February 2006 / Vol.3 / Issue 2

Hello and Welcome to the February Greenpest News. Each month we aim to provide you with some useful information, keeping it short, sweet and pertinent.

Contents

1. Pest Talk
2. Customer Question of the Month.
3. Picture for Fun.
4. Story of the month.
5. Monthly Special

Pest Talk

We have been busy at Green Termite Bait Systems™ designing and developing new products. Many of our newsletter readers will be familiar with the Ec2c Termite Windows® that we released a few months ago. They are an internal monitor for termites and are selling quite steadily. This month we have finally completed and posted the new web page for the Ec2c Termite Windows. If you would like to take a look, you can see it by following this link HERE.

This month we also released our new termite manual with the title "DIY Termite Inspection for Home Owners". It is an edited compilation of our very popular newsletter series by the same name. For all our newsletter subscribers who have been with us for over a year, we can say that you have already read 90% of it, but only actually seen 50% of it. We have added an extra 4,000 words to the original 16,000 PLUS we've added over 190 detailed full colour images never before published. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and we think that anyone who gets the new manual will be delighted with the clear way the pictures and words come together to teach and simply explain the complicated skill of termite inspection.

Our new web page that tells you all about the manual has only been up for a few days, and already the manual is selling fast. Do any of our readers know a good publisher? Maybe we should get it into the bookstores as well as online. It's the only book available on this particular subject at this time. If you would like to preview the manual, you will find further information HERE.

February has also seen the release of our new television commercials on NBN TV. If you've seen them and have a comment, we'd love to hear from you. We have them showing through a range of time slots including Backyard Blitz, which shows on Friday nights.

Before Christmas, we did some newspaper advertising in Adelaide and since Christmas, we have been advertising in Sydney. Our factory now has a full time employee manufacturing the Green Termite Baits, and our office has grown to three staff plus we have four experienced technicians in the field. John Fleming joined our team just after Christmas. John brings over 30 years experience with him. You can meet all our staff HERE on our web site.

Thank you to all our customers who have contributed to our growth and have encouraged us along the way providing both feedback and ideas that have spurred us along.

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Customer Question of the Month.

Dear Jerry,

I was just wondering how you came up with the idea for the Ec2c Termite Windows? They sound like a good idea but why would I need them as well as the Green Termite Baits on the outside? Are they really necessary?

Amanda J. - Hope Island, QLD.

Answer:

Thank you for your question.

We came up with the idea for the Ec2c Termite Windows by accident. Basically, we had been condemning the idea of an internal termite monitor for years. Who really wants to use their home as the stop off point to check for termites? Logic says that surely, it is much wiser to intercept and monitor termite activity outside your home rather than inside which is precisely what our Green Termite Bait System does, PLUS it gives the home owner the opportunity to kill the termite nest via a simple treatment of termiticide applied to the Green Termite Bait.

Secondly, we fought against the internal type monitors because none of the ones previously available on the market actually worked! It made us mad to see people being conned and sold a load of lies about products that didn't work. Not only were they wasting their money in the first place, but they were also being sold a false sense of security about the safety of their home. That's dangerous, because by the time they realise their error it is too late and the termites have done their damage.

So why did we come up with our idea? It was simply because we could see that there were plenty of people who wanted an internal monitor, regardless of the logic, and we thought it was about time someone came up with an idea that actually works.

How did we figure it out? In hindsight, the idea looks simple, but getting there was a long journey down a whole bunch of dead ends. For years, we have been experimenting with internal monitors and treatment devices for termites and have submitted several ideas for patent, but when it came to field-testing, we met with less than satisfactory results. We learnt many new things about termites along the way and the termites also taught us why our logical ideas didn't work.

The most predicable thing about termites is that they are unpredictable. Enticing a termite to enter and trigger an internal monitor is not easy. Nor is it easy to get termites to leave a yummy bit of timber and enter an internal treatment device. There are several plastic products on the market designed to do just this, but with limited success. These are not monitors but baits used by some companies to kill termites that are already in a house.

The Ec2c Termite Window is not an internal bait. It is a monitor. It is literally a window into the termite world. It is a window into the timber trim and timber structure of your home. If you are unfortunate enough to have termites in your home, the termites will reveal themselves by mudding up the window as they pass through the timber to which the Ec2c Termite Window attaches.

There is also an added bonus. During installation, the Ec2c Termite Windows will also reveal any hidden termite damage in the timbers where the monitors are to be installed.

