Keep Your Eyes Watchful: Proper Steps to Protect Your Home from Termites

Termites are also known as “silent destroyer” because they may be surreptitiously thriving in your home or yard without you even noticing it. They feed on cellulose-based plant materials and your home, regardless of its construction type, can be a good source of cellulose food for termite infestation.

The alarming fact is that a single termite colony can have tens – even hundreds – of thousands of individual termites within it. Particular species, like the Formosan termite can have 500,000 individual insects in a single colony. This is why it is considered as the most aggressive.

Your home is one of your largest investments. Thus, you need to protect it from the damaging termites. The following are measures that you can do to prevent or get rid of these silent destroyers.

Make your home less appealing to termites.  Seal cracks and holes in siding and always use screens in windows. You should also keep the firewood, lumber, mulch piles, and other woody stacks. Maintain a dry home as termites are attracted to moist habitats. Eliminate all stagnant water with the help of suction pump or by broom and keep both the outside and inside of your house dry and secured.

Trace signs of an infestation. One of the most perilous things about termites is their ability to hide. You might know that there is an infestation right in your home when it’s too late. It is difficult to see direct evidence of termite infestation, but that doesn't mean you should remain ignorant of it. Some signs of termite infestation include sagging floors, holes in woodwork and hollow parts of your foundation.

Use boric acid. Boric acid is an effective termite treatment in Florida. The nervous system of termites is shut down by boric acid causing it to dehydrate. You can use the combination of cardboard or any cellulose material with boric acid and apply it on the pest-ridden area.

Call a professional team for pest control. Universal Pest Control is one of the best termite control companies that offer the most effective termite control product available in the industry. It has technicians that are trained to not only deliver the maximum quality termite treatments, but to leave your property in a clean and shipshape fashion. This is part of the high quality service that Universal Pest Control gives its customers. 

Five Reasons to Hire a Professional Pest Control Team

If your problems with pests seem to not go away, hiring a professional pest control company that can finally help you get away from the stress is the best thing to do. While it is possible to control pests such as rodents, spiders or termites on your own, it pays to obtain professional help especially when the situation calls for it. A pest control company has trained technicians who understand where to treat and how to handle termite infestation and more. The following are five reasons that will convince you to hire a specialized pest control company in Florida. 

1. The pest control team has specialized plan. 

Your home is your castle and you’re supposed to enjoy your peace and bliss here. A professional pest control team can win your home back with plans that are specific to your problem. They take several important things into consideration, like the size of your home, the level of infestation and long-term preventions.

2. A pest control team helps you save cash. 

While it is true that hiring a pest control company will cause you to pay a regular fee up front, it can cost thousands of dollars in home repairs if termites or carpenter ant colonies go disregarded. So basically, you will end up saving more. 

3. The pest control team can eliminate your pest problems in a safe and natural way.

Pest control technicians know how to use their products very well.  Today, many local pest control companies are going green and are using products that are safe for humans and for the environment. Exposure to hazardous chemicals can be very risky to your family so you have to be very careful. It is better to leave it to the experts. 

4. A pest control company can help you save time. 

Pest control companies observe and report every time they spray and know when to retreat before the product stops working. The team knows how to use the right products in a timely manner.

5. A pest control company delivers satisfaction. 

You can buy sprays and try to get rid of disease-carrying pests all by yourself and still end up feeling dissatisfied. And have you been informed that killing a killer bee will attract the hive and swarm you? With the help of professionals, you can save yourself and your family from the risk associated in getting rid of the pesky pests all by yourself. 

Spread of Deadly Disease. Beware! Part 1

Imagine this. Looking out your bedroom window, admiring a picturesque forest, in it is an array of trees each showcasing different colored leaves. Some yellow, orange, red, purple, pink, brown and each showing a palette of beauty beyond your explanation. You feel so blessed to have what you have and you see yourself very fortunate to live in this part of the country. You feel the love, the joy and the abundance.

It is late fall, the hunting season has brought about great trade in the locality. This isolated small town, viewed by many tourists as an escape from the city, is buzzing with excitement and realization that the town will have a wonderful Christmas celebration this year due to the increased profit earned during the deer hunting season. Everyone is happy and it is perfect.

Then one day, all of a sudden one-by-one the men in your small town all come down with flu-like symptoms and no one seems to be alarmed. Adding to the health issues people were experiencing was a sudden increase in white-legged mouse population all over the county followed by the unexpected acorn crop problem. Pest companies worked overtime to eliminate the mice unknowingly creating another greater issue they are yet to discover.

