Sentricon termite service (rental, houses, buying)

[Daedlus4]

Anyone have a good recommendation for a pest control company that installs and maintains the Sentricon termite bait system? Our current home termite warranty is about to expire and I am shopping around. Thanks.

[sacredgrooves]

I would strongly advise against termite bait stations. It is not a good idea to bait termites towards your house. I inspect houses, spend time with termite inspectors almost every day, and have seen active termites in homes more times than I can count with bait stations present. A yearly inspection and spot treating if detected is the only thing you need to. For that, I would recommend either Swift Creek Exterminating, or Custom Termite and Pest. Termites work very slowly, the bait stations are nothing more than a revenue enhancement. Best of luck!

[Daedlus4]

Appreciate the advice. I'll look into both recommendations. Thank you.

[carcrazy67]

Most termites I've ever seen was in a house with "bait station" protection. I would NEVER go that way! The above recommendations are good.

[jmcstef]

Maybe put the bait stations around the perimeter of the property line so that any termites that were "tempted" would actually be pulled away from the house before they took the poison apple to their demise? Or if you have some nasty neighbors, put them near their ladder or other offensive yard materials. Build a nice copperhead-friendly nest of yard debris near it even.

I wouldn't pay any of these salesman types until I had reason to believe termites were invading already or getting close, but I did have an experience once with poison baits on a rental property I owned at the time. Previous owner had lots of mulch and miscellaneous wood pieces around the perimeter of the house, but no signs of termites on the house itself during inspection when I bought it. After buying it, I could pick up pieces of wood that were about a foot away from the foundation that were completely infested, active with termites right there in my hand....but the infestation was clearly localized to that one area. So I spent maybe $30 for those in-ground poison baits and put them all around the area where I found the termites. They had pieces of poison cardboard inside plastic stakes that went into the ground. Within days the termites were in them and the cardboard inside the plastic disappeared, but after that no more termites anywhere near the home.

Termite problem thwarted, thirty bucks later much to the dismay of Orkin or whoever else might like to put me on a monthly payment plan to mitigate bug fear. So I'm not sure baits are completely useless, the important thing is to engage brain and evaluate on a case by case basis instead of trying to apply one size fits all strategy.