A little work I did in I believe Acapulco, Mexico on termites. This was also the largest audience I ever spoke to, over 500 and it had to be translated to spanish (see I knew I should have taken spanish in high school).

This situation posed some problem in that a lot of this type of building for vacationing folks was wood into the ground. We are probably dealing with Western Subterranean Termites.  Notice the mud shelter tubes running along the wood and the tree bark, most termites prefer to eat dead wood.

As many of you know before I purchased ProBest Pest Management I worked for FMC Corporation as a Technical Specialist and had the opportunity to tour the world in regards to termites and pests. You also know how much I love my job, I love working with pests and coming up with the who and why and how they get into homes and businesses.  Before FMC I worked in Florida as a Termite Service Manager and dealt with diagnosing problems and solving them. I have learned a great deal in the last 18 years and consider myself and expert in termites and their behaviors. So I thought it would be fun for you to see pictures of my travels around the world dealing with these pests. We will deal with a 5 Part series and explore places like Mexico, Japan, Australia and briefly on Hawaii as many of their termites issues are related to Japan.

Termites cause $5 Billion in damage to more than 600,000 homes each year in the U.S.  more than all the natural disasters put together.  They are found in every state except Alaska. We will discuss the top 3 around the world.

1. Eastern Subterranean (most common and widely distributed termite in the USA) entire eastern region of North America as far north as Ontario,
   Canada, to Texas and south to Key Largo, Florida.

2. Formosan ( Formosan termites are the most aggressive and destructive timber pests in the United States. It is an imported species, native to China.) Gulf Coast states, along the eastern seaboard north to North Carolina, as well as in Tennessee, California, Hawaii and recently found in Florida.

3. Western Subterranean, (Reticulitermes tibialis and Heterotermes aureus arid land subterranean these two are found in Arizona)   Western states, from British Columbia south to western Mexico and east to Idaho, Arizona and Nevada.

Most of us think “Oh my I have a rat inside my home or there is a smell – how did something die in my house?”  The big story or picture is how did something get inside my attic or home. So the inspection determines the cause and then the exclusion is the effect.

Today I had a chance to inspect a home that had a dead animal somewhere inside – I knew it the minute I entered the home (that smell).

I have mentioned it a lot but the inspection is absolutely 100% necessary to the outcome of the problem/solution. If you don’t have any idea what is the cause how can you possibly fix the situation – YOU CAN’T. Yes maybe the cause of your action was the smell but how did the rats/rodents/squirrels get into the home in the first place? Find the cause – fix the problem!

Mice only need a hole the size of a dime, rats a little bigger at about the size of a quarter. Mice/Rats/Rodents use their front teeth to gnaw at things like that hole in the first picture. They can make the hole bigger and gain access very quickly.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

Pest Control or Pest Management has come a long way since the beginning of our attempt to stop pests. Probably and I’m guessing here – when the cave men were in their homes and the bat bugs , mosquitoes or whatever  you have were biting and they were swinging or swatting. Now just to set the record straight I wasn’t there when this occurred. Pesticides, can be traced more than 4,500 years ago to the Sumerians who used sulfur dust around crops to help control pests.

So lets take a brief look back in time and see how pests or the lack of professional pest control took their toll. These are just the ones that I  know about.

• Louse borne Typhus Fever - 15th – 20 centuries one of the oldest pestilential diseases
• Bubonic plague in the 16th century – Fleas on the rats
• Malaria – Suez Canal – mosquitoes
• Hanta Virus – rodents
• Yellow Fever – probably made it’s way from Africa in late 16th to 17th century, from 1668 – 1893 in U.S.  - mosquitoes  – PDF and text on yellow fever by  Stanton E. Cope
• 1931 Chigger borne rickettsiosis, mite borne typhus
• 1991 Desert Storm – vector borne diseases such as Malaria to flies to rodents

The Pest Management Industry continues to benefit from worldwide discoveries and collaborations. It is through the untiring dedication of these people and yes manufacturers who continue to create new pesticides and insecticides.  See a recent blog on Hobbie Part 1 and 2 on Yellow Fever. Also a blog on Banning Pesticides.

