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Cockroaches in kitchens

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Cockroaches in kitchens

Cockroaches in kitchens – nothing congers up fright and ewwww and owwwwws more than this nemesis. They are extremely sneaky, adaptable and very difficult to gain control once you have them. Control – not always about the bug but knowledge of the bug. Knowing life-cycles, mobility and habitat are important in gaining control.

Often times when discussing pests we deal with IPM and how to keep them out. This is key to German Roaches as they love to set up house in your house, especially kitchens and bathrooms. They love moisture, food and a good hiding spot. They will travel in the folds of boxes, and once at you home scatter like roaches. A spec of food is all they need, they will even eat soap. Easier to spot if burping bubbles, OK just had to do it. HaHa.

The absolute only way to get control is with a Professional, we have the tools. Sometimes you need every tool you have to get control. If we are performing service on a vacant home, we use an actisol and bait. That is if it is a real issue, we use IGR ( insect growth regulator) stops molting and reproduction. German roaches carry egg cases, and typically 30 eggs within each clutch.

Pull out your refrigerator (clean coils) check activity
Pull out stoves – clean it, they love, love grease.
When bringing groceries home, check contents. Store is Tupperware and if possible freeze it.
Dog food should always be checked, stored product pests.

Hidden Tubes

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Hidden Tubes

Hidden tubes from termites are a major concern and what you can’t see can hurt you. Termites build tubes up from the ground and they often can be hidden away from eyes. Termites like hidden dark areas, it keeps away the heat and predators. They find their way in via holes, cracks etc in the foundation slab. The picture is the result of a pipe coming up through the slab. When the house is built these penetrations are cleared off and the termiticide is often removed as well. In Arizona look for these signs of termites:

Unusual marking on the wall, appears to be mud/soil tubes.
Down tubes from the ceiling.
Baseboards look damaged, termites eat from inside out – paint buckles.
Outside mud tubes at foundation slabs.
Bathtraps allow termites access into the home, always check areas of plumbing penetrations.
Areas inside garages are susceptible to infestations.

When in doubt call a Professional, ProBest Pest Management is here to serve. Thanks

Roaches

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Roaches

Not my favorite bug, Flies are the worst but roaches and their messiness are just disgusting. German Roaches come inside your home via boxes, they hang tight until they get into your homes from warehouses that contain food stuffs. Then when you leas expect them, they come out to set up shop at your place. So here are a few facts:

They prefer to hide in boxes and are brought into homes.
They are always inside homes, unless lost (OK I’m guessing on that) but they are not an outside bug.
They will eat anything.
They are difficult to get rid of, breed like crazy.
They lay an egg-case with about 30 little eggs inside.
They are a tan color and they have little black stripes on the head.

What to do to keep them out?

1. When bringing home groceries, take product out of the box and put in Tupperware.

2. You can freeze the box, that would kill anything inside. Then put in Tupperware.

3. If you notice one, call a Professional ASAP. Notice #4 above. Oh and don’t use aerosol bombs, those things have their place but often pushes them deeper into cracks and crevices.

4. If you store stuff in garage, don’t use plastic – mice can get into them.

Bath-trap

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Bath-Trap – “You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop, the Termite Zone!

That was from the Twilight Zone – I loved watching that as a kid, sometimes scaring me.

So you are finally having that special first time house built and you see this when you are walking through one day. Hence my problem, home builders are not termite experts and vice-versa. When we pretreated that soil it was all nice and only dirt. Then we sprayed around it and now the builder will take the dirt and chemical termiticide away. Guess where the first place for termite to break the barrier will be, yep the bath-trap or garage (cause its last to be treated and people will walk all over it.

That’s why we put in bath-trap access into the walls of bathrooms!

