Borer Treatments offers specialist borer control and Identification services throughout New Zealand for all main species of wood borers (sometimes known as bora or woodworm) and other wood boring insects and native drywood termites that affect New Zealand timbers. Larvae of the beetles eat their way through the interior of wood before emerging via flight holes as adults to mate and begin the life cycle over again, each female borer beetle can lay between 20-40 eggs. All untreated timbers can be attacked.
New Zealand has 5 types of wood boring insects that attack old house structures and seasoned wood. The 4 main kinds of borer beetles are the Common House Borer, European Powder-post borer, the NZ Native Anobium Borer, and the NZ Native Two-Toothed Longhorn Borer. You can tell by the flight holes in the wood and frass which one you are dealing with. Common House Borer leaves small 2mm round holes, Native House Borer leaves 3-4mm round holds, and the Two-toothed Longhorn Borer leaves larger, oval holes.
The latter native borer is the most damaging of the four, as it can remain in the wood for up to 12 years and can attack the hardwood that is used for building foundations and framing.
Common borer under the right conditions can attack the timber until it has lost its structural integrity. Common borer is responsible for most of the insect damage found in structural and decorative timber in New Zealand
The 5 main wood boring insects in NZ are,
- Common House Borer (European Furniture Beetle - Anobium punctatum)
- Two-toothed Longhorn Beetle (NZ Native Ambeodontus tristis)
- Native Anobium Beetle (Magnum borer)
- Powder-post Beetle (Lyctus brunneus)
- NZ native drywood termite (Kalotermes brouni) not as common as borer but can still do isolated damage to house timbers, particulary in low lying subfloor and wall timbers. Likes high humidity and evidance of their presence is damage to the timber and (frass) faecal pellets inside the timber.
The only borer in NZ known to have a natural predator is Common Borer (European Anobium Beetle) The borer larvae can be attacked by a minute wingless parasite (Theocolax formicarius).
Borer treatment technicians will survey the extent of infestation and whether the infestation is still active and apply penetrating treatments with natural insecticide, which persists in the wood, killing insects as they emerge, and preventing re-infestation for at least ten years or more in normal circumstances.
Borer Treatment technicians have had over 50 years experience in borer control and hold Approved Timbor Handlers Certificates.