I HATE THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone tells me, not to worry! Everyone says this is a "traditional" New Orleans late spring/early summer occurrence! Why don't I remember this from last year? Why does this freak me out so much? Everyone keeps on telling me - my story is nothing new and I should be "lucky" I don't have a swarm flying around INSIDE my house. UGH, gross! I mean, I only see 2-5 on average a night and that's only b/c my backdoor neighbor has this bright light right outside my bedroom window and thus the little creeps seek light inside my house and somehow get in the air vents. I know this b/c I literally see them falling out of the vent above my bed, in the bathroom, etc. I have no fear in squashing these things with my bare hands, but enough is enough already. I cannot WAIT till this crazy season is OVER! Thus ends my rant...

Pests thrive in humidity

Ashley Thibodaux and her family first noticed the invading hordes of tiny, winged insects as they pulled into their driveway.
“They were everywhere. Thousands of them. Wherever there was a light, there they were,” Thibodaux said about the May 15 incident.
Because Thibodaux works as an accountant in LSU’s entomology department, she knew exactly what was swarming around her home.

Formosan termites.

Large clusters of the half-inch, amber-colored and white-winged bugs buzzed around every light outside her home and the light pouring out from the windows.
“They were on the back windows, sliding glass doors, in our carport. Wherever there was a light,” she said. “They even got in my house when we went inside.”
Thibodaux’s house, in the Perkins Village subdivision near Perkins and Picou Roads, and the trees nearby are not infested with termites, she said.
Gregg Henderson, an LSU entomologist, said May 15 happened to be the first swarm of termite season in Baton Rouge and residents can expect four or five more before the two-month season ends in July.
“The swarms usually start around Mother’s Day,” Henderson said. “I got calls May 15 about the swarm in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And there will be a number of flights before it’s over.”
Termites — especially Formosan termites, which live in much larger colonies than dry wood or native subterranean termites — are not harmful to people (I think the little creeps bite!!!!!!), but they can wreak havoc on homes or anything made of wood, Henderson said.
Recent heavy rains could be one of the reasons the first swarm occurred May 15, he said.
“Humidity, rain, moisture, low wind — those are the times they swarm,” Henderson said.
Different colonies of termites swarm at the same time each year, from Lake Charles down to New Orleans, Henderson said.
It’s almost impossible to track exactly how and when the termites arrived in Baton Rouge, where infestations are occurring more often, Henderson said.
“Some have moved out of Lake Charles and New Orleans and have been moved here,” said Floyd Simpson, general manager of Dugas Pest Control.
“Termites are hitchhikers. They have to be brought here,” Simpson said.
Termites can be found in railroad ties, utility poles, wood structures, lumber, pallets, firewood, trees, mulch, potted plants, paper and homes.
“Someone could have moved a box of magazines they were keeping in their house … and it’s possible that’s how they got to Baton Rouge. No way to tell exactly,” Henderson said.
The annual five or so major swarms of Formosan termites are royal flights of sexual conquest and propagation of the species.
Kings and queens have four wings and fly to mate to start new colonies, Henderson said.
Worker and soldier termites don’t have wings, so they stay grounded.
A queen can lay 1,000 eggs a day and there can be millions of termites in a nest, Henderson said.
Formosan termites start colonies in the soil, require moisture and build mud tubes to access above-ground wood and bring soil in to the wood they infest, according to the LSU Agricultural Center.
The termites enter a house primarily by building soil shelter tubes to protect themselves as they migrate from the soil to a house.
Although termites can’t eat through a concrete slab, they can come up around the outside edges or enter through some other opening in the slab.
Simpson said his business gets four to five calls a day requesting termite inspections.
The cost to destroy termites and eradicate an infestation is anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars depending on the size of a house and the type of construction, Simpson said.
And the process can take some time, he said. It can take about three months to eradicate a termite infestation.