are termites harmful to humans,their clothes and bind ed books?and how to control them.i m from india.thanx?

Answer 1

Quick Guide to Avoiding Termite Problems

In the wild, pest termites usually eat trees or leftover bits of trees.
And the safest, moist and tasty bits are usually underground or right in the middle of big pieces of timber. If your home/building/structure doesn't have much in common with trees . . . .

Subterranean & dampwood termites
Hand crushing a hollow, termite-eaten wall stud Subterranean termites usually get about by tunneling underground and entering their food from below. Tree roots are usually attached to trees and the timber waste buried around buildings usually leads to better food inside. Sometimes the termites just fly in and start up a fresh colony, but tunnelling is more common. Dampwood termites don't tunnel nearly as much but can fly in just as easily.
Since the termites are most likely to try to get in via the soil, there are some simple things you can do:

Control moisture:
o All types of termites need moisture. Keep your structure dry and well ventilated.
o Ventilate all possible subfloor areas and ensure the vents are kept free and clear.
o Fix all plumbing leaks. Particularly showers and baths. These often have leaks supplying constant moisture that makes the wood just right to be eaten.
o Open drain leaks 2 soilCheck all gutters and down spouts, make sure that the water ends up well away from the house. Ideally down spouts should connect to stormwater drains. If you don't have these, at least redirect the water well away from the house. Down spouts which regularly splash near the structure may be supplying an irresistible source of moisture.
o Avoid having gardens directly against walls--if you must do this, provide space for air movement between the vegetation and the wall and an inspection zone of at least 100 mm. Never have sprinklers wetting the soil near a building or deck. Termites have even been known to enter a building through branches touching walls.
o Make sure that any paving is angled to drain surface water away from the structure.
Be careful with wood in ground contact:
o Remove any timber or cellulose material stored on the ground beneath a suspended floor. That includes cardboard boxes and old newspapers, even cotton materials. Clean up any off cuts left during construction. The aim is to maximize the distance between termites and their potential meal.
o Don't store any firewood in ground contact. This attracts termites. It also prevents the wood drying properly and hence reduces the heat yield on burning (it takes energy to boil water). Set your firewood at least 100 mm above ground.
o eaten polystyreneStructural wood in ground contact should be either termite resistant, protected by strip shielding, or treated with a preservative. Better yet, cut it off and mount it on a metal stirrup mounted in concrete. High and dry is always best.
o Don't provide hidden entry points, such as stucco (which can hide termite freeways) and foam slab-edge insulation. Instead, provide an impervious inspection zone. Use physical barriers in all new construction.

Drywood termites
Drywood termites can live in small pieces of wood so long as it is a little moist and not too hot or cold. They'll fly in and start their colonies right in that wood. Best way to keep them at bay is to disguise your timber.

o

Too Dry:
Keeping timber very dry will make it impossible for termites to live, but this is impractical in many tropical and coastal areas where the natural humidity is sufficient to keep the wood moist enough for drywood termites. Do what you can to keep timber as dry as possible.

o

Disguised:
If they don't know it is wood, they may not find it. Keep all exterior wood well coated with paint or varnish, especially the larger bits and at the joins and ends. Drywood termites begin their attack with just two termites. First the female selects a likely place to live and then pairs up with a male before they start tunnelling. So if you can make the wood unattractive, the termites won't even try.

o

Inaccessible:
If they can't get to the wood they can't eat it. Seal up any cracks or fissures (these make it easy for them to get in). Cover vents with fine mesh screening (about 0.8 to 1.0 mm openings--but remember, you may need to increase the vent size to make up for this restriction of air flow). Pay particular attention to the roof and wall frames.

Following these simple points will greatly reduce your termite hazard. Best of all is to design your structure to be termite resistant from the very beginning. Remember too, that regular inspections can locate termites before they do any major damage.
Termite control comes in four forms: cultural, physical, biological and chemical.

Cultural control relates to what we do and the way that we do it. In Queensland, the old traditional housing style sits up high surrounded by wide verandas which provide shade from the harsh sun and catch whatever breeze is around. At the same time the tall stumps and metal termite caps provide excellent protection. If you follow the "Quick guide to avoiding termite problems" you are instituting a cultural control by reducing the termites' chances of getting a foothold. Nomadism is another cultural technique--sort of parallels with disposable coffee cups, only this way it's your home that is short-lived. Some speculative home-builders seem to prefer this approach. Keeping a horde of animals to eat swarming termites has to be helpful. Geckoes on the walls will eat many termites. Ants are perhaps the best and most persistent predators. Even chickens will make short work of termites as they try to extend their mud tunnels.

