Millions and millions, nightmares may be made of this..
Here in Arizona one of the best methods for keeping out scorpions is a home seal. Use caulking and fill in any holes that are open.
Household pests are tricky to deal with. If you don’t know what to look out for they could go unnoticed and cause serious damage to your property, belongings and general health. The trick is to catch them early and eradicate them before they get the chance to breed and establish their residence.
This list of common household pests has been provided by the expert team who provide pest control in North London, their experts have provided advice on how to get rid of various pests from your home.
Mice
The bane of the kitchen, mice are active all year round and usually nest in areas that are warm and quiet. They often chew up furniture and find their way into food packaging. In addition, they can spread disease. If you’re suffering from a mouse infestation, cleanliness is key. Make sure your kitchen floors and work surfaces are spotless; place packaged food into containers; and put some mouse traps in the most common problem areas.
Moths
Moths are certainly one of the most annoying pests; however, it’s their larvae that does most of the damage. When they lay their sticky eggs on clothing and upholstery it can be very destructive. If you have a moth infestation, clean all of your clothes and ensure your closet is dry and ventilated. In extreme cases, store your clothes in plastic boxes until the problem goes away. Make your own moth traps by hanging up flypaper and putting a little fish oil on it to attract them.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches usually live in warm houses and come out during the night. They often hide in cracks and crevices in the kitchen and will feed on virtually anything. Getting rid of cockroaches requires poisonous bait; however, this can also be harmful to humans, so it must be used with caution.
Bed Bugs
While commonly found in bedding – hence the name – bed bugs can also live in small cracks and crevices. Controlling them can be very difficult as they spread quickly, so if you ever have bed bugs acting fast is the key to success. Wash all of your bedding on a high temperature, and then take apart your bed frame and disinfect it. Vacuum your entire room and give it a thorough clean for safe measure. If the problem re-occurs call an exterminator straight away.
Rats
Of all the pest, rats are without a doubt the most dangerous. Typical signs include droppings, smear marks and teeth marks on cables and furniture. Rats have been known to start electrical fires and can also spread diseases, so dealing with them straight away is paramount. Sometimes traditional pest control products won’t work and you’ll have no choice but to call the professionals. Qualified pest controllers can not only eradicate pests, but could pest-proof your home and this is certainly recommended if you have a recurring problem.
Guest post by Aaron Higgins North London Pest Control
Top 5 Bug Calls of the summer to ProBest Pest Management
- Scorpions (of course).
- Ants
- Cockroaches (mainly American – outside issues) due to heat and lack of water.
- Honeybees.
- Termites
An IGR is a chemical that inhibits the life cycle of an insect. OK what does that mean, some IGR’s stop insects from molting their skin, while others can cause eggs to be sterile and some can stop the formation of chitin which aids in the construction of the exoskeleton. We often add an IGR into a product designed to kill that insect but for some reason that insect maybe because of the sheer numbers evades our kill. This IGR then acts upon those survivors by interfering with molting, reproduction and/or the break down of their skeleton.
An example of this would be a heavy infestation of German Roaches, our goal is to kill them all but sheer numbers dictate that this probably won’t happen. So if we kill 97-98% the IGR is there to help wrap up the remaining numbers. Many of these IGR’s are labeled as “Reduced Risk” meaning that they target the offending bug while not affecting other good bugs. You can actually use an IGR by itself and not use any pesticide, the kill might take longer but use are reducing the pesticide within that structure (IPM).
There are a few IGR’s that target specific pests, I’m going to mention a few because of their ability to work really well (my opinion). There are some new ones that work well and are constantly being tested for new pests.
Gentrol – Cockroaches, beetles and moths.
Precor – Mosquitoes and fleas.
One of the techniques in learning what pests you might have at your home involves monitoring with glue boards.
By placing a few boards around the entrance to the garage may help you to identify what might be getting in. In this case we have some roaches and can quickly come up with a plan to stop them. Simple tools that may lead you to solving a pest problem.
Ask Dr. Bug……………
Last week someone mentioned they had flying bugs in their home, they brought in some samples and they turned out to be Whiteflies. I immediately put on my detective hat and began to ask questions. Had they brought in any plants recently and bingo that was the answer I thought I would hear? A lot of times if we just think about what conditions may have changed and we may get to the right answer.
Whiteflies usually occur in groups on the undersides of leaves. All stages suck plant juice and can damage the plant if numbers are high enough. A few years ago someone had a similar occurrence and they had a potted plant at their front door. Every time they opened the door the whiteflies got sucked right into the home.
Got a question or need some help to identify something, send it to [email protected] and I’ll help to identify and give you some options on control.
“Why self-storage operators should use Professional Pest Management services“. Excellent article from the National Pest Management Association on the truth and myths of storage facilities. Here are few ideas that I had in regards to this topic:
- I’ve actually used a few storage facilities over the years and I must say that the ones I have used have been extremely clean and well kept. But with that being said you never know what someone can or will bring in.
- If the building is older – when was the termite work done. Termite treatments don’t last forever and something popping in and damaging someone’s personal possessions can account for some serious agony.
- Each unit is maintained by the person storing the stuff and each person is different in how and what they see or don’t see. I’m sure you’ve seen the hoarders, so sometimes they may or may not see the problem until it spills out into another unit.
So my advice if you are using a storage unit, keep an eye out for possible pests and advise management if or when you see something strange. Maybe it won’t be anything and then on the other hand it may be something serious.
Photo by PPMA
Flies may disgust me but Bed Bugs just plain and simply creep me out!
Without a doubt it has to be – wait for it, da da Bed Bugs of course. Names will be changed of course to protect the real parties, I’m kidding I would never release names. This was a rental unit and honestly I have never seen this many Bed Bugs ever! If that wasn’t bad enough they also had German Roaches and disgusting can’t even describe this home. The German Roaches were eating the Bed Bugs, gross. The Bed Bugs were everywhere, the bathrooms and the kitchen areas. Not as plentiful in those areas but you could spot them hiding in places where generally you shouldn’t be finding them. The cockroaches were having a grand ole time, they were fat and also hanging out everywhere. You could see them in door frames, door hinges and dressers just waiting for a Bed Bug to come by.
OK so you’re pretty grossed out, this isn’t the worst of it yet. We started our portable steamer and started our crack and crevice work and then that is when I noticed the blood running. It could have been the Amityville house, OK maybe not that bloody but again gross. It is my opinion that we were probably dealing with hundreds maybe thousands of Bed Bugs.
I’ll say this again, Bed Bug treatment is probably not a Do It Yourself job – call in the Professionals. Don’t let it become this situation above, one Bed Bug is all it takes and boom – out of control. Don’t panic – just call a Pro.
