Ants and ant-eaters are the termites natural enemies, but this does not help man to control them, so we have resorted to chemicals. Most of the chemicals used to manage termites are fairly safe to humans, their pets and their livestock, although it does no harm to exercise a little vigilance while spreading them about.

The first thing you ought to do if you would like to banish termites from your home, is comprehend a little about them. They prefer to eat a plank of timber starting at the end-grain and tunneling up inside it, so before you next redecorate your house, saturate all timber in preservative and termite poison particularly the end-grain. Then repaint, stain or varnish everything as usual.

If you make it difficult or unappetizing for them, termites are apt to go for easier pickings. Likewise, if you have walkways, crawling spaces or air ducts, spray them with termiticide. If you have wet areas near the house remedy the cause of the damp, because termites love damp earth.

Clear up any clutter from about the base of your house such as old leaves and weeds, because that holds moisture as well. If you have a stack of garden rubbish, burn it; if you have a compost heap, turn it over on a regular basis and check for termites (and carpenter ants).

In a termite nest, it is only the female workers that go out and scavenge. They then take this back to the colony an give it to the nymphs, the soldiers and the king and queen. If you poison that food source, all those bugs will die and the nymphs in the unhatched eggs will starve to death.

Most termiticides act on two levels, there is the poison to get eaten, but there is also an element to the poison that kills on contact, although it might take some time.

When a termite rubs up against this contact poison, it will go home sooner or later where it will groom and become groomed by its pals, which passes the contact poison around the nest very quickly.

It can take a week or longer for say 90% of the nest to get wiped out, but it could take another month or so for the remaining 10% to die, because they may be getting their food from another source.

However, sooner or later they will begin taking the dead corpses of their dropped comrades outside and as soon as they do that, they will get a brushing of contact poison as well.

When this happens their days are numbered even if the poison is a little bit older and a little less potent. The trick is not to give up too soon and keep checking for a re-infestation, because if they came once, they may come back again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with pictures of termites. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. just go to our web site now for some more details.

However no one would blame you for being a bit worried about having your house fumigated with toxic gas. It does not sound a very beneficial environment to have to live, eat and sleep in afterwards, does it? The good news is that there is little reason for anxiety, particularly if you use a reputable firm with a history of using gas on termites.

Vikane is one of the most commonly used gases for the fumigation of termites. It is usually used with a procedure called tenting. Tenting means quite literally erecting a tent over the whole structure concerned, say your house.

The tent is then sealed as much as possible, the Vikane gas is pumped in and fans are utilized to make certain that it is circulated throughout your house, including your attic and basement. The gas is left to do its deadly work for a day within the sealed up tent and within your house.

On the second day, the tent is removed and the house is ventilated making use of the fans again. Delicate instruments are used to measure the levels of gas in all rooms of your home and when the pest controller is convinced that the levels of gas have dropped to where your house is safe for human occupancy, you will be allowed to move back in. That will usually be on the third day.

Vikane does not leave a sticky deposit, so it will not leave a film on your furniture which you will have to clean off later. When the house has been thoroughly ventilated, all the gas will have disappeared, although there may still be a couple of innocuous pockets left behind rafters and joists in the attic and basement.

Tenting your house may give you grounds to think that the gas must be dangerous for surrounding wildlife or your neighbours, but this is not the reason for tenting. The tent is put up in order to retain the gas against the outside of the exterior walls of your house as well, so that it is treated from inside and out, although it does help prevent wasting gas also.

This tenting system of fumigation with Vikane is a very successful method of getting rid of an infestation of termites from a building. In fact, it is so efficient that your contractor should issue you with a guarantee, although you may have to have the procedure repeated every year or two in order to maintain the guarantee.

Vikane is aimed solely at termites, so it will not kill any other eco-system that has established itself within your house. It will not kill spiders, ants, bed bugs or cockroaches. More’s the pity, I can hear you saying.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on lots of subjects, but is at present concerned with pictures of termites. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. Please go to our web site now for further details.