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Still wandering about how subterranean termites get into your house and how to stop / prevent subterranean termites get into your house? are subterranean termites bad? are termites easy to get rid of? Let find out the answer.
Florida known for its warm weather, beautiful beaches and hurricane season. the sunshine state’s also known for having invasive species like
- the green iguana’s,
- cane toads and
- Burmese pythons.
Let’s not forget termite.
Termites damage approximately five billion dollars worth of property every year. There are more than 2000 species of termites in the world and about 40 species in the United States and right here in Florida there are 3 kinds of termites that can drive any home owner crazy. We are assuming here that you know the difference between flying termites and flying ants.
- damp wood termites
- dry wood termites
- and though most damaging termites of them all subterranean termites also known as ‘The Super Bug’.
When Termites Swarms?
Subterranean termites first made their appearance in Hallandale Florida back in the 1980’s and since then these little critters have made their way to every major city in Florida.
I’m talking about
- Jacksonville
- Tallahassee
- Pensacola
- Orlando
- Tampa
- fort Myers and
- Miami
How These Termites Operate?
Now to get a better understanding of how these little pests operate let take a look at following Points,
- subterranean termites form colony in the soil.
- They come from the soil and get inside the house.
- No obstacle will stop subterranean termites.
- These one/eighth of an inch insects were determined to feast on the wood that’s supporting your home.
- To get around physical barriers like concrete or metal.
- subterranean termites create mud tubes or tunnels.
- these tunnels are usually as thin as a traditional number 2 pencil.
- the tubes can start from the ground, travel up a concrete wall over a metal barrier and right into the wood of your house.
“If you have a house that’s infested by subterranean termites, try drawing a circle three hundred feet around your house. The nesting structure is somewhere within that circle,” said Dr. Nan-Yao Su, who heads the Subterranean Termite Lab at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Fort Lauderdale.
Are Termites Spit Acid?
I want to take a moment to clear up a couple of things. You might have heard or read somewhere that termites spit acid. After decades of studying termites researchers said this simply is not the case they just release their defensive secretion and only bite.
Termites Can Chew through Concrete?
You may have also heard or read that termites have an appetite for concrete. Can termites chew through concrete?. No, they do not eat through concrete and why is that?. Because concrete is very very tough Material.
But here’s the thing termites can crawl within the cracks of concrete. All the size crack the subterranean termite would need to get up into your house, so if you could imagine this being maybe inside her house, under carpet, where your wood framing on the floor, they can come up right through, looking for food so that’s just their nature is to constantly look to keep the colony fed. Remember one colony can be within 300 feet around your home.
How do you get rid of termites? best subterranean termite treatment?
How do you get rid of Termites?
- bait station for termites
- tenting: best solution for termites?
- both?
Bait Stations
let’s start with bait station for termites?. There are several termite bait stations on the market.
- Put this bait station for termites flush into the soil straight and it’s probably a 20 or 30 of them around the house.
- Termites will be attracted to this steak(made of cellulose matrix so they really like it it’s kind of predigested would in a way but since that’s all in peace) inside the bait station.
- The subterranean termites don’t see and don’t talk but they communicate through chemical so they will find and release a chemical. It tells the other termites in the colony. They’ll all eat on this and bring it back to where their main colony is and then that will in theory eradicate their colony completely.
Tenting Method To Get Rid of Dry wood Termites, best way to kill drywood termites
is Tenting menthod a best way to kill drywood termites? Its use to control dry wood termites. Dry wood termites, typically will build a nest inside the house, don’t go into the soil and therefore if you intend to put the gas in house that will kill everything inside the house.
subterranean termites come from the soil then as it is in the the soil, sometime in the backyard, sometime couple 100 feet away from the house, you put a tent at house, you put the gas inside that unit, kill some termites in your house but those in the soil would not be affected. You take the tent off, they come right back at your house.
If it turns out that you have both type of termites at your home that’s where tenting and the bait system will come in handy.
Recommendations To prevent Intrusion of termites into your home
Here are some prevention that you can adopt,
- If you have a sprinkler system keep it away from the foundation of your house
- your air conditioning unit make sure the condensation water is draining away from the foundation of your home
- don’t let the dead wood touching the ground and connected into the house because they will travel from there to get into house, for example if you have a raised foundation and you store wood underneath the crawlspace, termites will get to it and then they’ll move on to the wood in your house.
Invasive species can be tough to deal with but there’s always a solution of how to deal with Them the right way.