Termite Control Protection & Treatment

Last Thursday, the Termite Control Company sent two of their technicians to do a full inspection of my home including the rooftop. They found some traces of mud tubes at the front door frame made of old wood and a pretty tough one too. This type of hard wood used to be basic material in building homes dating back to the 70s. It's still vulnerable to termites, but takes much longer for them to devour it. These days, construction companies use cheap wood which they claim treated with anti-termite chemicals, but these chemicals tend to wear off after few years. We later found the termite infested areas in the house were the same area renovated few years back.

The technician pricked the corner edges of the door frame and later showed me what was a small termite head sticking out and in of the crack. Judging from the dark brown head, it's most probably a soldier termite guarding the entrance. The technician instructed his assistant to fix the first Sentricon 'Above-Ground' bait station there, photo as below. I thought they would use glue or fasteners to put the station in place, but instead they use duct tape. No  points for aesthetics. The bait consist of white pills contained inside a plastic package and in order to "activate" the bait, a small amount of water is added.

We then continued to the living room, bedrooms and dining area. All clear. Later it was the kitchen area where few months back we tore apart and disposed the cabinets infested with termites. Now there are several big cracks on the wall where the cabinets used to be. No evident termite activity after thorough inspection. Next the storage room, literally termite heaven. Carton boxes on the floor are being eaten away, with mud mounds connecting the boxes left and right. Definitely far worse than what we've seen in the kitchen before. The technician installed another Sentricon AG bait station on the floor, next to one box with an exposed bottom (photo below). Again duct tape is used to secure the station and also to close the termite foraging path, drawing them to the bait. Upon further inspection, the wall behind the box is where the termites came in. There was this small white mound protruding out from the wall onto the floor. We could see couple of short mud tubes at the other side of the wall too. We left the storage room as it is to avoid disturbing the termite's foraging.


The roof top attic area  checked out alright, much to our relief. So in all, we had two Sentricon bait stations in the house and the technicians will be back for another round of inspection two weeks later. The next morning I checked the Sentricon bait station at the front door and to my surprise, there were traces of mud tubes between the station and the wall. Should I be amazed or frustrated?