"terryc" wrote in message
news
The problem about putting down a barrier is that I'd have to completely
circle the whole house to considerable depth as they have hit other houses
all around (but xoo metres away).

What i really want is some liquid that I can have on hand and pour on the
soil where & when I discover them that they will pick up and take back to
their nest. Loosing this nest isn't going to affect the local bushland
(next street over), if that is where they are coming from.

The local bushland is very healthy with mound building termites and I love
taking the local kids down the bush to show them the new ones being built
and educating them about the different termites. which reminds me,if I
ever get the Tv capture card working again, I can use it to try
and identify what might be a little white termite that turns up in my
cool-style compost bins. I built the "microscope" that was a project in
Silicon Chip sometime ago, which uses alittle matchbox cmos camera and a
lense from an old slr camera.


Okay, procrastinated enough. Nowe I have to go and meke SWMBO a cuppa.

good for you!
back to the subject. our house came with a free set of termites - same
situation as you, they are everywhere round here (& i don't object to that
of course), but the reason they were eating our house was due to flooding in
the past which rotted some of the wood.

we fixed things so that flooding in the future is unlikely to happen, and
we;re going to replace the wood asap, but yes, it's always going to be a
"risk".

i got a pestie round who used "exterra" traps round the house (and one
inside). this is the thing you want - the traps contain cellulose baited
with "requiem" (titter!) which they take home to the main nest & die from.
it's NOT a poison in the usual sense - it basically destroys their jaws so
they can't eat & subsequently all die. which isn't nice, but there you go. i
believe you can't get a poison they take home, however, i may be wrong about
that. if you can, it must be very slow-acting so they wouldn't associate the
two events, otherwise they'll stop eating it & you've achieved nothing. if
such a thing was available, i'm pretty sure everyone would know, so i'm
therefore not sure that what you want actually exists.

at any rate. the exterra traps solved the problem of infestation chez moi.
the traps are unbaited to start with, then once they have begun to eat the
bait, the additive is put in as well. the only thing to do after that, & in
your situation, is to ensure that they won't visit the house again anyway.
this means all the usual malarky of fixing leaks & monitoring the slab &
ensuring all woodwork is dry & sound etc etc. truthfully, if there is plenty
of functional bushland around with wood rotting in the ground for them to
eat, your house isn't at unusual risk unless there are problems with the
house - as you've seen by them eating the tree stump instead because it was
rotting but the house was not. i think i read above that the crawl-space
under the house is very small..? even so, keep checking anyway. get a small
person if you don't want to do it yourself!

not sure if this post helps or not :-) also, i found exterra treatment to be
quite expensive!!!! but on the other hand, it solved the problem & the extra
tips & info i got from the pestie was free. and the baits are permanent, so
if any subsequent treatment is required, part of the trouble & expense will
not be there 2nd time around.

having said all that, unless you have termites in your actual house, you
don't want exterra treatment, i'm sure - they would do it, but you might
find it hard to justify the expense on a "just in case" basis. however, i DO
know there is a treatment they will eat & take home which kills. but i also
know it cannot be sold to joe-on-the-street. they won't sell it to you
as-is.
kylie