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Termites: There are thousands of species worldwide
Photo: Future Publishing / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
In close-up, they are reminiscent of monsters in a cheap computer game: slimy, shiny, ant-like insects, brown head without recognizable eyes, white rear. Their colonies are made up of millions of insects. Who would want to accommodate such a state under their own house? No one. Fortunately, termites prefer warmer climes, but somehow a colony made it to the county of Devon in south-west England and established itself under two holiday homes. And those who are familiar with the subject know: You can't get rid of the beasts that quickly.
In 1994 one of the homeowners called pest control because she had found a "white ant".
27 years and many moments of desperation later, the troops now dare to assess: Mission successful.
The fight against the termite invasion has been won, as the Guardian first reported.
But apparently a lot had to be raised for this, the costs amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Nobody really knows why the termites invaded Devon.
Only one guess remains: They could have come with a wine box, perhaps from France - there are both wine and termites.
A colony has to be as big as a matchbox in order for it to be transported and survived, says Ed Suttie, who first worked on the Termite Eradication Program (TEP) in England and then headed it.
They formed an international team
What the insects can cause was known from France, Australia and the USA: people build with wood, termites feed on wood, an equation that doesn't work.
Entire housing estates have already fallen victim to the colonies.
That wasn't supposed to happen in Devon, so Ed Suttie and his colleagues fought, they formed an international team of experts.
"We have bundled our knowledge of the termites, their habits, their behavior and their organization," Suttie told SPIEGEL.
In countries where termites don't just happen to be at home, one is prepared for them.
In France, for example, according to Suttie, when buying a house in regions with an infestation, it must be proven that there are no termites, wood must be protected by treatment, and physical barriers are also possible.
And in the south of England?
Unfortunately, the termites found good conditions in Devon: the soil is moist, but there is no waterlogging, but maritime pines, which enable food to be taken up through the roots below the ground.
The problem would probably not have resolved itself.
So the pest controllers focused on stopping the insects from multiplying.
A certain insecticide, a growth regulator, targets the development process of termites: young insects should not grow large, nor should they reproduce.
The termites eat the chemical and spread it in the tunnels and nests underground.
Targeted, says Suttie.
After all, parts of the coastline are part of the world natural heritage.
Probably a nest was spared
In Devon they already thought that the fight against the scurrying animals was successful. In the early noughties it was said that the growth regulator had worked. Thought wrong. "In 2009 we had a very small recurrence," says Suttie. The problem was: the termites that settled in Devon are masters at hiding. Because they don't like light, they live about 30 meters underground. And there you can see neither the insects nor the infinite systems of their tiny corridors. A nest was probably spared the chemical - and that was enough to let the colony grow again.
However, Suttie does not see a real defeat in this.
And certainly no proof that the method would not have worked.
He also used the growth regulator on the second attempt - this time apparently with success down to the last termite.
Suttie told the Guardian that the termites had never been eradicated anywhere else.
“This is a world first.” This is probably why the man who is referred to in the report as the “termite terminator” did not want to declare victory too early.
He and his team have checked the ground twice a year since 2010, always in May and October.
Among other things, they had placed wood in various places as a kind of bait.
If there had still been termites, they would have been found there too.
October is particularly important, says Suttie, when the insects are active because they are preparing for the colder weather.
No termite has been found in Devon for over ten years.
When it stayed that way this October, Suttie and his team were safe.
"We're slowly dismantling the surveillance stations now," he says.
Besides, be prepared.
If people found termites again, they would have a quick answer: growth regulators.