Formosa Termites

Has anyone ever heard of the Formosa "Super" Termite? I have a home that was built in 2006 that has them. I called Hometeam Pest Control as they were the company that pre-treated the house but there contract says the Formosa termite was excluded as there is no permanant treatment available for them at this time. With a little research these colonies can average 3 million and can eat 1,000 lbs of wood per year. Please let me know if you know of any solutions.

Uh-oh. I heard those were moving east. They are a nasty termite from S. America - Brazil maybe. They was brought here accidentally in some beautiful wood that was imported. At least that's the story I've always heard.

Call Buzz Woodham Pest Control. I am pretty sure I am bonded for formosa's through them - definitely worth a call. And, GOOD LUCK!! Keep us posted!!

You're probably looking at an air tight tent for a couple of weeks and loads of poison.

my husband told horror stories of the formosas in new orleans. i think they're from asia and were brought over in shipping pallets. good luck!!

They can destroy a home in record time. After I saw this post, I called my pest co. and made certain I am covered on this bond. Yowsa, Baby!

This will make you crap wood like a termite.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosan_subterranean_termite"]Formosan subterranean termite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Check out this part:

Once established, Formosan subterranean termite has never been eradicated from an area.

Sorry Beaudroix I know this isn't the info you were looking for.

Have I heard of them? They've eaten my house. It is possible to get rid of the individual colony, but impossible to eradicate in a given geographical region. I think the French Quarter had some success in treating the entire neighborhood.

The formosans live in colonies underground, and the workers build mud tubes to get from the colony to wood above ground. The workers travel back and forth to the food source, but the colony is under the ground. The best way to treat them it to find a VERY AGGRESSIVE pest control company, and have them spray the heck out of the soil all around your property. The workers eat and regurgitate wood to feed the colony, and if they can't return to the colony they will stop feeding, so in the meantime, go and knock down every mud tube you can find.

One last thing...do not waste your time with bait traps. By the time the bait traps are effective, your house could be structurally unsound. And the formosans swarm in June, so you owe it to your neighbors to get rid of these things before they move on.

New Orleans has so many of these horrible little boogers that it literally rains termite wings for a few nights every June.

Had a colony devour a load bearing stucco roof support off my front porch a few years back. Terminix offers policies for them - they treated and tore down / rebuilt the infested areas which seemed to work. (I haven't had any trouble since.) The treatment was this jelly stuff they poor on the ground around the structure and cover up. The little guys sure can eat though, they hollowed a 6 x 4 wooden stucco support and part of the roof in just under a month or so. Look for mud caps at the top of structures in the spring for signs of an infestation.

Have I heard of them? They've eaten my house. It is possible to get rid of the individual colony, but impossible to eradicate in a given geographical region. I think the French Quarter had some success in treating the entire neighborhood.

The formosans live in colonies underground, and the workers build mud tubes to get from the colony to wood above ground. The workers travel back and forth to the food source, but the colony is under the ground. The best way to treat them it to find a VERY AGGRESSIVE pest control company, and have them spray the heck out of the soil all around your property. The workers eat and regurgitate wood to feed the colony, and if they can't return to the colony they will stop feeding, so in the meantime, go and knock down every mud tube you can find.

One last thing...do not waste your time with bait traps. By the time the bait traps are effective, your house could be structurally unsound. And the formosans swarm in June, so you owe it to your neighbors to get rid of these things before they move on.

New Orleans has so many of these horrible little boogers that it literally rains termite wings for a few nights every June.

I had those for a while with terminix, they ultimately cancelled the treatment due to ineffectiveness. Not to mention, all those little plastic green things in the ground were unattractive in the yard.

Termites

I had Buzz treat our house and all they would warantee was another treatment of termites showed up. No damage coverage. This was a 2 year old home in Seaside with no history of any termite issues

The above post is my question. i called some termite places and they were very ambigious wether they would give a damage warranty or not. If i'm going to spend 1k or more to get the foundation treated i'm sure as heck going to demand a damage warranty. On the above note did buzz do the foundation treatment? If so why would he not give you a damage warranty?Also who are some other reputable pest control companies outside buzz?

They can destroy a home in record time. After I saw this post, I called my pest co. and made certain I am covered on this bond. Yowsa, Baby!

Lynnie - did you confirm w/ Budd that he will for sure cover the Formosa Termite?