We obviously got the idea for the windows from our already successful termite windows on our Green Termite Baits. These windows were added to our baits to replace the plugs we used previously.

The windows enabled us to:

• Speed up the time it takes to check a bait.
• Check a bait without disturbing the termites.
• Inhibit tampering with the bait either during the inspection process or during the treatment process. We discovered that asking people not to touch simply didn't work for everyone.

The internal Ec2c Termite Windows have exactly the same benefits. Easy to check, and if you do find termites they are not disturbed before the pestie gets a chance to come and treat them.

So, if you have a Green Termite Bait System installed, do you need the Ec2c Termite Windows as well?

The answer is "It's up to you."

As you know, some cars have seatbelts only, and some have the added safety of air bags.

Likewise, Ec2c Termite Monitors provide additional safety for your home. If you have a Green Termite Bait System in place then you shouldn't need them. Termites have very little chance of making it past a properly installed and monitored Green Termite Bait System.

The DIY Ec2c Termite Windows kit is less than $100 for 100 windows. That's a pretty small price to pay for the extra peace of mind and safety of an early alert IF termites do find a way into your home.

Picture for Fun.

David Billington of Red Centre Pest Control in Alice Springs sent in the following picture.

Now that is one huge termite nest!

Is it only me, or can anyone else see a beady-eyed elephant wearing a Genghis Khan hat?

My 14 year old son James reckons it would be terrific if it came to life and stomped on the truck. Imagine the title for the movie... "Attack of the Killer Termite Mound."

Competition Time.

If you can come up with a funny caption for this picture, please send it to us. We will send a $25 Green Pest Control gift voucher to the winning entry.

Winner will be announced in next months Greenpest News.

Story of the month.

The Worst Cockroaches I've Seen...

My worst case by Jerry Furnell.

Warning: If cockroaches disgust or upset you it will be best if you skip over this article.

Seventeen years ago when I owned and operated a Brisbane based pest company, a nurse at a large hospital that I serviced asked me to go to her home because she had a 'few' cockroaches.

When I arrived, she let me in and said 'I'll leave you to it,' before stepping outside to have a cigarette. She was a single mum.

The house stunk of cockroaches and was infested with German cockroaches, and there was nowhere left for them to hide. This resulted with about 300 cockroaches in every corner of the house, plainly visible upon the walls similar to what you see in this photo:

As I proceeded from room to room, my disgust and amazement grew. I couldn't believe that anyone could wait so long before calling a professional pest controller.

As I entered one room, my disgust turned to outrage. There, in a baby's cot was a six-month old baby... covered in cockroaches. Cockies were feeding on her dribble, her snot, and her nappy was dirty and full of cockroaches too!

I cleaned off the cockroaches, and then took her out to her delinquent mother. I said nothing, but I'm sure my anger and disgust showed in my eyes. I know that guilt certainly showed in hers.

I finished the job. Before leaving, I simply told her to get her act together. Then I drove home with tears in my eyes as I considered the plight of her little baby girl.

I wrote the above story many years ago for my previous ' home made' web site. It is one of several that I will bring to you over the next few months. It is probably the saddest and most disgusting of all and I was in two minds as to whether I should reprint it or not. I realise that the story may be offensive to some readers for which I apologise.

As a proud daddy of my wonderful 6-month-old daughter Princesca Pei-Pei Furnell, I now read the words afresh with the benefit of hindsight and a little more wisdom. It's easy to condemn this young mum, but I think that she probably had bigger problems and issues to deal with than simply too many cockroaches.

I also realise that although I was very angry with her at the time, my 'get your act together' attitude probably didn't help but only added to her burden. It's too bad that I can't travel back in time to moderate my attitude and possibly offer her some better advice rather than dishing out a plate of self-righteous anger.

Monthly Special Promotion - For Newsletter Subscribers Only.

This special is no longer available. Please go to our current newsletter for this month's special.

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The Greenpest News is Published by J & A Furnell Nominees P/L; Shop 23a Franklin Square, 60 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of Jerry Furnell. The reader is encouraged to seek further information from appropriate government and statutory departments before taking any action based on this material alone.

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See you again next month.

Always... At your service,

Jerry Furnell
Green Pest Control & Green Termite Bait Systems.
Phone 1800 6 12345.

Copyright 2006 Green Termite Bait Systems & Green Pest Control. All rights reserved.

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