“I have found termites in my house” is a call that we often get from property owners on the Brisbane northside and northern suburbs.
It’s unlikely to be something good and action must be taken.
In this video Alan Ferguson from Conquer Termites Northside (Allure Pest Solutions) talks about what you should do if you find termites in your house, home or property.
Video transcript
John: “I found termites in my house what should I do” is the subject of today’s termite talk. I’m with Alan Ferguson from Conquer Termites Northside (now Allure Pest Control).
John: Alan, what should you do if you find termites?
Alan: John, okay first of all and this is the really difficult bit; don’t tear their workings open trying to find how far they’ve gone. All that does is makes it more difficult to actually get them out of the house for us.
John: oh really, like when they are found, I wonder sort of that happens if they do?
Alan: Well the species that we find in houses, probably 60-65% maybe 70% of the time, called Schedorhinotermes and they’re really quite skittish. So you you know, you might find some bumps, and go “oh what’s that,” and you open it up and go, ah ha. You really need to be strong and not get a screwdriver, because all that does is upsets them and they beetle off elsewhere.
John: Okay. What we really want to do is is identify where they are.
Alan: We can do that unobtrusively, you know with moisture meters thermal cameras etc.
John: So that we can identify where they are.
Alan: Yeah, then we begin the process of getting them out of the house. But for us to do that, they need to stick to keep coming back to that area.
John: okay, okay, so the more that you disturb them, the more they beetle off elsewhere, because they stick to their tracks in there.
Alan: Absolutely.
John: In their nest, their hive, and that sort of thing, and they’ll always come back home.
Alan: yeah, yeah, pretty much that. You know they can scoot back off to the colony. Termites keep themselves fully enclosed. We know, whether it’s within timber or inside mud, choose for a couple of reasons. One, is to keep predators out
John: An answer to predators.
Alan: Yeah, but the the second reason is to keep moisture in.
John: All right, so the moisture, you talk about moisture for termites.
Alan: So, it’s really quite humid and warm inside their workings. You open it up and suddenly the soldiers will come because they sense the change in the atmosphere. So a change in humidity and the soldiers come to the opening, and you know protect their home. So, if for example there are ants about, they’d step out go chomp, and chop into a couple of pieces.
John: Yeah okay, how can it help you in your work.
Alan: Yeah, so first thing don’t tear it all open.
John: All right.
Alan: If you can just put a little bit of tape over it and let them do their happy thing
John: Oh, so seal it back up.
Alan: Yeah, let them be and get straight on the phone to a creditable professional who was going to come and sort the issue for you.
John: You know they’d be Conquer Termites Northside.
Alan: I’ve no doubt that would be Conquer Termites Northside. You know the reality is there are lots of things that we need to do in terms of identifying.
John: Would you know how big the problem is?
Alan: We try and give you some gauge of how big the problem is, and if at all possible, find where they gained entry into the structure. If we can find the point or points of entry. You know houses that have had trouble for a long time, we’ll have multiple entry points and that’s a bit challenging in itself. But anyway, we want to find those entry points because we can we can deal with them really quite quickly. And it very very effectively.
John: Okay tremendous. All right well that’s enough for this episode. I think we’ve got a list of things today, so let’s keep working. All right, for another episode of termite talks to come up and that was Allen Ferguson from Conquer Termites Northside. Now, what’s that phone number for you guys. I’ll put you on the spot.
Alan: our number is zero seven, three three five six, eight eight zero one (07 3356 8801)
John: There you go. Fabulous, alright that’s all from this episode of Conquer Termites my talk with Alan Ferguson. Thank you.