Termites are on a mission. It’s called Operation Munch.

Eat. It’s all termites want to do. In the ecosystem, their role is to break down plant and wood material — good news in the forest, bad news in the neighborhood. Their trick is to tunnel from their underground colony through the soil to any source of cellulose (your home, for instance), which they devour from the inside out. You don’t even notice their work until structural timbers are severely damaged. And, as if your house weren’t enough, termites also consume fences, paper, furniture, cloth and books.

How much havoc does this round-the-clock eating machine wreak? Every year in the United States:

More than 5 million homes have some type of termite problem
About $5 billion in termite-related property damage occurs
Termite damage is more common than damage caused by storms, fires and earthquakes
The costs of termite damage are rarely covered by homeowner’s insurance

That’s the termites’ mission. Now, what’s yours? One thing’s for sure, you can’t ignore termites and the damage they cause. You’ve got to move quickly, but move smart. That’s where the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System can help.

What Are Termites?

Like people, termites are social creatures that look out for their own. Unlike most people, they really will eat you out of house and home.

Termites live with several hundred to several million family members, all of whom work together in an organized system to find and use cellulose food sources to grow the colony. This cooperation is called “swarm intelligence” and it helps explain why termites are so successful.

A typical colony includes these specialized members:

Most termites are workers, with soft, light-colored bodies rarely more than 10 mm long, like grains of rice. They rarely leave the dark tunnels that run from the colony through the soil and into the wooden frames of buildings. Twenty-four hours a day, they forage for food, maintain the nest, and tend the queen and her brood. Juveniles, called nymphs, groom and feed one another and others in the colony.

Soldiers have long heads with powerful jaws and are responsible for defense, primarily against invading ants.

Reproductive male and female termites develop wings and leave the parent colony in a swarm to mate and start new colonies.

The queen is the largest colony member, up to 10 cm long, about the size of the space bar on your computer. She’s so big that if she needs to move, it requires several hundred workers pushing at once. She lays an egg every 15 seconds. If she dies, another reproductive takes her place.

Termites keep themselves so well hidden that your best chance to see one is during a reproductive swarm. Problem is, swarming termites look a lot like swarming ants. Here’s how to tell which insect you’re looking at:

Wings: On ants, the front pair is longer than the back and they don’t break off easily. On termites, they’re equal size and they do break off easily.
Waists: Ants’ are narrow and pinched. Termites’ are thicker and less defined.
Antennae: Ants’ are elbowed. Termites’ are straight.

Now you know what the enemy looks like and how its troops are organized. That’ll help you and your cellulose-rich real estate take a stand against swarm intelligence. But don’t do it alone. Call in your special forces.

There’s a whole city hiding underground.

Because you can’t see the termite colony, it’s possible to pretend you don’t have a termite problem. But, visible or not, termites are real. In fact, they may be scurrying around under your feet right now.

Termites love a moist, temperature-stable environment. The soil under your yard is the ideal spot, below the frost line but above the water table and bedrock. In this hidden spot, worker termites:

Build a nest for the colony, with rooms to accommodate reproductives, eggs and nymphs
Create a vast network of pencil-width tunnels through the soil
Constantly forage for food, up to 350 feet from the nest, with total foraging territory up to ½ acre

When any termite finds a food source, it leaves a pheromone scent trail to recruit other termites from the colony to the food source. This scent trail is part of the colony’s communication system.

As they forage, termites often have to cross something they can’t chew through — such as a concrete foundation — to reach an above-ground food source. To do so, they build mud tubes out of packed earth, saliva and bits of chewed cellulose to protect them from drying out or being attacked by ants. They also use this material to seal in moisture while they’re lunching inside lumber, and sometimes to create an above-ground colony.

A successful mature colony with a ready food source typically includes several thousand individual termites, but it can be as large as several million. Two to four years after a colony begins, reproductive swarmers set out to find mates, dig into the ground and establish their own subcolonies. These new colonies may grow and thrive on their own, or eventually reunite with the main colony. A swarm increases the risk for every house in the neighborhood.

Termites aren’t cute to look at. But not seeing them can be even more frightening. You don’t know where they are. And you don’t know what they might be doing to the structural support of your home. Fortunately, there are ways to spy on foraging workers and strike back.

Your very own termite professionals.

When it’s you and your home against a million little eating machines, it’s wise to call for reinforcements. The termite professionals who install and service the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System — we call them Authorized Operators — are just the folks you’re looking for. They’re highly trained, experienced and known for exceptional customer service.

Not just anybody can be an Authorized Operator of the Sentricon System.

Those that are have earned this elite status. To maintain it, Authorized Operators are required by Dow AgroSciences, the manufacturer of the Sentricon System, to undergo frequent comprehensive training, use state-of-the-art data management and gathering tools, and pass annual quality reviews. In other words, we’ve prescreened the nation’s pest professionals to find the best for you.

These people know termites. And they know how to get rid of them.

Homeowners love the Sentricon System.

Why do more people prefer the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System than any other brand? Why has it been chosen to protect more than 2 million structures? Why would the caretakers of the White House, the Statue of Liberty and other national treasures select the Sentricon System?

Termite colony elimination is most people’s primary reason. The Sentricon System is known to eliminate the termite colony, not just individual termites.

Another big reason why homeowners prefer the Sentricon System is that it’s easy to live with. It’s a lot gentler on the home, the yard and the environment than traditional liquid chemical treatments. Plus, ongoing professional monitoring helps homeowners feel secure that termites are no longer a threat.

Maybe that’s the best reason of all. With continued service, you can actually — yes, it’s possible — forget about termites.

Get peace of mind from true termite protection.

