Thread: Getting rid of termites in timber

Termites are not like flies, they rely on a colony situation and structure (ie they need a queen)to create an infestation. As soon as you disturb a food source or nest they will vacate the disturbance so even if couple come into your house with the wood they will die. If you want to get rid of them completely just heat the wood in an oven.

Most termites need to be in contact with the ground, either directly or via their mud tunnels.

If you lift the timber off the ground and make sure there is no further contact , the beasts in the timber will quickly die.

Then again, I could be wrong. There are quite a few pest people on this forum, and I mean that in the nicest possible way, I am sure you will get some excellent advice.

Budgie, we get three types of termites here in Townsville, large black ones that bite you if they can when handled, and two varietys of white ants. The most common one needs to return to the ground as part of its life cycle, and another that is quite happy to live and breed in timber that is stored in racks clear of the ground. This one is a real worry as it is very hard to detect as it does not use mud tunnels back to the ground. If i find any i run kero down the entry holes, that seems to kill them all,
hope that helps,
rgds,
Crocy.ni

Thanks for the advice all. These are definitely the white termite variety that I've seen many times before, however to be on the safe side I think I'll use a bit of kero down the holes as Croc suggested.

The termites that don't require contact with the ground are only found in the Northern regions. Brisbane would only have the more common type of termite. BobL and Avery have advised correctly. If you have any real ants around lay the timber suspected of termite infestation across the trail .

Ants specialise in clean up !

Regards
Paul