A little bit of Termidor goes a long way in treating your home

Termidor is applied at very low rates. Typically, the active ingredient (fipronil) is just 0.06% of the solution, a concentration much lower than that of older liquids and less than most insecticides. For an average home treatment, only about 8 ounces of the active ingredient is actually used. Keep in mind, too, that since 1995, fipronil is  used in Frontline® for flea and tick control on household pets and on agricultural crops to protect food supplies.

 And Termidor has virtually no odor, which means you and your family won't notice a thing.

Advanced undetectable technology
Termidor is made from a revolutionary new non repellent or "undetectable" chemical technology treatment. That means termites cannot see, smell, taste or avoid Termidor. Instead they contact, ingest, and share it with their nest mates. This is in sharp contrast to older liquid termite controls, which rely on repellent barriers that termites can finds breaks in or avoid completely.

  How Termidor protects your home from termites
After Termidor is applied, termites that contact it transfer it to every other termite they in turn contact in a unique process called the "Transfer Effect." And because Termidor is engineered to be slow-acting, termites have ample time to spread it throughout their entire termite population.

Better than bait... without the wait
Baits can take years to control a termite colony. Termidor begins working immediately to wipe out termites inside and immediately surrounding your home. Termidor is the most effective and fastest at completely eliminating termite populations up to six-times faster than bait systems.

No better choice for protecting your home against termites.
Termidor is the only termite defense that combines a unique mode of action, a long residual, and the ability to manage colonies faster than a baiting system all in a low-dose, low-odor formulation that meets the stringent standards of the Food Quality Protection Act. There simply is no better choice for termite defense.

Want to know more?
These are only the highlights. There's much more to the remarkable Termidor story than we can include here. If you'd like additional in-depth information about Termidor and why it's the best solution for your home, download our comprehensive Termidor Homeowner Brochure here.

  Independent Pest Control can provide you with additional information about Termidor and how it can be used to protect your home.

There is no doubt the professional pest control industry is steadily moving toward the newest category of termite controls: non repellents. These compounds - Termidor and Premise (plus recently-introduced Phantom) are odorless and tasteless and reduce rather than repel termite populations. Another hallmark of these controls is their capacity to be passed from one termite to another through grooming and incidental contact - Termidor's "Transfer Effect" an now Premise's "Domino Effect".

With so many similarities, one would expect pest control professionals to be divided in their preferences, and Termidor and Premise to share roughly equal portions of the highly competitive termite control market.

But, in spite of being introduced five years after Premise, Termidor is currently the leading liquid termicide in the United States by a margin of more than two to one, and continues to experience extraordinary growth.

"What we were hearing from pest control professionals using the products in the field was that Termidor seemed to transfer more effectively between termites than Premise," says Dr. Gregg Henderson, Professor and Urban Entomologist, Department of Entomology at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.

This apparent performance disparity inspired Henderson to look more closely at the two products in the lab in an effort to determine the cause.

"Based on earlier research, we suspected the explanation may be found in the immediate behavior of the treated termites."

Henderson's lab study, "Comparing Behavioral Affects of Termidor vs. Premise," indicated that there was indeed a difference in the way the two products (fipronil in Termidor and imidachloprid in Premise) affect termite behavior.

Henderson found that termites treated with Premise immediately began to manifest behavioral abnormalities. Because healthy termites instinctively avoid sickly-acting termites, this could have a dramatically limiting effect on transfer.

"We set up a behavioral study in the laboratory-an ethogram analysis-using both Termidor and Premise at much lower rates than used in the field," says Henderson.

"What we saw within the first four hours was that Premise-treated termites were sluggish and appeared sick. Termidor-treated termites appeared normal - identical to the control group."

After 24 hours, Henderson noted that the Premise-treated termites continued to act sickly and behave abnormally. The Termidor-treated termites were no longer behaving normally or abnormally, they were dead.

"There was a 24-hour window in which Termidor termites acted normally after being treated-24 hours in which they could potentially transfer this chemical to other termites through incidental contact or grooming of each other."

Henderson concludes that this is the probable explanation for Termidor's superior transfer, since the abnormal behavior of the Premise-treated termites is likely to keep healthy termites away from them no matter how long they survive after treatment.

"I've also seen a similar response in the field." says Henderson. "I have noticed that when Premise was used to treat termites, the termites would basically bubble out of the ground, intoxicated with the compound. We don't see that with Termidor."

"Termidor-treated termites behave normally over a short period of time before dying-and that is critical if you want transfer to occur," says Henderson.

"Within a 24 hour period you could have thousands and thousands of termites interacting normally and each termite that is treated interacts with another termite. You can get massive effects that way."

When it comes to gaining access to your home, termites are amazingly proficient. The last thing you want to do is make their job easier. Follow these 3 steps to effective Termite Defense and make sure that your home doesn't become their home or contact  Independent Pest Control for a free inspection.

Step 1: Get professional help

Regular inspections by a Independent Pest Control are the only way to ensure your home truly is, and remains, free from termites and the damage that they cause. Independent Pest Control has the training in termite biology and behavior to identify, prevent, and treat termite problems. Independent will perform a thorough inspection of your home to determine if, where, and how termites are getting in. We can also explain how to correct any conditions in your home that invite termites.
For example:

• Don't affix wooden trellises to exterior walls.
• Keep mulch, wood debris, scrap lumber, sawdust, and firewood away from your home. If you do keep firewood outside your house during the winter, keep it raised off the ground.
• Trim all shrubs, bushes and other dense greenery away from the foundation of your home. Move mulch away from the foundation as well.
• Don't bury wood debris near your home.
• Remove infested trees and stumps.
• Repair leaking faucets and water lines, both indoors and outdoors.
• Fix leaky roofs and gutters.
• Don't allow leaves to accumulate in gutters and drains.
• Grade soil so that water (including air conditioning condensate) runs away from foundations.
• Ventilate crawl spaces and attics to reduce humidity.
• Cover at least 90% of the soil in crawl spaces with plastic sheeting.
• Ideally, wood siding, stucco, and foam board should be at least six inches away from the ground.
• Seal all cracks and holes in your home's foundation, which may provide a handy access point for termites.

Step 2: Employ the best defense: Termidor�

Step 3: Schedule regular professional check-ups