Termites are a wood destroying insect that can be eliminated by your Tulsa exterminator. These insects specialize in the fact that they can feed upon the wood that we create our homes from. While in nature, they do a great job of cleaning up fallen trees, and dead plant material, in urban civilization, they can be a terrible pest. Termites can remove the structural integrity of your home and cause millions of dollars of damage every year in homes around the country. So in this article, let us take a good hard look at termites, their lifecycle of what you and your Tulsa exterminator can do to protect your home from these insects.
TERMITE SIGNS AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
In order to know if you have a termite problem, it’s important that you understand with the signs are. These insects are subterranean in nature. The eastern subterranean termite is the termite of choice here in northeastern Oklahoma. They stay underground because they’re very susceptible to drying out. Under ground, there is much more humid air that they can use to survive. Above ground, the air is too dry for them. If they find themselves above ground without protection, they will dry out within a matter of minutes. So when they decide to come above ground to forage for food, they’ll build mud tubes up the side of walls and trees in order to carry the humid air up above ground with them. If you’re seeing mud tubes anywhere on the side of your home, then you know you’ve got a problem with termites.
DRYWALL AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
Sometimes termites will come up inside a wall. Cracks in the foundation can give them an opportunity to come through. If this happens, the mud tubes will be inside where we can’t see them. They’ll go up the drywall and they’ll begin to to eat away at that drywall. The paper on the outside of the gypsum that this drywall provide a perfect form of food for these insects.
As time goes on, they will eventually wear away to the other side of the drywall where you can see it. In most cases, they won’t come all the way through, but often they’ll make a mistake and poke a hole through the wall. When they do this, they will take mud and fill in the hole in order to contain the humid air within. If you’re seeing weak spots in your drywall or holes with mud pushed through, then you have an issue with termites. Call your Tulsa exterminator for help with these insects.
TERMITE CONTROL AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
When a problem arises, and you have to deal with these termites, it’s important that you call in a professional for help. There are two basic methods by which we protect our homes from termites. Both of them use a protective barrier around the outside of your home. The first is the liquid treatment. This is the oldest of the two treatments and has been use for many years to eliminate and protect homes from termite infestation.
A technician will dig a trench all the way around the outside of your home. Then they will force a termite pesticide into the trench, allowing it to drain down the side of your foundation. After they finish doing this, they will take dirt and treat it, and then refill the trench with this dirt. This creates a sort of curtain of pesticide treated dirt that goes down the side of your foundation. Foraging termites will go through the termidiciide and take it back in the colony wiping out the colony.
TERMITE BAIT STATIONS
The second method by which we control termites is by using a termite bait station system. These bait stations are a plastic station that is buried into the ground to about a foot deep. Inside the station are capsules filled with a pesticide laced block of cellulose. Wood is essentially made up of two materials. There’s lignin and then there’s cellulose. It is the cellulose that termites can consume and create energy from. So these bait stations are like candy to them. When they eat the cellulose, they’ll bring it back to the colony and feed it to the young.
While the pesticide in these bait stations doesn’t actually kill adults, they induce a hormone regulating drug inside the young termites. As a young termites grows, they have to shed their exoskeleton and create a new one. In order to do this, a special hormone is needed to be released in order to create the chitin that the exoskeleton is made up of. This pesticide blocks that hormone, causing the young termites to die before they can fully develop. This means that the entire colony will be wiped out in two generations. Contact your Tulsa exterminator for help with termites.
SWARMERS AND TULSA EXTERMINATOR
Once a colony has matured to a full age, it will seek to reproduce itself. In order to do this, the colony will produce a special kind of termite known as a swarmers. Swarmers are a flying termite. It’s much hardier than the average termite. It can survive out in the open air for long periods of time. The swarmers will leave the colony once a year to swarm with a large group of other like-minded termites from other colonies. They’ll pair up, land, mate, and begin a brand new colony there. Sometimes the swarmers can come up inside your house. If this is the case, you know that you have a problem with termites. It’s time to call your Tulsa exterminator.
If you’re having an issue with termites or any other insects, then its time to contact your Tulsa exterminator. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with termites or any other insects. We service the greater Tulsa area including Broken Arrow, Coweta, Catoosa, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Prattville, Bixby, Jenks, Owasso, Turley, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!