What Do Termites Look Like? A Sydney Homeowner's Guide

Most people meet termites in one of three places. A pale, curled insect under a paver. A pencil-width line of mud climbing a brick pier. A scatter of wings under the back light.

Each one is easy to dismiss. Termites are soft-bodied, light-shy and built to stay out of sight, so by the time something shows, a colony has been at work for a while.

Short answer: a termite is a small, pale, soft-bodied insect with a long, straight body, no waist and bead-like antennae. Workers have tiny eyes or none at all, and they run for cover when exposed.

What termites look like

Termites come in castes. The Australian Museum describes the order as 3 mm to 70 mm long, with a long, column-like body and bead-like antennae.

Workers. Creamy white to pale grey, slightly translucent, soft enough to squash between your fingers. No waist, tiny eyes or none, antennae like a short string of beads. These are the ones eating your timber, and they almost never walk in the open.

Soldiers. The same pale body with a darker amber head and heavy jaws held out in front. Some species have a pointed snout instead of jaws. They appear when a gallery is broken open, so they are the caste most often photographed.

Alates, or swarmers. Darker than workers, usually brown, with small eyes and two pairs of clear wings the same length, roughly twice the body. They fly at dusk in warm, humid weather, land, pair off and shed their wings soon after.

Termite or ant? Four checks that settle it

Flying ants and termite swarmers turn up in the same weather, and workers are often mistaken for ants. The Australian Museum's ant and termite comparison covers the same four features.

• Waist. Ants have a narrow pinch between thorax and abdomen. Termites are a straight tube.
• Antennae. Ants have a sharp elbow. Termites have a simple string of bead-like segments.
• Wings. On swarmers, ant forewings are longer than the hind pair and strongly veined. Termite wings are equal in size, clear and without obvious veins.
• Abdomen. Pointed on ants, blunt on termites.

Colour is the least useful clue. Workers are pale, swarmers are dark, and plenty of ants are pale too.

Two more things help. Termites shed their wings soon after landing, so a windowsill covered in identical wings is a strong signal. "White ant" is a nickname, not a species either. Termites sit in their own order, Isoptera.

Lacewings are the other lookalike worth knowing. They are harmless, but their heavily veined wings are held tent-like, where termite wings lie flat.

The signs that matter in a Sydney home

Termites leave evidence in inconvenient places. Work from the outside in.

Mud tubes. Pencil-width tunnels of soil, saliva and droppings running up brickwork, concrete, stumps, fence posts or the inside of a subfloor. They keep the colony's humidity steady and hide it from light.

Mud across ant caps. Ant caps are a detection aid. They force termites to build around the metal shield, where the tube is visible. If the cap on a pier or stump has been bridged with mud, that is deliberate.

Timber that gives. Press a skirting board, door frame or bearer with a screwdriver. Termite damage often leaves a thin skin of paint or timber over hollow galleries.

Paint that bulges, stains or ripples. It looks like water damage. It can also be the first thing you see above an active gallery.

Springy or sagging floors. A floor that bounces more than it used to is worth checking underneath.

Frass. Small, hard pellets pushed out of timber. This is drywood termite behaviour. It is less common in Sydney than the mud-making subterranean species, but it does happen.

Swarmers or shed wings indoors. A swarm outside usually means a colony nearby. A swarm emerging from a wall, cornice or floor edge is a stronger signal. There is a full guide to flying termites and swarm season in Sydney.

Absence of signs proves nothing. A CSIRO survey of Sydney homes in the late 1990s found termites somewhere on about one in three properties, including gardens, fences and trees. Inside the house, the figure was about one in six, adjusted to a 30-year-old home. The numbers are old, but the behaviour has not changed. A colony can work behind plaster for years without pushing anything visible into the room.

The species behind most Sydney damage

Coptotermes acinaciformis does more economic damage than any other Australian termite. It nests in stumps, living trees, spaces under buildings and even walls, and can reach timber within about 50 metres through underground tunnels. It does not build a mound, so there is often nothing to see above ground.

Schedorhinotermes intermedius is the other major structural species in NSW. It is nomadic, with no fixed central nest, which makes it harder to locate and treat.

Nasutitermes walkeri builds round, ball-shaped nests in Sydney's coastal bushland. It damages fences, poles and timber on the ground, and rarely attacks buildings.

Found live termites? Do this

• Do not spray them. Household insecticide kills the ones you can see and drives the rest back into the wall. NSW DPI warns that spraying or removing damaged timber makes eradication harder.
• Do not open the wall or pull off the skirting. The workings are the map to the colony.
• Do not clear the mud tubes. Leave them intact for the inspector.
• Photograph the area and note where it is. If you can, collect two or three soldiers in a jar with methylated spirits; species identification decides the treatment.
• Book a licensed timber pest inspection. In NSW, commercial termite treatments require an EPA licence, and you can check the public register before you book.

What an inspection actually covers

A timber pest inspection follows AS 4349.3, the Australian Standard for non-invasive timber pest inspections. In a Sydney home that means the subfloor, roof void, interior, exterior, fence line, trees and stumps, with tapping, probing and moisture readings. A good report includes photos and says whether activity is active or old.

CSIRO recommends inspections at least annually. Where termites are known to be active nearby, NSW DPI suggests every 6 to 12 months. If you are buying, a pre-purchase timber pest inspection is a separate scope from a routine annual check.

How treatment works

Treatment starts with identifying the species and finding the colony. From there, a licensed technician chooses the method that suits the house and the termite.

• Baiting. Bait stations containing a slow-acting insecticide are placed around the property. Workers carry it back and spread it through the colony. It takes weeks to months and needs monitoring.
• Liquid soil barrier. A non-repellent termiticide is trenched or injected around the slab, piers and service penetrations. CSIRO notes most soil insecticides give at least three to five years of protection.
• Dusting. Insecticidal dust is puffed into active galleries, and the termites spread it while grooming.
• Physical barriers and ant caps. Mostly installed at construction, and useful only if they stay intact.

No single method works on every species or house. A barrier is also a detection system, because it forces termites into view, which is why the annual inspection matters as much as the treatment.

Prevention that makes a difference

Termites need food and moisture. Take away the moisture and the easy paths in, and you make the house a less attractive target.

• Fix leaking taps, gutters and downpipes, and direct air-conditioner condensate away from the wall.
• Grade soil and paving so water runs away from the house.
• Keep soil and mulch below the slab edge and below weep holes. The QBCC recommends 75 mm of clearance from the bottom of a weep hole to the top of a garden bed or paving.
• Keep timber out of the soil and away from the walls. Posts should sit on metal stirrups, sleepers should not touch the wall, and firewood should not be stacked against the house.
• Keep the subfloor dry and ventilated. CSIRO recommends 400 mm of clearance.
• Do not bridge an existing barrier with a new garden bed, paving, water tank or attached carport.
• Find the durable notice. Homes with a termite management system should have one in the meter box, listing the system, its installation date and the inspection interval.

The bottom line

Termites reward a wait-and-see approach with a bigger repair bill. If you have found live insects, mud tubes, damaged timber or a pile of wings, leave the area alone and book a timber pest inspection. If you have found nothing, an annual inspection is the most reliable way to catch a problem while it is still small.

Jashlin Pest Control runs timber pest inspections, baiting and barrier treatments across Sydney. Book a termite inspection or call 0450 795 797.