Why Should You Use Borax to Kill Termites?
Termites can devastate your house if you let them thrive. They quickly eat through structural beams and can wreak havoc, causing extensive damage. They are absolute deal-breakers when you are trying to sell your property. Hence it would help if you got rid of them as soon as possible.
Borax is toxic to pests and has proven to be very effective in doing away with them. So, does borax kill termites? Yes, it can.
How to Identify Termite Infestation?
As most of the termites stay concealed, it is hard to detect them at their larval stage. But as they grow, they also go bolder, and they are often attracted, just like moths, to light sources.
But before panicking when spotting a small, winged intruder, you must take a good look as termites resemble, to a great extent to, the much less harmful flying ants.
The flying ants have a small waistline (that is visible) separating their lower and upper bodies, whereas the termites usually have straight bodies.
Both come with 4 wings. While the front wings, in the case of a flying ant, are longer than their rear ones, all 4 are of the same size in the case of the termites.
If detected early enough, borax can be the perfect solution for you to nip these creatures in the bud.
And here comes the need for borax.
Why Should You Use Borax to Kill Termites?
There are several reasons to use borax to kill termites.
1) Borax Is Available in a Variety of Forms – There are many homemade and professional remedies of borax. It can be used in dry powder, borax spray for termites, foams, borax solutions, mix, powder, borax soap for baiting systems, termites, and more. All these are quite affordable and simple mediums for termite treatment and termite control that you can do-it-yourself.
2) Borax is Quite Effective – When termites go through the borax dust, the smallest powder particles stick to their antenna, body, and legs. As a result, these termites then ingest the borax or borate toxins covering them. They also eat poison directly from the borax-painted food sources containing wood or the cheap termite bait stations. Usually, they are seen to be exterminated within 3 days after this.
3) Borax is Simple to Use – For the borax to work effectively, the termites must ingest or consume it as borax kills them by destroying their digestive and nervous system. As said earlier, there are a variety of ways in which the borax solution can be used for treating termites. However, here the 2 most common and natural methods of application of borax are highlighted. You can use borax powder in spray form or as a borax bait mix.
For the Spray Form:
*Take about one and a half cups of borax and mix it with warm water (1 gallon).
*Stir the solution till the borax completely dissolves.
*Pour the solution into the spray bottle once it is ready.
*Now spray this at all the places where you think termites dwell.
*Spray twice or thrice and spray only after the previous coat has dried.
For Using the Borax Bait Mix:
*Take sugar, flour, and borax powder (200 grams) in a bowl and mix them.
*Add oil to this and keep on stirring the mix.
*The mixture that is now formed should look like dough. Add some extra oil at this point if the need arises.
*Now take a little portion of this dough and shape it into small balls with just your hands.
*Place these balls in every location where you have spotted the termites.
*As and when these balls get hard, you should keep replacing them in regular intervals.
Once you try these techniques yourself, you will answer any basic question like “does borax kill termites”. These are some of the reasons why borax is used and considered an effective resolution worldwide to kill termites.