Home Termite Inspection and Termite Control - Week2

Today marks the end of Week 2 after the Sentricon bait stations were first installed. The same technicians from the termite control company came to carry out a second home inspection, mostly to check on whether the bait stations attracted any termites and to what extent.

First is the Sentricon AG bait station in the storage room. I was expecting the bait to be infested with termites, but after opening the top case, it appears the bait matrix is only 15% consumed (photo below). There were mud tubes everywhere and most of the white bait matrix is still intact. A few worker termites can be seen foraging the bait. The technician decided to leave the station as it is since the bait should last for few more weeks, judging by the current foraging rate. At the door frame to the storage room, we found two new traces of mud tubes. It seems after disturbing the storage area during our first home inspection 2 weeks ago, the termites started exploring further.

(Storage room Sentricon AG Bait Station - Week 2)

(Storage room door frame - fresh termite mud tubes)

Next is the Sentricon AG bait station fixed above the front main door.This time the bait matrix was completely consumed by the termites. All that was left were brown mud tubes (photo below) and there were still few termites moving around. You can clearly see that there is no trace left of the previous white bait matrix.

(Front Main Door Sentricon AG Bait Station - Week 2)

The technician added another pack of bait matrix on top of the old one. The old bait package was not to be removed, the logic is that there are traces of hormones secreted by the termites on it that will attract them to return to the same station.

(Front Main Door - Add Sentricon Bait Matrix)

(Front Main Door - Stack New Sentricon Bait Matrix)

The next inspection will be 3 weeks from now. According to the technician, it should take at least another 2 more inspections to see significant results of the Sentricon Colony Elimination System.

Home Termite Inspection and Termite Control - Day1

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.

(Sentricon Bait Matrix with Hexaflumuron)

(Front Main Door Sentricon AG Bait Station)

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.

(Storage Room Sentricon AG Bait Station)

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?

Termite Control - Hexaflumuron in Improved Bait Matrix

An improved, cellulosic bait matrix (Preferred Textured Cellulose, PTC) containing 0.5% hexaflumuron was tested against field colonies of the subterranean termites Coptotermes gestroi and Schedorhinotermes sp. in Malaysia. Of the eight colonies of C. gestroi detected, six were estimated for population size using dyed blank bait before treatment. Then, the colonies were treated with hexaflumuron-PTC baits. Bait consumption and days to colony elimination were estimated. All of the eight colonies were eliminated between 42-77 days (mean = 60 days) with estimated bait consumption of 22.93-167.00 g (mean = 60.17 g) which is equivalent to 114-835 mg of hexaflumuron. A Schedorhinotermes sp. colony appeared in one of the sites within two months after the elimination of C. gestroi. The Schedorhinotermes colony was baited with hexaflumuron-PTC bait and eliminated after 59 days with an estimated 48.85 g of bait consumed. While the effect of PTC bait on Coptotermes sp. showed no difference from that of Laminated Textured Cellulose (LTC) matrices, the PTC matrices showed increased palatability to other termite species such as Schedorhinotermes and Microtermes pakistanicus.

Sourced from : http://psasir.upm.edu.my/6991/
Elimination of Subterranean Termite Colonies With Hexaflumuron in an Improved Bait Matrix, Preferred Textured Cellulose (PTC). Sociobiology, 53 (3). pp. 891-901. ISSN 0361-6525

Choosing a Termite Control Company

After detecting my house got infested with termites again, this time in the storage room area, I decided to hire professionals to take care of the problem once and for all. Initially I had feedbacks (more like complaints) from relatives and friends who had bad experience with Termite Control Companies (TCC). But after going through the details, I found most of them used the conventional solution which was drilling and pumping chemicals to kill the termites. From the articles I read on the internet, this method doesn't address the core of the problem, since the chemicals do not reach all the cracks and hollow spots in the building structure. Furthermore these chemicals wear out after some time and the termites tend to make a comeback shortly.

I contacted two well-known Termite Control Companies (TCC). They sent their sales representatives a day later to visit my home and make an analysis. I arranged the appointments so that one will come in the morning, and the other in the afternoon.

The first company originated from UK, let's call them TCC1, has been in the pest control business since 1927 providing services to over 40 countries worldwide. They have setup base here in the country for more than 40 years. The sales representatives and technicians who do the field work are directly hired by the company. After checking the areas around my house, the sales rep identified the termite to be Subterranean Coptotermes genus, the most common type found in households. The termite control treatment they recommended was the Sentricon® - Termite Colony Elimination System which is basically a baiting system. The service is packaged in a way to last for a year, with optional renewal upon expiry at a lower price. If agreed and contract signed, TCC1 will send their technicians the next day to carry out a full inspection of the building including rooftop, for signs of termites. A device developed by Termatrac® is used to detect termites through timber, plaster board, brick or masonry with no interference to the building material or termite activity.

Each in-building area found thriving with termite activities will be installed with an Above-Ground (AG) bait station. Each station is a rectangular box 3.5"x6" with 2" height, containing bait compound laced with Hexaflumuron hormone. After 2 weeks, TCC1 technicians will check the stations and verify that termites are taking the bait. If 1/3 to half the bait matrix has been consumed and active feeding continues, a supplement station will be added by stacking it on top of existing station. Stacking avoids disturbing the termite foraging activities. Colony elimination normally takes between 60 to 90 days.

