Winged termites, called swarmers or alates, are the reproductive members of a termite colony. Seeing them inside your home means a mature colony is already established nearby or within the structure itself. The swarmers themselves don’t damage wood and only live about a day, but they signal a problem that requires treating the colony they came from. Here’s how to handle both the immediate swarm and the underlying infestation.
First, Confirm They’re Actually Termites
Flying ants swarm at similar times of year and look similar at a glance. Misidentifying the insect will send you down the wrong treatment path. Three features separate the two:
- Waist: Termites have a thick, straight waist with no pinch. Ants have a distinctly thin, pinched waist.
- Wings: Termites have two pairs of wings that are equal in length, extending well past the body. Ants have two pairs of unequal length, with the front wings noticeably larger.
- Antennae: Termite antennae are straight or gently curved. Ant antennae bend sharply at an elbow.
If you find shed wings on a windowsill and they’re all the same size, you’re dealing with termites. Save a few specimens in a plastic bag. A pest control professional or your local extension office can confirm the species and tell you whether they’re subterranean or drywood termites, which determines the treatment approach entirely.
Handle the Indoor Swarm Immediately
Swarmers are drawn to light, which is why they cluster around windows, doors, and light fixtures. They can’t eat wood and pose no direct threat to your home. A vacuum cleaner or broom is all you need to remove them. Turning off interior lights and opening a door or window to an exterior light source can also draw them outside.
Don’t bother spraying the swarmers with insecticide. Killing the visible ones does nothing to address the colony producing them. A termite colony typically needs to be three to five years old before it’s mature enough to produce swarmers, so their appearance indoors usually means an established infestation has been present for years.
Identify the Termite Type
The species you’re dealing with determines everything about treatment, because subterranean and drywood termites live in completely different ways.
Subterranean Termites
These are the most common type across much of the United States. They nest underground and need constant moisture to survive. They build mud tubes (pencil-width tunnels of dirt) along foundation walls to travel between soil and the wood they’re eating. If you see mud tubes on your foundation, you have subterranean termites. Their damage typically shows alternating layers of chewed and intact wood, with soil packed into the galleries.
Drywood Termites
These termites live entirely inside the wood they consume, with no soil contact required. They’re more common in southern coastal states. The telltale sign is tiny fecal pellets, about 1/32 inch long, that look six-sided under magnification, blunt on one end and pointed on the other. You’ll often find small piles of these pellets pushed out of “kick holes” in infested wood. No other insect produces pellets with that distinctive shape.
Treating Subterranean Termites
Subterranean termite treatment focuses on breaking the connection between the underground colony and your home. Two main approaches exist, and professionals sometimes combine them.
Liquid Soil Barriers
A pest control operator trenches and drills along the perimeter of your foundation, then injects liquid termiticide into the soil. The goal is to create a continuous chemical blanket between the colony in the ground and the structure above. Modern non-repellent products are particularly effective because termites can’t detect them. They walk through the treated soil, pick up the chemical, and transfer it to other colony members through physical contact and communal feeding. This cascade effect means the treatment reaches far more termites than just those that touch the treated zone directly.
Liquid barriers are designed to provide immediate protection and can remain effective for five or more years in the soil, depending on the product and soil conditions.
Bait Systems
Bait stations are installed in the ground around the perimeter of your home. Termites find the stations during their normal foraging, consume the bait, and carry it back to the colony. This approach can eliminate the colony itself rather than just blocking its access to your home. The trade-off is that bait systems require ongoing monitoring. Depending on the product and company protocol, stations may be checked monthly, quarterly, or annually. If you cancel your service agreement, there’s no residual pesticide left in the soil, so protection depends on keeping the stations maintained and monitored for returning termites.
Treating Drywood Termites
Because drywood termites live inside the wood rather than commuting from the soil, the treatment strategy is different. You have two options: localized spot treatment or whole-structure fumigation.
Spot Treatments
If the infestation is limited to a single board or small area and you can clearly identify where the colony is, a professional can inject termiticide directly into the infested wood. When the treatment reaches the termites, effectiveness is high. The risk is that current detection methods can’t always find every colony, especially behind drywall or in concealed spaces. You may treat one visible problem while others remain hidden.
Whole-Structure Fumigation
For widespread or hard-to-locate drywood infestations, fumigation treats the entire building simultaneously. The home is sealed under a tent and filled with a gas that penetrates all wood in the structure. This eliminates every infestation, including ones hidden from view. It’s more expensive and requires you to vacate the home for two to three days, but it removes the uncertainty of wondering whether you missed a colony.
Preventing New Colonies From Forming
After the swarmers you saw mate and drop their wings, the paired male and female will race across the ground searching for a place to start a new colony. Your goal is to make your property as uninviting as possible.
Eliminate any wood in direct contact with soil. Wood siding, door frames, and window frames should sit at least six inches above ground level. Pull soil and mulch back from the foundation. Support wooden steps or posts on concrete bases rather than setting them directly in the ground. If you have lattice or decorative woodwork touching the soil, cut the bottom edges so they clear the ground.
Manage moisture around the foundation aggressively. Subterranean termites are drawn to consistently damp soil, and even drywood termites benefit from humidity. Make sure gutters and downspouts direct water away from the house. Fix leaking outdoor faucets, pipes, and AC units. Grade the soil so surface water flows away from the foundation rather than pooling against it. In crawl spaces, install 4 to 6 mil polyethylene sheeting over about 75 percent of the soil surface to act as a vapor barrier, and make sure vents are unobstructed.
Never stack firewood, lumber, cardboard, or newspapers against the foundation or inside crawl spaces. These materials attract termites and can give them a hidden bridge into the structure, sometimes bypassing treated soil entirely. Dense plantings like ivy or vines growing against the house create similar problems. Where you use mulch, keep it to a couple of inches deep and never let it touch wood siding or window framing.
DIY vs. Professional Treatment
Retail termite sprays and foams can kill individual termites on contact, but they won’t reach the colony. Subterranean termite treatment requires specialized equipment to trench, drill, and inject hundreds of gallons of termiticide into the soil at the correct depth and concentration. Fumigation requires licensed applicators and regulated chemicals. Even bait systems sold to homeowners lack the monitoring protocols that make professional systems effective.
If you’ve confirmed winged termites inside your home, a professional inspection is the practical next step. Most pest control companies offer free inspections. Get quotes from at least two or three, and ask specifically whether they’ve identified subterranean or drywood termites, because the treatment plan should match the species. A company recommending fumigation for a subterranean problem, or a simple spot spray for widespread drywood damage, is a red flag worth questioning.