Drywood Termite

📖Biology and behaviour

Drywood termites are different from the usual soil-dwelling termites: they live and feed entirely inside dry wood and need no contact with the ground. A colony can sit inside a single door frame, wooden bed, furniture piece or roof beam and grow slowly for years.

Because they stay hidden, the first clue is often a pile of tiny pellets under a piece of furniture or a window frame. In Indian homes they are commonly found in teak and other seasoned hardwood furniture, wooden panelling, picture frames and the timber of old buildings. They are brought in with infested furniture as often as they arrive on their own.

⚡Quick facts

Nest

Inside dry wood, no soil link

Tell-tale

Tiny hard pellets under furniture

Spread

Through infested furniture and swarmers

Targets

Furniture, frames, beams, panelling

🔎How to spot an infestation

• Small, hard, six-sided pellets about the size of a sesame seed in neat little piles
• Tiny round holes in wood through which the pellets are pushed out
• Wood that sounds papery or hollow when tapped
• Blistered or rippling surface on timber
• Winged swarmers or loose wings near windows and wooden fittings

🛡️How to prevent it

• Inspect second-hand and antique furniture before bringing it indoors
• Seal and paint or polish unfinished timber, including the back and underside
• Keep cracks and joints in wooden fittings filled
• Reduce humidity and avoid storing cardboard against wood
• Look under heavy furniture for pellets once or twice a year