Even for people who have spent a lot of time dealing with termites have
been known to not see the tunnels and other evidence of activity even
from 8" with a flash light pointed at it.  So any kind of early warning
would be helpful, but not a substitute for training folks to observe
and making sure that they are spending the time observing.

This concept and several others that take advantage of the termites
lack of creative behavior and predictability are promising.  Certainly
worth a try.  Having said that, there is an awful lot of bull shit
being sold as termite treatments.  If you live where the frost goes
down 3-4', you ain't  got termites.  Maybe something, but not termites.
  Of course there are exceptions.  You can infest a heated building by
importing termites and if you maintain heated access to the water and
the ground you can keep the little buggers happy and alive.  They
probably won't expand much beyond the building...their expansion work
confined to warmer seasons.

In termite zones an interesting feature is that they don't show up for
about 4 years after new construction is complete.  They spend those
years eating the stuff the builders threw in the builders trench and
don't get started on the building until they've finished the builders
trench.  That's their favorite place to work...and I suppose their
favorite food.

Construction your building high on a dry rocky hill works real good.
They like wet buildings.  Watch where you bring your downspouts down
and grade away from your building.  It seems to me that if you use
poison to kill critters who are following water into your
building...you may be bringing the poisen in too.  Anything that can
kill a termite is mighty nasty stuff, for a termite is a formidable
opponent.

-jc

On Wednesday, February 5, 2003, at 08:28  AM, Ken Follett wrote:

> where we use electronic pest chasers with great success
> cp,
> On a project for a house museum I was told about termite stations
> buried in the ground around the house that are somehow checked for
> activity & when there is activity the exterminators put poisons in the
> stations that are carried back to the nest. Do you know if these are
> electronic sensors, or does someone have to actually look in them? I'm
> curious... not looking for lunch.
> ][<en
>