What do termites look like? Perth ID guide (termites vs ants)

The three termites you might see

A termite colony has castes, and each one looks different. In a Perth house you're most likely to meet the workers, sometimes the soldiers, and in late spring and summer the flying ones.

Caste	What it looks like	When you'd see it
Workers	3–6 mm, creamy white to translucent, soft-bodied, no eyes to speak of. The ones doing the damage, and by far the most numerous.	When a mud tube or a damaged piece of timber is broken open.
Soldiers	Similar body, but a larger, hard, orange-brown head with strong jaws. Some Perth species ooze a drop of milky white fluid from the head when disturbed.	Rushing to a breach in a mud tube or damaged timber.
Alates (flying termites)	Dark brown to black, about 10–15 mm including the wings. Two pairs of wings of equal length, much longer than the body, that snap off easily.	Warm, humid evenings from roughly November to April, often after rain, swarming around lights. Piles of dropped wings on a windowsill are the giveaway.

The queen and king stay deep in the nest and you won't see them. In Perth's northern suburbs the species we most often find are subterranean termites such as Coptotermes and Schedorhinotermes, which nest in the ground, in trees or in wall cavities, and travel to timber through soil and mud tubes.

Termites vs ants: the four-point check

Ants and termites both swarm, both come in winged forms, and both turn up in Perth houses in spring. These four features sort them out, and a phone camera zoomed in is usually enough.

	Termite ("white ant")	Ant
Waist	Thick. The body is one straight-sided block.	Pinched. A clear, narrow waist between the body segments.
Antennae	Straight, like a string of tiny beads.	Bent at an elbow.
Wings (flying forms)	Two pairs the same length, much longer than the body.	Front pair noticeably longer than the back pair.
Colour and habit	Pale workers that avoid light and stay hidden inside mud and timber.	Dark workers marching in the open along trails.

If what you're seeing is dark, trailing across the kitchen bench and pinched in the middle, it's ants, and the ant guide is the one you want. If it's pale and you found it by breaking into something, keep reading.

What termite damage and activity look like

Subterranean termites almost never show themselves. You find them by what they leave behind:

• Mud tubes (leads). Pencil-width tunnels of soil running up a brick wall, a pier, a slab edge or the inside of a meter box. Termites build them to stay damp and in the dark.
• Hollow or soft timber. Skirting boards, door frames and architraves that sound hollow when tapped or give under a thumb. The paint surface can look perfect.
• Bubbling or rippled paint and a thin line of mud packed into a crack or a gap in a timber joint.
• Doors and windows that start sticking for no obvious reason, as frames distort.
• Discarded wings on sills, in spider webs or under lights after a warm evening.
• Mud in odd places: packed into the gaps around a pipe penetration, the back of a cupboard or the edge of a carpet.

What subterranean termites usually do not leave is a pile of sawdust. Fine, gritty pellets below a timber beam or a piece of furniture are more often borers, which are a different job. Send us a photo if you're not sure.

Where to look in a Perth house

Most of the termite activity we find in the northern suburbs starts at ground level and at the edges of the house:

• Slab edges, especially where a garden bed, paving or a pergola post sits against the brickwork and covers the inspection zone.
• Timber in contact with the ground: retaining sleepers, fence posts, old pergola footings, firewood stacks.
• Bathrooms, laundries and anywhere a leaking pipe or a blocked downpipe keeps the ground damp.
• The garage, particularly behind stored boxes along the walls.
• Meter boxes and hot water system surrounds.
• Roof voids in older timber-framed homes, where mud leads can follow the framing up from the wall cavity.

Perth's sandy soils are easy to tunnel through, and a lot of northern-suburbs housing from the 1970s and 1980s has timber roof framing and decades of garden changes against the walls. That combination is why we recommend an inspection every 12 months, which is also what the Australian Standard sets as the maximum interval for a home with a termite management system.

Found termites? What to do, and what not to do

1. Don't spray them. Surface sprays kill the handful you can see and send the rest of the workers elsewhere in the house, which makes a proper treatment harder.
2. Don't break open more of the mud or timber. If you've already cracked a tube, leave it. Disturbed termites can abandon that path and find another one.
3. Photograph what you can see, close up and wide, so the location is obvious.
4. Put something over the spot if you need to (a box, a sheet of cardboard) so nobody knocks it, and keep the area dry.
5. Book an inspection. A timber pest inspection to AS 4349.3 finds the extent of the activity, identifies the species and records the conditions that let them in. It's typically $250 to $350, with a written report the same day.

Termites don't generally bring a house down in a week, so there's time to get it inspected and quoted properly. There isn't time to wait until next summer. Most Australian home insurance policies exclude termite damage, so check your product disclosure statement rather than assuming you're covered.

What happens next

If the inspection finds live termites, we show you, photograph them, identify the species and recommend how to deal with them: usually treating or baiting the active area first, then a management system around the house. You get the reasoning and an itemised investment in writing, with no obligation to use us for the treatment. The termite treatment cost guide shows what those systems typically cost and what moves the number, and how termite treatment works covers chemical and baiting systems in plain English.

If the inspection finds nothing, you get a report that says so, the conditions worth fixing (a garden bed against the wall, a leaking tap, timber on the ground) and a reminder when the next inspection is due.

Quick answers

Are white ants and termites the same thing?

Yes. "White ant" is the everyday Australian name for termites. They aren't ants at all, and ant treatments don't work on them.

How big are termites?

Workers are about 3–6 mm, around the size of a grain of rice. Soldiers are similar with a bigger head. Flying alates are about 10–15 mm including their wings.

Do flying termites mean my house has termites?

Not necessarily. Alates fly from established colonies to start new ones, and they can come from a tree or a neighbour's yard. Wings found inside the house, especially in numbers, are a good reason to book an inspection.

Can I see termites during the day?

Rarely. Workers and soldiers avoid light and dry air, so they stay inside mud tubes and timber. Flying alates are the exception, usually on warm evenings.

Do termites bite?

Soldiers can nip if you handle them, but termites aren't a biting pest for people. The problem is what they do to timber.

What does termite poo look like?

Subterranean termites use their droppings as building material for mud tubes and galleries, so you won't usually see separate piles. Dry, gritty pellets are more likely to be borers or another timber pest.

Not sure what you've found?

Try What's my pest?, or text us a photo and the suburb. We'll tell you what it is before anyone books anything.

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