Dry wood termites are those little critters which make their home in dead wood, usually tree stumps, but furniture and houses as well.
It is in this respect that they are most unlike their relatives, the subterranean species which live in the soil beneath the wood.
Dry wood termites actually live in the wood where they establish their colonies.
It is believed by many authorities on the subject that these pests are distributed widely across the country by unsuspecting persons who move their wooden or wooden framed furniture without inspecting it for termite colonies.
They get their name from the fact that because of their living in dry wood, they do not have ready access to water and usually must get their water through the metabolism of wood or from condensation and humidity in the air as it passes over their colony or the wood in which they live.
One characteristic that they do share with their underground distant relatives is that they also swarm during the early to middle of spring after their colony has reached maturity.
During this swarming, what are called alates seek mates with whom they go off to form a colony.
Detection of these pests is difficult thought straightforward when done by a competent professional.
Because they live in the wood they infest, they must find ways to get rid of their waste - called frass.
Typically frass turns to powder after a while and so if you examine the wood closely you should be able to see a white powder which you should wipe away and then check in a day or two to see of it has returned.
If it has, then you have an active colony.
If not, the pests may have either died or moved on.
Another way to detect them is to look for a very thin layer of wood which separates them from their environment.
They do not eat completely through the wood but rather almost to the end and this accounts for the thin layer.