Advance Termite Baiting system (TBS)

I recently fell in love with a new termite technology, refined by the Whitmire Micro-Gen Research Laboratories, Inc. It's called Advance Termite Bait Station/System, I was introduced to it by a pushy loud mouth termite exterminator trying to sell me a "cure all for termite problems." Although my house showed no evidence of termite infestation, all walls are made of block, the internal parts of my wall, and all of my attic was wood, which termites could easily access through expansion spaces premade in the concrete slab of my home when it was being built. What brought me to this point was after a pretty heavy rain storm, my wife noticed all of these tiny termites with wings flying around; shortly after all we could find was the wings but no termites. The salesmantoldme it would only cost 2800.00 to install the stations (Advance TBS), and 550.00 a year from then on to monitor them. My only other choice was for them to trench around my house and drill at my driveway, patio, and sidewalks that butted up against my home for 1600.00 and 300.00 service charge yearly after that. I sent the loud mouth salesman packing, and started research by my self. The Advance TBS is essentially a self contained plastic bait station that goes in to the ground, inside a wood block (wood monitor)is at the bottom, followed by a "bait" (no active ingredient exceptcellulose material/gepressed paper) cartridge, and then a cap.
Their other option of trenching and pouring was to use a product called Premis, from Bayer, Biflex Aqua from F.M.C., and Termador from BASF. Termador was toted as the best in termite treatment, but I found it expensive, and some what scary for me to apply and hard to maintain (the product must be mixed as it is dispensed). Plus once I used either of the liquid termite killer, that was it.The termitesolutionshould last for approximately 1-3 years, but there was no way to check if the termites had stopped; I couldn't dig it back up to see if termites were there, that would cancel out the effectiveness of the poison, causing a whole in the protection. Thus realizing I would have to wait and see for 1. termite activity in or around my house, or 2. over treat to hope that this was helping, 3. for the next heavy rain storm to produce "swarmers" which are essentially termites with wings which are seen usually after a moist event occurs (water pipe break, flood, or rain). I remembered what the loud mouth salesman had said; the Advance Termite Bait Stations had to be checked in the first month after installation, and then every three months from there on. Bingo! there was my answer, plus I could get an average kit for the sizeof my home for less than the termite liquid poison. The average price for termador is above 200.00 in concentratefor size of my home, along with all the other problems of actually doing the work I opted for the Advance TBS. Here's the details: 1. Measure the linear feet around your home (literally measure the full circumference of your home and or every structure on your property - measure the lengths of all the walls of each structure, detached buildings ALSO!), 2. You will need to install a TBS every 10 linear feet around your home,3. Do not worry about the driveway or garage if paved with asphalt, or with concrete, simply place oneon each side of the concrete/pavement or paving stones. REMEMBER you aretrying to surround your home with these bait stations. I ended up with about 25 stations (my house is almost 1800 square feet with an attached garage so Imeasured just about2500 linear feet). The equation you should use for bait stations to linear feet is: linear feet divided by 10 equals the number of bait stations you'll need to surround the house. Advice varied as far as how far away from the home you should plant them; the measurement of 7 - 10ft away from the house was what usually was given. Now how to buy them? Do the math, add up the number you need, and applythat numberto the okay auctions, if you can not find the right number contact the member listing them, (all of them if necessary). Make sure you are getting the whole assembly as stated before: bait station (1 piece and usually grey), wood monitor (light weight semi-circular wood - 2 per station), bait cartridge (1 clear plastic pod shaped containers with 3 white cellular shaped discs in each cartridge), and lid (1, black and specifically made for the grey bait station). I suggest you don't worry about the active ingredient cartridge now, as you may or may not need them and sometimes the price for the kit with versus without can save you a penny or two.okay sellers are pretty gepetitive when geparing to online stores, about $250.00USD should get you enough to surroundan average sizedhome. Don't be afraid to ask the seller to put together an amount of cartridges/stations together for you. Usually, I have had more luck doing that as the seller will place more items into the listing for you rather than their normal listings, or you can bargain on shipping and handling. Another item you will need to buy is the tool which removes the lid; The spider access tool, usually sold separately, is the only tool sold toloosen/remove and then replace and lock the lid back down after servicing/inspecting. See below



Another tool is the auger which will work with any drill and makes a perfect hole for the station, also sold separately and usually a little costly; See below:


But I say save your money, and use a post hole digger like I did and then fill the dirt around the station as needed, then using a shop vac to suction out any loose soil or rocks, then intall the two wood inserts, and bait cartridge - make sure the lid of the station is level with the dirt/ground.

