If you’re having issues with termites or any other pest, then it’s time to call your local Tulsa pest control company today. Your home or business can be the most expensive thing that you invest your money into in your entire life. These buildings are the protectors of our loved ones and our income. It’s important that we maintain them and make sure that they are sturdy. Termites are the very insect that can attack your home or business and take away the security and peace of mind that you have. In this article, lets take a good hard look at termites, their life cycle and what are you and your Tulsa pest control company can do to stop these insects from ruining your home or business.
WOOD EATING TERMITES AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
Termites are one of the few insects that actually feed upon wood. Their gut biome includes an enzyme that can break down parts of the wood and create energy out of it. Wood is essentially made up of two separate ingredients. Wood has lignin and wood has cellulose. Cellulose makes up the majority of the substance of the wood. It’s the cellulose that the termite can break down and make into energy.
The enzyme found in the gut of the termite is a special enzyme that is passed down through kind of a disgusting process. The process of trophallaxis is it is used in many different species in order to pass the gut biome down from parent to child. In the termite colony, the workers will feed the termite larva droppings from the adults. This transfers the enzymes from the adult gut to the infantile termite. It’s a very important part of the process. Your Tulsa pest control company will have more information.
FORAGING TERMITES AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
When termites forage for food, they will travel through the top 6 inches of the dirt. They must stay underground in order to survive. Termites are very susceptible to drying out in the open air. Because of this, they stay underground at all times. If they need to come above ground to forage for food, or to take food back, they will build mud tubes up the side of a building or tree in order to do this.
Underground, they will forage by fanning out from the colony in the top 6 inches of soil. They’re searching for deadwood that they can use to feed their colony. If they find it, that’s when they will build these tunnels, going up the side of the tree removing the wood and taking it back to the colony. Termites are essentially the cleanup crew for dead and dying plant material. This is great until they find the wood in your home or business. Then they become a problem. Stop them with the help of your Tulsa pest control company.
TERMITE BARRIERS AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
Because these insects use the top 6 inches of soil to forage, it gives us a place where we can build barriers to stop these insects from attacking our homes and businesses. There are essentially two processes by which we protect our buildings. The first kind of treatment is the liquid treatment. This treatment is performed by digging a trench around the outside of the house. Once the trench is dug, the technician will fill the trench with pesticidal liquid that drains down into the dirt. Then the technician will put treated dirt into the trench that they have dug to fill it in.
This creates a curtain like area of treated dirt can extend anywhere from 4 to 10 feet down into the ground. So when termites attack your home and, they will have to go through this curtain of treated dirt. As they do, and they return to the colony, they will bring the pesticide back to the colony, spreading it amongst the other members of the colony. This will control the colony. Your Tulsa pest control company has treatments for termites.
TERMITE BAIT AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
The second kind of treatment that we use for pest control our termite bait stations. These are a plastic station it’s about a foot to 18 inches long and is buried into the ground. These stations will be full of a pesticide treated cellulose cartridge that the termites love. As they fan out foraging, and they come close to your home, they’ll find these bait stations that are strategically placed around your home and consume the cellulose. Often they will also bring a large amount of that cellulose back to the colony. Because these cartridges are made of pure cellulose, and there’s no lignin in many cases, the termites prefer these cellulose cartridges to real wood.
The pesticide contained in these cartridges is actually an IGR. That stands for insect growth regulator. These growth regulators are a hormone that stop juvenile insect from being able to produce chitin, which is a substance that their exoskeleton‘s are made out of. So this treatment doesn’t kill the adult termites. It actually wipes out the young and unborn termites before they can become full grown. So it takes a generation to completely wipe out the colony. Even so, it is still extremely effective and is often used in the industry to control termites in terminate colonies.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have termites or any other pests, then its time to call in a professional Tulsa pest control company, that can help you with your problem. Here at TermMax Pest Control, we are the best of business when it comes to dealing with termites, or any other pests. We service greater Tulsa area, including Owosso, Turley, Claremont, Coweta, Catoosa, Broken Arrow, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Bixby, Jenks, and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!