By looking at a single termite, it certainly doesn’t look dangerous or menacing, but a whole colony of them can inflict serious structural damage on a home in a fairly short period of time. Termites are known as “silent destroyers” because of their ability to chew through wood, flooring and even wallpaper undetected. Each year, termites cause about $5 billion in property damage.
Termites are “social insects,” i.e., they live in a nest or colony which is typically found underground, often near a tree, stump, wood pile or other source of ‘food.’ Each colony contains a king and queen who are brown in color. They are wingless now but started out having wings and “swarming” from their original home or nesting site where they developed. The queen is able to lay thousands of eggs each year. and continues to do so for about five years. There are also soldier termites which have large heads equipped with large mandibles (“jaws”). The soldiers protect the colony from invaders (such as ants). The bulk of the termite colony consists of thousands of whitish workers who serve various roles. Some workers maintain the nesting site and take care of the queen and the newly hatching immatures (sometimes called “larvae”). Other workers go out and actively forage (search) for food. The foraging workers are the ones that we typically find infesting wood. As the colony grows, the workers expand both the nest and their feeding area. Depending on the species of termite, a mature colony can contain 200,000 to 2,000,000 workers, although many colonies contain as few as 50,000-60,000. Studies have also shown that termites from a single colony may forage across an area of one-third acre and travel over 200 feet from their nest. One acre of land may support several termite colonies (although this doesn’t mean that all of them are invading your home!). A large termite colony does not usually occupy a single underground nest. As the foraging area expands the colony actually splits to form several smaller “nesting sites.”
Without a periodic inspection of your home, termite activity can remain undetected for years. Some signs of their activity show up unexpectedly, while others are discovered by accident or during renovations. Here are some key signs of a termite infestation:
A termite colony can mature in 3-5 years and begin to produce swarmers (winged adults),they begin swarming in late winter and continue into September or October.Swarming usually occurs during the day, particularly on warm days following rain. Swarmers found outdoors near tree stumps, landscape timbers, etc., are not an indication that your house is infested, but they serve as a reminder that termites live around us. When swarming occurs indoors, it usually means that you have an infestation somewhere within your house. Several species of ants also swarm at the same times of the year as termites. Winged termites and ants look somewhat similar, but you can tell them apart by certain features.
Unlike ants, termites do not roam around on the soil surface or out in the open. They will either tunnel through the soil or into wood (or other material) or else travel inside pencil-size (or larger) “mud tubes” that they build from soil, wood particles and other materials. You will find these tubes on foundation walls, floor joists or other parts of the house. Tubes may also hang from the floor system or may be found protruding from cracks between boards and beams and even through holes termites may chew through sheet rock on walls and ceilings. Break open the tubes to see if termites are still active. An empty tube doesn’t necessarily mean that termites are gone; they may have simply abandoned this particular tunnel. Termites often rebuild damaged tubes, which is another indication of current activity.
We tend to think of termites as feeding/injuring wood only. Termites actually feed on almost anything that contains cellulose, the main component of wood, including wood paneling, paper products, cardboard boxes, art canvases, the paper covering of sheet rock, carpeting, etc. While foraging and feeding, they may tunnel through non-cellulosic materials, such as plastic and foamboard. According to some research, a colony containing 60,000 workers could consume the equivalent of one foot of a 2″ x 4″ piece of lumber in slightly over 5 months. In reality, the amount of damage that termites cause depends on many factors. In areas with cold winter temperatures, termite activity (and feeding) often declines, but does not necessarily stop. If the termites are well-protected from colder temperatures (e.g., underneath a slab), then activity may continue year-round. From a practical perspective, serious termite damage usually takes about 3-8 years.
What should you do if you think or discover that your home is infested with termites?You can choose Pestman Termite Bait Station.Pestman Termite Bait Station consists of a bait station, a lid, bait blocks and bait. We fix the bait blocks, which termites like to eat and which are highly attractive to them, in the bait station and install the bait station in a building, tree or dam. When the termites arrive at the soil near the bait station, they quickly make their way to the bait station due to the strong attraction of the bait material released in the soil by the wood blocks of the bait station and then enter the bait station to feed. The bait stations contain toxic baits containing flubenuron, an insect growth regulator that prevents termites from growing new skin after moulting and makes the surface thin and brittle, killing the termites by inhibiting their growth without them being able to detect it. The termite colony relies heavily on worker ants to find and carry their food. Flubenuron bait is based on cellulose, which is the favourite food of termites, as a supplement, so termites can easily feed on it. Once the workers have found the bait, they will carry the ‘food’ back to the nest for their companions to eat. All the termites in the nest will feed on the bait and the eggs laid by the breeding ants will not be able to be hatched, thus killing the whole nest.
Alternatively, the wood blocks in the bait station can be used to spray a special termite poisoning powder on the termites feeding on the wood blocks. Upon return to the nest, the powder is spread to other termites, eventually leading to the poisoning and death of the whole nest.
As the baited wood blocks are processed from wood that termites prefer to eat and are targeted at different species of termites, e.g. termites, reticulated termites, toothed termites, greater termites, etc., all baited wood is treated with special attractants and feed stimulants that are extremely attractive to termites. When the bait station is placed in the soil, the lure molecules in the bait evaporate into the surrounding soil air and spread around the bait station through the soil voids. When found by termites out in search of food, they are quickly lured into the bait station to feed. And the bait blocks are so palatable that we have filled the bait station with 8 bait blocks which can feed thousands of termites at the same time, greatly reducing the time required to eliminate the entire nest.
The design takes into account the behaviour and habits of different termites and the bait blocks are placed very close to the plastic shell of the bait station. Once the lured termites are close to the bait station, they can feed quickly, thus increasing the effectiveness of the bait.
All the bait wood in the bait station is specially treated against mould so that the blocks are resistant to mould and have a long life span. The housing of the bait station is made of ABS material, antioxidants and UV resistant compounds for high strength and ageing resistance and durability for a long life.
If you have any questions, you can contact us.
