Day in the Life of a Phoenix Termite

Ever wonder what it would be like to spend a day as a termite? Wonder no more! We’re going to give you the down and dirty of the day in the life of a termite.

Termites Don’t Sleep

If you were thinking that termites sleep 8-10 hours a day, wake up, and make coffee before heading to work, you’d be mistaken. They are programmed to focus solely on work.

Interestingly, working alone, termites don’t get much done.

One termite eats at a rate that equals taking 3,144 years to eat the wood of a 1,000 square foot home. We image the home would be long gone before that single termite was done working!

As a colony, termites do serious damage causing millions of dollars of damage annually to homes in the United States. It’s estimated in the billions when other structures are included.

Termite Workplace

Because they don’t get much done alone, termites organize into colonies that range from thousands to several million members. They tend to stick with their own colony even if there is another right next door.

(Speaking of next door, if your neighbor tells you they have a termite infestation, call Budget Brothers Termite and Pest Elimination. There’s a good chance your yard or home is also infested, maybe not by the same colony, but the same pest.)

Termites love the Phoenix desert for the same reasons people do – great weather and abundant food sources. It’s basically a fact that it’s not a question whether you’ll have termites but when you’ll have termites.

One of the biggest things that termites do is spend their days building mud tubes. It’s not just that they like to protect their privacy from predators (and you) but because it gives them a steady route for the colony to follow to deliver resources.

We call it the Termite Express. A series of mud tubes made from a series of pencil thin tunnels made of soil, wood particles, and termite saliva and feces create the Termite Express. It’s this mud covered creation that protects the giant colony in Australia and protects the work-focused termites in your yard from distractions like predators and unfavorable weather conditions.

Colonies are also protected by soldier termites who along with reproductive kings and queens and workers who provide nutrition for the others, make up a termite community.

Termites aren’t sentimental. When workers die after a lifespan of just a couple of years, they are quickly replaced so the work can continue seamlessly.

Dirty Truth about Termites

This might gross you out but we’re going to tell you anyway because we find it fascinating. Termites can eat most materials that contain cellulose BUT they can’t get the nutrients unless they have a symbiotic organism living in their guts. The termite and organism literally feed off one another. (Gross!)

If you’re a little weird, love working, and want to live in mud tubes, be jealous of termites.