<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 02/04/2001 10:33:12 PM Central Standard Time,
<BR>purdy@oak.cats.ohiou.edu writes:
<BR>
<BR>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Terry,
<BR>
<BR>Termites build mud tubes up from the ground to the wood. If termites are
<BR>active there will be mud tubes about the size of a pencil going to the
<BR>piano. They would be under the piano and maybe hard to see but they have
<BR>to be there or it is old damage. If you see these tubes, break them open
<BR>and if you see little white bugs, that's your boys. If you move the piano,
<BR>the termites cannot "go home" and it is my understanding that they cannot
<BR>live without that access to the ground.
<BR>
<BR>I have never had to deal with termites in a piano but my father owned a
<BR>pest control business and when I was young I spent summers at war with
<BR>termites. When a house was treated for termites back then, they didn't
<BR>really kill all the bugs. They live and travel underground and you can't
<BR>get to them. What you do is put a chemical barrier between them and the
<BR>house so they can't come up. The house where your piano is needs to be
<BR>treated and that will take care of the ones in the piano. They can't
<BR>survive without going back underground. Chances are they are in other
<BR>parts of the house and the piano may be the least of the owners concerns.
<BR>Also, don't sweat the eggs. The queen lives underground and lays all the
<BR>eggs there.
<BR>
<BR>Things have changed alot since I did this kind of work. I belive the
<BR>chemical we used then isn't even legal to use now. What I have seen
<BR>recently is where people put little "bait" traps at about 3-6 foot
<BR>intervals in the ground around the house. The workers get the bait and
<BR>take it back to the nest underground where it slowly poisons the whole hee
<BR>haw gang.
<BR>
<BR>chris
<BR>
<BR>-Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.
<BR>-School of Music, Ohio University
<BR>-Athens, OH 45701
<BR>-mailto:purdy@ohio.edu
<BR>-(740) 593-1656 office
<BR>-(740) 593-1429 fax
<BR>
<BR>
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<BR>
<BR>Chris, you are ablolutely correct except for drywood termites which need no
<BR>contact with soil. These termites are self contained in there wood of choice
<BR>and need no contact with the outside world.
<BR>David Koelzer
<BR>DFW</FONT></HTML>