House Bugs

[lee]

Bugs in the system - by Steve Graham © Udonmap.com (Magazine Issue 11)

One of the many hazards whilst living in Thailand may not be obvious to the naked eye, until it is too late. At present, most of Udon Thani concerns itself about swine flu and when the new shopping complex will be open. The warning I have for everyone is BUGS!

I’m sure I should have given this some thought before, but unfortunately I didn’t and I had to pay the price. I don’t know the name of these bugs; however, they know me, they know where I live and they like to eat my videos, DVDs and books.

When I first discovered them, they had eaten into my collection of 1980s Chelsea videos. It is the boxes and paper packaging they are after, and once the advance party had found the rich pickings on offer, they decided to call for reinforcements.

My immediate action was to call in the experts (or so they said) and spent 9,000 baht on what I believed was the solution to my problem. However, after about four months into a two year guarantee they were back again, working their way through Jackie Chan and my English language methodology books.

As far as I was concerned, this was war. My previous alliance with the experts was discarded as they showed no stomach for this particular fight, so I looked for new allies to battle this axis of evil. I found them in Thaiwinner Cleaning.

This time I watched as they drilled holes in my beautiful tiled floor and pumped chemicals into the foundations of my house. I was concerned that my dogs would be sent to an early grave and that my family would die of bleeding gums, but I was told that these chemicals don’t harm us and that even the plants and trees were safe.

Any mess that was made was cleared up and records were kept by the company with duplicates for the client of the work carried out

To be truthful, this is what all companies are supposed to do, but what really impressed me was the after sales care that this company offers. Due to the amount of DVDs and books that I possess, I have a phobia about these bugs eating me out of house and home.

My psychiatrist says that this is normal for someone of my age and background; however, with the company calling on me every three months to check up on whether we have had any visits from unwelcome guests, I have now started to sleep better at nights.

I have called them out twice on false alarms due to my concerns about the state of my house. Even though I possess extremely poor Thai language skills they have checked, sprayed and given me reassurance that they will come as soon as I start crying down the telephone again. All for no extra charge!

What more can you ask for?


Just like the Ghostbusters in the movie, there are companies that deliver what they promise and offer after sales care to its customers. So, who do you call?

Prized possessions, such as videos are consigned to the rubbish bin after the bugs have had their evil way with them.

From the floor they move their way up the wall, under the window frame to the delicious wooden frames above, where the videos, DVDs books and magazines are waiting to be devoured.

[ejwalk]

WOW this is really a hidden issue I had not considered , can I ask a couple of questions ..of you or all forum members

1. what are the name of the bugs ?

2. do any other forum members have the same problem ?

3. do your nieghbours have the same problem ?

4. do the bugs only attack farangs stugg ?

5. have they attacked humans


this may influence my decsion to move to UDON .. recon mission 4 weeks away

[BobHelm]

Termites I think EJ....
They are only really going after anything that is a 'wood based' product. As long as all wooden items are well stained/painted I do not think they are a huge issue.
If a place is built 'Thai style' - i.e. the floor actually suspended above the ground. Then it is probably sensible to have that area sprayed against termites, ants etc - just so you don't have to worry scrambling about under there again.
In my place in town, place is built on the ground (so no airway underneath). Not had a problem - you can sometimes see evidence of them, but normal spraying with a mossie/ant/bug spray (available anywhere) will kill them pretty quickly.
Ants, bugs (of all varieties) lizards frogs etc. are all pretty standard fare for houses everywhere - but are rarely a serious issue. Maybe different if the house is left 'locked up' for very long periods of time...

[bluejets]

Looks like the same type of thing called "white ants" in Aus. They built the same type of "track" which is the wood pulp made into a tunnel as they don't like the sunlight and they must travel to ground each day for moisture. Litterally eat you out of house and home especially with softwood timber mouldings or studs.
Just don't be too quick to kill off every ant you see as some of the black ants over here regard white ants as a delicacy.

