The termite guys came almost 2 weeks ago, that is how behind I am!!
They placed 8 cylinders in the ground all around the house. Each cylinder contains eucalyptuswood strips and the idea is that when the team returns they will see which cylinders have been attacked. Those attacked cylinders then get filled by this special cellulose bait. Meanwhile the 2 places they observed direct termite activity, skirting board by the front door and a bench in our "bahay kubo", (a thatch covered seating area some 20 yards from the house), were fitted with a closed box (small holes for termites only, filled with the bait.
Apparently eating the bait and taking it back to the nest for all other termites in the nest to eat, has the result of making their mandibles soft, then they can no longer attack wood, only eat the bait. Finally the bait turns their entire exoskeletons soft and they die. (No I dont feel guilty)
While the team were here they found 2 above ground termite nests which they destroyed. They opened up the mound and then one guy reached in and pulled masses and masses of the little white perishers and eggs out until finally he found the core: this is a hard mud construction about six inches by four by two. Chopping that open we find the king , a black termite about half an inch long and the queen, a hideous worm like creature, two inches long and half an inch in diameter, greyish white, she lays egs, about 500 a day. Then there was general spraying of the area to destroy them all.
Unfortunately there are 9 different species of termites in the Philippines and only 1 builds a mound. The other 8 have underground nests you cannt easily find. Hence the bait method. And they can travel up to 50 metres in search of food.
I'll keep you posted after the team return!!
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