In a weeks’ time, your loved one comes down with a high fever followed by the spread of an expanding reddish rash. The local hospital, far from its city counterpart, knowingly not as equipped to take tests as compared to the bigger medical facilities found far away, has dismissed it as the common flu. The doctor said your loved one will be better, the muscle and joint pain, fatigue, fever; swollen lymph nodes are normal symptoms of the flu and will soon go away after some time, but no one got better.

Soon one by one the men of your town die. Cause of death was declared as severe meningitis, some due to cardiac arrest. The ones still living start having difficulty with memory or thinking and complaints of odd sensations such as numbness. Everyone is horrified. The children and women start coming down with the same symptoms and succumb to death with the same cause of death.

A scientist from the CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, along with his partner, a city reporter, who was visiting relatives in town became suspicions, there must be something here. Something big, something is very wrong. They start doing research and conduct interviews. The result of their findings was astounding and horrifying. They called the Director of the CDC and asked for the office to send help. The future of the country depended on it. The town will have to be locked down.

A few miles away was your house, you have not had any sleep for weeks. You were busy giving constant care to your loved one who came down with the flu a week ago. You decide to enter your room, your loved one looks like he is fast asleep with his mouth open. You wonder why you cannot hear the soft snoring you have grown used to over the past 25 years. You look closer, wanting to check if he is OK  You are astounded with what lies before you, the disease everyone thought was the common flu turned out to be something else.

Researching disease brought by common pests does this to a writer like me, also doing extensive scientific research on my articles for website publishing does provide me with numerous possibilities that might come up one day. Who knows? There is a lot of truth in what I have written, except for the 4-inch mutated tick.

Stay on this site and read more. See the next parts of this article to find out more about this deadly disease and what causes it. Know how to symptoms to keep your family safe.

Randomly Relinquishing the “Queen”!

We do not welcome termites to come into our house. One reason is that they possess a bad habit (wood-eating) and the second reason is there are too many of them (in colonies) when they come.  Feeding them is an outright big problem!  Humans do not entertain guests who do not behave properly inside our house, so to speak.  In this case, we speak of termites as unwanted ‘royal guests’ that need pest control.

The termites are ‘royal’ in a sense that they have’ a reigning queen. The mature termite queen (with a life span of 25 to 45 years) can produce 20,000 to 30,000 eggs a day.  Can you imagine their population in just a span of one year?  As the queen increases her size and cannot move freely, attendant workers provide assistance. The queen aside from being a ‘reproductive’ is also responsible for colony integration while the termite ‘king’ (unlike male ants that die after mating) can mate with the termite queen for life. If the queen dies, the winged also a reproductive caste, can replace the queen. Undertaking the labors of foraging, food storage, brood and nest maintenance are worker termites, the main caste in the colony for the digestion of cellulose in food found in infested wood while the Soldier caste, the elite class, is principally a defense against predation by ants. As a result of their wood-eating habits, the termites can severely damage unprotected buildings and other wooden structures inside the house, such as the cabinet, tables, wooden chairs and the like. Since “wood” is their main menu, they also go for other ‘side-dishes’ as  carpets, cloth, paper and other cellulosic materials.  Just imagine the ‘wastes’ incurred in welcoming termites into our very own properties as follows:

§  Money -  the large amount of money spent in building the house

§  Time    - the precious long period of time spent in erecting the house

§  Effort   -   the number of people engaged in the building work

§  Property  -  the damaged house, inside and out, and the yard

We should never underestimate the “teeth” of these ‘royal guests’ as they can ruin the whole house in no time once neglected by the homeowner. Likewise, we should never underestimate too, the pest control companies which offer effective methods in dealing with them because as experts in the trade, they are in the best position to eradicate unwanted guests in our whole property.  They survey the whole area first then stage a ‘coup’ to ‘overthrow’ the queen termite from her throne before the appropriate termite treatment is applied to all corners of the infested area.  Thus, knowing the termite treatment cost from them will enable you to provide the much needed protection for your property.  Act quickly to save the wooden structures in your house.   Houses should be treated with dignity because our abode provides our family the shelter we need so we have all the reasons to love, care, and protect it.

Pest Control Companies towards Free Infestation of Pests

Pest control is very important not only in the field of agriculture but also in maintaining the structure of homes. Of course, many homeowners are very much particular in the beauty of their houses and once their houses are attacked by pests, it would be the start of a big loss.

