Are these termites under toilet base?

Hi everyone.

I noticed some odd tan or light brown "sand" bunching around the base of our ground-floor toilet this morning. Did some exploratory poking of it and 1) found it harder/crunchier than I was expecting and 2) noticed some little larvae wiggling around in it when the sand was disturbed.

Comparing the larvae-things to images online, I think they might be termites but would like to get a second opinion. Would it be unheard of to have them coming out from under the toilet, assuming the sub-floor under the bathroom tile is wooden?

I'd like to know what I'm dealing with before I potentially get an exterminator out next week. Any other tactics I should try in the meantime?

Thanks ahead of time, much appreciated. (Apologies for yet another "is this a termite?" post as well... I tried sifting through a few pages of threads and didn't see any pics that were similar to mine, so figured it's better to ask.)

 

Yep.&.............

 

Defintiely termites. The white one pictured is an adult worker. They stay inside the wood or in the soil and use mud tunnels to bridge the gap so they stay moist and dark. The reproductive termites from that same colony will swarm out of the ground or wood in order to reproduce, lay eggs and die. The swarmers look like black flying ants that swarm by the hundreds all at once, several times each spring. Here in the northeast the swarming season starts in March, ends in middle of May, more or less. I see a wing lying on the floor in the first pic so I suspect at least a minor swarm has occurred.

Is your house on a slab, crawl or basement? If you can get under neath, it would be interesting to take a strong light and see if you can find mud tubes/tunnels in that area.

 

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. I've got someone taking care of them.