Hometeam dug a 2' deep trench around the house & drilled holes in the concrete in my garage storage and water heater closet, filled it full of chemicals and it has done nothing. These things are wearing this house out.

Have you tried borate? Supposedly it keeps termites away if the wood is treated w/ a borate based solution or you sprinkle a borax based detergent around.

The word I heard from Buzz woodham was that because our house was on pilings that they would only treat around all the pilings but would not warrant any damage as the termites could go up inside the piling. They are obviously pressure treated.

When they asked if I wanted to pay the fee to renew my coverage for a year I clarified that there really was no coverage. A retreatment warrantee to me means they did a lousy job the first time. I did not renew but will have someone check again in a year and get another treatment then if needed.

Not sure what to do now except try the borate as long as Home Depot sells it. I cant beleive there is no way to get rid of these things.

Thru trial and error, I poured some Olive Oil on some of the termites I caught and it killed them instantly. I pulled over a pest control tech the other day and asked him about the olive oil and he said that any oil based product would kill them but he asked "how do you get the oil to the nest?" I answered just like you get all of your other chemicals thru houses when you treat them. He did not reply... If you could make a small capsule made out of fiber board, fill it with olive oil, then let the workers take the capsule back to the nest and at some point they have to eat it? Thoughts?

Thru trial and error, I poured some Olive Oil on some of the termites I caught and it killed them instantly. I pulled over a pest control tech the other day and asked him about the olive oil and he said that any oil based product would kill them but he asked "how do you get the oil to the nest?" I answered just like you get all of your other chemicals thru houses when you treat them. He did not reply... If you could make a small capsule made out of fiber board, fill it with olive oil, then let the workers take the capsule back to the nest and at some point they have to eat it? Thoughts?

Call a professional. Again I'd reccomend terminix. My policy (on a house that has been attacked once) is less than 350 a year to renew and they cover everything, including damage.

Thru trial and error, I poured some Olive Oil on some of the termites I caught and it killed them instantly. I pulled over a pest control tech the other day and asked him about the olive oil and he said that any oil based product would kill them but he asked "how do you get the oil to the nest?" I answered just like you get all of your other chemicals thru houses when you treat them. He did not reply... If you could make a small capsule made out of fiber board, fill it with olive oil, then let the workers take the capsule back to the nest and at some point they have to eat it? Thoughts?

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I would guess the oil worked by suffocation rather than by ingestion - just a guess due to the fact that horticultural oils are often used to suffocate eggs of insect pests on plants.

Interesting observation Beaudroix!

A few years back a Forest Service fellow was doing research using catnip oil to repel/kill termites. Hopefully you can kill the ones you have somehow and then maybe plant catnip herbs around your foundation...

Wouldn't complete coverage be hard with the olive oil?



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Lynnie - did you confirm w/ Budd that he will for sure cover the Formosa Termite?

Hey, I lost this thread for a minute. Sorry, Y'all.

Yes, Buzz can bond for formosas, but there is a list he has to cover - one item on the list will preclude him from covering it for you.

It's worth a phone call to him and he is such a nice man! Good luck!!;-)

You might want to try Florida Pest Control, I know they cover everything and damage.

If you can get Formosan coverage for a "reasonable" price, go for it....Terminex quoted a tremendously high price....a lawyer-friend of mine (everybodys got one or 2) said "Dont pay for more than subterannean coverage and if they deny based on Formosan, just pay me to sue them...They will trot out expert witness to the species and Ill trot out expert/expert witness who say its Sub and covered....Pay ME the money, not them !"

I called Buzz Woodham Pest company after reading this thread to find out if I'm covered, and they said they'd look at my contract, call me back, and let me know. They called back within a few hours as promised and told me I was indeed covered for formosan termites. There may be different kinds of contracts, but they said mine covered them. Let's hope I never need to use the contract for these nasty termites (I had termites in a house in Michigan (we have plenty of them in our old neighborhood) and they sure ate through a lot of wood before we realized we had them. We had some work done on the house by a contractor, and she noticed them. They were actually dropping onto the basement floor from the ceiling beams :shock:, but we couldn't hear them crunching.

Are you covered for damage with buzz? Taking to many termite co's in fla i'm finding out that most termite companies are just covering to get rid of the termites and not fix the damage which is worthless.

Good question, Ray. I'll ask them...

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