I live near Cottonwood and this morning I found some termite droppings / dust near an interior wall and a couple smaller pinholes about a foot up where it looked like they had been pushing it out. This wall T's with an exterior wall and is also partially connected to our bathroom. Under the bathroom sink there is a cover to the space under the bathtub and that is just dirt. I am kind of surprised as I didn't think termites did well here with the rocky soil and I don't know where else they would be coming in? I dont think ants do this and we have carpenter bees in our flowering trees but I dont think they are in the wall.  So far I have found the droppings in just the one spot.

I have a called a couple of exterminators that haven't called me back yet so I am thinking it is like most customer service these days and like most problems I might have to attempt to tackle this myself. I am thinking of putting some bait under the tub space and then drilling small 1/4 holes in the wall and using Termidor foaming spray to hopefully kill the colony. Will bait/kill stations outdoors dug next to the foundation do any good or are they coming from somewhere else.

Any other advice, suggestions or help appreciated.

Thanks

Termites are very common in AZ, especially the desert.

The Termidor is a good idea, but there's 3-5 colonies per acre, so even if you get one, more will come.

The #1 thing to do is find if you have any source or moisture (leaking pipe, P-trap under tub, etc) because
that's a termite magnet.

After that you probably need a professional (or very good DIY) treatment plan. When my house got them
they had to drill every 18" around the foundation and along a large slab crack I had and inject a couple
gallons of poison per hole... and they still came back after a few years.

I have a down spout on the outside in a shady corner near where the corner walls meet and the tub is on the inside. The soil by the down spout is still moist and I betting that is the draw and where they are coming to. I drilled and treated the inside walls and then dug a small channel on the outside and dumped about 10 gallons of termicide there. It might not be sufficient but it is a start at wiping out the little fuckers.

I have been using TaurusSC for years with nothing but success. It's also good for other pests as well. Just follow the directions for termites. You can also use it as a spray for spiders, scorpions, ants, etc.. I use SC in conjunction with FastCap to keep bugs away from the house.

You can also do things to limit their resources like cut off water supplies, the air conditioner condensate drain line on the exterior of the home, place a bucket under that and water some bushes or pour down a drain. That drain line can supply constant water to termites in the summer months.

I've used Tarus SC (ordered from Amazon,) in exterior trenches and through holes drilled in the drywall to spot treat the interior.  The active ingredient is  Fipronil which is the same active ingredient as Termidor SC.

Termidor is what they call a "non-repellent" termiticide.  As the termites explore around they go through treated zones and get Fipronil on them.  When they get back to the colony they groom each other, ingesting the Fipronil which then kills them.  Kind of like the way DE kills roaches.  This is also what makes it safer around pets.  So the goal of using Fipronil is to kill the colony.

A repellent termiticde is an insecticide that kills any termite that gets into the treated zone.  It doesn't kill the colony and you also have to have near perfect application so there are no gaps in coverage a wandering termite can find.  Not good for pets either if you have digging dogs or animals or kids that may roll in the treated zone.  That's why a lot of people have switched to the Fipronil based products.

Ideally you want to trench around the entire exterior of your house and treat per the instructions*.  Where you have a driveway or sidewalk against the house you want to drill (every 1' to 18" as someone mentioned above,) up against the foundation and inject enough of the solution to soak the ground up to where the solution from the next hole is.  If you can you want them to drill and inject termiticide through the slab on the inside of the foundation wall, along any cracks in the slab (like someone else mentioned,) and anywhere there's an elevation change in your slab, like with a sunken living room or garage-to-house.

* and trench means 6" wide and 6" deep.  When I had this house treated prior to moving in I think they just scratched a line in the dirt and poured termiticide in that or maybe just used the injection pump to inject into the dirt on the outside.  Anyway, trench means dig a trench.  And then back fill with treated dirt.  Don't just pour a mixture in the bottom of the trench and backfill with dry dirt.  I used TarusSC in a pressure sprayer and mixed the dirt in one of those cement mixing trays (like 2' x 3') till all the dirt was damp and then backfilled the trench with that.  You want a zone of treated dirt they can't miss.  

Don't use bait stations.  Remove a couple inches around your foundation and apply Termidor as directed.  The workers take the neurotoxin back to the colony and it kills the queen.  I used to see termite tubes after each first rain of the year.  I haven't seen a single one in over ten years.  I just retreated too.  Neighbors have had the same results.


The professionals do not dig a 6" x 6" trench, they just use a trowel and move back a bit of soil around the foundation.  Of course, they have a trailer with tank and hose, so they are really putting down some shit.  Since I watched them do my previous house, I did the same with this one.  Termidor isn't so much a barrier as it is a killing neurotoxin.