Myths, Truths and Facts about Termites! There are many myths around termites andtheir behaviours that have developed over the years. The reality is that if there is timber on your property there is a massive probability especially in Queensland that termites are foraging close by.This article will uncover and correct just some of the myths that surround termites and there destructive nature.

MYTH “Yes we know we’ve got termites, they’re only in the fences and they are happy there with plenty to eat”!TRUTH Termites will feed wherever timber is available - unfortunately you cannot contain them to one area. The Queen can lay up to 2000 eggs a day, which means 100s of 1000s of workers can forage for food as far as the size of a football field around their nest.

MYTH “My next door neighbour told me that the Termites eating my retaining wall wont attack my house”!TRUTH There are 350 species of termites in Australia, and South East Queensland has 2 of the most destructive in the world. House frames, window frames, door frames and skirting boards provide a nutritious supply of food for a growing termite colony. How much of an expert is your neighbour?

MYTH Termites won’t attack Hardwood timbers!TRUTH Termites will attack hardwood timbers and can also damage plasterboard, carpets, plastics, books, artwork, clothes, electrical insulation and fit out timbers.

MYTH “We had a termite inspection done when we bought the house 2 years ago… I don’t reckon they’re here, we never see them”!TRUTH Termite inspections should be carried out every 6 -12 months. Termites are secretive by nature and very rarely will you see them eating your home, until they’ve caused thousands of dollars in damage. The sooner you identify a termite infestation the better for obvious reasons.

MYTH “I have a steel frame house, I don’t need to worry about termites!”TRUTH Termites don’t just attack timber houses. Termites can get into your home through a small crack and eat away at the window frames, skirting boards, floor boards and wall linings. The overall risk of major structural damage to steel or masonry house is low, but all types of houses are at risk. A CSIRO study (Cookson 1999) found that steel and masonry houses had virtually the same chances of attack as timber houses.

MYTH “I can’t have termites because I have termite protection built into my house!”TRUTH No termite management system is 100% termite proof. If this was the case, you would not need to have annual termite inspections. Pre-construction termite management systems are designed to make it more difficult for termites to enter your house by detering concealed entry into buildings. Termites can still enter your home through small cracks and joins in concrete slabs or around the external walls.

MYTH I don’t need termite protection because I spray around the house for termites!TRUTH It is not possible or effective to treat termites via surface spraying.Termites set up nests underground and in the trunks of trees.They tunnel through the soil then build mud shelter tubes up the side or underneath structures to gain access to buildings. Effective termite treatments should be applied by either baiting or underground chemical treatments.

MYTH It’s OK, my insurance company will cover the termite damage!TRUTH Insurance companies prefer not to insure against termites as they cause more damage than floods, fire and theft combined. Some termite companies will warrant against termites when full protection is installed around a building. These are just some of the myths and truths associated with termites. For peace of mind keep up your regular termite inspections and be pro-active with protecting your house from the high likelihood of a potential termite attack.

For a Free quote or advice please contact: Your Local Termite and Pest Control on 1800 556 225or reach us at www.yourlocaltermiteandpestcontrol.com.au“We Treat Pests The Way Pests Should Be Treated”

Most of our hidden housemates are harmless. But when it comes to termites, some can literally eat us out of house and home.

While termites' ability to damage our homes by eating wooden foundations is legendary, most species do not cause problems. Usually they are rarely seen, hidden away inside wood, underground or in their nests.

The importance of termites

Termites eat cellulose – the complex sugars that plants use to build leaves, stems and trunks. Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on earth. To find wood and other cellulose sources, termites often construct miniature, private highways under the soil that can radiate more than 50 m from their nests.

Perhaps the most famous termite nests are those made by the magnetic termite, Amitermes meridionalis, in northern Australia. These nests are oriented in a north-south direction. Many other species build mounds of different shapes and sizes, while others nest in wood, underground in the soil, or in trees.

The combined mass of termites on earth is estimated at 445 million tonnes, putting them in the top ten alongside cattle, krill, ants and humans.

Outside our homes, termites play a critical role as carbon recyclers and are considered keystone species in many tropical ecosystems, such as savannah habitats like those of northern Australia, Africa and South America. They use nutrient-rich saliva and gut excretions to build tunnels, which improves the quality of the soil. Alongside ants, there is evidence that termites increase crop yields.

