You’ll hear a mouse scratching in your attic. You’ll hear squirrels rustling during the day as they flit in and out of wall cavities. And racoons and other pests can be heard squeaking, especially when they have a litter of hungry young ones in your garage or under the deck. You see, hear, and smell them, which makes tackling the issue relatively less challenging. But, because they are largely unseen, termite treatment is far more challenging. Left untreated though, they silently wreak havoc on properties.
Seldom Known Facts
Most folks think that, once they do see a few termites around, they can zap them with bug spray to eliminate the issue. One reason that DIY termite treatments don’t work, however, is because home and business owners don’t understand these silent, unseen pests too well:
- Voracious Diet: If you thought termites only ate wood – think again! Termites can control the lifestyles of humans, because they snack voraciously on anything that contains Cellulose. So, where do they find this termite snack? Almost anywhere that humans have plant-based environments, like most flower gardens, vegetable patches and green spots in and around the home. But they also exert control on how you live in other ways too. Piles of clothing, drywall, singles, stacks of paper and photographs, cardboard boxes, furniture – these are often cellulose -containing targets of termites, that force humans to act and react to termite infestations.
- Years of Pain: You might think that destroying a collection of visible termites at the bottom of a doorframe, or in the corner of your ceiling, gets rid of the problem. Wrong! A termite queen survives for 20 to 30 years! Worse yet, a single well-entrenched colony can reproduce and send out hosts of “swarmer’s”, who will fly to other parts of the property and establish colonies of their own. This means that, without targeted termite treatment, your termite “houseguests” will inflict years of destruction and financial loss to your property.
- Telltale Signs of More Grief: To the untrained eye, a swarm of termites is “the problem” – spray or stomp on it, and that should solve your termite problem once and for all. Wrong again! Swarms typically arrive from elsewhere, and are airborne for less than 30-minutes before they settle in their new “home”. Spotting a nest of swarmer’s, therefore, tells you that a more mature colony exists elsewhere on your property. To rid yourself of the termite nightmare, it’s vital to locate and destroy the originating colony – and the queen!
DIY: Aggravating the Problem
In case you are tempted to use a DIY approach to getting rid of your termite problems, you might want to think again! The expert termite control specialists at Termite Boys have seen first-hand how DIY treatments have aggravated the issue. In the face of perceived threats, such as improperly chosen and applied chemical treatments, termites may control their breed, hastening the development of reproductive organs in alates. In other instance, it may lead to “budding” – the forced/premature splitting of a mature colony, that migrates and takes residence in other parts of your property.
What’s the right way to deal with termites? Call the professionals at Termite Boys to do a thorough property inspection. From termite bates and electronic and temperature sensitive treatments, to safe and effective chemical interventions – professionals know how to deal with these uninvited pests.