Review: CSIRO Termite Baits

In many regions fighting termites is a constant struggle for the homeowners.

One of the countries that suffers the most from these constant invasions into households is Australia.

There’re many methods on the market, DIY or not, but lately one of the most popular ones is baiting.

I’m going to explain you what is it on the example of the Csiro Termite Bait Box.

Hide content

• Which termites?
• How to fight subterranean termites?
• What is baiting?
• What is CSIRO Bait Box?
• Is it better than other baiting systems?
• Useful articles

Which termites?

That’s a good question, even if seems to be a bit naïve. Not all termites are the same. If you live in US you, maybe, more used to the idea of drywood species.

Learn more about drywood termites: signs of their activity; best methods of treatment: spot treatment and DIY methods; how to get rid of them in furniture?

This termite like dry untreated wood and nest where they forage. In other words – you don’t need to search for the nest, if you see hollowed wood – that’s where the colony is.

Methods of fighting those ones can be localized (like foaming, cold and heat treatment) or big scale (such as structural fumigation), but once you cleaned your household from them, you’re fine until new ones start the colony inside your wooden structures.

The termites (or how they call them “white ants”) native in Australia are different story. They are subterranean and those species exist in US as well, most infamous being Formosan termite, that is not native and for this reason even more destructive.

Learn more about subterranean termites: signs of their activity; best methods of treatment and DIY methods. Eastern subterranean termites and their tunnels and tubes with photo.

The main difference between those termites and drywood ones is the nesting habit. Subterranean termites are only visiting your house for foraging, but their colony is situated elsewhere in the soil. Usually, it’s not too far away, somewhere in your garden, but you never know, it can be also your neighbors place where they came from.

Even if you kill all the termites inside your house one by one it will not stop them from reappearing again and again, if you don’t destroy the colony itself. This is why the methods of fighting subterranean termites are more global.

How to fight subterranean termites?

The thing is that the war against subterranean termites can be long and dull and you will suffer severe losses in the process. So, the best way to save your property is to prevent the infestation right away when you bought or built a house.

One of the ways to do it so is to treat the soil around. This method is fine, but has plenty of drawbacks:



• to be perfectly efficient it has to be executed before building the construction. To reach the same effect with existing structures, manufacturers often recommend drilling the holes in concrete pathways, changing soil to the better drainage one and other expensive and destructive measures;
• the termicide used in this kind of treatment can hardly be eco-friendly and can damage wildlife, if washed away into any water supplies;
• the cost of this kind of treatment is usually quite high.

Here you can learn more information about effective termite control remedies: Bora-Care, Boric acid, Borate, Fipronil, Chlorpyrifos, Chlordane, Borax, Timbor, Termidor, Terminator, Phantom, Lorsban, Biflex, Terro. You can choose different forms, such as – foam, liquid, powder.

The more popular way nowadays is baiting. Let’s see in detail how does this work.

What is baiting?

The preventive baiting for monitoring termites’ activity is a DIY method. Basically when you buy this kind of baits you get a plastic trap box/container with some attractive piece of cellulose material inside and a monitor on top. Some trademarks offer a full wooden piece instead of plastic trap.

The idea is: you have to place the baits all around your house, the more of them – the better, not too far away from each other. This way you form a protective barrier.

Now, you hope that, when going into your house, termites will find the traps on the way and will start foraging inside them as well. At this point your bait is nothing but a sweet cookie for the termites, placed in strategic place to notice.

Until they do, your business is just to monitor the baiting system, not to skip the moment when termites appear in your household. For this, the baits should have a monitor on top, that you can check once in a while.

The monitor is quite a simple construction, usually its pretty much a small window, that lets the light inside the trap. Termites don’t like to have sunlight, so when they start having lunch in your bait they will close the window, for keeping their privacy.

When you notice that window on your monitor is sealed with termite mud – that’s it, now it’s time to strike.

Until this moment you didn’t need any professional help (unless you wanted it). But now you will have to call the pest control company.

