Oliver Termite & Pest Control FAQ

We recommend that children should leave during the treatment and return 6 hours after completion. We also ask that during treatments, you either put your pets in a room that is not being treated or remove them from the structure until the materials we have used are dry. Fish tanks need to be covered.

Because we use low toxicity chemicals, you can usually stay home during the treatment. Flea and spider treatments require you to leave for 2-3 hours. Roaches, ants, mice, termites, and just about everything else can be taken care of while you’re relaxing on the living room couch.

Once a colony is established, termites are a year-round problem. However, there is an increase in colony expansion activity during warm weather.

Termites move randomly through the soil searching for a source of food (wood)…so they don’t know where your house is exactly. So, if your next-door neighbor treats his home for termites, your house isn’t automatically the termites’ next lunch. Your house does not need to be treated; but, if there are active termite infestations in your neighborhood, it is a good idea to have it inspected.

Termites feed on cellulose in wood and paper products such as books, cardboard, and various other items. Termite damage in homes is usually not obvious until significant damage has occurred. Sometimes homeowners first notice termites when they swarm. Swarmers are “winged reproductive’s” that leave the colony in a swarm to mate, reproduce, and start new colonies. Yet, it’s the worker termites – small, creamy-white insects that are seldom seen — that are the most numerous and the cause most of all the termite damage. There are many species of termites that can infest homes under a variety of conditions. Subterranean termites, the most common type, build nests in the ground and often construct mud tubes on structures. They use the mud tubes as passageways to explore for food and travel to and from the soil. If you suspect that you have a termite infestation, you should have your home thoroughly inspected by a termite specialist. Professional termite inspectors are trained to locate specific areas in your home where a termite attack is most likely to occur. If termites are found, the specialist can design a treatment plan to control current infestations and to protect your home from future infestations.

Depending on the situation it can take a few hours to several years to control a termite problem. The construction of your home, the area, and extent of the infestation, the species of termite infesting your home as well as the treatment method you select, are some of the factors that have an effect on how quickly termites can be eliminated from your home. If more than one colony exists in any given area, or if you live in an area where well-established colonies exist, it can take more time to gain adequate control. Whatever treatment or maintenance contract that you choose, make sure that you get any warranties and other guarantees in writing and stay updated on any termite problems and activity on your property. Also, be sure to ask for a complete explanation of the terms of any warranty and read all documents carefully before you sign them.

There are many factors that can affect the longevity of the various termite treatments applied today including the type of treatment performed, environmental conditions, type and pH of your soil, or physical disruption of the treatment site. Ideally, treatments can last for several years. Some treatments and infested areas must be monitored regularly to make sure active infestations are being effectively controlled. Soil and wood treatments may be disrupted if the treated soil or wood has been displaced through construction, gardening or otherwise. In this case, these areas may need to retreat.

When you are inspecting your house and looking for ants make sure you look around the following areas:

CARPETS – Most pest ants like to trail under the edge of carpets. Inspect along the walls under the carpet beside the tack strip. A good place to start is in front of fireplaces and sliding glass doors. When foraging ants are found, try to trail them back to their colony location.

FOUNDATIONS – When ants are found inside along exterior walls, look for colonies living in the soil beside the foundation.

VEGETATION – Ants like to nest and forage in trails out of sight behind any vegetation, which rests against foundations, patios, etc. Pull back the vegetation to look for ants. Attempt to follow foraging ants back to their colony.

GROUND SURFACES – Any item sitting on the ground could harbor a colony of ants. Check under all items, especially those near the foundation.

MULCH – Mulch often harbors numerous colonies of ants such as pavement ants, fire ants, crazy ants, and Argentine ants. Rake mulch back from the foundation to check for colonies. Ants invade the home to forage for food or seek shelter or both.

BEHAVIOR – All ants live in colonies, consisting of an egg-laying female (queen), short-lived males, and workers (sterile females). The ants you see foraging in your garden or kitchen are workers. Workers that find food communicate with other workers by depositing a chemical message on the substrate as they crawl back to the nest. Although we cannot smell it, this “trail pheromone” sticks to the substrate for long periods of time and helps other ants find the food at the end of the trail.

Adult fleas (the biting stage seen by pet owners) spend most of their time on the animal, not in the carpet. This is why the treatment of the pet in conjunction with the pet’s environment is an essential step in ridding a home of fleas.