I will quote a line from Dr. Jerome Goddard,  he is an associate extension professor of medical and veterinary entomology in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University. He is also a clinical assistant professor of preventive medicine in the School of Medicine, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS. He presented at a Seminar I went to a few years back “To me it’s all about balancing risk. I will gladly accept a tiny (and believe me, it’s tiny) risk from pesticides compared to the risk of these tropical diseases.”    

If you ever have the chance to see him speak please take the time. He is a fascinating and educational speaker.

So along with the rodents, the other pests that may be involved in this issue with the recall of eggs are flies- read this ProBest blog link on Pest Management of Flies and 11 Totally Disgusting Things the FDA Allows in your Food.

I eat out a lot and the one thing I notice is that most people are really grossed out by an occasional cockroach but seem to be immune to the flies. I actually think flies are more disgusting – they fly and can in one second be outside and then inside and you have no idea where that little thing has been. Flies have little hairs all over their bodies which can pick up all kinds of little bacteria like salmonella etc. Now you probably don’t want to hear this – each time they land on food they regurgitate and then lap up the liquid food. DISGUSTING!!

The thing about flies is that it could be a easy fix, fly lights are designed to attract flies and catch them in glue traps. Some traps are designed to look like art hanging on walls. They also work 24/7 as long as you remember to change the glue board monthly. There are some fly lights that actually rotate the glue board into a used chamber completely hiding the fly body part and doesn’t allow the parts to be tossed about like zapper lights.

So if you are a restaurant owner – think about the guests, nothing will ruin a meal like a bug and to me the scourge is the fly. Put up a light – it is worth not losing a good customer.

Well by now you must have heard about the egg recall and more and more it looks like the culprit may be RODENTS. Read these articles Wall Street Journal,  Associated Press, Chicago Tribune  and another from Bullfax.com (this one stating that the owner may be a repeat offender on violations).  Rodents worldwide damage approximately 25% of foodstuffs. In the U.S. they cause 1 billion dollars of damage each year. So the problem isn’t just the fact that may be a nuisance, but that destroy and damage materials by gnawing and contaminating along the way. There are also facts that indicate that a percentage of  home fires may be attributed to these rodents gnawing at wires. One pair of rats shed more than 1 million body hairs each year and a single rat leave behind over 25,000 dropping per year. They may also carry parasites and transmit diseases. So let’s look at a few of the problems and issues of rodents:

Mice

1. Mice visit and feed at many sites per night, maybe as many as 30.
2. Normally they require about 1/10 ounce but can get most of it from food.
3. Average mouse 50 droppings per night.

Rats

1. Rats average approximately 30 to 180 dropping per night.
2. Rats generally defecate indescriminately  mostly where they feed.
3. Rats may visit less sites but generally eat more at each site.
4. Generally require about 1/2 to 1 ounce of water nightly.

So if it turns out that the rodents are the culprints what could the egg farmer or feed manufacturer have done? Well plain and simply hire a Professional Pest Management operator and keep the rodents from the process.

GILBERTOPOLY

The Gilbert American Legion Post #39 is putting together a version of that exciting gameboard with the theme”Historic Downtown Gilbert”. The Legion plans to celebrate downtow, Gilbert and its immediate environs such as ProBest. ProBest will sell the games in it’s retail store. A piece of history in a game!

Wikipedia defines the game as - Monopoly is a board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single entity.

Monopoly is a redesign of an earlier game “The Landlord’s Game“, first published by the Quaker and political activist Elizabeth Magie. The purpose of that game was to teach people how monopolies end up bankrupting the many and giving extraordinary wealth to one or few individuals.^[2]

Since the game was created, more than one billion people have played it, making it “the most played (commercial) board game in the world.”^[3] The 1999 Guinness Book of Records cited Hasbro’s previous statistic of 500 million people having played Monopoly.^[4] Games Magazine has inducted Monopoly into its Hall of Fame.^[5] The mascot for the game, known as Mr. Monopoly or Rich Uncle Pennybags, is a mustached man in morning dress with a top hat.

95% of Pest Management across the U.S. are reporting an significant increase in bedbugs, sites are popping up left and right talking about this unbelievable turn of events. Check out The Bedbug Registry, they report on bedbug sightings at hotels, motels across the U.S.

