On Apr 9, 9:26*am, Frank wrote:
On Apr 9, 10:46*am, Robert Macy wrote:





On Apr 9, 6:56*am, "
wrote:

On Apr 9, 9:49*am, Frank wrote:

Don't have them but see them in a stump about 25 feet from the house.
Just wondering what I should do as a homeowner to keep them away from
the house. *Not interested in hiring an exterminator. *Next door
neighbor had them a few years ago and needed exterminator who treated
infestation and set up the stakes with juvenile hormone bait and killed
the nest. *With all the wood around our houses they are back and I want
to keep them away from my house.

Basicly you want to keep wood away from the house,
ie no rotting stumps, logs, discarded 2x4's laying
around near the house.
And keep the house wood dry and out of contact with
the soil.

New product from Raid, called "Bug Barrier". fairly cheap at Walmart,
Safewy etc.

I live in AZ, where BIG centipedes and scorpions like to come in
through any opening they can find - doorways, window slides, etc. Plus
also coming in are every other forms of things that crawl, walk, or
fly. After applying Bug Barrier at wall-floor junctions around
interior wall of home and double applying at every opeining, started
finding little carcases near the barrier. curled up spiders, dried up
centipedes, etc. The scorpions were more robust, they just appeared
sluggish, but easy to spray and scoop up for trash. Second
application, not finding anything anymore. Conclusion stuff WORKS!

For you, apply around your home's foundation wood junction. where the
termites would crawl to gain access. If rains can wash off, keep
applying up and around all those areas. *You could try sample on the
nest to make certain Bug Barrier kills termites, but bet it does.

But still, YOU'VE GOT TO KILL ANY NEARBY NESTS!!! These things are
like ants, and will spread right into your building. So go after their
food supply and kill any nest. We used to live in California in a
house built of red wood. *even Redwood is a deterrent, not a termite
proof wood! *When the critters couldn't find any delicious fir or
pine, they went, albeit reluctantly, after the redwood.

My thinking is to get one of those bug barrier type products but one
that lists termites among the insects treated. *I put down stuff for
ants now but it says nothing about termites. *Hard to say what is
approved in US as EPA keeps banning effective materials or keeps them
out of the homeowners reach and only lets professionals use them.
Ticks me off, as a retired chemist I can handle practically any
hazardous material.

Impossible for me to remove all wood around the house as there are
stumps that even if ground would still have considerable wood under
ground and our properties are very hilly and half my neighbors don't
even tend to the back halves of their properties and just let them go
wild.

I did survive the termites that hit the neighbor but at the time had
access to diazinone which I always sprayed the foundation with to keep
out ants and termites and never got invaded by ants until I could no
longer get diazinone. *The Spectracide ant barrier appears to be
working since I apply it early in the spring before there are signs of
ants.

When we lived in CA, we used to have a very prolific orange tree. Each
year, we'd harvest and enjoy fresh squeezed orange juice. I found out
that if you take the rind of the orange, hold it up to a lit match,
and squeeze; you can shoot a flame about 18 inches!. That rind liquid
was even better paint thinner remover than paint thinner! Found out
that the spray is a major insecticide [even killed spiders after about
two hours] with song longevity, lasting a whole year. Our kitchen
NEVER had any ant problems. until...the invasion of the Mediterranean
Fruit Fly. One morning I looked out to see govt employees stripping
the tree, placing the fruit into garbage sacks for removal. That
year, sadly no oranges, no fruit juice.

Worse, within a short time we had the biggest infestation of ants I've
ever seen! They were everywhere!. They even would crawl up the fridge
into the cold sections, and [since none came out] almost filled up the
freezer section! ...old fridge, bad seals? Anyway, had to resort to
chemicals that year, used sugar laced with boric acid. That took them
all out - slowly. My wife likes to take them out NOW! but nothing
does that well except Raid House n Garden which has residual action
but that's toxic, not to be used in a kitchen.

I think that rind is used in orange cleaners too. That chemical is
something else!

NOTE Bug Barrier specifically states to not use around food.
Seriously, cover the coutner tops before using. But as I said,
works ...and doesn't smell too bad. Smells like warm water.