And that's it, there are several other brands of termite traps/bait stations, but advance has the best reputation for extermination of the whole colony, and with other types, you will disturb the trap causing the termites to avoid it, just in time for you to put the costly active (approx 100.00 for 6) ingredient cartridge in. With the advance termite bait you remove the Bait cartridgewhich isshown below:


If you have activity on the cartridge it should look like this:


The white little discswill be gone or missing, replaced by earth tubes (dirt) from termites, now is the time to put in the active ingredient cartridge:(The active ingredientis Diflubenzuron, which is an benzamide insecticide, it's trade name is Dimilin). Diflubenzuron is a stomach and contact poison which acts by inhibiting the production of chitin (a gepound that makes the outer covering of the insect hard) and so interferes with the formation of the insect's cuticle or shell. It is also used as a larvae control chemical in mushroom operations and animal houses. In layman's terms:it makes the termites shell or cuticle, rock hard, preventing them from growing and causing them to die, from the worker all the way up to the queen. Diflubenzuron/Dimilin is used world wide for a host of different types of industries including forest and agriculture settings. Note: some other insects will "hit" on your cartridges; grasshoppers, crickets, air wicks, centipedes, roaches,rolley polleys or pill bugs all love to use the baitstaion for a home. These insects will eat the paper fiber made wafers (leaving their poop - coffe grind looking) in place of the no missing paper fiber wafers, this is NOT a hit, you will be waisting your money to kill a few of the formnetioned insects. But hey if you want to waste your money onthat be my guest, just remember; termites will always leave earth tubes/clumps of dirt and dried mud in place of the wafers.
Active ingredient cartridge (color of label willvary) Blue/Green: 93 grams versusOrange: 124 grams. The weight in grams is for the material, the concentration of active ingredient does NOT change, (just means there is more material for the termites to eat).

This cartridge will only be good for three months as it's main ingredient to kill the termites will begee inactive. So check the station EVERY station every three months, keep replacing the active ingredient tube every three months until no more activity is present. If you fail to change the active ingredient bait cartridge every three months, the active ingredient begees null, and thus the cartridge is just food for the termites. Once all activity has stopped; make sure you clean out the station, loosen all the dirt and debries out with a screwdriver, using a vacuum to remove the rest; don't forget to remove/replace the wood inserts also when destroyed or crumbling from termite hits. Then place the bait/monitoring cartridge in the station. Remember every year regardless of activity the wood monitor cartridge, and the bait cartridge should be replaced (unless you are actively treating hits to that station). Activity varies, you may have hits on some of your stations almost immediately, sometimes, (like mine) it takes awhile (3 months for mine), after treating the stations showing activity with the active ingredient, you'll notice the activity will slow, and then stop on an active station, replace all the parts as listed above (using the non active ingredient cartridge)and wait. Termites use pheromones a chemical which actually marks each tube, wood or anything it gees in contact to, revealing to all other termites, that it has been to their, and if it is good or bad or even unsafe! This is why itis imperative to removing the old material in the station and replacing with new, don't be cheap, never reuse material that has had termite activity. You might even notice that the station further down or on the other side of your property may get a "hit." Remember there are about 4,000 types of termites, the most gemon is the subterranean termites, which has millions of termites in it'scolony and on average there are at least 4 - 5 large colonies an a square acre of any given land. Although the termite is most busiest in the spring, they work all year foraging for food aka: wood/your house. The worker can not see, but uses something very close to thermal imaging power to see heat versus cold areas to locate the wood. It is imperative that you use a very defensive type of termite control to prevent damage to your home. good luck, and I hope this helps.

An update to my guide; I have now had my system well overfour years now, and I have had very positive results. I have since purchased more bait stations and placed them further out in my yard were I have noticed that my neighbors (who obviously are inept to termite activity on their homes), have substantial activity which has crept in to my backyard and the back of my home. I place them closest to where termites would be: several old tree stumps, and near where their pool back wash saturates the ground. Both areas are conductive to termites: the dead tree stumps contain plentiful amounts of dry weakened wood full of cellulose (food), and the back wash area plentiful amounts of wet and moist soil, absolute necessities for the termites as they are very sensitive to drying out - which is why you will see earth tubesextending from the ground and up into your house or wood source. I use these new stations as monitors and have even placed active ingredient cartridges in one of them because of actual visible activity on the ground, showing earth tubes and a voracious appetite of the colony. My home, (more specifically the stations around it), has had no evidence of activity for about eight months as12 of the original 25 bait stations had originally shown activity. It seems that the activity is usually confined to one part of my property, but over the years a majority of the stations have had "hits" - some just one or two earth tubes, and that was it, others more constant action, each time I use an active bait cartridge that's it, one cartridge and the activity stops; gemonly one quarter to half of the cartridge is consumed. Each time I verify that the activity has stopped, I remove the cartridge and wood inserts,break up the dirtthe earth tubes, and then use my shop vac to remove all the debris. This allows me tojust drop the new wood inserts and monitoring cartridge back into the station andthe ability to easily assess the activity on the station every time I check back on it, which is usually every month or two just to be safe - I found that leaving the dirt in the monitor makes it more difficult to verify activity without pulling the parts out each time to check. An easy way for me to remember to check my stations every three months is my air conditioner; actually the programmable thermostat that has the "check filter" indicator -it illuminates/goes off every 90 days, thus I replace my air filter in the air conditioner and then go outside to check my 28 stations. I have sprayed the lids/caps on some of the stations that are coveredby grass or shrubs, making it easier for me to find and access.

Remember when inspect your cartridges, make sure that there is still activity, ie: fresh or wet earth tubes and or live termites moving around the cartridge.You should expect to see termites in the cartridge, and if so, make sure you take the cartrdige out and place it in the sun or away from your home. The last thing you need to do is inadvertently place the very creatures your trying to keep in your house, exactly in the heart of your home. I mention this as I almost did just that, but my wife was paying more attention than me, placing the cartridge in the sun for a few days should make sure that no termites will cause your home harm.
Well, hopefully this helped, if it did pleasefind the "was this guide helpful?" and click yes, thanks.