Nesting habits
White ants come in many shapes and have differing habits. There are over 300 species in Australia but only a few do any significant damage to seasoned wood used to construct buildings. The subterranean termites base themselves in soil, access to a constant source of moisture which they absolutely need because of their thin outer shells. The major pest termites hide their nests underground or inside hollow trees and prefer to eat solid, seasoned timber. Some mound-building species also eat solid timber, but because mounds are very visible, we just physically destroy the mounds so these white ants dont get to inflict expensive damage. Many of the moundbuilders, including those giant north/south, or so called magnetic mounds, are the homes of termites which eat grass and leaflitter. Termites from the brown to black nests seen way up in the branches of trees are seldom found eating solid wood unless it is decaying (which means it is not really solid).
Food finding
Grass and leaflitter eaters have it easy. They often build mud tunnels over the soil surface to a grass tussock and bring it back to their mound nest. They often scout ahead, walking along the ground before they build their tunnel along a pheromone trail left by the returning scouts. It is generally believed that the important subterranean species send their scouts out tunneling beneath the soil surface until they bump into something worth eating. On the scouts return, a committee meeting is convened and a decision is made whether the find is big enough to mount a construction team to build the underground tunnel to the newly found food source. This scenario makes sense when they find and attack timber such as dead trees, or now, in civilized times, fence or other posts. Laboratory trials have proven this underground search methodology. But they also scout above ground, right out in the open, just like their grass eating cousins. How else would white ants find timber in wooden floors suspended on concrete or brick piers? Or to the paper on the plasterboard on the next floor, 3 meters up a painted masonry wall as shown in these photos. Or from the mezzanine floor of the Sydney Town Hall, a 40-50 metre climb up painted walls and sandstone columns to the timber beams suspending the giant hour bell in the clock tower back in 1957.
need to dig deeper to reach permanently damp soil. The central nest also needs to get further below the surface away from the heat. Theres plenty to do. This gives you some reasons why we are not totally overrun by termites. It also explains in part why termites find our homes and try to recycle them as they would a fallen log or a dead tree in their prehistoric times.
Ion Staunton is the inventor of the TermiteTrap DIY Colony Killing System. You can learn more about TermiteTraps & termite control here www.TermiteTrap.com.au