Here at Cooper Pest Solutions, we believe that termite education and prevention are extremely important when it comes to protecting your home. While you might not often think about potential termite damage to your home until you see signs of termites, you definitely want to catch them before the potential for significant damage occurs. Unfortunately after termites are discovered in your home, termite removal quickly becomes a serious challenge without professional termite monitoring already in place. We have created this comprehensive guide for Monroe, NJ residents so you can be proactive in ensuring the longevity of your home.
Photo Credit NPMA
How can I tell if I have termites?
Termites breed each spring when the weather starts becoming warm and frequent rainfall occurs. The first signs of termite activity you may see are mud tunnels and swarmer activity.
Mud Tunnels
Termites build elaborate tunneling systems to travel efficiently underground. When they encounter obstructions such as the foundation of your home, they construct above ground shelter tubes made of mud. You may see mud tunnels appear in crawl spaces, basements, and hardwood floors. Mud tunnels also serve as a sort of insulation, keeping their pathways very humid and protected from the outside elements.
Termite Castes
Swarmers
Within a termite nest there are members of different castes, each with a different role to perform and all interdependent upon each other for survival of the colony. The castes can be broken down into four separate categories by function: kings and queens, soldiers, workers, and swarmers.
Kings and Queens
The main function of a king or queen termite is to reproduce. Without mass reproduction, the colony cannot thrive and expand. Individual kings and queens can live for many years. In a mature colony the queen can produce over one thousand eggs per day.
The Soldiers
Soldiers serve the sole purpose of defending the colony so that the kings and queens can reproduce and the members of the nest can live and rapidly grow. Common intruders that soldier termites experience are ants, which can be invasive upon their territory. Luckily, soldier ants are equipped with mandibulate pinchers to keep enemies at bay.
The Workers
If you see destroyed wood, you are most likely witnessing the evidence of worker termite activity. Workers make up the largest portion of the termite colony. They are masters of operation, eating through wood, gathering food, constructing mud tunnels, repairing and enlarging the colony nest, grooming one another, and caring for the young nymphs until mature. Without the help of the workers, the colony fails to function entirely.
The Swarmers
Swarmers are the next in line to become kings and queens of future colonies. In the springtime, swarmers leave the nest in great numbers to find mates. Individuals emerge, fly towards light, land on the ground, break off their wings and seek a mate as well as refuge in moist soil. The wings that are left behind are a telltale sign that a termite swarm has occurred. If you are seeing piles of lacy, translucent wings, you most likely see swarmer activity. Unfortunately, swarmer activity is also an indication that a termite colony is active and seeking wood to destroy on your property.
Why do I have termites near me?
Termite Damage
Termites fulfill an important role in our ecological system. As trees grow and die, termites speed up the natural process of deterioration and help turn the dead wood into new soil. Unfortunately, termites cannot distinguish between a stump in the yard and the wood in your home.
Termites are a common occurrence in nature and are constantly in search of additional food sources. Worker termites are constantly on the move, looking for fallen trees, decaying wood, plant debris, and other cellulose materials to consume and bring back to the colony. Improper moisture control, wet mulch, leaf litter, wood piles, and moist soil can create the perfect storm for termites to call home.
How can I protect my home from termites?
Your first line of defense to protect your home is taking these simple steps to prevent a potential termite infestation. Follow these simple steps to prime your home for termite-resistant conditions.
- Use plastic containers rather than cardboard boxes to store items in your attic
- Keep your yard clear of fallen branches, bark, and wet leaves
- Inspect where your home meets the ground outside to check for mud tunnels
- Try alternative mulch such as gravel, pebbles, or rubber instead of wood chips
- Don't store firewood against, or close to you home. We recommend that firewood is stacked at least 20 to 30 feet away from the exterior of the home.
There are several ways our professional team can assist you and promote termite prevention within your Monroe, NJ home. Cooper Pest Solutions professionals suggest termite monitoring through TermAware™ or Sentricon, both of which are services that we can effectively provide for you.
TermAware™
Preventative measures are the best steps you can take to ensure the safety and protection of your home against termites. The goal of TermAware™ is to find termites and eliminate them before they ever reach your home. TermAware™ incorporates the latest technology in termite detection with proven treatment products and methods, to provide you an unparalled level of control and peace of mind. The combination of liquid treatment and preventative monitoring will eliminate the threats that exist today and identify the threats of tomorrow. Once we have determined there is no pre-existing termite condition on your property, any treatment performed after our TermAware™ system is in place will be free of charge.
Sentricon
Sentricon stations are placed in the ground with only a service cover visible, and require a special key to open. This precautionary measure ensures that your pets or wildlife will not be harmed by the monitoring system. Once installed, the Sentricon System forms a ring of protection around your property that does not degrade over time. It gets to the heart of the issue and eliminates the entire colony by using smart, effective science that turns the natural foraging behavior of termites against them. Termites prefer the termite bait used in Sentricon nearly 10 times more than wood. The active ingredient, noviflumuron, gets shared within the colony and prevents termites from maturing through molting.
Termidor
If you already have an active termite infestation, Termidor can help reduce the colony activity in your home. It utilizes an advanced nonrepellent, or “undetectable,” liquid technology that termites cannot see, smell, taste, or avoid. Instead, they contact, ingest, and share Termidor, completely unaware that doing so will inevitably kill them.
How can Cooper Pest Solutions help protect you home from termites?
Cooper Pest Solutions is here to help you protect your most valuable asset: your home. With our innovative TermAware™ monitoring system in place, you can have peace of mind that your local termite specialists are here for you. Sentricon and Termidor services are also available for termite prevention and removal in the Monroe, NJ area. At Cooper, we stand by our work to ensure you are getting the highest quality termite services from start to finish.
Our Commitment to Providing Wow Service
We pride ourselves on quality and efficiency for all pest treatments that we provide in Monroe, NJ. All of our staff go through extensive training to provide the WOW experience and the consistent service that our customers have come to expect. We stand by our services so all of our programs including our termite services have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. To learn please call us at 1-800-949-2667 or CLICK HERE to fill out our FREE estimate form.
