Most Effective Way to Kill Termites
- 1). Determine if you have termites. Go into your attic or crawlspace and look for sawdust-like droppings. Use the light of your flashlight to peer behind beams. Drive a nail or screwdriver into a wood beam. If it penetrates easily, the wood inside has been eaten. This is an indication of termites. Outside, look for mud tubes: small, mud-like tunnels termites use to move back and forth. These are all indicators of termites.
- 2). Identify the type of termite. Subterranean termites have a long black body, a small head and white wings. They invade through the mud-tunneling tubes. A red body and black wings indicate a dry-wood termite; they leave the sawdust-like buildup found near a beam or rafter. If you find an insect with white wings, but a red multi-chambered body, you're looking at a carpenter ant, not a termite; 90 percent of termites found in America are subterranean.
- 3). Plan your attack. If you have subterranean termites, you can kill the invaders with termite baiting. This method kills the entire colony of termites.Termite baiting is like putting a protective shield around the parameter of your home. Tubes containing termite bait are inserted into the ground all around the house. You monitor the bait and when the termites begin feeding they are killed with a chemical. Monitoring of the bait is up to you.
- 4). Place a repellent chemical barrier around the house. Termites sense the chemical and stay away. This does not kill the termites already in the house, but those termites will not cross the chemical barrier to return to their colony. Eventually they dehydrate and die.
- 5). Consider a nonrepellent chemical to spot-kill termites. The chemicals produce a state of confusion in the termites and they usually do not return to their colonies. A mass-termite eradication sends a warning scent to other termites and they stay away from the premises.
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