Baiting:
When baiting for termites, the common misconception is that the baits will attract termites. (After all, isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid??). Actually, there is no known way to attract termites. Once termites have tasted a food source, they send a pheromone back via the tunnels to the rest of the colony signaling that food is present. They pass this signal via touch, from one termite to the other. Baiting works by using that attribute of the termites against them. Once the termites find the bait stations (which are placed in even intervals around the perimeter of your home), the termites feed on the bait. Studies have even shown that termites prefer the bait found in Sentricon® 10x over regular wood! This means that the termites will feed on the Sentricon® bait and then begin to pass the pheromone back to the colony that good food has been found. Only this time, they are unknowingly passing a chemical back from termite to termite. This chemical is undetectable to the termites, meaning they do not know that they have become infected.
By design, the chemical in the Sentricon® bait station is a slow acting chemical and works by slowly drying out the termite so they cannot molt. The slow acting nature of the bait is key, because by the time the colony begins to sense something is wrong…the queen has already been infected. Once the queen dies, the colony collapses.
Pros:
- Studies have shown colony elimination possible after just one day of feeding. (The elimination of the colony takes longer than one day, but the study showed that eventually the entire colony was eliminated after just one day of exposure to the chemical.)
- Chemical is harmless to humans! Because we don’t molt, the chemical has no effect on humans, or pets.
- No chemicals injected into the ground
- No drilling through concrete required
- Refillable, the system is as effective on day 1 as on day 1000
- Ability to monitor bait stations allows your pest management professional (PMP) to better monitor activity
Cons:
- Stations require monitoring and refilling periodically by a PMP.