I continue to hear about all the ways these sneaky little bugs are making their way into homes these days. From children’s backpacks, to moving vans and across the spectrum of believability. So today we will talk about the NO, NO’s of bedbugs…

DON”T

1. If you must buy second hand mattresses – check it out completely. DON’T just drag it in the home and throw it on the floor and start sleeping on it. By the way if you already did that and now you have bedbugs DON’T go dragging it back through the home again – you may spread the bedbugs even worse.
2. If you must buy second hand furniture, like dressers, desks - check it out completely. Bedbugs can hide in a very small crack and its not just the bedbugs but their eggs. If you miss a single egg, it could be a totally new infestation and problem.
3. It is uncommon for bedbugs to travel on people, but I suppose if they get into a pants cuff, or on shoes. More than likely they may hide in clothes in a suitcase or backpack. They are not like lice that may attach themselves to hair follicles.

Thanks to PCT (Pest Control Technology) for passing this along, I have treated a few cars in my life from ants  to actually fumigating a Model T wood for Drywood Termites and to tenting a boat on the water for Subterranean Termites. I also have seen some cars where I’m surprised they don’t have bugs because they are so dirty. So make sure you click the link at the bottom. Thanks as well to NPR radio for this great audio on dealing with cockroaches.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

We get it all on Car Talk: Cars aflame. Marital disputes. Even stalling space shuttles. But… Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches? Apparently so.By itself and outside of your car, a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach isn’t much of a problem. But toss one pregnant female that’s capable of laying up to several hundred eggs into your vehicle, and you’ve got yourself one serious automotive insect issue. And that’s exactly where Beatrice from Cookstown, Pennsylvania found herself, this week, with her parents’ BMW. (You can listen to her call right here.)Our suggestion? Leave a block of dry ice inside the car and hope that the roaches freeze, or head off to Florida.But, admittedly, it was a long shot. What do we know about insect control? Not much — as witnessed by our garage waiting room.What suggestions do you have? Have you ever faced a vehicular insect infestation? Let us know what you think will work. We’ll ask Beatrice to drop by right here to check out your advice, too.Yours in cockroach-free cars,

Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers

Click this link:

Posted by Lora Pabst Last update:August 11, 2010 – 10:13 AM StarTribune “The WhistleBlower”

This article got me to thinking about all the press good and bad going on out in the real world. This article talks about people shopping and bringing bedbugs home with them link. On August 10th I related a story about Bedbug #1 Myth and my concern is that businesses may feel the heat that from erroneous and bad press on bedbugs. A friend of mine stated this last week “I am concerned that without inexpensive, easier to use treatment options for the public we are going to lose the battle with bed bugs in USA” I have been preaching for almost a year now that we the general public need to be concerned and be aware of bedbugs and there are many things you can do to prevent them from coming home with you. Read “Pests that are Health Risks“. Here is another blog on why bedbugs are making a big comback link.

So here again are a few tips that may save you the headaches from bringing bedbugs home with you.

1. So lets just say that you are shopping at a 2nd hand store, wash the clothes when you bring them home. They actually say this in the article and honestly I couldn’t imagine not washing them.
2. If you purchase something that cannot be washed – think about steam, children’s toys can be put into black plastic bags and heated outside (if possible) to at least 113 degrees for a few hours.
3. If you buy a sofa etc – think about steam. Even a sofa can be put in the sun (especially in Arizona) – ideally about 113 degrees. The sofa can also be wrapped in plastic and Nuvan ProStrip (label, msds, and supplemental technical bulletin)  placed inside and sealed. As with any pesticide “Read and Follow all Label, MSDS instructions.”  There are also devices to heat up clothes etc but are limited in size.
4. If your traveling take precautions, don’t sit your suitcase on the dresser or floor.I put mine in the bathroom on the counter. There are sprays such as RestEasy bedbug spray available at ProBest store. Pack your clothes in plastic and when you come home take everything apart in the garage and wash it immediately.
5. If you notice bites, or red spots on beds – seek out help and investigate – DON”T TAKE MATTRESS OUT, you may drag the pests into other rooms.
6. If you need an opinion or advice please feel free to contact our office ProBest Pest Management 480-831-9328