Does my household pest control cover termites?
Short Answer: No
Long Answer: It’s a bit complicated.
This question represents a common misconception about the nature of termite infestations. It can feel natural and intuitive to think about pest control as a process of finding the right pesticide and applying it. Pest control is a lot more than just administering product around your home.
For starters, where you put the product is almost as important as what product you use in the first place. Some products, like bait systems, attract pests to sites where they come into contact with the product while feeding on bait.
Other products are repellant, keeping pests away, and therefore must be located around the outside of the home to create an effective treatment barrier.
As you can probably imagine, using products at the wrong place or the wrong time can have disastrous results. For example, an incomplete repellent treatment barrier can create “holes” in the treatment where pests can safely pass. This can essentially funnel pests into your home as they attempt to get away from the repellent product.
Additionally, not all products work on all types of pests. Bait systems that attract termites use cellulosic (wood-based) bait to attract the scavenging workers. A pest that doesn’t consume wood or other cellulosic materials would pass right by it without another thought.
This same principle works the other way. Products designed to target household pests like roaches or ants may be ineffective or entirely useless against termites. The treatment methodologies and products used against these pests simply do not match the behavior and weaknesses of termites.
To truly protect your home against household pests AND termites, you ideally need a comprehensive treatment plan where the same company handles both services. This allows treatments to be coordinated and products can be used that are more effective in synthesis. This is important because product interactions can make treatments less effective, so you want the pest technicians treating your home for household pest problems to be the same ones dealing with termite treatment if possible.
So, can your household pest control service stop termites? Probably not, and that’s a big issue. Termites are one of the most destructive invasive pests homeowners can deal with, and many a house has needed expensive and complex repairs due to internal termite damage.
Once termites move into your home, they are difficult to kick out. If an infestation gets out of hand, you’ll deal with a lot of frustration and expense treating the termites and repairing the damage they leave behind. Because of this, you’re much better served in the long run by preventing an infestation rather than dealing with one after the fact. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
So if you have household pest control but not a regularly scheduled termite treatment, you may want to think again before assuming your home will stay pest-free. You should strongly consider scheduling an inspection of your home with a pest expert to begin the process of protecting your home against termites.
If you are a Cherokee County resident in need of pest solutions for household pest, termite, or any other creepy crawly, Canton Termite and Pest Control is your One Call Solution! We have decades of experience in the pest industry, and our expertise extends to all areas of pest control, including wildlife! Our comprehensive treatment plans ensure that no pest, no matter how tenacious, will gain an inch of ground in your home!
So don’t wait, get your pest protection locked down this winter by calling us at 770-479-1598!
By: Tim
