BEAUMONT, Texas — Termites are swarming through Southeast Texas and experts are giving residents tips on how to keep them from flying in your home.
Just recently, termites were caught on video swarming a baseball game between the Vidor Astros and Bridge City Red. The umpires had to end the game early.
"They'll swarm houses, they'll swarm businesses by the literal millions," said sales manager and bug expert Nate Jennings with Bill Clark Pest Control
When Jennings was at his son's little league baseball game in Lumberton, he saw with his own eyes the flying termites taking over the field.
"A curtain of bugs all around you, it's literally like walking through a curtain on the baseball field. It's freaky," Jennings said.
The flying creatures will swarm around the area for the next month or so and experts at Bill Clark Pest Control want to reassure the public, they aren't harmful to people
The bugs only come out at night to find a mate.
"The queen ends up laying eggs and she can lay up to a thousand eggs a day and the majority of them become workers, some of them become soldiers, and some of them become what is going to be swarmers one day," Jennings said.
The swarmer's job is to reproduce and continue the cycle.
"They find a moist spot in the ground or in a structure even and then start mating and that's the beginning of a new colony," Jennings said.
Jennings says swarmers are also a warning sign that worker termites are near.
"Termite swarmers alert you that there's colonies underneath the ground as we speak that are looking to destroy your structure," he said
Although not harmful to people, the flying termites' offspring can be harmful to your house.
In order to protect your property, you will want to turn off all outside lights that you can and inside lights.
Jennings says because these termites swarm at night, they're always going to be attracted to big lights, like those on the street.
"If you have a candle on they're going to swarm around that, because if that's the only light sources that they have then that's what they're going to swarm around. So, turning off light, one of the best things you can do to avoid swarmers," Jennings said.
If the flying termites manage to get inside your home, they will shrivel up and die without moisture within 24 hours.
Jennings says there are 25 colonies per acre in Southeast Texas.
"If you factor in anywhere between 500,000 and $2 million per mature colony you're literally talking about millions and millions per acre, no matter where you're at in southeast Texas," he said.