Terminate termite bait monitor stakes in yard, or not? (floor, heat, furniture)
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We bought a mobile home in Florida back in November, and a few days ago I saw some small termite droppings and a few flying around last night. There's already small holes in the interior walls which are obviously places where either the previous owner or a pest control company sprayed poison in there, so I bought some aerosol cans at the local DIY pest control place and sprayed the stuff in the holes as a first start on this problem. Also went around the home taping up any areas where they might come in, and plugged up what I could see where the pipes come through the floor to the plumbing.
After researching this online, I was about to buy some of the Spectracide Terminate bait spikes and place them in the ground under the home, but I'm wondering if that is necessary. I mean, they're already in the home now, right? Should I go ahead and do this, or focus on killing the colony that is already in the home? Probably both?
In Florida you have two types of termites. The subterranean are easy to get rid of. The Formosan are incredibly hard to get rid of. The subterranean termites will require the entire underneath of the mobile home to be sprayed with a termiticide making sure you flood the areas around any posts/pilings and plumbing. Subterranean termites MUST return to the ground every 24 hours so putting a poison barrier between the mobile home and the ground kills them. You can buy termiticide at any of the box stores and most feed stores. Basically, it's a magnum Raid bug spray concentrate that you can spray from a hose end sprayer. Just avoid any contact with your skin. The Formosan are a tough one for the home owner to kill. The pro way of doing it is to put a bag over the entire structure and releasing an oxygen absorbing chemical inside the structure. Everything dies due to no oxygen. It must stay in the house for 24 hours and a guard must physically stay on the premise so that someone doesn't go into the home. If they do go inside, they'll be found dead inside as the chemical will suck the oxygen out of their lungs. Once the bagging is removed and the pest control company airs the place out, then it's safe for you to go back into the home. So you need to know what kind of termites you have as to the correct treatment. If you have active swarm castles inside the house now, probabilities are high you have structural damage. Considering you bought the place in November, did you get a termite inspection before closing? Who was the inspection company and was there any warranty connected with the inspection. Sounds like they found termites and did a partial treatment. There may be a warranty by the company and that would cost you nothing. I think Florida is like Texas that any treatment requires a 1 year warranty. I'd look at your closing paperwork and see what happened in regards to the termite inspection before closing. This is a mortgage company required inspection.
Thanks for the info. Fortunately, we don't have a strong infestation of Formosan termites where we are. I'm 90% sure that we have drywood in our place, which don't live underground (the third type of termite that we have in Florida). They could have been brought in within some furniture, or simply flew in through a small crevice outside. No, we didn't get a termite inspection, just relied on the previous owner's word that the home had "been treated" 4 years ago. We see a lot of homes in this town (St Pete) that are treated by tenting. There was no mortgage, as it was an inexpensive mobile home that we bought for cash.
After reading up on this endlessly, what I'm thinking of doing is getting a non repellant spray such as Phantom or Taurus and treating the two places inside where I see some signs of damage. I won't spray where I had sprayed the stuff the DIY store sold me, which appears to be simply something to kill them, but several feet from those access holes and make some new ones. Immediately killing them is not something I wish to do. I want them to pick up the non repellant and take it back w/ them to the colony, slowly killing all of them. My original idea was to go w/ Termidor foam, but it appears that it has to be placed exactly where they are, and it stays in place. The Phantom I can spray all over the place inside the walls, and because it dries to a granular, crystal substance, they should track it to other places and other termites. I wish I'd never bought that repellant spray from the DIY company, as now it appears they'll just avoid those areas, which is why the non repellant has to go somewhere else. It's a mistake that can be mitigated, but it would have been nice not to have done it in the first place. Live and learn.
My plan keeps changing as I get more data, and any and all help here is appreciated. I ordered some Phantom from amazon last night (can't hurt), and we'll see how that goes when it gets here. I'm favoring a gradual and slower DIY solution that will eliminate them w/o the expensive tenting option (which doesn't address things if they're in the ground anyway), and retreating now and then. If there's even a chance that I have subterranean, then $100-$150 to DIY treat the soil w/ either trenching or bait station stakes is worthwhile. So far, all the signs point to just drywood. We had those dreaded Formosan subterranean termites when we lived in Hawaii, as well as the drywood type. It was the worst of both worlds!
I'll just stick to the thread question since your posts tend to be speaking of post infestation resolution.
I have in numerous past posts mentioned my displeasure, disdain, and downright dislike of bait stations. There's nothing like putting an appetizer in the ground for termites. It's like ringing the dinner bell! You're literally drawing them in... First the appetizer, then the steak dinner (your house).
I'm still a big proponent of ground injection termitacide.
I'll just stick to the thread question since your posts tend to be speaking of post infestation resolution.
I have in numerous past posts mentioned my displeasure, disdain, and downright dislike of bait stations. There's nothing like putting an appetizer in the ground for termites. It's like ringing the dinner bell! You're literally drawing them in... First the appetizer, then the steak dinner (your house).
I'm still a big proponent of ground injection termitacide.
Would the ground injection termitacide be a good idea just to put down. I'm pretty sure our house is termite free.. Would it still be worth doing even if you know you don't have or don't think you have termites?
Sounds like you have drywood termites, which spend their life in the wood and never really venture into the soil. In that case, using a termitacide that injects into the ground will be useless.
Instead, you need something that you inject into the wood, like Boracare, or other wood injected treatments
Would the ground injection termitacide be a good idea just to put down. I'm pretty sure our house is termite free.. Would it still be worth doing even if you know you don't have or don't think you have termites?
Of course it would- along with annual inspections. A lot of inspecting is now being done with FLIR. Apparently, termite colonies produce significant heat that is easily detectable by FLIR.
I looked at the Boracare and like the looks of it, especially since it's not toxic to me, just the bugs. Thanks for the suggestion. It sounds like a messy application because it's apparently very thick and hard to mix and spray, but it has extremely long lasting capabilities.
The Phantom arrived yesterday (two BIG aerosol cans from amazon.com). Today I took off every light fixture, every electrical outlet, and every light switch plate, and sprayed in there where the wires come in. Pulled all the furniture out and drilled small holes in likely and unlikely areas and sprayed the Phantom in the walls, making sure I poked through the insulation as well as sprayed into the tip of the access hole openings. Then I spot treated every crack around the windows, base boards, doors, etc. Still need to plug up the little holes w/ something, but that's for tomorrow.
You would be surprised at how long something like this can take. Real PITA. In 4-6 weeks I'll either invest another $45 for two more cans, go w/ the Boracare, or both, since they don't chemically compete w/ each other. There were only two areas on two walls in the home that showed termite damage, and they got the majority of the treatment, but I figured I might as well spray everything and use up the two cans.
I was checking to see how long this stuff will be effective, and found a lot of online references that said it lasted for upwards of 7 years in studies by the Department of Agriculture Forest Service w/ a 98% success rate. It's even on the Phantom fact sheet on Amazon. Sound too good to be true? I suspect so, especially after reading on another site that it has a residual kill rate of 90 days. I think I'll buy the Boracare, wait 90 days, and finish off things w/ that, as it appears to last years and years.
Last edited by smarino; 05-06-2016 at 06:12 PM..
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