Play – anywhere, anytime

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Play – Anywhere, anytime

Anywhere you might play, eat, sleep etc. Have you hear the sentence – “You Are Within 3-6 Feet of a Spider Right Now”? A 1995 popular article by famous arachnologist Norman Platnick begins, “Wherever you sit as you read these lines, a spider is probably no more than a few yards away.” From a 1999 Sierra Club book on spiders: “Wherever you are, there is a spider within a meter of you.” From a 2001 book on nature in the city: “Even in Manhattan, you are never more than three feet from a spider.” These are just some of the myths surrounding the sentence because it really depends on where you are. So what about bugs then, you probably have them all around you and you don’t realize it.

Maybe a silverfish in your attic, a cockroach under a kitchen cabinet, maybe an earwig off the back patio or your children are at play. The reason is that they outnumber us and by big numbers, its just that they are so small and often not visible to our naked eye.

Anywhere you play

You can always call A Pro…

So pest control often plays a part in the management of these pests, here in Arizona we have Bark Scorpions and they can sting and cause pain and fear. They normally don’t kill anyone but the sting is painful and can cause more serious trouble to younger children and older adults. Black ad Brown Widow spiders can cause significant more damage and I recommend wearing gloves while doing work outside or in the garage or attic. Cockroaches, flies and rodents can spread diseases and can seriously damage your intestinal tract. That is why I call myself a Public Health Professional and I’m here to stop those bugs and pests from getting to your family and friends. As always if you have questions, have a picture a picture or just need some advice give us a call 602-249-7378

Termites and their sneaky way into our homes

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Those termites will find any way into the house, sometimes it just works out that it is a pipe. Originally a pretreat was done and this should work for many years, if the pretreat was done correctly. So as you are doing your monthly inspection, it would be wise to check any pipe penetrations through your foundation slab. I actually found one swarmer (reproductive) or alate termite walking around inside the shower.

It’s monsoon season here in Arizona so termites are usually a little more active, so please check your home or give us a call at 602-249-7378 or 623-414-0176.

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.

Are you protecting yourself against bed bugs

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Recently I stayed at a motel and as always I check the room, these are a few of the ways I protect myself. No sense bringing something home that you hadn’t planned on.

Some do’s and some don’ts…

Do – hang your clothes on shower rods and place luggage in bathroom. I just leave my clothes in the bathroom, helps with the wrinkles and I have never brought home pests.

Don’t place on bed, chairs or dresser – if bed bugs are in the furniture it is important not to allow them to come home.

By the no bed bugs were present, they must know who they are dealing with…

House rodents in the toilet a myth?

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House Rodents – Rats and Mice?

House rodents are an issue. How are they getting in? During my my almost 25 years of servicing homes, I have only on one occasion found 1 rat in a toilet. But a guy in England has invented a flapper device to help keep them out. “MultiFlap helps special needs teacher left terrified by rat in her toilet”

To be honest I’m not exactly sure how it got there, 2nd story shared bathroom. That would have been one big climb, to get to a toilet 20 feet up but I suppose anything is possible. Here is the link to that device http://www.multiflap.com – I think this one is to fit US toilets is MultiFlap 2 (MF-2) and nobody needs to be half asleep and find something in the toilet in the dark. What a way to be jolted from asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds.

House Rodents Rats Photo provided by Univar

The biggest issue with me is that once in and you have a issue with urine and feces being left everywhere. Rats and mice continue to urinate while running and often the first signs of rodents are their feces. It’s bad enough with flies and that whole regurgitation thing, but rodents will walk over and then walk over your stuff. So whatever they just walked over is going to pass to your food. Often times it isn’t the bug/pest that is the cause but what they do may cause the trigger to a bigger issue. Rats can carry diseases on their fur/hair and transmit that to us, so side on the side of caution. Always the safe bet, keep the pests out. They have a place and that is outside.

Door sweeps and guards.

Keep window screens in place.

Fix any holes.

If you can’t fix an issue call ProBest Pest Management and we can evaluate and come up with a plan. 602-249-7378

What’s hiding under your bathtub!

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Its not always easy getting to a possible infestation from termites, but you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes there are breaks in the concrete where pipes come up. Finding the termites is esential to the cause and must be solved before leaving the job. Never give up!