Kill termites and white ants without poisons

They send out scouts to find wood and, there is very attractive wood inside a Termite Trap. (The one recommended by CSIRO). TermiTraps are designed to be placed up on the ground rather than be buried in it. For millions of years, there has always has been more wood above ground level than under it, so the acquired habit of scouts is to go out above ground level to find timber. Another survival habit: termites do not rely on just one food source. They are constantly seeking supplementary food sources. Too many times there have been flash floods and bushfires or dinosaurs/mammoths have moved their main meal. To survive, multiple feeding sites became a necessity. And, so it continues… The short answer: the more TermiTraps you have placed around your home, above the ground where termite scouts are looking, the sooner and more likely you are to intercept scouts.

No. Termite scouts find monitors you have placed adjacent to your home simply because they were already there looking about. It could be argued that if they hadn’t found the Trap, they may have kept looking further and found a way inside.

Yes. And yes. Building codes, in essence, aim to ensure termites cannot enter unseen into a structure. Codes do not expect to prevent termites getting into a building, the aim is to make termite attack routes visible on the way in. Think of those old ant caps that were/are placed on piers and stumps. Termites cannot get through the metal; they have to build out around and over them where their tunnel can be seen — as long as someone goes looking. Requiring an annual inspection is almost the first paragraph of most Codes). Builders guarantees are full of loop holes. The pest control company only gives the builder a piece of paper to say they applied or installed chemical or other barriers to the appropriate Code. If you haven’t kept up the annual termite inspection (by the nominated pest company) your warrantee is void and there’s nowhere to go.

Not a good idea. It takes time for scouts to find a TermiTrap outside and then more time for the ‘construction team’ to build a tunnel to it. Then even more time to bait them. During all that time, they are still hollowing out the timbers in your house. If you can find termites busy eating timbers such as skirting boards, window or door frames, it is best to directly bait them right away. Here’s the link to text and illustrations explaining the process.

They are just less than the size of a house brick: 190mm x 90mm x 80mm high.

The Colony Killer Termite Bait is approved by the APVMA in Canberra (the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority) for use by homeowners.

I’m very wary of generalising, but here is an attempt to simplify, hoping you’ll recognise that in nature there are exceptions to human ‘rules’. There are 300+ termite species in Australia. Only about 10 or so species, the so-called ‘serious’ ones, contribute significantly to Australia’s annual $billion+ damage bill. These species come from just three genera (plural of genus): Coptotermes, Schedorhinotermes and Mastotermes, (Coptos, Schedos and Mastos.) The Mastos are found mainly north of the Tropic of Capricorn (between Rockhampton and Exmouth) and they are big — 13-16mm long. No other solid-wood eating termite is this big. The geography and size quickly rules them in or out as a threat to your home. The Coptos and Schedos are found all over the continent and they specialise in eating solid wood such as in our structures. Which means they definitely are a threat. The rest of the 300+ are ‘nuisances’ because they are either leaf-litter, grass, or decaying wood eaters and they usually build mounds. No one wants to live with a termite mound nearby so even the couple of species of the pointy-headed Nasutes (Nasutitermes) that will eat solid timber are easily destroyed by breaking open their mound. We have a free ID Service and there is also a section in this website that gives you some visual clues on the differences.