How long does it take to bait termites?
If termites are eating your window frame or any timber in your house, you probably want them to stop eating right now.
Let’s say those termites are coming from a nest in a nearby tree or a mound.
When you physically or chemically kill that nest the action within your window frame should stop.
If it does, you could feel confident they came from that nest. Then you could get on with your repairs and life after termites.
But what if you have termites in a window frame and neither you nor a pest man can be certain where the nest is — or the exact route they took to get there?
What are your options?
You can spray a termite with almost anything and it will curl up and die in minutes
But back at the nest, the queen termite is laying thousands of eggs a day — so that’s not the answer.
A pest technician can use dust like arsenic, only less toxic, or foams like shaving cream containing a slow action insecticide and the galleries treated will become empty of termites in a couple of weeks.
But empty galleries don’t always mean a dead colony. Dust and foams are supposed to be transferred from termite to termite by grooming and regurgitated food until eventually the queen and a big proportion of the workers and nymphs are dead. Nest maintenance and egg production stops and the colony die out — in a couple of weeks. That’s the plan and intention, but it too often it doesn’t happen that way.
If you think it has happened because there are no more termites in the window frame…
- how will you know for sure?
- what could have gone wrong?
- is there a more certain way of knowing the result of dusting/foaming?
The answers are you won’t know — until termites appear in another part of the house (which categorically means it didn’t work).
Usually, failure of the dust or foams is because the window frame became too dusty, there was too much disturbance, or the area became otherwise uninhabitable and they sealed it off back closer to the nest only to branch off in a new direction.
The more certain and reliable way is to bait them. And yes, it may seem to take forever!
It may be of little consolation but think of it this way: the termites were probably eating for months, maybe a year or more, before you discovered them.
What is another couple of months or so to be sure that the whole termite nest is killed by baiting?
OK, You can become patient, but then how can you be “sure” termite baiting will kill the colony?
Big Q.
If termites are busy eating that window, or any timber anywhere, it is because conditions are just right inside it. Adding a slow-action termite bait without disturbing their equilibrium means they can extend their activity to include the pouch of termite bait which is protected from humidity variations by the container or the covering over the termite bait
As termite bait is moist cellulose in small, unattached particles, termite workers use less effort to harvest a bellyful compared to gnawing off solid wood. They willingly venture out into the termite bait for the ‘easy pickings’. And, unless something or someone breaks the connecting tunnel back to the termite nest, or you let them run out of termite bait, they will keep harvesting until the colony dies.
Back to the Original Question: Why Does it Take so Long?”
The active ingredient in termite baits interferes with their moulting process. Nymphs developing from egg to adult go through a series of moults; even the adult termite workers and soldiers moult a few times during their adulthood.
If an individual consumes termite bait and moulting is not due, the chemical can pass on through without effect.
If a moult is due, they die during the process.
This explains why termites may begin consuming termite bait in Autumn and will continue taking it all through winter but the nest doesn’t die until late spring.
During the cooler months when metabolism is slower, the nymphs that die are cleared out and replaced.
When the moulting begins in earnest with the warmer weather and most of the nymphs are affected at the same time, the decomposition gases and resulting fungus can just overwhelm the efforts of the workers, many of which are also trying to moult, and the catastrophe kills the nest, including the royals.
Job done. But instead of a couple of months, it may have taken six or more.
Does Time Matter?
Yes, if you want to get on with repairs and your life — and you do. The nagging uncertainty of dust and foams have you wondering whether it worked or did the termites just abandoned that particular area to re-attack in a different area.
You should find reassurance that unless the connection with the nest is damaged and if the termite bait is taken over at least a month or so, eventually baiting kills the colony. Cessation of action equals one dead colony.
Australia’s Two Main Subterranean Termites
NOTE: Australia’s two main subterranean termites from Coptotermes and Schedorhinotermes families are affected by the chlorfluazuron in Colony Killer Termite Bait.
Some of the nuisance species can ‘play’ with the termite bait and not eat much (or ignore it) and the Nasutitermes (with the pointy-headed soldiers) often harvest it and use it as construction material rather than eat it.
That’s a good reason to have a look at our Termite Identification Service
You don’t need to waste time and effort on termites that haven’t read the script!
