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If you own residential or commercial property in a warm to hot country, them I am certain that you have heard of the risk of termite damage. However, do you know which signs of termite damage to look out for? Do you know how quickly you can go from not having a problem to having a large infestation? And do you know how long it will take a major infestation of some termites, notably the Formosan termites, to make your property dangerous?

If you are not aware of the answer to these questions, then you have two options, either to learn quickly or hire in an expert. In regions of termite activity, it is suggested that every property is inspected at least once a year. There are about fifty species of termites in the USA, so it is not an easy task to identify which species you have.

Having said that, subterranean termites are the worst and the Formosan subterranean termites are the most awful of that bad bunch. They can live in colonies of between several hundred and several million and if a million Formosans choose to dine on your house, then you will have to react very quickly indeed.

Of course, you do not want to lose your own building to a termite infestation, but neither do your neighbours, so you have a moral obligation to eradicate any termite colonies on your property. So, why should you suspect that you have a termite problem?

Since termites eat wood, amongst other things, the best thing to do is look for timber damage around your house. The basement is a good place to start. Do not be concerned about what type of timber, inspect it all, since there are termites that like dry wood, termites that like damp wood and termites that will consume anything.

If you suspect that a length of timber has or is being eaten, use a screwdriver gently to try to break it open. if you see white insects that look like ants, you have termites. Sometimes, flying termites swarm too., but so do ants.

Termites are white because they rarely see the sun, they do not like light, so they build so-called galleries to walk through. These galleries can be through a length of timber or they might use chewed wood to build galleries leading to where they want to go. For, example pencil-like galleries may hang off the underside of your floorboards to the ground or be attached to concrete walls.

These tube-like galleries can be abandoned or active. Snap a few and see. If they are brittle they have been deserted, but that does not mean that the termites have gone.

Sometimes, the tubes are made of soil and this is a very bad sign, because it means you have subterranean termites, probably under your house. If you knock these galleries off the walls, they will leave marks called etchings, which will be evidence of termite activity until the house is knocked down, for anyone who knows what they are looking at.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on lots of subjects, but is at present concerned with Termidor termite treatment – a termite killer. If you are interested in this or if you are wondering: What Does A Termite Look Like?. Please go to our web site now for further details.

The latest invaders in New York are living confirmation that New York does go to sleep sometimes, because that is when these little nightmares come out to get you. It used to be rats that beleaguered New York, now it creatures small enough to live on rats in their dozens. I am talking about Cimex lectularius, the bed bug that specializes in preying on humans.

Nobody really knows how many species of bed bugs there are, some say seventy odd others say a hundred and odd. Most of them prefer animals, particularly birds and bats, but a lot of them will drink human blood if there is nothing else around. Cimex lectularius is the only one which prefers human blood and they have hit New York big time. They have literally got New Yorkers trembling in their beds.

The sad reality is that bed bugs were thought to have been wiped out in the United States in the 1950′s. Long-haul travellers and immigrants have been blamed for the sporadic outbursts of bedbugs in the past, but incidents of bedbugs has reached epidemic proportions. In 2004, there were only 82 attested infestations in New York, in 2009, just five years later, there were 10,985!

They are quite swift creatures, preferring to live close to the host, they can make a withdrawal from your blood bank often within ten minutes, faster than you can make a withdrawal from an inner city ATM. Most bed bugs have drunk their fill within five minutes of finding you and they can find you very soon. Bed bugs use body heat and CO2 emissions to locate their victims and then use pheromones to inform their friends and family where you are too.

This is why a host is usually bitten a dozen times or more, not just once like when there is a single mosquito in your bedroom or three times, which is the mark of a flea. Like flea bites, bed bug bites are frequently in a row of three though.

Fortunately for us, bedbugs carry no known diseases, although numerous bites can lead to anaemia and an impaired immune system, which could make you open to other diseases. Victims sometimes develop obsessional behavioural patterns and insomnia, which also has its consequences.

Bedbugs are hatched from eggs, which are produced one, two or three a day. They take about ten days to hatch out into translucent nymphs about a millimetre or so long. These must also feed on blood. As they grow, they shed their skins. After six moultings they are fully-grown bed bugs and can breed.

Bedbugs feed approximately every five days, during which time they rest in the dark crevice that they call home and sleep it off. Their lifespan is between five months and a year, but they can become dormant for five months, if there is no food about. A female will lay about 300 eggs in her life.

It used to be said that bedbugs lived in squalor, but this is not the case. However, they do like to be where humans assemble and they like dark cracks to live in: loose headboards, bed frames, skirting boards and architraves are definite favourites.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with getting rid of bedbugs? If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for more details.

Bed bugs are a growing source of aggravation, especially in the developed Western world, because bedbugs were largely wiped out there by the late 1950′s. This means that most people under 50 years of age had probably never seen a bedbug until after 1995, when they made a big return. Their numbers are still increasing quickly, so a lot people are turning to thinking about killing bed bugs.

This is due to two main issues: their natural resilience and their resistance to contemporary household chemical pesticides. Their natural resilience is due to a waxy coating on their bodies which protects them from contact pesticides to a large extent and their resistance to chemical pesticides is probably due to the fact that they were exterminated in the West in the 1940′s and 1950′s by the widespread use of DDT.

The waxy coating of bedbugs blocks their rapid dehydration, which is why they can lie inactive for up to five months waiting for a fitting host to come along. It is also the reason why a lot of contact pesticides are unsuccessful. Therefore, one of the techniques for killing bed bugs is getting rid of that waxy coating.

People knew this 150 years ago, but they did not have the technology to actually take advantage of the information. People often used to put down crushed dried leaves or sharp sand. In the 19th century, lime, ash and diatomaceous earth were used to erode the outer waxy coating. The latter was particularly effective and has seen an increase in usage over the last few years as an option to chemicals.

One way of killing bed bugs that will not work is catching them and crushing them, even if you did put sticky insect bands around the legs of your bed. Bed bugs cannot fly, but they would still get at you. They are not disinclined to walking up to the ceiling and dropping on to you.

If you want to try chemical insecticides, then there are three basic types. The first sort attempts to mimic the effects of diatomaceous earth. It is a spray that includes pulverized glass or silica mixed with a contact pesticide. This does not sound a healthy environment for humans or pets either though. Breathing powdered glass or silica seems like bad news.

Contact insecticides have limited effect, partly due to the waxy layer, but also because to be effective they have to be strong and this makes them a repellent, which means that the bedbugs will just avoid it if they can.

Insect growth regulators are effective at killing the young, which is fantastic, but the adults can live for about a year, so that is not so good, unless you are thinking about a long world cruise.

Professionals frequently use steam these days, because none of the bed bug’s life stages can survive temperatures above 45c, so you could try this technique by hiring a steam wall paper stripper or a hot air paint stripper for the weekend and going over your walls and woodwork. In fact, if all your wall paper and paint is going to fall off, you may as well combine the session with your next redecoration.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with bed bugs extermination. If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further details.