Isn’t that what you’re really looking for? That “I-know-I-did-the-right-thing” feeling? That’s certainly what the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System aims to provide. Because it’s not just about killing the termite colony. It’s not just about baiting. It’s not just about regular monitoring by an experienced professional. It’s all this and more. It’s knowing you’re doing the right thing to protect your home.

Let’s look at a few of the ways the Sentricon System gives you this confidence…

Proven colony elimination.

Before the Sentricon System, this wasn’t even possible. With the Sentricon System, termite colony elimination has become the standard. And when we say proven, we’re talking about conclusive independent research at 30 universities, reported in 45 published scientific articles, and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Ask for proof from other commercially available termite treatments and you’ll find very limited – if any – documentation.

Easy to live with.
With small Sentricon stations placed discreetly around the home, the Sentricon System is less of an aggravation than traditional liquid chemical treatments:

No drilling in floors and foundations
No digging or trenching
No chemical solution injected in the ground under and around a home
No tank trucks of chemical solution
No scheduling hassles

Environmentally responsible.
The Sentricon System was developed with a green mentality. In contrast to liquid chemical treatments, which use hundreds of gallons of chemical solution, the Sentricon System uses only a few grams of active ingredient when and where needed to wipe out the colony.

The best professionals in the business.

Not just anybody is qualified to install and service this unique system. Authorized Operators of the Sentricon System have extensive training and state-of the-art data gathering and management tools. They’re skilled, experienced and ready to eliminate your termite problem.

Manufacturer commitment.

With its extensive termite and entomology expertise, Dow AgroSciences, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, proudly offers the most advanced pest management technology. Dow AgroSciences is a global leader in pest management solutions.

So rest easy. When you notice a Sentricon station under a bush or next to the deck, or when you see your Authorized Operator monitoring for termite activity, you know termite concerns are a thing of the past. With continued service, the Sentricon System will stay on guard to protect the value of your home.

How to eliminate a termite colony.

Once you have the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System, you can relax. It starts protecting homes just as soon as it’s installed, using an ongoing cycle of monitoring and baiting. Here’s how the process works to eliminate termite colonies:
As part of the service contract, the Authorized ABC Exterminating Inc. Operator…

…inspects the property for signs of termites;

…places Sentricon stations flush with the ground in the soil around the home;

…monitors the Sentricon stations for termite activity;

…delivers a Baitube™ device containing Recruit™ termite bait to these termites, which they share until the colony is eliminated;

…and continues monitoring to discover newly invading colonies. A new colony may invade and show up in Sentricon stations long after the initial colony has been eliminated.

That’s what’s so great about the Sentricon System. It’s equally successful at stopping a colony that is attacking a home and at stopping a colony that may attack a home. Treatment and prevention. In fact, homeowners with no known termite problems have the Sentricon System installed solely to make sure it stays that way. Your home may have a security system to alert you to a human break-in. Why not one to alert you to a termite break-in?

It’s no coincidence that Sentricon stations are green.

When the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System was introduced in 1995, it revolutionized termite protection. Rather than saturating the soil with liquid chemical solution, it uses Recruit™ termite bait strategically, while cleverly manipulating termite biology and behavior to destroy the termite colony.
Makes sense.

Homeowners rate the Sentricon System as the most environmentally sound termite treatment.
Green Chemistry Challenge

It’s impossible to talk about the Sentricon System without pointing out its environmental credentials.

The Sentricon System uses only a few grams of active ingredient on each property, compared to the hundreds of gallons of chemical solution used in a traditional liquid chemical treatment.
The active ingredient in Recruit termite bait is targeted specifically at the molting process in the termite’s life cycle, a process not present in mammals.
Recruit termite bait is strategically placed in Sentricon stations only when and where needed. This minimizes the amount of active ingredient in the environment.
The premier bait used in the Sentricon System was the first termite treatment active ingredient accepted for registration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the strict requirements of the Reduced Risk Pesticide Initiative. This distinction is based on its low impact on human health, low toxicity to nontarget organisms (birds, fish and plants) and low potential for groundwater contamination when compared to other commercially available termite treatments.
It is the only termite control product ever to earn the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, one of the federal government’s top environmental honors. The award recognizes technical innovation incorporating environmentally responsible chemistry into its design, manufacture and use.

The bottom line is this. We want to kill termites as much as you do. But we want to protect the environment as much as you do, too. The Sentricon System has proven its ability to do both.

Termite tracking goes high-tech.

Part of the success of the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System comes from its unique monitoring technology. Authorized Operators use state-of-the-art hand-held computers and software to create a reliable service record for the Sentricon stations around your home. These tools help make sure every Sentricon station is accurately monitored on every visit.

The Sentricon System offers two monitoring methods. With one, the Authorized Operator opens each Sentricon station and scans its bar code with the hand-held computer. Then he or she inspects the monitoring device and enters data about termite activity. If termites are found, the Sentricon station is baited with Recruit™ termite bait and this information is recorded.
Authorized Operator

With the other, called the Sentricon System with ESP™ technology, the Authorized Operator sweeps an electronic scanning unit over in-ground Sentricon stations. Electronic transensors inside the Sentricon stations transmit station information directly into the hand-held computer. If termite activity is detected, the Authorized Operator opens and inspects the Sentricon station, verifies activity, inserts a Baitube™ device containing Recruit termite bait and records this activity.

Regardless of which monitoring technology your Authorized Operator uses to monitor the Sentricon System, you can be confident that regular visits will uncover termite activity and respond to it full force.

Your very own termite professionals: ABC Exterminating

Not just anybody can be an Authorized Operator of the Sentricon System.

These people know termites. And they know how to get rid of them.