When feeding has not been observed for two consecutively monitoring periods, the bait stations will be removed, followed by periodic inspections (every 3 months) of the building for renewed termite activity. In the event of re-infestation of second termites colony, AG bait stations will be introduced again and fortnightly monitoring will continue until elimination of the termite colony, without incurring extra charges. The whole package cost around USD800 for the first year, with renewal rate around USD200 a year.

In the afternoon, the second Termite Control Company TCC2 did their checks. Pretty much the same analysis as the previous TCC, and they recommended the same Sentricon® - Termite Colony Elimination System. Their package is priced cheaper at around USD670 for the first year, with optional renewal rate approximately USD130 a year. Main difference is that the people I was dealing with are not TCC2 direct employees, rather they are employed by a smaller Termite Control operator holding TCC2 franchise license. This gives them the privilege of using TCC2 brandname and their authorised products (Sentricon is not available to retailers, they are sold only to authorised Termite Control firms like TCC1 and TCC2). The risk here is the franchise holder may go bankrupt and close shop, leaving me with the only option of waiting for TCC2 to assign a replacement. The plus point however is that TCC2 offers a 200% money back guarantee if their service failed to solve the termite problem. TCC2 started its roots in the country back in 1985 and has been expanding their offices since.

Since the product that both TCC use are the same, it's basically the price tag, level of customer service, expertise and response time that score points. In the end, I chose the TCC2 for two reasons : the price tag of course and the sales rep was a lot more accommodating and friendly. And from what I read, Termite Control business is big business, so the chances of the franchise going bankrupt is pretty slim as far as I'm concerned.

My Home Got Infested with Termites

My home was infested with termites back in June this year. That was the first time I realized the house had a termite problem. It started inside the kitchen cabinet, below the kitchen sink. Apparently there was a carton box containing ceramic floor tiles (from a previous house renovation works), placed underneath the sink. Water must have soaked some parts of the carton box over the years and attracted the termites.

Now we can see mud tubes along the wall, trailing the kitchen cabinet edge. The first thing we did was consult our renovation contractor who did the front porch. After some discussion, we decided to take the easiest and fastest solution, tear apart the kitchen cabinet and dispose everything paper or wood. The contractor brought along a mineral bottle filled with a liquid insecticide he got from the hardware store, which dangerously looked like ordinary milk but had a very strong suffocating smell. He later sprayed the chemical onto the cabinet floor and wall edges. Very effective and fast working. Within seconds, the termites were dead but the poisonous odour still remain in the kitchen even today.

We burned the wooden cabinet and carton box in our backyard, and sprayed more chemicals at the remaining termites trying to escape. I think there were more than ten thousand of them and few must have made their way into the ground and wall cracks. Problem solved? Hardly. We knew the termites were still around but we didn't expect them to make a comeback anytime soon.

After couple of months, again the persistent termites were detected, this time in our storage room. Another carton box on the floor was being eaten away, visibly one bottom corner was exposed. Between the boxes we could see what appears to be mud mounds which the termites use to cross from one box to another, they were making highways to whatever cellulite material available in the room. This time we knew we had to call in the specialists to solve the problem once and for all, hopefully.

Termite Control with Sentricon® - Termite Colony Elimination System

The Sentricon system is marketed as a termite colony elimination system. In order for a colony elimination system to work, the bait must affect every termite in the colony. Worker termites do all of the foraging, so how does the bait get from the worker termites to the rest of the colony?

Remember that the worker termites are responsible for feeding all of their nestmates. They do this by consuming food themselves then regurgitating part of it into the mouths of the other colony members. This same natural behavior is exploited by the Sentricon termite control system to disperse the bait toxicant throughout the termite nest.

It is important to note that the bait cannot work too fast. If the active ingredient killed the termites too rapidly, the worker termites would die before they could pass the bait to other colony members.

The active ingredient in the Sentricon bait is hexaflumuron, a slow acting toxicant. Hexaflumuron is an insect growth regulator (IGR). IGRs interfere with the insect's physical development. This particular IGR interferes with the insect's ability to molt. Insects have their skeleton on the outside of their bodies, an exoskeleton.

In order to grow larger they must periodically shed this exoskeleton in a process called molting. Hexaflumuron, a chitin synthesis inhibitor, inhibits the termites' ability to produce chitin (skin substance). Hexaflumuron does not allow the termite to molt properly so it dies in the process.

As worker termites feed on the bait material, they transfer the Hexaflumuron throughout the entire colony via a process known as "trophallaxis". When hexaflumuron is passed from one termite to another the affected termites die during their next molt. In time, there are too few termites left to take care of the colony and feed the queen. When the queen dies the colony is eliminated.

The Sentricon termite control system also supplies above ground stations that the pest control operator (PCO) can place directly on termite mud tubes or infested wood. Hexaflumuron is the active ingredient in the above ground stations as well.



Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_823411_54.html