Termite and Pest Control

termite microscope 200x158Termites are among the most ancient of animals and have been on the planet for millions of years. Like ants, and some bees and wasps termites divide labor among castes, produce overlapping generations and take care of young collectively. Hakuna Matata? Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Ewwwww. It is estimated that 10% of the four thousand species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests. That my friend in a nutshell is why you require termite control and I offer termite control. In fact many local termite and pest control companies offer termite control, and they stay busy with it; although not as busy as past years. Some say that the decrease in termite activity over the past 30 or so years is due to the types of products used and may in fact be dwindling down the termite populations. That is a whole other can of worms we should save for another blog. Let’s just say termites are an issue and they eat stuff you live in.

Subterranean termites (Rhinotermitidea… Don’t just glaze over this word there will be a short quiz later) are generally what we deal with most of the time around Austin. The majority of termite treatments offered around here are specifically designed to get rid of subterranean termites. Most termite and pest control companies don’t have the equipment to get rid of the types other than subterranean. But, that is ok since we rarely see the other species around here. Just be happy you don’t live in the State of California. Their laws are a little skewed when it comes to pest control and in the end cost the customer a considerable amount of money; I digress, that also is another blog. As I softly step off my soap box I remind you that you are here because you need to know how to get rid of termites. You are wondering about how to get rid of termites because chances are your home or business had termite swarmers fly out of the wall or baseboard. Let’s start with some basic termtie information that might help to answer some questions.

Termites have primary reproductives (swarmers). Swarmers are a key indicator to termite and pest control companies during the inspection process that you got some bugs eating up the house. They evacuate the colony, find a mate and attempt to reproduce. They evacuate the colony in the hundreds and thousands. It is like a black cloud flying out of the ground, or if you are really unlucky, a black cloud flying out of your bathroom wall. I have seen both.

Swarmers tell us that you have a mature termite colony living under your home. At this point if you are wondering about how to get rid of termites it should be clear that you need a termite treatment. Professional termite and pest control companies are able to give you an effective treatment because they have serious commercial products available to them. These are the types of products that old uncle sam says you can not play with unless you are a licensed and certified applicator. Licensing and certification actually happens through the state, but “old uncle Sam” sounds better than the “Great State of Texas”. Anyways… you need a professional company to get rid of termites. You will not be able to get your hands on the types of chemicals needed to do the treatment yourself. Trust me.

Call a termite and pest control company and get them to give you a free inspection and bid for service. They will leave you with a written graph that indicates how the treatment will happen and you can base your decision on that. Inspections are free, so get a couple and then make your decision.