termites... Im freaking.

[Remmy122]

I was moving some wood around yesterday and under one of my logs I saw a colony of what I think is termites.

The log itself didnt seem to have any holes in it and there was tunnels under the log into the ground.

My question are:

a) what should I put down as a barrier around my house. Im a suburbanite and only can go so far away from the house to put up wood, and went about as far as was possible.

b) It seems like the buggers were only in the area where I have used the saw and a large amount of sawdust had accumulated and then the logs got thrown on top out of the pick up. Were they just going after the sawdust?

c) what can I do to protect my wood piles? I stack on pallets but like the title says, Im kind of freaking.

I cleaned the area up from all the junk, and raked the saw dust up as much as possible, hopefully when its dry and in sunlight theyll go away (or go to burn in h*ll where they belong)

 

[Intheswamp]

It could be ants or termites. They can be fairly easily identified. The biggie is that the ants have a "waist" and the termites don't. Here is a short, but good, webpage that simplifies distinguishing between the two....this link doesn't work because of the spaces so you'll have to copy and paste it into your web browser...something about those blank spaces in the address...???

http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomo/ants/Ant vs Termite.htm

Bayer puts out a treatment for carpenter ants and termites that you treat the ground with before stacking wood. I'm kind of curious about the chips possibly attracting the termites being as I just spread some outside of some raised vegetable beds...I might be reverse-spreading later! :bug:

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[spacecowboyIV]

Most pest control companies around here dig a trench around the house about 4 - 5 feet deep and spray in pesticides for termites to make a barrier and check for damaged foundation. If you are concerned you may want to call and get an inpsection. If they find anything don't forget to let your neighbors know also as they will most likely have the same problems if your houses are at all close together.

For the wood pile I have been spraying the ground with pesticide before stacking, but no way termites or ants are going to do enough damage to your wood pile in the year or two it spends drying out to worry about that.

 

[fireview2788]

There was a thread earlier about this. Look up Boric Acid, that's what I put down after finding termites and it went around the house.

 

[ruserious2008]

Well not sure if your termite species is the same as we have up here but sounds like subterranean termites. I'm a real estate agent and have a fair amount of 'observational" experience with this issue and the pest companies up here swear by the sentricon system
http://www.sentricon.com/us/index.htm
What it does is it puts these small tubes in the ground around the perimeter of your house that has a soft wood bait in it and an electronic sensor in the bait. No poison at this point in the process. Then they come by twice a year to check the bait with something that senses the electronics and if the bait has been eaten by termites they know it without even pulling the tube out of the ground so its real low maintenance. Then once you get a hit they put poison in the one(s) that got the hit and the termites take that back to the colony and everyone throws a poison punch bowl party in the nest! Then they bait again and check in a month and poison again if needed. People like it because its not putting poison out there for innocent animals to get into unless its really needed and then you manage the area while the poison is there. Not cheap- last I heard about $1200 for the system and then maybe $100 a year to come back and monitor but it does seem to work and make sense. Pretty sure it warrants you home from damage also so weighing the cost against the potential damage that most insurance does not cover and........ Also No affiliation for me with this company- just parroting what the pest people in this area and a couple of clients that have used it say.
Good luck