Because the termicide that are normally recommended for use with this kind of baiting systems are the ones that require special license.

And without it you will not even be able to buy them on the open market. Nobody says you cannot use some other insecticides, that don’t need special handling, but then the result is not guaranteed.

Now it’s simple – termites eat poisoned bait, bring the material to their nests and share with others. In about a month the whole colony should die. If not, you can poison you stakes again.

When the infestation is finished, you simply change the affected baits to the new ones and keep monitoring for the new termites signs.

The main advantages for this kind of Csiro termite treatment and baiting at all are:

1. Cheapness.
2. Easy maintenance.
3. No need to have a full-year contract with pest control services.

Important! This being said I strongly recommend you to have a contract with pest control company, that will carry out at least proper annual inspections.

What is CSIRO Bait Box?

CSIRO stands for Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, that was formed in 1916 as a federal government agency for scientific research in Australia. So this is a multidimensional governmental structure. As the termites are a problem for the whole Australian continent, CSIRO research touches this topic as well.

CSIRO termite trap device is typically about 500x300x200mm high and made of polyethylene or untreated wood. You need to bury it in the ground about 10 cm deep with the special drilled holes for termite entry underneath.

The sealed cover should prevent the ants and moisture from entering the box. On the lid the bait has a window covered with plastic that lets you inspect the bait. Inside you can put the cellulose material, such as wetted-corrugated card board or thin wooden stripes.

The manufacturer also offers you to put a piece of white paper on the inside of the monitoring window and when it’s eaten you will see the presence of termites.

Here you can learn more information about another termite bait systems: Advance, Green, Nemesis, Exterra, Firstline, Terminate. Also find out how to make baits by yourself and how to refill them?

Is it better than other baiting systems?

It might sound very impressive when governmental agency creates a special termite baiting box, but does all the country scientific minds make it the best on the market? I’m absolutely sure that it’s not. Let me tell you why:



• CSIRO stopped in development of this product years ago and it did not improve not a bit while the commercial companies in fight for clients’ money work out new concepts every year.
• This box is big and ugly. Think about how your garden will look like if you place them all around a house with white top of the box sticking out of the grass.
• While other companies try to facilitate the monitoring by making special windows, that termites will be closing by their mud, showing their presence, CSIRO offers you to look inside the box with…what?…lamp? to check if there are termites, eating on cardboard that you have to put inside yourself.

Maybe this is why you cannot find those boxes in sale and, yes, I’ve tried. They are mostly offered by governmental pest control services.

So is csiro termite control box the best thig on the market? Certainly not. On my opinion, the baiting systems can be much more elegant and simple in use.

Even the Green Termite Baiting System is more advanced, while not having much better appearance. Keep this in mind, and remember that prevention is always cheaper than fighting. Good luck!

Useful articles

If you interested in more information of termites we recommend you to read the following articles:

• All types of termites. Are they harmful to humans? Can they bite you? And what is the difference between drywood and subterranean ones?
• What does swarmers of different species look like: drywood, subterranean, formosan?
• Signs of infestation outside and in the house: in walls or furniture.
• How to treat them at home and in the yard: in wood or in fence. How long this process lasts and what is pre-construction and soil treatment?
• What does termite holes look like? What is droppings and is it toxic to humans? Do termites make noises?
• Posible termite damage, how does it look like? Examples of damage in walls and wood floors.
• All about flying termites: how do they look like, swarming season and what to do if there are swarmers in your house?
• How do they do nests and mounds? How to find it in your garden or inside the house?
• Termite life cycle – from egg to larvae. And social hierarchy: workers, soldiers, queen.
• Did you know that termites can infest living trees, for example a palm or a pine tree. They also like to live in stumps.
• You can prevent the infestation by using barriers, such as: HomeGuard, Physical systems, Safeguard, Stainless steel mesh, Kordon.
• If you want to get rid of termites naturally, learn more about such methods as: heat or cold treatment, orange oil, using nematodes.