When winged adult termites emerge from the nest they become a feast for many animals across the tropics.

Cockroach relatives

Termites evolved more than 140 million years ago from social cockroaches that burrowed deep into rotting wood. The closest living relatives of termites are cockroaches from the genus Cryptocercus, found only in isolated mountainous areas of China, Korea and North America.

Mum and dad Cryptocercus pair up and burrow into a large log that will be their home (and source of food) for life. Soon after meeting, the female lays a single clutch of 10 or so offspring, which they both feed and look after for around three years – about half the life of a typical Cryptocercus.

As termites evolved, their firstborn offspring began to look after the next clutch of siblings, freeing mum and dad to produce more sons and daughters. The older siblings stayed to build and defend the colony, and feed and look after the young.

The population of a termite colony these days can number in the millions. All the offspring derive from of a single reproductive pair (the queen and king).

Some species have evolved alternative systems. Colonies of the Australian termiteNasutitermes exitiosus often contain up to four unrelated pairs living together with their countless offspring in apparent harmony – a bit like a 1960s hippie commune.

In the Japanese termite Reticulitermes speratus, the king tends to outlive the queen. But the queen produces many half-clones of herself without any genetic input from the king (a form of virgin birth). These clones replace their dead mother, and all mate with the remaining king. In one colony, over 600 of these queen-clones have been found, making it the largest harem known in the animal kingdom.

The vast majority of termite offspring within a colony will never reproduce. Instead, these worker and soldier termites remain in a state of suspended development, never becoming adults. Soldier termites attack predators to ensure the survival of the colony and have evolved impressive jaws or snouts that spray toxic chemicals.

In some species like Neocapritermes taracua from South America, workers sacrifice themselves through the use of an “explosive backpack”. They do this by rupturing their skin, which allows normally harmless chemicals to mix and produced modified chemicals that are dangerous to any nearby predators.

All the efforts of the workers and soldiers go towards raising a small proportion of their brothers and sisters to adulthood, usually once a year. This select few will grow wings (all four of which are almost identical, hence the scientific name Isoptera meaning “equal wings”), pair up and promulgate the genes they share with their siblings back home.

Living with us

The dark, humid areas under the floor of many Australian houses provide the ideal environment for termites to emerge from the soil and create their covered highways up foundations to a mother lode of wooden frames.

In Australia, about a billion dollars is spent each year on termite control. House-eating termites are most common in the tropical north, although they are found throughout the continent. While there are more than 300 species of termite, only a handful are considered pests.

Most termites are deterred with chemicals and by replacing damaged wood with treated timber.

Their sophisticated social system is also their Achilles heel. Termite baits contain slow-acting chemicals that prevent termites from moulting or disrupt their nervous systems. Workers voraciously feed on the bait and take it back to the colony, where the poison is spread to the queen, king and their new offspring.

But as one colony is killed, another is often ready to take over. Termites have been around a long time and they are not likely to go away any time soon.

Having a termite infestation can not only be dangerous, but also costly. Surprisingly, many Australian families have them in their homes and don't even know it.

Here are our tips on how to avoid a termite infestation.

What exactly are termites?

There are hundreds of species of termites in Australia, but thankfully many of them aren't dangerous to homeowners. Only about 20 species of termites actually pose a threat.

They are small to medium in size and look almost like ants. They have pale bodies, a darker-coloured head and bead-like antennae.

How to detect termites in your home

Regularly inspect your home; get to know its vulnerable spots where termites might enter, such as soft wood beams and panelling.

Check any wood that might be connecting your house to the soil, such as piles of timber, as well as living and dead trees and stumps. Look for signs of damaged wood, which will be easily pierced with a screwdriver.

Check for things such as sagging floors, signs of dampness, cracked paint.

Check with your local council on how often and when termite inspections might be needed.If you do find, or strongly suspect you have termites on your property don't panic and run amok with insecticides.

The worst thing you can do is disturb the insects - this will only cause them to retreat, hide and possibly re-enter the property somewhere else.

Keep the element of surprise on your side.Termites work slowly, so you are much better off to take the time for an inspector to do a thorough inspection, correctly identify the species and produce a detailed assessment of the situation. What you are really after here is reliable, expert advice.

Termite extermination

Chemical soil treatment

This is probably the most common approach to both eradicating a termite infestation and protecting a house from future attack. It can be applied during construction of a house and after, though at a greater expense.

