How do Termite Baits work?

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• Jul 6, 2021

How do Termite Baits work?

Subterranean termites are social creatures living in a highly organised caste system in an underground colony.

Each termite has a specific role, and they depend upon one another for survival.

The queen can lay millions of eggs over her lifetime.
The king exists to reproduce with the queen.
The soldiers job is to protect the colony from invaders like ants.
Reproductives or swarmers are the termites with wings. When they're ready, they emerge from the colony to begin new colonies.
A colony can number from 1000s of termites to millions, and it's common to find two or more colonies competing for food around your property.
The workers are responsible for feeding the colony, which they do by regurgitation, as the other Termites can feed themselves.

Workers forage for food 24/7 by building tunnels and mud tubes from the colony to the food they find.

Once they discover food, they mark their path to it with a chemical they produce to communicate with each other.

Termites can enter your home through an opening as small as 1/32 of an inch.

If there's a settlement crack, a loose mortar joint, a small space around a drain pipe or a crack in your foundation, they're in, and the damage begins.

Termites can travel a 100 metres to find food. Just like a tree expands its branches to absorb more sunlight.

Termites add additional tunnels off the main tunnel to maximize the colony's chance of finding food.

Hence bait stations are strategically placed around 2-3 metres apart (on average) around the perimeter of the property.

They use active ingredients termites are attracted to and cannot detect. They bring those ingredients back to the colony eventually eliminating them all.

Some termite baiting systems use a station to detect termite activity, then add a bait if activity is detected. Most termite baiting systems use a growth inhibitor to kill the colony.