What are Termite Mud Tubes?

Summer is coming soon, and with summer comes termite season! These common home pests can cause thousands of dollars of damage to you and your property, so it’s good to know how to prevent them. If you’re looking into how to spot termites in your home, the first place to start is with their mud tubes.

What are termite mud tubes?

As termites crawl around your property, they like to build little tunnels that connect them to food sources, water, or even just a good spot to store things. As a colony grows, it expands, and that makes more tunnels as well. If you’ve noticed little lines of mud across your home, it’s a good chance that those are termite mud tubes, made as they explore the area or even start eating the wood of your home. Make sure to clean them up as they appear, so that the termites can’t keep coming into your home.

A Closer Look at Types of Mud Tubes

There are four major types of termite mud tubes.

Exploratory Tubes, which are termites’ ways of finding new food or water sources on your property. These are often the easiest to see, and if you follow them, you might stumble across the larger nest.

Working Tubes, which are like termite highways– they take all the worker termites from one place to another, so that they can gather food and water for the colony. These will also lead back to the central hub of the colony.

Swarm Tubes, which are what happens when the working tubes get overcrowded. These are temporary tunnels for when something bad has happened in the working tubes, and the termites need a way around it.

Drop Tubes, which are termites’ ways of finding new food that might be below them, on a basement floor or even just a lower story of your home. These are easy to spot, because they look like small muddy stalactites.

Removing Termite Mud Tubes

If you’re looking for some top-notch termite control for your home, look no further than the professionals at ScorpionTech. With our courteous and quick service and stunning track record, we’re the best bet for dealing with any termite-based threats you might encounter this spring. Keep your home safe and whole, with ScorpionTech!