Physical control separates the food from the termite. Strip shielding, posts on stirrups, and physical barrier systems such as Granitgard and Termimesh are examples of physical controls. Termites can also be controlled by taking their environment beyond the limits their bodies can take. To this end, to kill termites both sustained heat (over about 45 degrees C for an hour or so) or sustained cold (subzero--it is the ice-crystals that kill) have been used. There is also some talk of using microwave energy--this may be great inside a tightly shielded oven, but it is fairly difficult to control such energy in a structure.

Biological control is practised for many other insect pests, but has had little success with termites. Well, little success in the commercial sense. As with the ants and geckoes mentioned above, many societies have used termites' natural enemies to keep them in check. Birds and ants can clean up an amazing quantity of termites. Business has tried nematodes and fungi. The nematodes are tiny worms which parasitise termites and the fungi are disease organisms, perhaps best thought of as terminal tinea. While these work extremely well in controlled laboratory experiments, they have yet to make a significant splash in the market. Still, we're all eagerly waiting . . .

Chemical control was once the sum total of pest controllers' responses to termite problems. Now the consequences of poisoning soils and surfaces are becoming apparent as the old termiticides are withdrawn and the newer ones come under increasing scrutiny. As most commonly practised, chemical control for termites involves either soil treatment to provide a barrier of toxic residues or (for drywoods) tenting of the structure and flooding it with toxic gas (some such fumigants may damage the ozone layer). To be effective, a chemical applied to form a toxic barrier in the soil must penetrate evenly and then bind securely to the soil particles. It has to be persistent. It must not break down through the action of normal soil microbes. Another way to use chemicals is (in much smaller doses) to apply them directly to the termites such as in the bait box technique, either as topical dust, or as bait toxicants. There is a world of difference between surrounding a structure with several kilos of toxin applied in hundreds of litres of emulsion and the at most, few grams of a slow-acting toxin which may be used in a baiting system (the bulk of which may be removed after control is achieved). Other than poisoning the soil and timber, chemicals are also used against drywood termites, but as a whole-structure fumigation. Check out Quick Guide to Choosing a Pest Controller.

Answer 2

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RE:
are termites harmful to humans,their clothes and bind ed books?and how to control them.i m from india.thanx?

Answer 3

Are Termites Dangerous

Answer 4

Yes, termites are very harmful to books & wood. We had termite at our place. Got pest control done twice but after some time termites come back. Now we are planning to get the woodwork changed. Thats the best you can do.

Answer 5

Termites, sometimes known as white ants, are a group of eusocial insects usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order, Isoptera. Termites feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter or soil, and about 10% of the 4,000 odd species (about 2,600 taxonomically known) are economically important as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests.

Avoiding termite troubles

Precautions:
1) Avoiding contact of wood with ground by using termite-resistant concrete, steel or masonry foundation with appropriate barriers. Even so, termites are able to bridge these with shelter tubes, and it has been known for termites to chew through even piping made of plastics and even lead to exploit moisture. In general, new buildings should be constructed with embedded physical termite barriers so that there are no easy means for termites to gain concealed entry. While barriers of poisoned soil have been in general use since the 1970s, it is preferable that these be used only for existing buildings without effective physical barriers.

2) Timber treatment.

3) Use of timber that is naturally resistant to termites such as Canarium australianum known as the Turpentine Tree, Callitris glacophylla, the White Cypress or one of the Sequoias. Note that there is no species of tree where every individual provides timber that is immune to termite damage.

When termites have already penetrated a building, removing their means of access and destroying the colony with insecticides are usually effective means of stopping further damage. Feeder stations (baits) with small quantities of disruptive insect hormones or other very slow acting toxins have become the preferred least-toxic management tool in most western countries. This has replaced the dusting of toxins direct into termite tunnels which had been widely done since the early 1930's (originating in Australia). The main dust toxicant have been the inorganic metallic poison arsenic trioxide and, more recently, the insect growth regulator, Triflumuron. These slow-acting poison can be distributed by the workers for considerable periods (hours to weeks) before any symptoms occur and are capable of destroying the colony. More modern variations include chlorfluazuron and hexaflumuron as bait toxicants and fipronil and imidacloprid was soil poisons. Soil poisons are the least-preferred method of control.

Answer 6

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Yowee, I hope they never evolve to eatin block houses. I did have another thought though. Probly totally irrational, but anyway,,, Maybe ternamites are a payback for our clear cuttin of forests to build houses, and Mr. Gods sense of humor like with gnats and skeeters?

Answer 7

There should also be a petition to stop the abuse of squirrels. Squirrels are rodents that are hated as much as the rats. First and foremost; leave it to the professionals to take care of the rodents, rats and termites. Finally. follow their advice and act accordingly !

Answer 8

oh yea being an indian i can say that..lotso dust in here:P Clean india u clean termeez osso!olaY!