[rick]

Yes 'white Ants' are termites. Quite different to normal ants close up; Ants are in fact there main predators. termites cannot sting and only the soldier caste can really bite; no danger too humans. They will tackle anything like wood, paper, dead plant material, fungus (saw in a documentary they ruined a Thai man's mushroom farm). Do not like light hence they live underground or make soil/pulp covered runs to get to food sources as in photo; if you see anything like that in your house investigate. Apparently, they do not like teak much, hence why it was used for houses in Thailand.

If you want an organic way of controlling them outdoors, just break open the runs and mounds when you find them; ants should then be able to get to them and reduce there numbers. Also good 'hygiene' around your home will help; if there is little in the way of dead plants, scraps of damp wood etc. then little to attract them.

[arjay]

Yes, they are "termites", (Thais call them "buak/buag"). I've experienced termites before in Thailand. They can be recognised from the trails you see in the photos above. Their nest(s) will be down at ground level and they travel up those little "trails" to find wood products to eat. They will rapidly eat wood, e.g. door frames, as well as the paper covering of plasterboard/gypsum.

It is best not to try and tackle them yourself (using off the shelf sprays), instead I would strongly recommend anyone finding the trails in their home to call in a Pest Control company, who will saturate/spray the ground area under the house, and spray or apply powders in other places within the house. If the underneath of the house is not accessible, they may drill through floors and spray that way.

I have had them travel up inside the plastic electricity conduit and then fan out across the ceiling eating the ceiling board covering, as well consuming ground floor door frames.

[Paul]

By the photos that were shown of the videos and the residue on them, they look like the little pests I had a couple of months ago.

I have some unwanted items and empty cardboard boxes stored in the spare bedroom, however needed to look for something specific and started looking through all the boxes to locate the item.

I became acutely aware of a strange sound, almost like a shuffling sound an originally thought it was a cockroach or two trapped in one of the boxes. I began emptying the boxes until I came to a large box containing some computer equipment - most of it boxed in their own original boxes then placed into a large cardboard box.

As I began removing the boxed items - I became aware of a horrible residue on the boxes - just like the video tapes above. As I got further down the noise got louder and some of the boxes had the packaging missing - munched away, and then I saw what was munching it.

My cardboard boxes were providing a great meal for these tiny white 'termite' type insects - thousands and thousands of them.

When I had completely emptied the large cardboard box - I saw that the bottom was almost non-existent.
Had I have tried lifting this box without knowing - everything inside would have simply fallen straight out the bottom.

There were thousands of these insects and thats what the strange noise was I could hear previously.

I managed to find a trail with the same 'sticky' residue leading round the walls and out of the external door, where they were obviously entering the room from.

Most of the cardboard had to be disposed of and I tried to clean the small boxes of the residue as best I could. I cleaned away all the trails and moved everything cardboard away from that area.

Up to now there have been no repeat visits but it sure as hell sends a creepy shiver down my spine when i recollect seeing the thousands of small insects (like grains of rice) munching on my cardboard boxes.

Its not only wood they have a taste for ................

[Khun Paul]

Yep the invasion is termites, and here is the rub, although you may find the trail and remove the run, any wood they have come near, they will probably have invaded that too, not that you will notice, so any wood leading from or going to a run will in no uncertain terms have termites inside, so you will have to clean out the entrace or exit and treat that as well. I didn't some years ago and have just renewed many kitchen cabinets at a cost of 12000 baht as well as replece one door frame and window frame.
my fault did not investigate beyond the tracks.
So be warned not just the tracks but any wood they have come into contact with.

Oh yes and the experts will stop them coming in, BUT NOT when they are in, I know I tried that too !!!!!!!!!

[parrot]

One house we rented downtown had wood floorboard surrounding all the walls. From time to time my wife would notice some powder along the edge, but no other evidence of ants/termites. Until one day I pulled a piece away from the wall and found the wallboards being eaten away from the inside. That experience was what led us to trash the idea of ever building a wood house in Thailand. The wood that Thais use to build homes today isn't as aged/hard as that used in previous generations. Once a house is invaded, it takes great effort to get rid of them. In California they (used to) put giant tents around an infected home. The entire house was gased for several days. I was told the treatment was mostly effective, but no 100% guarantee.
A word of caution: The common can of termite spray contains alphacypermethrin. It's very effective in treating small areas. It's also effective in screwing up your throat if you happen to breath in the fumes. Thais tend to have very low respect for sprays of all sorts.....little or no protection for their exposed skin/mouth.