The soil is treated with chemicals to provide a continuous barrier in the ground against termite entry.

Areas treated include the boundary of concrete slabs or the building, as well as areas such as the patio, and the sub-floor area of a house. It's important to remember that barriers keep termites out but can also keep them in, so for these soil treatments to work, a skilled pest controller must be employed to both thoroughly inspect the house and grounds first, and make sure secondary nests aren't inside the house. These will also need treatment.

Things to consider:

Ask your pest controller whether the chemical soil treatment is a repellent or not.

There are a number of products available and they don't all work in the same way. Repellent pesticides will protect your house if the barrier is complete, but any gap will be detected by termites and could allow them entry to your house.

Non-repellent ones allow the termites to pass through the affected soil, where they will absorb the slow-acting poison, carry it back to the colony, pass it on and thus eradicate the entire colony.

Duration:

Once installed, a chemical soil treatment will need to be checked every 3-6 months and should provide protection for up to five years.

Baiting systems

How they work:

Bait boxes or bait station treatments have been developed by the CSIRO and other private manufacturers.

These boxes, or stations, contain slow-acting, non-repellent bait that is introduced directly into areas of termite activity. Under the CSIRO model, a baiting box (or, more likely, boxes) is installed at key points around and under the house, in garden beds butting up against the house, etc.

At this stage the box contains no chemicals, only food such as untreated wood, cardboard and paper that will attract the termites and give accurate indicators of termite activity.

This stage can be carried out by homeowners - if you are extremely sure you know what you're doing and won't just disturb the termites into retreating.

Once you're sure of your termites, a licensed pest controller has to step in to handle the introduction of the chemical bait into the boxes, and its monitoring.

Things to consider:

There are a number of bait station systems available that roughly follow the above procedure.

All rely on a large enough number of termites eating the bait and taking it back to the colony where it is passed on to other termites, thus killing the entire colony.

There is uncertainty associated with this treatment: too much disturbance of the termites or the surrounds will give them advance warning and cause them to retreat before they have eaten the bait.

The treatment will only work if a sufficiently large enough number of termites eat the bait and termites must "find" the bait in the first place. Considerable skill is needed to successfully install the boxes.

Duration:

This termite baiting system requires regular - often monthly - reviews and monitoring by a professional, which will add to the cost: successful elimination of the termite colony may take a few months, or even longer.

Everyone knows about Cockroaches, Ants and Spiders in Queensland. We dread the summer months when they all seem appear. And as much as we do not like household pests they are part of our echo system.

Now that we are coming into our winter months this is a time you will find that they may seem to disappear and instead go and breed and hide.

Ants do not seem to disappear regardless of the weather or time of year. Ants are household pests that like to come inside whether it rains or shines and sometimes you feel like you are living on an ants nest. Ants love wet and food areas and you will find them in your kitchen, bathroom and laundry areas and that is when they become a household pest. Getting rid of an entire ant colony can be a challenge for all and the main job for pest controllers is to treat the area of concern and to find the source. That is why we understand our customers concerns when it comes to ant problems in the home and we offer a 12 month internal warranty.

Spiders have a purpose to achieve balance in nature. And because Australia has spiders that leave nasty bites and some are poisonous they shouldn't have a place in your home. That is why it is important that we target the webs, mainly in the external areas to keep them from coming inside. Again offering a 12 month external warranty for spider treatments makes sure to keep them away from the inside of your home.

Cockroaches, the scavengers of all scavengers that love moist, dark, food and un-sanitised areas. The cockroach loves peoples homes most of all as it is the perfect breeding place and especially in the winter. In the summer they like to come out from your cavity walls and areas of your home and fly or crawl in and if not treated can breed very fast. There are 10 cockroach species in Australia alone and spread salmonella, typhoid, cholera and other harmful diseases. Today there is no reason to live with cockroaches. So if you have not had your home treated for household pests for more than 12 months you will find that you will have cockroaches and other household pests as your uninvited household guests.

So remember just because you cannot see any of the above mentioned household pests does not mean they are not breeding in your home. Remember you do not need to live with household pests and if you see any or too many do not leave it and contact your Local Pest Controller, even better contact us at www.yourlocaltermiteandpestcontrol.com.au as "We treat pests the way pests should be treated"