Pest Talk
As a former employee in the pest industry and now looking for a change, it is very hard to get some of that knowledge I have gained over the years put to the back of my brain and forget. Knowledge; you should never forget until you share some of the most important facts with others, to carry on the tradition of knowledge from one generation to the other. After all that is how we begin to learn, starting from our "elders". Now I am going all out to share with you some of that knowledge and hope that you gain some in-site to some of the earth’s pest insect critters that can become pests in and around your property, but also help you to save money in deterring them. To-day, I will let you know an interesting fact on the termites. I will be posting as many facts and knowledge about these critters every day, so keep me posted.
PEST TALK – Termites Interesting – Did you Know
Certain vibrations in Timber cause Termite Aversion!
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
You might be interested to know that when termites are disturbed, they sound an alarm by vibrating their bodies against the wooden surface surrounding them. This precise vibration alerts all of the other nearby termites to the presence of danger and the termites stop what they’re doing and return as quickly as possible to the safety of the nest where they remain until the danger has passed or the intrusion has been resolved.
These vibrations can be duplicated by man made vibrating machines with the same result; the termites abandon the area. So imagine a house full of these machines running all the time… no termites! There is only one problem, and that is that there would be no people either as the noise would drive you crazy too! However, the research is interesting and it may be possible that a less intrusive device will be developed in the future that takes advantage of this research.
Vibrations (like those from air compressors) will repel termites for a short period of time, but after some time the termites will become habituated to the noise and return to feed on the timber despite noise vibration. Termites do not become habituated to their own unique distress vibration.
Termites have a secondary use for the vibration process which is to the measure the amount of timber that they have before them. When termites are equally presented with a small piece of timber or a large piece, the majority will concentrate their efforts on the largest piece of timber available. This only makes sense. Eat the big piece first!
Some termites however, will eat the small piece first. Why? Are they like us and simply have different approaches to eating their food? For example, some children will eat their favorite part of a meal first and others will leave the best bit for their very last mouthful. Some children will force the veggies down first and others will leave the veggies to last, possibly hoping to talk their way out of eating them. Well, this little digression has nothing to do with a termite’s reasoning.
Termites have many enemies and it may be no surprise to learn that different species of termites are naturally enemies also. Some termite species are more dominant within a forest situation and will kill the less dominant species if they encounter them. So it may well be a simple survival mechanism that leads the weaker species to choose the smaller timber so as to avoid a possible conflict with a more dominant species.
On the other hand, if it is a very large piece of timber like a fallen log, then it is possible that it will contain two or more species; some eating the inner heartwood and others nibbling on the outer sapwood.
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