Termite Infestations

Yesterday I had a chance to speak with that intellegent pest expert, Dovid Davis, a Baltimore pest control specialist. Dovid and I had never talked about termites, so I asked him to tell me about them. And, I was glad I did, because this proved to be the most interesting discussion air swimmers I have had with Dovid. David told me that we were mostly going to talk about subterranean termites. They naturally live in the soil, like earthworms, and they feast on cellular and wood byproducts such as paper. Dovid told me there are basically three stages of the termite life cycle, which are identified. One of these is the nymph stage. As a nymph, termites resemble a maggot, meaning a tiny white worm maybe a fifth of an inch or even tinier in size. They live in colonies. The heart of the colony is the queen, whose unique purpose is to produce the workers; and, there can be many of them in a colony. They are all her progeny, and while they work, she just turns out babies. The workers, in turn, provide nourishment for their queen, and they all feed together, below the surface.Here, Dovid told me an interesting fact about termites, if the workers are exposed to open air they die within 20-30 seconds. They musn't be exposed to the open air. A humidity level of 15-18% will dry them out. This fact reminds me somewhat of man's life on the moon.So the workers live inside these termite tunnels. When the queen wishes to enlarge her colony, she will then produce another type of termite called a swarmer, which is a flying termite protected by exoskeleton. This outside shell allows this termite to dwell in the open air.According to Dovid, the swarmers will generally be present in the middle of March and April. They're birth is triggered by warm weather. There can be hundreds or thousands in one swarm. swarmers do not eat wood. Their sole job is to fly around, select a mate, (the swarmers come in male and female.), and locate another underground location where they can create a new colony. And all of this must occur in less than 20 hours, which is the average life span of the swarmer. And that, Dovid concluded, ends the description of the life cycle of the swarmer.Now Dovid told me some more incredible fact about the underground termites. If they want to expand their colony without using swarmers, they are forced to create additional termite tunnels. To do this, they take a bit of the soil, and a bit of their waste, and they make a tunnel from point A to point B. Now here's the incredible fact. When youenter someone's basement, and see mud tunnels running up and down the walls, these tunnels are termite turnpikes for the termites going from the soil up to ceiling beams, and back down to the earth again. Like vampires, they must return to the soil every 24 hours or they will perish. And this actioncvg goes on continually 24 hours a day.If you were to open a hole in the tunnel to examine it, workers will immediately begin to either fix the hole in the tunnel or close it off. They will close off the open end of the tunnel and then build another tunnel connecting the two severed ends. They will employ these tunnels to go along cinderblock walls, up through thecenter of the brick or even around it. The tunnels may rise even 10 feet in the air, allowing the termites to feast air swimmers on roof studs, while enlarging the tunnel as they go.Amazingly, the termites can live like this for 60-90 days or even for 10 years. While we think of termites as lowly creatures, their lifestyle is not unlike the life man will have when he colonizes the Moon or Mars, and have to dwell in plastic bubbles to survive.Then Dovid got to the heart the conversation. Now that we know their lifestyle, how does a pest specialist kill the termites. Dovid informed me there are two stages. First the pest specialist has to prevent termites from entering the home from the outside soil, and he has to kill the air angry bird ones that have already Air Swimmers entered the dwelling.While treatment for termite extermination varies, the most common technique is to go on the outside of the house around the outside grounds close to the home, this is the first stage. What Dovid does is to create a 6-8 inch deep trench and put in a long rod into the soil so that it goes down to the footers, and inject with a termiticide. This will kill the termites who are trying to get in. As they come in contact with the termiticide, it will kill them. Internal walls are treated by drilling into whatever substrate, the wall is made of and injecting with a termiticide.According to Dovid, the protection from the treatment will range anywhere from 5-10 years if left undisturbed. However, if there is an break in the chemical barrier or if you miss a spot of as little as 6 inches because of piping or a tree stump, if there is a gap of even one inch, termites will utilize it and enter the home. So a typical average home uses between 75 gallons and 125 gallons of termiticide for a single treatment.Dovid left me with one more amazing fact. The new generation of termiticides is unique among insecticides. Whereas the old generation termiticides were repellants, with a smell that drove the termites away, the new generation are attack viruses, which specifically thrive on termites. When the termite crawls through the checmical he will pick up the infection and then bring it back to the queen. It takes 2-3 three weeks to knock out a colony. And the virus doesn't attack humans.Well, that wraps up another episode of "Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist," and I wish you all a pest free day!