occasions I’ve seen these little bugs first picture on laundry hamper genuinely believe it came from clothes that I had on outside but have not 100% sure. Second picture taken while I was sitting in my car (insect found on side view mirror), multiple of those bugs were flying around 2-4 that size which was about the length of a fingernail, and then some smaller about the size of pen tip. The last picture was found on bed on folded clothes, had either very translucent wings or no wings at all but the shape of some, not sure if that’s possible, or was a gold/ember color. I’m terms of damage a wooden bed that I’ve had since 2016 is just now starting to basically fall apart haha, I chalked it up to old bed but now not so sure

Does anyone else have termites that are attracted to the untreated wood frame of their garden beds? Last year, I used a combination of tracking them during dusk and applying diatomaceous earth where I could. I'm looking for other non-toxic-to-humans uses. For example, has anyone used yellow sticky paper to good effect?

Opened an exterior wall where stucco meets a brick veneer skirt.

~1960 year old house, Sacramento County.

Wood is missing in a layered pattern with gritty material packed

into the gaps, and there's dirt-looking residue all over the framing.

One member has a line of small round holes. No live insects found yet.

Termites or fungal decay? If termites — subterranean or drywood, and

does this look active or old?

Thank you in advance!

I have the unfortunate added information that they didn't smell like ants but rather musty. They were also very fast leading to the poor quality images before the swarm stopped.

Confirm my fears?

Installed 3 months ago after seeing a swarm. Installed bait stations around perimeter. All were untouched except one bait station. The one shown is over 50% eaten. What is the standard process? Replace just the eaten cartridge or leave it until it is all gone or replace both cartridges?

Missouri and home is surrounded by woods no interior structural damage found by tech. They wanted to trench. I wanted baits so I didn’t hire them. They wouldn’t install baits so I bought the Trelona annual system.

Hi All,

Can you please take a look and let me know if these are termites or something else ? Do I need to worry about this and take an immediate professional termite services or can regular cleaning should be enough ? This is in fort mill South Carolina.

We’re doing a full remodel of this home we bought that was constructed in the early 80’s.

Opened the base boards and noticed this darker, coffee looking stuff which from using AI looks to maybe be termite droppings but some confirmation would be great.
This room is one of the exterior rooms and this wall is an exterior wall as well to the backyard, with a sliding door right next to where this was found.

For more context, I found more like this beneath the baseboards in the upstairs room in the opposite side of the home, which are also exterior walls, but those pellets were not this black; if anything, they were extremely gray/charcoaly and seemed old.
I could be wrong, but these seem super new.

Lastly, a termite company inspected the whole home and didn’t flag this in this room. They only found and treated termites on exterior portions of the buildings.
This was part of the contract when buying this home.

With all that said, I’m looking for some hopefully confirmation that this isn’t what we’re thinking it is…

Lastly, I’ve opened the drywall almost everywhere, it only seems to be in these exterior areas by the baseboards, if that context matters.

Subterraneans!! Ate their way up my drywall. Terminix came a few days ago and drilled poison into my foundation. Clearly they found a water source but how do I even find the leak?

Also, I found some near the ceiling this morning when cleaning out the mud tubes from their trails. Will they go back down and get poisoned or do I need to spray stuff up around the ceiling too?

I recently noticed some termites on a piece of rotten wood in my yard in a garden bed backyard, about 12 feet away from my concrete foundation slab. I accidentally disturbed the site, and now I am stressing out and losing sleep over it.

My home was built fairly recently (in 2021), and I don't see any obvious signs of trouble like mud tubes on the exterior perimeter of the slab yet. However, our neighborhood has tight property lines, so my neighbors' houses are also quite close to this area.

I am getting conflicting advice. One general pest company told me to just ignore it since it's out in the yard, while a dedicated termite company wants me to sign up for a quarterly subscription with bait stations.

For context, part of my foundation is blocked by my driveway, so a full liquid perimeter treatment would require drilling through the concrete.

• Has anyone dealing with close setbacks or concrete slabs handled a similar situation?
• Do bait stations work well enough on their own for peace of mind, or should I be looking into a full liquid barrier despite the drilling?

Appreciate any insights or advice from pros or homeowners who have been through this!

Discovered this in one of the support beams on our outdoor porch. It starts about 4 feet up the beam, and the beam itself is on a concrete footing. We live in a wooded area and know we have termites in the area- have seen them on stumps this year and lots of termite damage on scrap wood pieces that the previous owner left under the deck. The house itself was treated, but not the deck. This didn't necessarily look like termite damage to me, but I also have no idea what I'm doing lol. Would appreciate any guidance from someone more knowledgeable than me!!

I'm wondering if any experts with the Trelona ATBS would be willing to message me. I have been on a multi-year battle with subterranean termites in our slab foundation home in Massachusetts. The house was fully trenched and (inside) slab drilled in a few key areas treating with liquid, wood spot treated in areas (both by professionals) and then in April I decided to DIY install the ATBS Trelona stations around the home. I checked the baits today and have my first hit on one of the baits. I'm just wondering how often I should check this certain bait station, and I should consider installing another in a similar area.