It’s termite-swarming season again, and if your neighbor’s tented home isn’t enough of a reminder, those clouds of critters gathered around outdoor lights at night should scare you to be on the lookout for evidence of the voracious, wood-eating pests.

Swarming season usually starts in May and runs through the hotter summer months, according to Dave Melton, general manager of Kama‘aina Termite and Pest Control. Swarms do occur at other times of the year, but less-than-ideal conditions during those times mean termites are less likely to start colonies.

Termites, with their insatiable appetite for any plant-based material — wood in particular — have long been the most damaging insect pest in the state. Three of the eight species found in Hawaii (out of the approximately 2,700 species worldwide) do all the damage, putting the cost of prevention and control at more than $100 million per year, according to the Termite Project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, one of a few programs in the country devoted to studying the insect.

Hawaii’s warm, humid climate provides the perfect breeding ground for both ground termites, which spread mostly by forming huge colonies underground and tunneling up into structures, and drywood termites, which invade by air and form smaller, localized colonies in wood.

Termites also can be introduced into a home through infested furniture or lumber. UH termite experts have seen them infiltrate household items like plastic food containers, and there have been cases of termites eating water-main gaskets, causing a break.

So while it seems almost inevitable that termites at some point will find a home in yours, people can take basic precautions to decrease the chances of that happening, Melton said.

"It’s some very simple stuff, like a good paint job to the home, a good caulking job," he said. "These termites need to find a niche, and it doesn’t have be much of a niche."

Other steps include making sure no dirt piles up around wood structures such as wooden fences that connect to a home, making sure screens have no holes, and placing outside lights away from the house. Homeowners also should make sure water has no place to pool and soak into wood, making it more susceptible to termites.

"(Homeowners) should really take precautions throughout the year," Melton said.

Doug Belle, general manager of the pest control company Terminix, agrees. "The one thing with the ground termites here in Hawaii is that it’s constant, it’s never going to go away," he said. "We tell people it’s paradise for people and the pests."

Swarming, he said, is when the "kids" in a termite colony set off on their own to find a place to start another one. Homeowners should not be deceived when they find termite wings on the ground where the pests were seen swarming; that is not evidence they have perished. Rather, it means it’s time to be even more diligent because the termites are looking for someplace to settle.

"The wings are basically for them to swarm for a short amount of time," Belle said. "They drop those wings and then they got to crawl into a crack or crevice and go to town from there."

NEW TREATMENTS for termite infestation are surfacing all the time, from heat treatments to chemical substances that are applied directly to an infested area.

For ground termites, the newest addition to the arsenal is "Always Active," an upgrade of the Sentricon colony termination system first developed in 1995 by Dow AgroSciences. Belle said Terminix started using it in January, calling it "an awesome product."

The Sentricon system originally worked by setting out bait — essentially wood stakes stuck in the ground — which were then monitored. When termites appeared, a treatment would be applied. The new system has an ingredient in place to kill off the termite colony.

Another of the newer treatments uses orange oil, which is being used for drywood termite treatment in Hawaii and elsewhere. Its low toxicity and ease of use make it attractive for spot treatment.

"It’s a pretty effective insecticide if you hit the insects with it, but it does not last very long," said Kenneth Grace, director of the UH Termite Project, in an email. "The problem with this method of drilling holes in wood and injecting an insecticide is that it is very hard to hit all the different termite colonies that may be in the wood. We’ve found multiple termite colonies in the same piece of wood, unconnected to each other."

For drywood termites, tenting and fumigation with the pesticide Vikane continues to be the most popular solution because an entire structure is treated all at once, including colonies in hidden locations. Although it, too, does not have a preventive effect, Vikane is considered the most effective and the safest chemical for fumigation.

"That’s really the only way to get rid of the termites in a home," said Kama‘aina’s Melton, whose company once tented Blaisdell Concert Hall. "The spot treatment, the heating, the oil, those are just a Band-Aid on a larger wound."