Welcome to our section on the dreaded termite. Make no mistake, here in Cairns as is the case in most of Australia, this little critter can cause you more grief and heartache than you can possibly imagine.
Unfortunately for a lot of people these guys do their job in silence and are undetected until it’s too late. In our experience we have found that a lot of home owners, although aware and concerned about termites, do little if anything to prevent their attack.
It seems like termites are put into the ‘I’ll worry about it if it happens to me’ category.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE AND USUALLY CHEAPER
We don’t intend to get technical about what termite species there are and what treatments are available as we would rather help people than confuse them. Having said this we will explain a few things about this insect and give you tips and ideas on how to reduce the risk of termite attack.
There are over 300 different species of termite but only a few are regarded as dangerous to our property. The main trouble maker is a species of Mastoterme, also known as Masto’s to pest technicians. This guy is known as the ‘giant’ termite as opposed the other main species Coptotermes also known as Copto’s. In comparison this guy is about a tenth the size of the Masto and will eat your house just like his big mate but not quite as fast (that’s as technical as we are going to get). There are other nasty ones but we won’t confuse the issue.
Masto’s love to attack palm trees and just about anything else and are often recognized by the ring barking that they do to trees.
Copto’s are in most cases responsible for the hard mud that you see around the base and upper parts of the trees and stumps around town (now there’s a tip). If you have this mud on or at the base of any of your trees, then you should have it inspected by us to ascertain if it is a termite colony. The other type of damage that you might see is to any timber fences or pieces of wood that are in contact with the ground. You might see mud tubes running up them.
In some cases it is the nasty ones having a feed and in others it is a species called Heterotermes or Microceratermes (called by pesties as Hetero’s and Micro’s) they are both known as ‘bush’ termites. These little fellows are the major cause of minor damage to fences etc. They rarely enters homes and if they did would cause only minor damage in most cases (unless left untreated for long periods of time). Once again, if you see something like this then please call us so we can come out and identify the species and give you an honest assessment of what is required to treat them.
In relation to treatments, we offer free quotes, tips and advice for individual problems. We always recommend 6 to 12 monthly termite inspections and will always give you an honest assessment of what needs to be done.
