1. They Don’t Sleep
   Termite workers—the ones chewing through your house—never sleep. They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That’s how a creature barely the size of a grain of rice can turn a solid rafter tail into sawdust in less than a year.
2. Their Wings Are Perforated
   Termites spread by swarming. A few dozen to a hundred winged termites will leave a 3- to 4-year-old colony in search of a new home. They’re drawn to light, which is why you’ll often find them near windows or glass doors. They’re not good fliers, most of them die—but the few that survive? Real troublemakers. Once they land, they shed their wings and crawl into a crack in the wood with a partner. Their wings are perforated so they snap off easily. Finding a pile of wings near a windowsill is like finding lingerie in a honeymoon suite—you know what just happened.
3. Some Queens Are Older Than Your House
   A termite queen can live up to 30 years. That’s three decades of laying eggs and expanding her colony. It’s like having a wood-eating factory running nonstop under your house.
4. Soldier Termites Can’t Feed Themselves
   Termite nymphs grow into workers, soldiers, or reproductives. Soldiers are built for battle—with oversized heads and jaws for fighting off ants—but those jaws are so specialized, they can’t feed themselves. They rely entirely on workers to keep them alive.
5. Babies Can’t Digest Wood
   They Can’t Digest Wood When They’re Born: This is the reason why you don’t have to leave your home for a week and pay a lot more for a termite fumigation. Fumigation only kills the living termites. The fumigant can’t make it through termite egg casings. Fortunately, the termite babies that will eventually hatch can’t survive without the parents. They need to obtain protozoans from adult termites in order to be able to digest wood. Without those, the termites all starve to death.
6. You Might See More Ants After a Fumigation
   Ants love dead termites. After a fumigation, all those tiny carcasses can attract ants to the scene. So if you notice a sudden trail of ants after tenting, don’t panic—it just means the buffet is open.

Who said termites aren’t fun?
Well… probably everyone. But knowing more about them helps keep your home safe—and maybe makes the whole thing just a little more interesting.