I’m Deb Kowalski, and in my Port St. Lucie house the reflex is simple: see flying termites indoors, grab the household insect spray, kill the ones you can see, and breathe easier. Here in Florida, as of mid-September 2026, I still understand the appeal. I used to take dead winged insects on the floor as a sign that I had dealt with the problem. All I had dealt with were the insects on the floor.
The harder question is what produced them. A swarm can make a room feel suddenly overrun, and a spray can make that same room look quiet again. Neither sight tells you whether a colony remains. Nor does finding winged termites indoors, by itself, settle whether they came from a colony in the house.
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What UF/IFAS Extension says
UF/IFAS Extension describes subterranean termite colonies this way: “These colonies consist mostly of workers but also include soldiers and reproductives.” The winged termites are reproductives that emerge from a colony. Spraying the ones in front of you reaches the part you happened to see, not the workers and other termites that make up the colony…