Just put my knuckle through my back fence while leaning on it... saw stuff scamper away, broke more off. Took some into a chinese container and took a photo of it -- because i knew qgl would be the uber resource for this and everything life.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/3530/dsc01235l.jpg

This page has reference shots

http://www.killthetermites.com/pictures-of-termites.htm

Comparison..

my guy right, shot from termite website left.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9349/compare.png

f*** f*** f***!~!! this is bad right? this means they will be coming into the house right? anyone else had this experience? what did you do?

yes. those are termites. but just coz they are in your fence doesn't mean they are in your house. worth getting it checked by a pro tho.

thought this was a thermite callout thread :(

Same. I saw "is this Thermite?" in the thread. Sleep needed.


Also as demon said - definitely Termites. Depending on how far from the house you found em, I'd be getting a pest inspection done asap.

Napalm.

there are termite specialists (like pest control) that you can call
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=brisbane+termite+specialists

It's reasonably bad and you are right to be a bit nervous. Get the specialists out. The main prob with termites is that treatment is an ongoing process - there isn't a "kill them all, now they are gone" solution. There are a few different treatments each with pros and cons.

burn your house down now, before its too late

If they are in your fence it means they are happy where they are. If you try and remove them from your yard the first place they will go is your house.

Leave them and get a termite inspection done. They will let you know of any places in your house which could attract them

If they are in your fence it means they are happy where they are.

Can't agree with that as we just have had a termite attack on the house. Luckily only in very early stages in the house. Nevertheless they were in our house in two separate locations (garage and front lounge room - which are some distance apart), fence bordering one neighbour and a dead tree in the garden, all at the same time. The nest was in the dead tree.

Okay, maybe bad choice of words, but it's better to have termites in your fence than in your house. If they are in your fence and not in your house there is no immediate reason to freak. Get the professionals out and take it from there

I remember tapping the floor boards and hearing the hissing. THAT's when you need to worry

The nest was in the dead tree.

Yeah they are bastards. They can get around.

The real danger is hidden entrance points to the house structure - for example you have a dead tree then 1m from that is a garden sleeper which goes under your house brick-work for some reason and bam, next thing you know they are eatin ya window frames.

The real danger is hidden entrance points to the house structure - for example you have a dead tree then 1m from that is a garden sleeper which goes under your house brick-work for some reason and bam, next thing you know they are eatin ya window frames.

Yup, that's why they say you should never have garden beds or anything like that right up against the house.

definitely a termite and not a thermite

Napalm

I'm glad this is catching on.

I'm a sucker for a good meme-wagon.

Don't forget (unless your house backs onto bush) it's not just your fence. Informing the other neighbors would probably be a nice thing to do.

there used to be a good chemical for killing these buggers in one fowl swoop. it was outlawed about 10 years ago because it also had the ability to eliminate small mammals and birds.

But where were they before the dead tree ?
Have a chat to your neighbours.

termites like hard wood

like pave's mum.

We had a little bit of damage in my place. I didnt mess around too much and got a company out called Suburban Pest Management. Chemical Barrier right against the house, and about foot out from the barrier is a bait system. I havent noticed any activity since having all of the work done.

What ive learnt is that if you find them in your house, totally leave them alone. If disturbed they just move to another part of the house and start eating again.

Yes ^

They need to be undisturbed so when the guy comes out he has a place to start.

Some of the poisons work by the ants taking it back to the nest, if there are no ants (cause they buggered off when you disturbed them) then they can't treat it.

It's Queensland.
Termites are everywhere, not all of them are even bad for houses.
They are secretive buggers and as such are kind of easy to see if they try to get into your house unless you haven't got proper capping. Then your f***ed.

This is why I built my house entirely out of ivory.

I didnt mess around too much and got a company out called Suburban Pest Management. Chemical Barrier right against the house, and about foot out from the barrier is a bait system. I havent noticed any activity since having all of the work done.

That's who my parents used when they found termites a few years ago. They're really happy with them.

Glad we have a brick house. The roof might fall down though I guess, we've treated for termites about 1 year ago though.

Edit: The brother-in-law had to re-build half his newish house after a termite attack. He had connections though so just hired a builder friend himself instead of contracting it out, saved a fair few bucks.


last edited by Syco at 23:27:00 08/Feb/10

^ Is it double brick, cause if it isn't besides the roof trusses there will be frames to secure the giprock to for all your internal walls and those facing the external walls. My house is brick but with the timber frames for securing the giprock to. If you don't have internal walls that are brick they will certainly all have timber frames. Unless of course it's steel-framed.



last edited by Some Fat Bastard at 03:01:39 09/Feb/10

Just put my knuckle through my back fence while leaning on it... saw stuff scamper away, broke more off. Took some into a chinese container and took a photo of it -- because i knew qgl would be the uber resource for this and everything life.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/3530/dsc01235l.jpg

This page has reference shots

http://www.killthetermites.com/pictures-of-termites.htm

Comparison..

my guy right, shot from termite website left.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9349/compare.png

f*** f*** f***!~!! this is bad right? this means they will be coming into the house right? anyone else had this experience? what did you do?

http://www.csiro.au/resources/Termites.html

Just we own a bush block and obviously we need firewood. So we use preventative measures like the bait system underground. The bait system they have these days works by a slow acting poison that the termites take back to the main colonies and it slow kills. Used to use arsenic tetrachloride, can't use that anymore.

They like warm damp soil to multiply and favour red gum a lot of the time. A lot of pine products these days are also treated against termites

Glad we have a brick house.

In some ways these are actually worse than a traditional QLD'er on stumps.

The termites can still get in (as SFB said your wall frames etc will be timber - nice soft easy chewying timber too) but they are much harder to detect as you can't see them.

At least QLD'ers you can spot them pretty easy (provided you have access under house etc). Your poles might get mauled but if your ant capping is good then they have to biuld around it which is easy to see.

you need to take off and nuke it from orbit... its the only way to be sure.

last edited by Crusher at 13:29:56 09/Feb/10

Glad we have a brick house

As previously stated they are usually a wood frame inside. So while your outer brick shell is fine the roof doubling as a floor isn't. And that's true even of 1 story slab brick houses.
But if you have a damp course it's still not much of an issue because they won't be able to sneak into the wood. They will build a mud tunnel round the damp course.
Hence you shouldn't randomly build things that connect to the house or build elevated gardens that go above the dampcourse.

obes gives me a damp course

I also heard that some kinds of large Ants will eat termites and that getting a nest in your yard is a good way to prevent Termites.
Cant remember which Ants though.

fire ants... lol

yes, i lol at my own jokes