RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

More truths about Termites:

• Termites cause more damage than tornadoes, hail storms, wind storms, and hurricanes…COMBINED!
• You can buy insurance for many sources of home damage, but not for termites.
• Termites damage approximately 600,000 homes in the U.S. each year.
• Termites cause $5 billion in damage each year in the US.
• Termites are “negatively phototropic” which means they tend to stay away from light.
• Worker termites search for food up to 250 feet from their colony. The human equivalent = you walking around four and a half miles to pick up your next meal.
• Termite queens are believed to live 15-25 years and can lay an egg every 15 seconds.
• One colony of termites can eat 1,000 pounds of wood each year. Not sure what 1,000lbs of wood is??? Try eating around 650 little league baseball bats!
• A typical home with termites may have 3-4 termite colonies around it, with as many as one million termites in each colony. That’s more than the number of people in most cities.
• Termites work 24 hours per day and never sleep.

Here are some truths about Termites:

• Termites have been around since the time of the dinosaurs!
• Termite colonies eat non-stop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
• Termites have wings that they shed once they have found a good place to build a nest.
• Termites cause up to $2 billion in damage per year!
• All Termites are social insects and raise their young as a group.
• The total weight of all of the termites in the world is more than the weight of all the humans in the world.
• Termites feed on each other's feces.
• Termites lived 130 million years ago, and descended from a cockroach-like ancestor.
• Termite workers and soldiers are almost always blind.
• When termite soldiers detect a threat, they tap warning signals to the colony.
• Termites actually digest cellulose with the help of microorganisms in their guts.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Are you Superman? Superwoman? You mean to tell me you do not possess the awesome ability of X-Ray vision???!!!

Don’t worry, we at EHS don’t either. However we do have super-power skills at detecting termites BEFORE they cost you thousands of dollars in wood damage repair! Termites by their own nature are so extremely secretive and avoid detection easily. You must be a very trained inspector to even be able to detect them and that is where EHS comes in, we are the best in the business. Unfortunately when homeowners wait until they see termites it is not too late but certainly more costly (see attached image). Protect your biggest investment (your home and/or business) and call EHS for a termite inspection.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

It was an all you can eat buffet at the bank.

An army of termites munched through 10 million rupees ($222,000) in currency notes stored in a steel chest at a bank, police in northern India said Friday.

The bank manager discovered the damage when he opened the reinforced room in an old bank building on Wednesday, police officer Navneet Rana told The Associated Press.

"It's a matter of investigation how termites attacked bundles of currency notes stacked in a steel chest," he said. The money was put in the chest in January.

The termites had damaged bank furniture and documents in the past.

The police have registered a case of negligence against bank officials in Barabanki, a town 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. In India, police register a case before opening an investigation.

source: yahoo news

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

This is what 20+ years of termite damage looks like!!! No swarms or indications of termites. If they swarmed it was in the inaccessible (invisible) crawl space. Termites are secretive insidious pests that eat wood from the inside-out. They rarely show themselves and when they do it is often overlooked by people because they do not know what it is that they are seeing. In this particular case the floor in the kitchen was sinking and causing doors and cabinets to not shut properly.

(click images to enlarge)

The apartment owner called her management company and the maintenance person could not get the screws to bite in one area. He removed a section of wall and floor to find that termites completely decimated the structural integrity of the walls & floors. The entire place needed to be gutted & remodeled. The expense??? In excess of $20,000.00 and worse yet it IS NOT covered by homeowners insurance!!! Having professional termite protection from EHS is about the best investment you can make in your home or business!!!

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

What you are seeing here is something very unusual. Termites eating rotten fruit and vegetables in a compost bin!

We know that termites eat anything that is organic matter so there is a reason for them to love the dark, moist, rich soil inside a compost bin. However to see them actually eating rotten tomatoes and other food items is something I have never seen in my 25 year career! Termites absolutely AMAZE me and they are one insect that I will never underestimate!

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

5 TIPS TO REDUCE TICK PRESSURE AROUND YOUR HOME

1. Mow the lawn to keep grasses and weeds short. Current guidelines recommend mowing every 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the season and how fast the grass is growing.

2. Ticks enjoy damp, dark places, and a cozy nest is a great place for them to hide. Remove bird nests and bird feeders from the lawn. Remove wood piles, as these not only serve as nests for tick-carrying rodents, they also can attract termites.

3. Fence your backyard to contain deer and other wildlife.

4. Mulch around swing sets, play areas and sand boxes.

5. Avoid including tick-harboring plants, like pachysandra and other low lying vegetation that provide shading close to the ground.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Did you know that termites cause up to $2 billion in damage per year! Here's more interesting termite facts!

• Termites are actually present in about 70% parts of the world, and its population outnumbers human beings on a ratio of ten to one.
• Termite colonies can reach up several millions of termites and most properties have multiple colonies on them.
• Contrary to popular belief, wood which has been pressure treated is not immune to termite attack; termites will enter pressure-treated wood through cut ends and cracks, and will also build tunnels over the surface.
• Termites build the largest nests of any insect.
• Termites can feed off wood as well as off paper and paper products such as books, insulation and parts of swimming pools, including a pool's liner and filtration system.
• Every termite colony has a social system. The queen and king termites are at the top of the colony, and their roles are to help the colony reproduce.
• Termite royalty is unique in the insect world because they can live for several decades. Queens can live 50 years under the right conditions.
• Termites have lived on Earth for approximately 250 million years.
• In addition to having a queen and king, termite colonies also have soldiers with bulbous heads and big jaws to protect the colony. Worker termites perform other functions such as taking care of the queen and gathering food.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

It was an all you can eat buffet at the bank. An army of termites munched through 10 million rupees ($222,000) in currency notes stored in a steel chest at a bank, police in northern India said Friday.

The bank manager discovered the damage when he opened the reinforced room in an old bank building on Wednesday, police officer Navneet Rana told The Associated Press.

"It's a matter of investigation how termites attacked bundles of currency notes stacked in a steel chest," he said. The money was put in the chest in January.

The termites had damaged bank furniture and documents in the past.

The police have registered a case of negligence against bank officials in Barabanki, a town 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. In India, police register a case before opening an investigation.

Source = Yahoo News

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Termites and Carpenter Ants Drove Tiger's Ex to Demolish $12 Million Mansion

Finally, an explanation why Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods' ex-wife, bulldozed the $12 million oceanfront mansion she bought only last year.

Her builder told People magazine the 17,000 foot, six bedroom home in North Palm Beach, Fla. wasn't built to code to withstand Florida hurricanes. To top it off, Habitat for Humanity found the place was crawling with termites and carpenter ants. So it made more sense structurally and economically to tear it down and start over with a new home.

The 32-year-old Nordegren, who's living nearby with her and Woods' two children, invited the charity to salvage tens of thousands of dollars worth of cabinets, hardware and fixtures before sending in the wrecking crew. Said Habitat's director of deconstruction, Bobbi Blodgett: When we pulled out the windows, the bugs were everywhere... To rebuild that house would have been ridiculous. We're so grateful to Elin. It's rare we get this kind of donation.

Nordegren got $100 million in her divorce from Woods so she can afford it. She never shared the demolished mansion with Woods, who recently appeared as an honorary captain for his alma mater Stanford at the Fiesta Bowl.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA