The amazing edible termite
After returning from a short-term nine-day mission trip to Central America, my wife told me the story of an excursion they took to the highest mountain in Honduras to see some of the most incredible views of nature.
While enjoying a natural bird sanctuary, your native tour guide came across a termite nest hanging from a tree. Then, deftly, he removed his handy machete and cut it in half. The amused group watched until, horrified, he reached down, picked up a rambunctious termite and ate it.
Unsurprisingly, this drew mixed reactions from the crowd, including gagging, laughter, and heads nodding in disbelief. Embarrassed, the guide tried to regain the group’s respect and joked, “It tastes like chicken!” … I don’t think it helped.
Well luckily, you won’t find one of these termite nests hanging from your neighbor’s tree over your property line here in the Northeast US However, what you might find is even scarier: subterranean termites. These types of termites work under cover of darkness, actually, rather, under houses!
The topic of termites seems to be taboo, unless of course you or one of your neighbors caused them to infest a structure. The saying “out of sight, out of mind” might apply. That is, until it appears that your walls are moving from the first wave of termite “swarms”. While they may be the equivalent of an indoor hurricane, one shouldn’t panic, these guys aren’t the ones doing the damage; it’s the rest of your family you need to worry about: the workers, underground and in the structure. Bite by bite, they can literally “eat you away from home and away from home.” But never assume that everything that swarms inside a structure is a termite: many species of ants swarm inside a house. Recently, a prospective client called me and insisted that he had termites in his country club house. When I arrived, I had a hard time convincing him that I didn’t need a termite job; It had a good swarm of citronella ants (named for their citronella-like smell). In the end, he appreciated my honesty and became a regular pest customer.
This brings me to my final piece worth noting: never assume someone is an expert on wood destroying insects unless it is what they do for a living. Not all wood damage comes from termites. There are carpenter ants, gunpowder beetles, and even old borers. If any of these are suspected, a second opinion may be worthwhile. Just like you wouldn’t go to a podiatrist for advice on that nagging toothache, be sure to speak to someone in the pest control industry when it comes to wood-destroying insects or termite extermination. While some of us may be entertaining, I don’t think they’ll find us eating termites.