Woodworm

The sight of the distinctive small holes are enough to make a home-owner's heart sink. If the infestation is bad it can threaten the structure of timber beams, furniture and floors and needs to be treated. Woodworm is not a worm but actually refers to all wood-boring beetles.

Unfortunately for the home-owner, the life cycle of the wood-boring beetle is normally nearly over before you are aware of a problem.

The first sign of woodworm is the appearance of neat round holes 1-2 mm across wooden surfaces, often accompanied by tiny piles of wood dust. The adult Furniture Beetle is a small brown insect about 5 mm long. It can fly and lays its eggs on rough, unpolished wood. The grubs then bore straight into the wood leaving no trace until they emerge as beetles three or more years later, usually between May and September.

They are usually introduced into the house in second-hand furniture but they can also fly in through windows from nearby dead branches of trees. They may attack floorboards, joinery and, more seriously, structural timbers.

After mating the female beetle will lay her eggs into cracks and on the rough surfaces of the structural timbers, which will then hatch and begin tunnelling into the timber.

The number of eggs and larval stage of the beetle will vary according to the species. Larvae will pupate and after several weeks the adult beetles will develop and commence boring their way out of the timber to mate. Having mated the female beetle will again lay her eggs on the timber and the life cycle starts again.