Termite treatments

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

Saw some little critters dropping down from the eaves and inside near a sliding door. I would prefer spot treatment, but I'm sure there's more that I don't see, and will go with a whole house routine.

A few questions....

I'll call 3-4 pest control companies for prices & reference. Anyone recommend questions to ask them?

What's the current pesticides to use or stay away from? I'm in California.

What about cold/freeze or heat treatment? Orange oil? Other methods?

If I go with the fumigation/tent method, I know they blow out the place afterwards for a period of time. I would not mind paying extra to leave the blowers on a few more days. What's the recommendation for purge time?

Thanks folks!!!

[hubops]

[slate_leeper]

Look into treatment with Termidor, but find a company that is trained directly by termidor, as procedures are critical.

Avoid the usual pest companies such as Terminex. I made that mistake years ago when I asked them if they did Termidor treatment. The "treatment" consisted of a guy walking around the house with a small hand sprayer. Ten minutes later he said all done, $300 please. Compare that to the proper procedure in the termite.com link above.

-dan z-

[hubops]

Looks like this treatment is mainly for sub-terranean species John T.

[Frank]

I contracted Terminex for peace of mind. Neighbors on both sides had to treat. Ours are subterranean and I was treating myself with the short term treatments I could apply. A bonus of the Termidor treatment, which was injection all around the house including drilling through concrete porch and deck, was we have not seen any ants since.

Treatment for flying termites is another matter and I would not know what to do. I understand tenting the whole house and fumigating is expensive. If colony is isolated a maybe he can do it himself.

[TomR]

The only smart thing to do in this situation is to call a couple of pest control companies and have them come out and do an inspection to see if you do actually have termites instead of flying ants or something else. If you do have termites, they will give you a price for doing the treatment and they will tell you what they are going to do and what products (such as Termidor) they will be using.

It is also a good idea to collect a few of the "little critters" that you see dropping down and seal them in a clear zip bag or something similar. Then you can show them to whoever comes out to do the inspection.

Good luck

[Frank]

Good point. Easy to tell the difference as ants have segmented waist while termites is smooth.