Inspecting houses from cracks and crevices and from the presence of pests as soon as possible will prevent large damages. Using adequate and effective measures should also be done to assure the protection of homes from attacks of pest. The use of any products available in markets to kill pest can be used but it is better to consider the help of pest control companies in giving proper treatments to prevent and eradicate pests.

Many people are not aware with the importance of consulting in companies and other organizations that gives services for pest control. There are many organizations established to help people in their problems. One reason in hiring for pest control company is that they give right solutions in dealing with many kinds of pest such as rats, bugs, termites, bees, spiders, cockroaches and others. Since pest controllers have special training  experience and have tools to assure protections against destructive insects, they definitely know the proper, safe methods of selecting and applying protective chemicals. Also, they have faster way in eradicating pest and gives assurance that the problem will not rise again. There will be assurance that homes will be free from pest attack like termites in Florida which destroy foundation of homes, offices and other building structures.

Considering a professional pest control service like pest control company in Florida will make one to save a lot of money and effort. These companies are equipped with highly effective products and more knowledgeable in dealing with best ways to prevent the problem. The companies are composed of trained professionals who know better products that are safe to use and are able to protect home interior and exterior during the process of eradicating.

Complete pest inspection is done by these companies to know all areas of pest infestation and the kinds of pests present in any homes. They can give information that an ordinary person doesn't know. They will create a plan and implement the most appropriate extermination treatment based on the results of the initial inspection. Also, these companies are the one responsible for arranging schedules of follow ups and treatments like termite treatment in Florida because some pest are treated with continuous follow up treatments. 

Be Aware of the Attack of Termites

One of the problems happening in many homes is pest infestation. There are many different types of pest and each gives different threats. These threats are harmful to the health of people or the structure of the houses.  The attack of pest becomes so extensive and causes millions of money loss. Termites, bugs and rodents are few of the many examples of pest.

Termites attack many homes leading them to destruction. It is very important to have knowledge on these kinds of pest to avoid loss.

The attack of termite is one of the causes of million - worth damage per year among houses and other infrastructures. Termites are social insects and raise their young as a group. Colonies of termites eat non-stop a day. Flying termites are often mistaken for flying ants. Insects like termites in Florida have only two body segments, a straight antenna and two sets of wings in equal length while flying ants have three body segments, a bent antenna and two sets of wings that differ in length. Here are the different kinds of termites.

        Subterranean termites can eat a lot of wood and can cause a lot of damage to a house. This kind of termite is considered as the most destructive since they can destroy foundations of the buildings, wooden support beams, plastic plumbing pipes, sub-flooring and even swimming pool liners and filtration systems. This kind of termite has 0.13 inch to 1 inch in size with long, narrow and oval shape. Creamy brown is the color for this kind of termite. Subterranean termites eat wood, wallpaper, plastics and fabric made from plants. Colonies of Subterranean termites can have up to 2 million members and divided into three groups: workers, soldiers and reproductive.

    Another kind of termite is dry wood termites which form their colonies of up to 2,500 members. They have 0.38 inch to 1 inch size with long, narrow and oval shape. Dry wood termites are light brown in color. They build their nests and dig tunnels in buildings. The tunnels cause major damage because wooden support beams can weaken that makes a building lean or fall down.


  Formosan termites live in huge underground colonies and build mud nests inside the walls of buildings. Colonies can be made up to ten thousands of termites in single colony. Formosan termite is the largest kind of termite.  They have 0.5 inch in size with long, narrow and oval shape and yellowish brown color.

 Damp wood termite is another kind of termite that likes to live and feed in very moist wood. There have 0.5 inch to 0.7 in size with a long, narrow and oval shape and brownish in color. This kind of termite usually live in damp, dying wood or in houses with leaking plumbing that keeps the wood wet.

Being knowledgeable about these kinds of termites will help prevent homes from destruction. Proper prevention is greatly needed. It is very important to make sure water drains away from houses. Also, firewood and other scrap wood should also be stored away from the house to avoid any of these termites. There are also organizations that give quality services for pest control like pest control services in Florida. From these organizations proper pest control can be implemented.

Hard-to-Win Battle Against Bugs

How would you relax if pests just keep on coming back after some time? Universal Pest Control can end your suffering through its undeniably effective pest extermination methods. Visit http://www.bugandtermitecontrol.com.