We have the bait system as well. The poisoned bait attracts the termites before they start chomping on your home. No activity; no termites. If activity is spotted then additional traps are added to that station area and in a few months the termites should be dead.

This is the third in which home we've used this system and we've been satisfied.

We started using this after our first home was twice attacked by subterranean termites. We were convinced we could hear those creatures just feasting on our home and needed some security.

Though we saw signs of activity, our home was never attacked again. And eventually, the traps showed no eveidence of termite activity.

Subterranean termites eat slower than swarming termites so 3 months between checks is okay.

Just found out today that we have termites. D@mn! Is there anyway we can get rid of these buggars ourselves, or do we HAVE to call the pest control guys in??

whiteorchid Not sure about other states but here in TN you can get a Private Applicators License thru your local office of Department of Agriculture. This allows you to purchase the restricted use chemicals and apply them to your own house/ horse barn or whatever. I would be very cautious doing this as there is a VERY good reason these chemicals are RESTRICTED, THEY ARE VERY DANGEROUS if not properly used. If a person were to consider going this route they really need to attend a training class other than just the department of agriculture certification class, your local college may have a course that will assist you. Even after all this you will need some specialized and expensive equipment to perform the drilling and pumping operations to do the job properly. Most people will be much better off hiring the job out. Note: Termidor seems to be one of the best products on the market right now, it is expensive and unavaliable even with the private applicator license. You actually have to obtain a training certificate from the manufacture to purchase it!! I did my own home but not to save money, it was to be darn sure it was done correctly I took approx 40 hrs of training and bought or borrowed all the equipment and spent two weekends working on the project. Killed um dead, no termite activity for over 4 years KNOCK ON WOOD lol

I am not as sure about those green bait tubes in the ground. The way it was used at my last home was the tubes have wood in them and once activity is noticed the wood bait is replaced with poisoned sticks.

This is a good idea if you don't want to use chemicals in your home (we had very small kids and my wife was nervous about chemicals), but it assumes the termites find the bait tube before your house. We did have activity in some tubes and replaced the bait and the activity did cease after a few weeks. The assumption was we killed the termite colony. However we found later that apparently another colony on the other side of the house had invaded and they somehow got past the tube placement there and did penetrate the house. So the tubes 'sort of' worked.

This new active mud tube was naturally discovered when we sold the house and did have a swarm a couple of days before the inspection. Had to have it chemically treated for the new buyers anyway. We actually saved nothing and basically paid twice.

The green tubes did not really form a "barrier" to stop the termites as well as the chemicals do. They do in theory work, however the chemicals definitely work (at least for a while).

In the future I will only use the chemical treatment as this has proven to me (IMHO) to kill them and was best at keeping them away from all sides of my home.

Mona, do you remember the name of your system and how much it cost?

emmayct - I know you did not address your post to me but if you don't mind I will throw in my info anyway. The name of the system we purchased was Sentricon. We paid about $1100 for about 12 tubes. This included monthly monitoring and maintenance for a year.

Again the system did work but, but not as well as advertised. Some termites from a apparently different colony made it past them. I guess if you put enough of them close together it would work better. If you do it yourself my guess is it would be much cheaper. We used Terminex so they had a big mark up on the product. They did also included monthly bug spraying in that price.

We have the Sentricon system. It cost us about $2800 and we have 58 stations. It was installed through Terminex and is monitored every 3 months. We do renew the monitoring contract yearly and I can't recall how much that it but it is much, much less than the first year's cost for installation and monitoring.

Our neighborhood is infamous for subterranean termite activity. Our first inspection in this new home showed activity in 7 of the stations. By the 3rd inspection we had none. Our newer next door neighbors, who didn't get the system, have found house damage and mud tubes after being in their new home only 17 months.
So, based on these facts I'm sure glad we have the bait system in place. It seems to be working for us.

jimbo60 said:
"Again the system did work but, but not as well as advertised. Some termites from a apparently different colony made it past them. I guess if you put enough of them close together it would work better'

This system is not a barricade. Another colony did not get past them. Sentricon is not a poison. Termites do not eat it and die.
It is amazing that so many, have paid so much and are so uninformed.
Sentricon will not keep termites out of the house. They eat the chemical and go back to the nest and share it with the group. The chemical prevents the termites from shedding and that's what causes their death. The more of the colony that eats it, the more that dies. A large colony could take 3-5 years to die off. During that time, unless you also have a chemical barrier, termites are still eating away at the real estate.
Ron

Perhaps Jimbo's problem was a result of Terminix's improper usage of the product. My Terminix rep didn't even offer a bait system. I think they lost their liscensing to use it perhaps? Just speculation on my part. I've have 3 pest control companies come and look at the problem, and Terminix will NOT be doing the job for me.

Today a local company gave an estimate of about $1000 for a trenching and treatment. Terminix's bid was $1400. Another local company bid $1400 for the Sentricon system and 2 years of service and monitoring.

Now, I need to decide.

Thanks for all your imput!