Lets say you live in a known risk area for termites (count the advertisements in the telephone directory).  It is normal for an inspection to be recommended to be done not less than once a year.  Some people tend to stretch that out a bit.  If you do go for less-frequent inspections it will almost certainly impact on any insurance or warranty you may have covering the termite risks.  Read the contracts.

Here's some pointers to get you started.

You can do things that reduce the amount of water getting in to the soil near your perimeter walls:

1. Make sure that rainwater on the roof does not drain into the soil.
2. Grade the soil around the house so that water drains away, not towards the walls
3. Don't have gardens, ponds, sprinklers, ferneries or pools near walls.
4. Make sure that overflow drains from hot water services and air conditioners don't soak into the soil near the wall.

You can do things to help the water get away: 

Mostly they are looking for food, which is usually some sort of wood.  Sometimes they've come to your house chasing water to drink and then look around for closer food.

All pests, like us essentially seek the same basic things: food, shelter and water to drink.  Without good supplies of these they can't thrive.

The process of baiting for termites is highly variable. 

Sometimes much of the time is spent getting them into the baits.  Sometimes they're in by day two.

Some bait toxins take several weeks or months to noticeably affect the colony.  This is especially true of the hormonal approaches.  Some toxins will usually kill off a colony within two to three weeks of the first feeding.

Baiting for termites has a long history.  I first used it in 1979 to survey a park, but others had used baiting way before then.  Basically, a bait is something that termites will happily eat.  Often it is placed in a fancy (=expensive) container.  When the termites are feeding on the bait you (i) know they are there, (ii) can identify them and (iii)  you can exploit them.  The original bait box method had the termites collected and dusted with toxin before being allowed to sulk home.  Other methods

Very few termites are likely to be interested in eating the straw bales themselves.  Lots of subterranean termites will happily travel through the bales to reach unprotected framing timbers (such as door frames and window lintels). 

You won't sit the bales right on the soil anyway (moisture hazard) so all it takes is some attention to design to put a termite barrier in the foundation, just as you would with any other block house design.

If you've already built without barriers, find a well-skilled termite manager to inspect and advise.

This will depend on the size and complexity of the structure, the location and the type of inspection required.  Say you are getting a typical house checked out before you buy it.  I would normally expect that to take around two to three hours for the pre-purchase inspection.  Obviously, an old or heavily renovated house will take more effort than a brand new one.  If you have a contracted service or have a barrier system installed (subterreanean termites), then the regular inspection can be a lot faster, maybe even 45 minutes to one hour.  If you have reported an i

Orange oil is the name given to extracts from the peel of citrus.  Mostly this is near pure d-limonene.  It is a general solvent.  You have probably used it in bathroom or hand cleaners.  It kills insects.  I used it as the recommended cleanup solvent for the Blockaid non-toxic termite barrier as it was much less of an OH&S risk than mineral turpentine.