[homer]

Hi Everyone, Brand new to Udon Map and found the wide range of subjects on the forum extremely informative. =D> Planning on building in Udon in the next year or so. With regard to the termite problem, I understand that there is a type of tubing system that can be placed just inside the foundation and under the main floor at the time of construction to periodically spray for termites. Anyone heard about this system and the costs involved?

[Techland]

My wife can hear them eating - I can not. They swallowed our bed from inside, and are in the wardrobes, the kitchen and the floor. As KP said, ones they are in (and most probably had been in before we bought our house) you can not do much.

Also be warned about woodwork from local carpenters. I am pretty sure that it already includes these devils in many cases. A bad way to bring them into your house...

[Techland]

Homer, I am no expert but heard about that too, not against termites but against ants.

[parrot]

Anyone out there have casebearer moths in their home? These little pains in the buttocks appeared in our home after a month long vacation last rainy season. They crawl up the walls and suspend themselves from the ceiling. I suppose at some point they wave a magic wand and turn into a moth. They've come back this year, although less than last year. I can't find anything in the house that they're feeding on.....they seem to be here and there, now and then.

[homer]

Parrot, I saw them before during rainy season when staying at the Ruysuk, but wasn't sure what they were. Pointed them out to the cleaning staff and they didn't seem terribly concerned about it.(imagination that) Thought they might be spider nests so got a broom and swept them down and out. Have no idea if they do any damage or not.

[bluejets]

In California they (used to) put giant tents around an infected home. The entire house was gased for several days. I was told the treatment was mostly effective, but no 100% guarantee.

They used to do the same down under in Aus but it wasn't for conventional termites but rather for the nasty little "West Indian Termite". It was quite a sight to see one morning , the local post office and clock tower, some 7 stories high, covered with a giant yellow tent.

With regard to the termite problem, I understand that there is a type of tubing system that can be placed just inside the foundation and under the main floor at the time of construction to periodically spray for termites. Anyone heard about this system and the costs involved?

This also is done here but not on a domestic level, more with commercial buildings. Although, it can be equally applied as it is just a method of pumping the poison into the whole perimeter from one access point. Tubing runs around the outer perimeter of the building about 150mm under the surface.I think they give it a re-dose something like once every one or two years.

[Khun Paul]

Just an intyeresting note a friend of mine who recently purchased a lovely condo in Bangkok, on the 6th floor has termites can you believe that. Spends 3.5 mill and still gets termites, so if there in, you have to work damm hard to get them out.

[Paul]

Anyone out there have casebearer moths in their home? These little pains in the buttocks appeared in our home after a month long vacation last rainy season. They crawl up the walls and suspend themselves from the ceiling. I suppose at some point they wave a magic wand and turn into a moth. They've come back this year, although less than last year. I can't find anything in the house that they're feeding on.....they seem to be here and there, now and then.

I have many of these things - I was wondering what they were !!

Where do they come from and how on earth do they get into the house? I have screens on every open entrance.

They remind me of lemmings LOL, they have a sole purpose of climbing up the walls and then just hanging from the ceiling for days and days.

So eventually they will turn into moths and fly away huh ??

I just ignore them usually, although they are quite entertaining when their long necks stick out like a turtle

[BobHelm]

Well. apparently, they feed on clothing !!

http://www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures ... bearer.htm

This is an interesting little "bugs" site that I found on my travels through cyber space...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/22006

[rjj04]

Stayed in a hotel in the middle of town before, and found little ants (at least that is what I thought they were) munching on my leather waist belt which was lying on a desk. Now that is not a wood product, why would some ant(?) want to eat leather? TIT, even the bugs