Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

[Kiwi Phil]

Australia has a problem with subterrainium (under-ground) termites, or white ants.
When they get in to your house, they eat it to bits...from the inside.
I don't have a problem...
I do need to plan for when my under-slab chemical barrier reaches its used-by date.....
I have solutions available to me...

What I am asking of you blokes is:
Do you have these white ants or termites in your country??

If you do, then I will explain my situation, and seek advice as to how you deal with situations such as mine.
Just want to broaden my knowledge of how others deal with them.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[tommays]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

I see termites are a world wide problem I wonder if we shiped them in or there native

Up here the slab houses are allways hard to treat compared to a basement

In my last slab house they drilled all over the house using a device that shuts down the drill if they contact any pipes or electric that are burried and inject BUG stuff

There are a lot of old homes here were the air ducts were under the slab and this caused a few problems when the bug juice was pumped into them buy mistake

BUT what they can use is now much more limited due to EPA concerns


The other common way up here is "Sentricon" were they place a lot of bait stations outside the home and the bugs carry the bait back home as food and kill them selfs off

 

[arboldt]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Maybe 10 years ago my next-door neighbor had termites and had to redo some floor joists and other framing.

The pest company explained to him that due to ground-water toxicity issues, almost no one injects chemicals into the ground anymore, or under a slab.

Instead, they put bait things every x feet around the house, and monitor them monthly. If they ever see any activity, they replace the bait wood with poisoned wood that the termites carry back to the nest; all of 'em are killed that way.

Instead of the pesticide injection, they used this bait-n-switch method, and he's not had any problems since. We also purchased the monitoring service as a defensive measure, and we've never had any problem.

There are several brands, and I think you can even get these monitor baits as the Big Box stores. You might do a Google search on sentricon (one brand name) - here's their url - http://www.dowagro.com/sentricon/us/treatment/ for an idea what they're like.

There are also many sites highly critical of the baiting station approach. One of the more balanced is from the University of Kentucky at http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef644.htm

There's no one correct answer, but hope this gives you some things to think about.

 

[gss036]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Maybe someone from the New Orleans are will chime becaue they really have a termite population there. I don't think it much of a problem in the colder climates.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Florida is full of termites. Went to buy a house once from and elderly couple who had not stayed up on termite treatments. Popped my head up into the attic and noticed all these little mounds laying everywhere on the attic insulation. It was termite residue, All the roof trusses were infected and eaten thru. Went back below and looking up at the ceiling inside the house, you could see these little pinholes in the sheetrock ceiling. Also termites that had eaten thru the bottom of the roof trusses, holding the ceiling sheetrock. Stand back and from the living room you could see the outline of the trusses on the ceiling where the termites had eaten thru.
They were out of the house in four days and about two months later drove by after a good storm and saw the roof had collapsed.
Not to be taken lightly, especially in a tropical climate. We still drill slabs and inject here, but the sentricon treatments are very popular.
I trench the perimeter of my house and use Dragnet FT or Prelude thru a pump up sprayer and lay it on pretty thick. I spend about $50 every other year for sufficient cemical to do the job.

 

[Coors]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Those were drywood termites; completely different than the subs.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Those were drywood termites; completely different than the subs.

That's right, but that was the best termite story I had.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Really good info chaps....been thru those site.....especially the tech one.

Seems you have a similar approach to us, except you seem to bait the bait station with cellulose (paper, soft wood) saturated in insecticide.

Our approach seems be, attract the termite to the station, recognise they are there when they mud-up the plastic window disc with mud, then apply incticide thru a 'duster".
http://www.greenpest.com.au/?gclid=CNC54JzV-JQCFSQqagod1j38qA

I am capable of doing all this myself (I hold a 'spray licience' so can purchase incecticides in their pure state).
I need to know the chemical make-up. The Pest Control Companies can be a bit like snake oil salesmen so research is important.

My home is 15yrs. I have the deadly under-slab treatment with a guarantee of 20yrs, and nothing lives under there.....brilliant.
But, because of this, my weep holes in my brick veneer is at 1st course brick level....not so good.

The whole area is infested with termites. 2 neighbours out of 4 have had major damage (taking short cuts in construction...owner builders of course).
I have replaced all timber on the property with steel and concrete. Could easily find 2-3 nests.

My aim is to install many bait stations around the house and property.....me and John can make them up easily.....and establish a control progam now, before the 20yrs is up.

So, does anyone know the chemicals you use in he US for inpregnating cellulose or dusting.
Operators often use their own trade names for chemicals to hide the constituant ingrediants, so they can take 20cents of chemical and sell it for $50.

I am just seeking other options.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Phil, this seems to be a good site with a lot of links. Give it a shot.

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/termites/chemical_treatments_termites.htm

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

But, because of this, my weep holes in my brick veneer is at 1st course brick level....not so good.
Phillip

Your weep holes should be in the first course, they are there to drain water from behind the veneer.
If you mention this because you are concerned that termites will use them as an access, around here we use nylon "wicks" to keep pests out and let the water pass. Available at masonry supply houses.
Good Luck!

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Triumph:
Thanks. I have read all of that site.
Have a good understanding now....and a plan.
I am going to source my termicite chemicals that they can't recognise, and build my own bait stations.

I have aldrin/dieldrin under my house slab (thankfully) so i have had excellant protection, so I have had 100% protection.

I just have to knock off the termite colonies on my 2 acres as they form.

Bass MB
What you have to keep in mind, this part of Australia, there is no distinct foundation that appears above the ground. Being an ex-kiwi, it always seemed strange the way Aussies built.
They raise the weep hole above the 1st course.....in fact you can not get a domestic building approved if there is a gap in your structure at ground level, otherwise it allows the termites to built a mud tunnel maybe 1 quarter of an inch above the ground directly in to the weep hole....which you can never see. Probably sounds hard to imagine.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Phil, sniffer dogs are used now to find colonies, seriously. I believe that they can be hired.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

Probably sounds hard to imagine.

Cheers
Phillip

True as I don't think I really follow you on that.
Another termite trick here is an "inspection strip" around the perimeter of the house.
It is a recessed metal channel that the termites must bridge across to get at your timber. It won't stop them but will let you know they about there dirty work and you can then kill the nest.
We have few termites here as the ground freezes pretty good each winter, thank goodness.
Again, good luck!

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Termite or White Ants (subterrainium..under-ground)

We have formosan termites here in New Orleans. They are incredibly destructive, and seem to be able to chew through most anything other than cyprus and heart pine. I have even seen them eat sheet rock.

Formosans swarm every spring in search of locations to establish new colonies. In this stage, they are referred to a "Alates." They can be seen in the evenings flying around street lights, etc., and will number in the tens of thousands in even small areas. Once they find a suitable place to colonize, they shed their wings. Formosans are basically sub-terrainian creatures that like to travel through cracks in slabs, around the slabs, up the piers of raised houses, etc., into the home.

What we do here in Louisiana is to place hollow stakes filled with poison into the ground. The most popular seems to be the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System (had to look the full name up!), most commonly just referred to has Sentricon baits. Although I didn't know it until just now when I looked this name up, apparently chemical barriers aren't considered to be very effective any more, simply because subterrainian termite colonies usually consists of millions of insects. I guess you just can't get enough chemical under the house to defeat them, once they are established. On the other hand, the bait traps attract them and can be refilled over and over.

About ten years ago, the French Quarter (New Orleans oldest historic district) was in real trouble due to Formosans. Because of this studies began and have been going on ever since. At the same time, the baiting systems were put into place. According to an article that I read just the other day, apparently this system has been extremely effective.

I would read up on the Sentricon system to see if it is available where you are. Good luck with it!