All posts in “pests”

You keep a clean home, how about your local restauarant?

 

I always check bathrooms before entering a new restaurant to eat for the first time. If they can keep the bathroom clean they probably can keep their kitchen clean, probably. I guess I just don’t understand the concept, if you cook you are going to make a mess and it has to be cleaned daily I don’t care how it happens but somebody must be in charge of cleaning, whether its the cook or the preppers and management must be in charge of making sure it happens.

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Why do they allow import of old used tires?

 

How often do you think a new bug makes it to our shores? Have you ever thought how did that bug make it into the USA? Sometimes we make it easy for the bug to travel, like when you move from one state on the east coast to the west and you bring boxes which were in storage. We brought Mongoose to Hawaii for the rats and that didn’t work, nobody thought about the rat being nocturnal and the Mongoose is out during the day. Asian Tiger Mosquitoes (carries viruses like Dengue & West Nile) were accidentally introduced in tires brought in from China in 1985, the Black rat probably hitched a ride on early European ships, Asian Longhorned Beetle native to Asia and the Cotton Whitefly came from India.

Photo provided by PPMA

Photo provided by PPMA

Thanks to all our Border Agents tasked with checking and rechecking all those shipments.

Another tick disease discovered

 

 

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Two different farmers in Missouri have been diagnosed with Heartland virus with symptoms that include fever, fatigue and nausea. Back in 2013 we reported on CDC reported cases and we just want people to take precautions before hiking or going off into the woods. Lyme Disease in Arizona, Yes was another article we did on protecting yourself against ticks and fleas.  Take care hiking!

Nothing is for sure, new research…

 

Well they say nothing is for certain except death and taxes and I’m beginning to understand that this might be true. Researchers are now saying that the “Black Death was not spread by rat fleas” but may have been more of an airborne issue.

They are doing research on bodies, primarily the teeth of about 25 human remains from the London area.

According to scientists working at Public Health England in Porton Down, for any plague to spread at such a pace it must have got into the lungs of victims who were malnourished and then been spread by coughs and sneezes. It was therefore a pneumonic plague rather than a bubonic plague.

The theory is that it would be almost impossible to spread that quickly unless it was airborne. So further testing continues on this dreaded killer of man.

 

How do those scorpions get into your home?

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One of my favorite calls relates to how scorpions get into bathrooms or showers. People tell me they come up drains and that is incorrect. Arizona Bark Scorpions enter your home by crawling up stucco and gaining access into your attic. They then crawl around and under the insulation and finally they come to a recess light or something that was cut through the ceiling drywall. See all those cracks and if your home isn’t sealed well enough they will fall right into your house. Sometimes there are lights or fans right above the bath or shower and they just fall in. So here is my advice, pull down the plate that covers these holes and caulk the hole. This should be done on the top floor ceiling or if you live in a single story house the ceiling. On our website is a list of things we attempt to seal when we perform a Home-Sealing.

World Health Day: Stop Disease – Carrying Pests.

We are very fortunate to live in the USA, 3.6 billion people live in areas where the risk of vector-borne diseases are very high. The World Health Organization is promoting this slogan – “small bite, big threat,” Can you think of diseases known to be caused by insects?

  1. Mosquitoes
  2. Ticks
  3. Fleas
  4. Sand Flies
  5. Blackflies
  6. Water snails

www.EndMalariaNow.org is an organization that continues to save people around the world. 250 million people are affected by Malaria each year, every 60 seconds a child dies from malaria.

EndMalariaNow

NPMA applauds WHO on focus on vector borne diseases

Mounds, mounds and more mounds – Pocket Gophers do their damage to yards.

ProBest Pest Management offers one tested and proven method to remove gophers from your yard with our baiting option. Our service generally consists of 2 to 3 visits based on the size of your yard and number of mound activity.

 

Pocket Gophers are best known for their ability to destroy our lawns and gardens. A gophers diet consists of mainly underground roots. Pocket Gopher control isn’t easy but we have spent years deciding on the best and most advantageous treatments and have decided on our use of the Elston treatment device.We have perfected the gopher eradication method. We have found that a targeted attack with baits  is the most effective way of eliminating gophers on your property.

 

Our initial baiting gopher control service will generally consist of 2 visits approximately 1-2 weeks apart with free follow-ups for an additional 30 days if needed. We use a grain bait called Kaput-d.  Our preferred bait of choice is a grain injected directly into the tunnel system of the gopher. After years of testing we have determined that this grain bait works the best, assuring we have the most effective materials available. We don’t use the cheap stuff, we use a tried and true procedure with an excellent grain bait! The key to effective gopher control is in the experience, anyone can inject bait into a hole but we know what we are doing and have years of proven control. Our technicians are experienced and know gopher patterns, tendencies, preferences and more!

Recent question on Pest Control… Carpet Beetles

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One of the high lights of my career is when I’m asked to identify a bug, to each his own but I enjoy that part of the job. A guy pops into our office with this little critter and its up to me to identify and possible deduce where it came from and out to control it.

So here are the clues – its a larva, usually they do the damage. Notice the hairs, its important. How about those hairs on the end, its really important. So did you guess right – its a carpet beetle larva. The hairs on the end or butt are the extremely important clue, hope you did well but if you didn’t you always have me.

Send me a picture to [email protected]

Do me a favor don’t smooosh it to bad, it makes it difficult when they are way bigger than normal.

April is National Pest Management Month

 

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I was going to start out with the old adage “Have you hugged your Pest Management Professional” but didn’t want to stir any pots. OK I did it anyway, but did you know:

The world needs pest management professionals, guardians of the environment and protectors of public health, property and food. Ever since “The Jungle” was released in 1906 written by Upton Sinclair – the food industry (meat packing industry) has been regulated and scrutinized. There are a few that consider all the work we do as unnecessary but over 1 million die from Malaria each year (caused by mosquitoes) and Bubonic Plague (caused by fleas) still taps our shoe heels each year.

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Plague in the United States

Plague was first introduced into the United States in 1900, by rat–infested steamships that had sailed from affected areas, mostly from Asia. Epidemics occurred in these port cities. The last urban plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles from 1924 through 1925. Plague then spread from urban rats to rural rodent species, and became entrenched in many areas of the western United States. Since that time, plague has occurred as scattered cases in rural areas. Most human cases in the United States occur in two regions:

  • Northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado
  • California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada

Information provided by www.cdc.gov

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