How to Identify Termite Droppings
If your home is infested by termites, you want to know about it as soon as possible to avoid expensive structural damage. But how are you even going to know that termites have been sharing your home, short of your home actually falling down? As a beloved children's book once pointed out, everyone poops. Learning to identify termite excrement is one of the key ways to confirm the presence of a termite colony in your home. So, what should you be looking for?
A Unique Leftover
Termite droppings are referred to as frass, and this is a telltale sign that urgent termite extermination will be required. The excrement left behind by termites as they consume wood is truly unique. In fact, it's so unique that you could easily assume that it's something else.
Out the Tunnel
Termites are fairly hygienic creatures. When creating tunnels, they don't simply defecate wherever they please and leave it where it is. This excrement is kicked backwards through the tunnel before being pushed out the entry hole, wherever in your home it might be. The individual pieces of excrement then fall into a pile on the floor. Still, this doesn't mean that you're looking for a big pile of poop—or at least, not in the traditional sense.
Tiny Granules
The termite frass will resemble tiny granules, looking much like a pile of sand or salt. It will be in a small pile, but this pile can be small enough to miss, and you might think that you have accidentally spilled something. The colour of the frass can vary and is somewhat dependent on the type of wood that the termites are working their way through.
Inspect Your Home
Don't simply sweep up the granules and forget about them. You should instead be looking at the nearby walls for entry holes. You should also inspect all the other rooms of your home for frass, since there might be multiple entry holes. There are likely to be entry holes on the exterior of your home as well, but wind and rain will remove the evidence (the frass) so these can be harder to spot.
A professional termite inspection should be conducted if you notice a pile of frass in your home. Even if, despite your best efforts, you've only identified a single pile, you simply won't know the severity of the situation until an inspection has been performed, followed by extermination.