Termites, digging into the mound to kill the queen?

[deeks]

Our house was built about 4 years ago on a 1 rai rice paddy that was filled about 5 years ago,recently have found 5 termite mounds around the concrete fenceline one within about 3-4 meters from the house, today a family friend came over and we dug into the mounds so he could eat the queens, out of the 5 we found 3, we couldnt find one that was rite up on the fence and the other was within half a meter next to a mound that we found a queen in.

He told my thai wife that removing the queen will eventually destroy the colony, and i have heard this before too.

Does anyone here know for sure that this is true?

Are termites in Thailand that build mounds different to the ones that enter the house through tubes.

Occasionally i do find tubes running up some of the mango trees in the yard or on old wood we use to prop up the bannanas.

We also recently gave away a pile of very large old wood,(3 pieces about 5 inches thick-2 feet wide and 8 feet long-lying on top of each other)that had been sitting in the yard for 4 years and started rotting and it was infested with termites but there was no mound near it and was sitting on the ground, we found little evidense of a nest under or around it.

Can anyone with knowledge on the termites in thailand, explain to me what type we have in the yard and if killing the qween in the mound will have any effect on keeping them at bay.

[eyecatcher]

Well dont get your hopes up. Killing the queen doesnt make any difference in all honesty.

What you need to do is destroy everything in the mound.

http://www.coolthaihouse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4986&start=195#p67775

I wrote this piece about termites in my building story.

But if you understand the life cycle all the baby nymphs that hatch from eggs become workers soldiers or reproductive kings and queens. So potentially in a 4000 strong colony which is typical a third will be off flying around your house just after rain. Thousands you have seen them. They are the queens and kings reproducing and looking to start a new colony.

The only way to lose them is not to give them anything to eat. A fence or your house. A termite mound may look safe at 50m away but its the flying queens that are seeking out a new home..

I suggest you get the pest controllers in to keep them at bay thats the best you can do.

[deeks]

Ok, will keep destroying the mounds and queen as they pop up, and checking in the roof cavity, the timber used in house is 95% gold or red teak 1st floor with ground floor rendered small clay brick the fence is concrete and now only live trees on the property.

edit, believe me that the soldier termites do bite and they hurt enough to make you jump around when they get you on the foot, the ones we dug up today are almost 1cm in length and a head about 3mm round with mandibles to match. they bit me on the feet and on the hands while we scraped out the mounds.

Edited October 9, 2015 by deeks