tunnels Archives - Arizona Pest Control - Pest Management Services

Termite Awareness Month

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Termite Awareness Month, ok you’re going to mention that he dates are wrong. Well you’re right, but NPMA is looking at the East Coast where most of the action occurs with termites. Here in Arizona we wait for the monsoon, yea if it ever happens. When it rains, it takes about a month to get the termites going and then we see activity. On the East Coast they are more active beginning in February and then depending on rain and time of day they swarm. Here is AZ really have I seen a swarm, I was sitting on I-17 waiting for an accident to be cleared when a swarm happened and I could see them landing on the car. Termite Awareness Month in my book is whenever you have termites.

So watch for signs:

Termite mud tunnels on foundation
Down tubes or dirt on ceiling
Baseboards crumbled inside to outside

Termite weird tubes

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Termite weird tubes and how I’m constantly amazed by their handiwork. I’ve seen drop tubes down from the ceiling at least 5 foot. I’ve also seen dead grass castles that are almost artwork. While termites are considered destructive, sometimes they are creative in their overall job out in nature. In nature they start to decompose wood and return nutrients to the soil. The never ending grow and die and return to the earth.

Signs:

Tubes on foundation slab wall.
Drop tubes.
Small little holes with soil or dirt growing over time.
Baseboard looks like its crumbling from inside to outside.
When in doubt call ProBest 602-249-7378.

Tubes and termites

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Tubes, tunnels, termites and damage

Tubes and tunnels – We get calls all the time on these lovely little creatures, termites can cause a lot of concern. But in Arizona they are more of a nuisance than damage causing scourge. Probably the lack of water has the greatest influence on them.

What area do we cover in Arizona – ProBest services include phoenix home pest control and commercial pest control. We are in the Phoenix and surrounding cities. Gilbert. Mesa. Chandler. Queen Creek. Apache Junction. Gold Canyon. Johnson Ranch. Buckeye. Avondale. Surprise. Sun City. Glendale. Peoria. Deer Valley. Scottsdale. Tempe. Maricopa. Casa Grande. Goodyear. El Mirage. Litchfield Park. Tolleson. Laveen. Carefree. Cave Creek. Fountain Hills. Paradise Valley. Youngtown. New River. Sun Lakes.

What’s up with those crazy little termites?

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Enlarge the picture and notice the down tube (in the middle of the left hand basket). Our Arizona termites make these tubes to reach the ground and often times they can be in the strangest places.

The termites find wood and then focus on taking it back home, they are smart and they are attempting to find a quicker and easier, way back to the ground. Yep, amazing.

Termite architects

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Take a look at the termite mud tube – it is amazing but it came down the drywall, past the baseboard onto the foundation slab and then catty corner away from the expansion joint.

Just think of the skill it takes to build a mud tube and especially at a angle. I’m impressed. OK termites have been at this for over 250 million years but it is still artwork!

Are there more issues with termites in crawlspace homes?

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There are probably no more issues than with a monolithic or floating slabs and some would say crawlspaces are easier to see.

I would venture to say that in my opinion Post Tension is probably better, the ability to pull concrete together helps to avoid the pitfalls of cracks developing. Crawlspaces can be tricky because I have seen some that were impossible to crawl, less than 18 inches high or so many obstacles in the way. But with the right height and limited obstacles crawlspaces can easily inspected. I would suggest a yearly inspection and that inspector can also mention things like:

water pipes leaking
air conditioning vents on ground
sometimes under mobile homes they leave the wheels in place, these need to be inspected as well
pillars (block or metal) checked
insulation falling or loose
crawlspace access points not sealed or in place, loose or non existent metal
dirt falling in

Anyway you get the point, yearly inspections

Have you inspected your home for termites?

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In Arizona these little mud trails can pop up just about anywhere within your home. The termites make there way up from the soil and make these tubes or tunnels to protect themselves from ants or the heat. Once inside they will soon be munching away on your wall or ceiling studs.

So if you notice something like this I think its time to call a Termite Professional.

R U Seeing Signs of Termites?

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No matter where you you live, OK maybe not Alaska but you probably will encounter termites. In Florida and the east Coast chances are that you might find them in the early Spring – sometime near March and April depending on temperatures and weather. In Louisiana it might be different depending on the type of termite and in Arizona our main push of termites is usually after monsoon and the rains, August – November give or take.

This picture above is typical of our Western Subterranean termites, they will find their way up into a wall and then sometimes make a little hole and mud it up or they will make down tubes. But anyway you look at it, this is what you are looking for.

My recommendations for your home and a termite inspection:

You can look yourself, since you’re on my home seal – type in termites to see what it looks like.
Normally you can get a free inspection, unless it’s for a sale of a home or business.
When your doing housework, glance around for anything you haven’t noticed before.
Looks for mud tubes on the foundation of your home, garages are an excellent place for termites – look at expansion joint.
You can always call ProBest for our opinion, you can send photo’s to [email protected]

There I was in the middle of the SWARM!

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So there I was in my car in the middle of I-17 on Sunday afternoon sitting in traffic. Somebody wrecked , actually it was some type of 5th wheel and it blocked the entire interstate. 2 hours of real boredoom until the termite swarm happened. A little bit of rain and I noticed some flying bugs and all of a sudden one landed on the car and it was a termite swarmer.

Desert subbterranean termite – mature colony is about 150,000, each colony can contain multiple secondary queens. The readily build mud tunnels over materials to reach wood. Thanks to ABC15 for the picture posted to FaceBook, check out their story.

Hey, what’s that hanging from my ceiling?

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Hey, what’s that hanging from my ceiling?

With all the rains we have had it is not surprising to any of us that termites are still very active. This is a frequent little phenomenon that happens here with our desert termites. They find their way into our homes and follow the wood grain, hit the next 2×4 and then follow that grain and rather than return the longer way they attempt to go back down from where they are at the moment. Tricky little bugs, right?

So before you just clean it up and disregard it, check it out – is it dirt and do you see any little white 6 legged ant type critters. Surprise, it’;s probably termites – give us a call to make sure 602-249-7378

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Tubes, tunnels, termites and damage