Termites

Arghhhh

September 25, 2019

This is a termite area (fun fact: according to Wikipedia they're a member of the cockroach family not the ant family). We know that and have kept an eye out for encroachments but when one finally occurred it was in a completely unexpected place. Under the kitchen flooring. This was unexpected as there's a cement slab under there (and yes it is cement and not concrete. Sigh).

It looks like the cement was poured in smaller slabs onto a heavily compacted sandy type layer of soil which leaves a tiny - but exploitable - gap between them. Our first inkling of trouble was when one of the fake wood strips on the floor developed depressions that spread along its length over the course of a week. Anthony got curious about what was happening and (with great difficulty) removed it. Underneath there were happily munching termites.

Well that would explain why an echidna has been so busily digging near our fence and snuffling around the walls at night.

Our friend Phil brought his masonary drill and he and Anthony drilled down there as well as at a couple of other places along the slab joins. They then poured down dozens of litres of termicide. Anthony also topped up the termicide pipes near the wooden posts of the original cottage and sprayed the perimeter thoroughly. There's been no sign of them since (though the echidna is still around) so we're hopeful we caught the incursion nice and early and put a stop to it.

We're deeply thankful that this didn't happen during the 7 months we were in Rockhampton/Brisbane for treatment as the damage would have been immense!