Termite Bait Stations & Monitoring Systems (DIY & Advanced Baits)

FAQs

Termite colonies expand in a house and are active in areas such as damp wood and wet soil. In order to control these termites and limit the damage, pest control professionals discovered several ways that will help, if not completely, remove termites.

Termite bait stations are some of the most efficient solutions for this domestic disaster and they are capable of getting rid of termite colonies in a few days.

Table of Contents

  1. What is termite bait?
  2. Why do you need termite baits?
  3. List of the best termite baiting products:
  4. The perfect use of Termite Bait Stations:
  5. DIY Organic Termite Bait Stations
  6. Further Termite Bait Station Resources

What is termite bait?

Termite bait is a piece of paper, wood, or cardboard made to feed termite colonies but mixed with a poisonous substance that makes the bait lethal for them. The point here is that the poison must be slow-acting to guarantee the total treatment of all the termites.

The termite bait must be placed strategically to get direct contact with termites so it becomes infested and the slow-acting lethal poison start to expand in the termite colony.

Instantly killing or treatment of termites will increase the chance of avoidance by other termites, just like rats, and the cure will fail. Therefore, delayed action is necessary to make a great result.

There are various baits for all kinds of termites such as subterranean termites, dampwood, or drywood termites; you just have to recognize the type of termites infesting your home and you will find the best treatment.

But, of course, you have been searching for many ways to, inexpensively, get rid of termites and you have found so many but you’re still confused if you will need a termite bait station or not.

OF COURSE YOU NEED A TERMITE BAIT STATION.

Why do you need termite baits?

Termite baiting is an important technique in dumping termite colonies and kicking them out of your house, therefore you’re going to need them in the first place, and here are some reasons:

  • Termites are not just insects, they are sociable and intelligent and they work in a well-organized method, so being willing to use simple pesticides will not bring good results. This can make termites swarm to another place and other colonies will grow faster.
  • Termites have a strict diet behavior: they eat fibers of wood, paper, and tissue. So, just removing these foods won’t improve the situation, they will keep consuming the reserve until they find another source.
  • Termites are monitored by a queen which is well protected by the termite workers and termite soldiers, so it isn’t easy to destroy a whole colony composed of millions of individuals by simple tricks and non-technical products.

As a result, termite bait stations are the best way to affect termites, and be sure that you will get rid of them forever. Then, why are you so confused? Go get your termite baiting product and start curing your infested house and bring back its charm.

List of the best termite baiting products:

  • SENTRICON®: This termite bait system consists of a slow-acting lethal poison that affects termites after being professionally installed. It is one of the best products: it destroys a whole colony in a couple of months and stops their activity in damaging wood. The use of this system is not easy, it is composed of 3 steps:
  1. Monitoring
  2. Bait Delivery
  3. Continued Monitoring
  • FIRSTLINE®: Manufactured by FMC Corporation, FirstLine termite bait system is, somehow, similar to Sentricon but has a different appearance and it contains sulfuramid. It is widely-used by many companies and always needs a supplemental partial or full liquid treatment to conserve activity of termites.
  • EXTERRAâ„¢: A very efficient product which directly affect termites by intercepting their behavior causing behavioral perturbations and certain death. It contains diflubenzuron (in the same chemical family as Sentricon’s lethal substance noviflumuron). Installation of this system is simple and easy, same as Sentricon and FirstLine, besides, it doesn’t need an alternative liquid treatment.
  • SUBTERFUGE®: this new termite bait system presents new ideas such as no need for monitoring the infested area before installing the system. It makes it easier, but is really effective? Well, there haven’t been so many studies analyzing its effectiveness. But its active ingredient, hydramethylnon, similar to sulfuramid (the one in FirstLine) brings good results when affecting termite colonies.
  • ADVANCEâ„¢: TERMITE BAIT SYSTEM: same active poison as the one in Exterra (diflubenzuron), it directly affects termite workers and it is great to make the substance expand quickly and destroy the colony in a couple of weeks. It is the bestseller now on the market and one of the best products to control termite colonies.
  • SPECTRACIDE TERMINATEâ„¢: unlike the other proposed systems, Spectracide Terminate is most used for prevention. It is simple and easy: a box containing 4 stakes composed of cardboard treated with sulfuramid which must be placed in different places around the house to stop any infestation from outside the house. It is amazingly cheap (100$) which is really tempting for a termite bait system. It is not recommended to stop active infestations as it is not as professional as other bait systems.

Termite baiting products are necessary for termite treatments; there are some inexpensive techniques to remove termite colonies but it is recommended to leave installing, monitoring, and inspecting bait systems to professionals.

But, we can help you with a simple tutorial so you can use your own bait system at home.

The perfect use of Termite Bait Stations:

Termite baiting is a way to killing all the termite colonies and it is, sometimes, simple to use. Here is the easiest method to follow if you’re willing to do it on your own:

  • Pre-baiting:

You need to locate the termite colony and make a feeding connection between the bait and the termites by placing a piece of decaying wood. Termite scouts will find the bait station and termite workers will start feeding on them.

You need to keep waiting until the termite detector stations (or monitors) establish a solid feeding connection so termites can eat without being disturbed.

Later, when the solid connection with termite workers is established, a toxicant (often called active ingredient) is used: you inject it into the bait station and it will replace the eaten wood without termites’ detection.

After the injection is done successfully, termite workers will die first, and then the colony wouldn’t be able to feed itself so the termite individuals start to starve and then die. The colony, in this case, crashes and disappears.

The duration of this process can take a lot of time. It generally ranges from 1 to 6 months.

DIY Organic Termite Bait Stations

Further Termite Bait Station Resources

  1. Termite Baits – University of Florida Integrated Pest Mangament
  2. Targeted versus standard bait station placement affects subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) infestation rates. – J Econ Entomol
  3. Termite Traps and Bait Stations – MyTermiteTreatmentCosts.com
  4. Pre-Construction Subterranean Termite Control – N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

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