Termite Monitor

I was recently asked a question about termite monitoring. There are products on the market that allows the consumer to monitor the outside of their home for termites via an in ground station. Pest control companies also have entire programs that you can purchase that will monitor the ground around your house and when termites are found in the monitors then they replace the monitor with an active ingredient to start to kill the termite colony. These products go by the name of Firstline Smart Discs or Advance Termite Baiting System to name a few. The products offered to the consumer by places like Home Depot or Lowe's work along the same concepts. The difference is that the pest control people have experience in knowing if a monitoring station is full of termites or termite "mud" or just plain old mud. I think that if you just want to monitor the outside of your home then plain old wooden stakes will do you just fine. If you think you might have termites and you want to go ahead and do an actual baiting program then I'd hire a professional company. Anything to do with termites, in my opinion, should be handled by a pro.