Termite swarms

April 8, 2019 10:34 AM

We have termites in our rental. They swarm. It is not harmful, but annoying and increasingly distressing for my preschooler. Need advice for the swarming.

As it says on the tin: we have a termite infestation. Have for five years, but the landlord won't tent. We do spot treatments every year through Orkin. The termites swarm in the bedrooms in May/June. Hordes of flying termites for a couple of hours about 8-10 pm and then they're gone. This lasts a couple of weeks.

Last year we sprayed orange oil on them as they swarmed and that helps some. We also put a bug light in my daughter's room. But they still swarm badly and it frightens my daughter. Any suggestions for keeping the swarms down or helping mitigate them?

(And no need for outraged "The landlord needs to tent!" replies. We know. She knows. We're leaving in less than a year and she's selling the property as a teardown. Que sera sera. I just want to have some amount fewer termites swarming this year.)

posted by mrfuga0 to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

When this happened to us, the termites were coming into the room through the overhead/ceiling lights which were the type flush with the ceiling. We taped large kitchen trash bags to the ceiling around each light. The bags were not touching the bulb in any way so we could still turn them on and get some level of light through the white bags. They would swarm into the bag and die. Every few days we would replace them.

So if they are swarming in through a defined area you could try this. Our toddler was fascinated by this so maybe your daughter won't mind them when she sees how they get trapped.
posted by maxg94 at 11:36 AM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

If I were your daughter, I'd want a mosquito net or something that I could get into and know that there weren't any bugs in it.
posted by hydra77 at 1:11 PM on April 8, 2019 [14 favorites]

I was in this exact situation years ago. I called the heath department, and the landlord got in MAJOR trouble.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:49 PM on April 8, 2019 [7 favorites]

Perhaps landlord should get you a hotel for that time period?
posted by theora55 at 7:06 PM on April 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Please call housing enforcement in your area, your child shouldn't have to live like this.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 6:23 AM on April 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Untreated termites can result in the house collapsing on you. Seconding calling the health department.
posted by w0mbat at 10:11 AM on April 9, 2019 [1 favorite]