I Found a Pile of Wings on My Windowsill in Spring Hill. Is It Termites?
You walked past the window this morning and noticed a small pile of tiny wings sitting on the sill. They were not there yesterday. They look almost translucent, thin and delicate, and there are enough of them that something clearly happened while you were sleeping. Now you are standing there trying to figure out what you are looking at and whether it is something you need to deal with today.
It is something you need to deal with today.
Those wings are from termite swarmers and finding them inside your Spring Hill home means a termite colony swarmed either inside your home or close enough that the swarmers ended up inside. Either way it means there is an established termite colony nearby and it is large enough to have sent out swarmers to start new ones.
What Termite Swarming Actually Means
Termite colonies do not swarm until they are mature. A subterranean termite colony in the sandy soil of Hernando County typically takes three to five years to reach the size where it produces swarmers. By the time you are finding wings on your windowsill the colony that produced them has been established and actively feeding for years.
Swarming is the colony’s way of reproducing. When conditions are right, usually after warm spring rains in Central Florida, the colony sends out winged swarmers called alates whose only job is to fly out, find a mate and start a new colony somewhere else. They are not great fliers and most of them do not make it far. They land, shed their wings immediately and start looking for a place to tunnel into soil.
The wings you are finding are what they leave behind when they land. The swarmers themselves are gone. But the colony that produced them is still very much there.
Why Inside the House Is the Worst Place to Find Wings
Finding termite wings outside near your foundation or in your yard means a colony is somewhere in the soil nearby and swarmed in your general area. That is worth paying attention to but it does not confirm they are already in your home.
Finding wings inside your home is a different situation entirely. Swarmers that end up inside came from somewhere inside. They emerged from inside the walls, the floor framing, the door frames or whatever wood they have been feeding on and flew toward the light sources near your windows. Finding wings on an interior windowsill means the colony is already inside your structure. That is not a suspicion. That is a confirmation.
What Termite Wings Look Like Versus Other Insects
Before you panic completely it is worth making sure what you are looking at is actually termite wings and not something else. Termite swarmers shed wings that are roughly equal in length, both pairs almost identical in size, pale or translucent and with a slightly veined appearance. They are small, typically less than half an inch long and they tend to accumulate in small piles near windows and doors because that is where the light draws the swarmers.
Flying ants also swarm and also shed wings but ant wings are noticeably different in size. The front pair of ant wings is significantly larger than the back pair. If the wings you are looking at are roughly equal in size they are almost certainly termite wings.
If you are not sure take a photo and call us. We can tell you immediately what you are looking at.
What Soft Wood and Hollow Walls Mean Alongside the Wings
If you are finding wings and you also notice any wood in your home that feels soft when you press on it, any paint that looks bubbled or uneven without an obvious moisture source, any mud tubes along your foundation or baseboards or any hollow sounding wood when you tap on it those are confirmation that the colony has been actively feeding in your home for some time. The wings are the visible alarm. The wood damage is what has been happening quietly behind the scenes.
What to Do Right Now
replace all of this??????????
Do not wait to see if more wings show up. Do not assume it was a one time event. Do not vacuum up the wings and move on. Call us the same day. The longer a termite colony feeds in your home the more structural damage accumulates and the more expensive the repair becomes after treatment. Our [termite treatment](https://www.pestcontrolofspringhill.com/termite-services.html) starts with a thorough inspection that tells you exactly where the colony is, how extensive the damage is and what it will take to eliminate it. You deserve a straight answer before anything else happens. Call us today.
1:06 PM
Yes replace that entire block with:
Do not wait to see if more wings show up. Do not assume it was a one time event. Do not vacuum up the wings and move on. Call us the same day. The longer a termite colony feeds in your home the more structural damage accumulates and the more expensive the repair becomes after treatment. Our termite inspection in Spring Hill starts with finding exactly where the colony is and how much damage has been done before anything else happens.