Bed Bugs versus Bug Bombs
http://www.pctonline.com/Jones-bed-bug-bugbombs.aspx and http://www.pctonline.com/pct1012-ineffective-foggers-bed-bugs.aspx
Phoenix, Arizona celebrates 50 years.
The Phoenix Zoo is one of the largest private non-profit organizations in the country. We rely on admissions, concessions, memberships, special event and philanthropic donations for our daily operations.
By supporting the Phoenix Zoo, such donations have helped the Phoenix Zoo to serve over 42 million people since opening in 1962, care for more than 1,300 animals, including hundreds of endangered or threatened species and become the second most popular cultural attraction in Arizona, behind only the Grand Canyon.
Congratulations to the Zoo, it’s a cool place to check out the animals and have some great family fun!
What do you suppose cockroaches will eat? 
Well I would imagine almost anything! They will eat wallpaper paste, sweets, starch, glue, leather, hair, dog or cat food, grease and oils, soap – well you get the picture almost anything. They are not as picky as Bed Bugs who only live on blood! It is important to understand what they eat because if you are putting a gel bait out and they have enough food they may never get to the gel. I have on many occasions had to inform a homeowner that they must clean the refrigerator because there was grease running down the sides and it was competing with my program.
German Roaches (BugInfo.com) are the ones to watch for, here are a few tips to keeping them out!
- Open food boxes after shopping and discard the box, roaches love to hide in between cardboard.
- Sanitation is the key, isn’t there a saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.
- If you spot one roach, find it and see if there are others.
- Handle the situation immediatley or call a Pest Management Professional
Do those Sonic Bug repellers work?
Lifehacker.com Alan Henry wrote an article “Stop Wasting Money on Sonic Bug Repellants: They don’t work.” with some personal experience backing up the claim that indeed they do not work. He quoted sources along with hard data and research. I have seen a few of these devices myself and I’ve seen them mottled with roach feces and live & dead bodies.
How the bugs get in? Part 3 – This part will talk about keeping them out.
I watch a lot of those Police, Forensic, True Detective type shows and I think the reason I do this is because I like to figure out the clues. I think “if I was a bug how would I get in”? Then I use those clues to come up with the plan of attack, without the inspection there would be no clues, no insights and no plan of attack.
So from Part 1 and Part 2, we see the problem and now my recommendations to stop the American (sewer) Roaches from continuing to get into the facility. Install screens and make sure to put water into the S-trap or P-traps whatever you may call it. I also noticed a grease trap outside the back door, after I had made this observation it became obvious where these roaches were spending their time.
There is plenty of room inside the lids and the top and sides for roaches to hide and disgusting as it may be plenty of food for them to eat – remember what they need to survive – food, shelter and water – the trifecta for roaches. So that P-trap or S-trap becomes essential in keeping gases and them out of the building. They also have drain net or baskets to keep foreign debris from getting into the grease trap, I once saw a fork and drinking glass inside a grease trap – no idea how that worked itself way down into that trap.
Book em Dano I mean Keith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How the bugs get in? Part 2
This is one of those issues that most people don’t think about – at all. Let’s say you are a snowbird, or you have a spare bathroom that you hardly ever use except when company drops by? Do you ever consider the bathtub drain or the sink drain? Do you know what a P-trap or a S-trap is and what function it serves?
This device allows water to form and become somewhat of a seal against gases and other notorious stuff including bugs from coming up the drain pipes. So if you never check that bathroom or the drain, the water evaporates and allows those noxious fumes and sometimes bugs the opportunity to enter your home of business. I even recommend adding a little mineral oil to the drain, as this will protect the water from evaporating as fast – I understand that this will not harm the water treatment system. This also may prevent those bugs from swimming through the water and by getting it on their skin and possible stopping them from breathing.
See the American roaches – they are commonly called sewer roaches because they hide in sewer pipes and systems.
A Picture is worth a “Thousand Words”
I love this picture, this crack is about as thick as a credit card and this German Cockroach was making it’s way into it, without much difficulty. German Roaches love to have their top and bottoms of their bodies touching an object, it affords them comfort in knowing that they are out of sight and hidden. This is called Thigmotropic – The turning or bending response of an organism upon direct contact with a solid surface or object.
This isn’t the greatest picture but roaches and bugs are able to hide in the smallest of harborages, just think about the ability of Bed Bugs to hide behind baseboards and in dressers or just about any area in which they can flatten out and hide. Remember pests have adapted to us and have done so in remarkable a fashion, they can hide so well that it takes a true Professional to track them down.
So you got Bee’s what do you do?
We have talked about my opinions about Do It Yourself (DIY) bee control, here in Arizona the rule of thumb is that all bees are Africanized. What does that mean to the general homeowner? My opinion is don’t mess with them at all. Why do I say this, the is my biggest reason – once you have pissed them off there are no take backs. You can’t start over, they will be upset and nasty for hours. Why would or should this concern you? Let’s say you begin the project, you hit them with a can of bug spray, they become nasty and attack the neighbor’s dog and then you notice kids coming down the street! Africanized Bee’s will follow you for 1/2 mile, stinging anything they can. They also don’t give up very easily, once a bee stings you they release a pheromone and that alerts any bee nearby to attack. An average 200 pound person can possibly take 1000 stings or die from a single sting.
I have seen this first hand, we attempted to get rid of a colony that was huge – at least 100,000 and we decided to use our tank in the back of the truck for a quicker kill. These bees were highly agitated and continued to sting for hours, thank goodness we had bee suits on.
And now the rest of the story….
So, as is often the case, we kill the bees and secondary pests take over. Its not always easy to decide if you should open the wall or not. If the bees are recent invaders, I would leave it alone. If they have been there awhile it is probably a good thing to open the wall. Secondary pests like cockroaches, wax moths and ants may soon find there way into the sticky but sweet honey and that may be when your real nightmare begins.
Who takes the heat on pesticides?
It’s difficult for me to side any other way than to say Pesticides are good! Many will disagree but the fact is that pesticides have saved countless lives throughout history. I was reminded of this through my distributor “Univar Environmental Services” in a story they posted in their monthly newsletter.
- When mosquitoes are controlled, you help prevent West Nile Virus transmission.
- When products help ensure proper termite control, they save you from massive property damage.
- Helping to keep cockroach allergens at bay lowers asthma triggers for children.
- And fewer ticks and rodents can mean less Lyme disease and Hanta Virus.
It all adds up to Univar supplying both the products and services to help you improve your customers’ environments.
The pest scourge of homes – German Cockroaches!
If I asked people in general to name the one one pest that afflicts their home, I think it would be roaches. So what is it about roaches that makes them a up close pest within our homes? Basically these roaches have adapted well to humans and they will eat anything we eat. Cockroaches are among the hardiest insects on the planet.
Cockroaches typically become established in homes after being introduced in grocery bags, with laundry or, in some cases, wandering in from outdoors. Once cockroaches become established they are prolific breeders capable of producing several thousand offspring in a year.
Cockroaches prefer to live where there is food, warmth & moisture. Since cockroaches flourish where food and moisture are readily available, sanitation is an important step in prevention and control. Empty soft drink bottles, cardboard boxes and paper bags should not be allowed to accumulate. Food containers should be sealed and any crumbs or spillage cleaned up, along with any grease that accumulates around the stove area. I also suggest that you pull out the stove and refrigerator yearly and clean the area, including the fan motor. If you are going to store food items, I prefer to freeze them and then seal them in food containers.
If you notice one roach react quickly because they are breeding machines. Don’t just let it go because one roach may become several roaches quite quickly. The German cockroach produces more eggs and has more generations per year (three to four) than other roaches.