Different Ways of Dealing With Termites

We all know them, and we all hate them. When you say “property destruction” and “insects” in the same sentence, chances are you're talking about termites. Every year, millions of dollars are spent by Americans repairing damage caused by these pests. It is therefore not surprising that there are different methods of dealing with them on the market. According to most pest control services Jacksonville, Florida residents rely on, there are three main classifications of pesticides and these are:

Repellents

As the name suggests, a repellent is a substance that can be applied to a surface in order to discourage insects, and other pests from landing on or crawling along that surface. This is very useful if your house is newly built or renovated, and you want to take preventive measures to keep termites away.

While mosquito repellents are not long-lasting, repellent termiticides are formulated to last for months. However, it may be necessary to periodically reapply the pesticide in order to keep its effects from going away. But keep in mind that since repellents just drive termites away from a certain area, they may just move to another area of your house.

Non-repellents

Unlike repellent termiticides, non-repellent termiticides cannot be detected by termites. This means that they can tunnel into a treated area without even realizing it. Affected termites can even take some of the termiticide back to the colony with them, potentially causing a devastating effect on the termite population. Apart from that, poisoned termites can effectively poison their nestmates. This shows a greater degree of pest control than typical non-repellent termiticides.

Studies comparing the effectiveness of repellent termiticides and non-repellent termiticides have shown that non-repellent termiticides take fewer reapplications in order to be effective in controlling pest populations.

Baits

The third option, baiting, is arguably the most effective approach. While non-repellent termiticides are just not detected and inadvertently encountered by tunneling termites, baits are pesticides that are packaged in a way that is attractive to the insects.

Baits are made from paper, cardboard, or other palatable substances, which are treated with slow-acting substances that are lethal to termites, and then planted in strategic areas around the residence. The bait is appealing enough that it attracts the insects even if there are other materials like tree roots and woodpiles. Once they consume the bait, termites will effectively poison their nestmates once they return to their nest. The delayed action of the poison will enhance this “contagion” effect.

Even with these three main weapons, the war on termites rages on. It can be said that as long as people need houses, they will at one point or another have to deal with a termite problem. If you think that your home is infested or under attack, you will want to contact trustworthy pest control services. Jacksonville, Florida residents can rely on Bug Maniacs as one of their options.