Timing for Termites
Your Termite Monitor (TermiTrap) might sit on sentry duty for weeks, months or even years.
The timing depends on the scouting prowess of nearby termite colonies.
We know termite scouts come up out of the soil to find timber.
How else would they know there was a house to eat? or firewood? or stacked timber you’ve kept in case it might come in handy?
Termites scout out Termite monitors (TermiTrap) in the same way.
After the scouts discover a Termite monitor, the scouts share the details of the find: nutritional quality, that the amount of timber is worth the tunnel building effort, the distance from the closest gallery in use, moisture, temperature and whatever else the ‘bureaucrats’ want to know
After approval, the construction team is selected and tunneling begins as a branch or extension from a current tunnel closest to the TermiTrap they’ve found.
Once the protective tunnel reaches the TermiTrap, they seal off the base with the mud mixture which will keep out ants and lizards to make the Termite Monitor their own. Building a mud ‘scaffolding’ up between the slats of Tassie oak timber, they reach the open hole at the top and close it.
That is their signal to you that termites have arrived and are serious about eating all the wood inside.
Time To Begin Baiting
Once you’ve added water to the Colony Killer Termite Bait, poked the signal mud into the lid and sealed the bait pouch on top, termites investigate the new, moist extension to their TermiTrap.
The taste test gets a thumbs up and, compared to grinding off solid timber, the soft and moist particles of bait are much easier to devour
This preference for the bait is shown in these photos by the amount of timber still uneaten.
However if your TermiTraps is not inspected regularly, at least every 2-3 months, the timber could be consumed and the termites gone. An empty termite monitor cannot be baited.
Do your assessing when the TermiTrap is not in hot sun; you will get a false sense of success if there are no termites simply because it is too hot inside at that moment. Termites love temperatures up to about 32-34 C but above that, they may leave a TermiTrap for an hour or so until it gets a bit cooler.
You Need Multiple Feeds to Kill a Nest
Carefully open the Colony Killer Termite Bait pouch to see how much bait is left; close again if there is enough for a few more days, replace if it is almost totally consumed.
If no live termites are seen it is best to wait another week or maybe two before holding a victory party.
arthur anson says
Gday Ion. An update on my termite problem. I had a problem a few months ago and i sent you a sample of the little buggers. They were the nasty ones, i found and treated a couple of trees in the reserve out the back. I already had put a couple of stormwater pipe traps near my rear gate around the same time i purchased a box of the TermiBricks. They went for the cardboard in the pipe so i placed three Bricks at the base of .the pipe. Over the next approx 10 weeks i kept watch for them to go for the Bricks but it did not happen. They were still at the cardboard up to two weeks ago but only a few could be seen. Because i am putting up a new rear gate, i had to remove the pipe out of the ground and they are gone. The underside of the Bricks i thought would just be dirt were clogged with a mould. I thought that maybe those termites at the gate were the leftovers from a tree about 20ft away which i had treated. It was interesting that they went only for the cardboard and left the three Bricks alone. Any ideas? Regards Arthur.