house Archives - Page 8 of 14 - Arizona Pest Control - Pest Management Services

How tough is it to control House Dust Mites?

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First off let me address this from the very start, House Dust Mites are not a pest control issue. We deal with them in connection with Bed Bugs from time to time and really only as a matter of mattress or box spring encasements. I wanted to address this bug in that manner, encasements are the way to go with this bug.

Our homes are their homes, they love human and pet dander or skin flakes. This debris will fall everywhere, carpets, bedding, furniture and furniture. This dust or debris will become airborne and vacuuming is essential in keeping things in check. Along with cockroach skins and dust mites excrement may cause asthma or breathing issues.

A gram of dust vacuumed from carpeting may contain 100-400 and 1 gram of dust vacuumed from furniture may contain 3500 mites.

Encasements are a great way to protect your mattress or box spring investment and keep the dust mites out. Control is possible but it is a ongoing management concern.

Commercial Restaurants or Dairy Farms need this item – EndZone!

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Flies are one of my personal pest peeves, most restaurants don’t think about flies and I regard them in the same category as roaches. Roaches may be a scourge but at least they don’t fly and could be on excrement one minute and then fly into the shop and land on your food. Yuuuuuuuuck!

This is on of the newest products available to help the fly problems, call ProBest Pest Management today – we can discuss your options for your restaurant, dairy farm or even your home. These stickers are indiscreet and can last 7 months inside or 4 months outside. Call today! 602-249-7378

A lot of times vacuuming can really help with Pest Control.

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We often get calls to rid homes of certain bugs and sometimes I just want to say – clean your house first. Its all in the approach to a customer, I have always believed that a home was meant to be lived in. Hoarding though can be dangerous, look I prefer a home that was clutter free but that isn’t always going to happen. So lets just say that your home leans a little closer to clutter than clutter free, what can you do?

If you have carpet vacuum often and make sure you empty the vacuum. We don’t have fleas here in Arizona but I have seen fleas hatch from a bag vacuum and re-infest the entire home again.
Carpet beetles are a problem and if you have a vacuum that really works well, it may be able to suck up the larva and they do all the damage.
Bed Bugs can also hang out near the baseboard and edges of the carpet, so vacuuming could help. Speaking of Bed Bugs if you want to use DE or DiatomaceousEarth – don’t go crazy this stuff can be dangerous when your breath it into your nose.
Don’t use Bug Bombs, they can make the critter go deeper and more of an issue on treating in the future.
Vacuum again.

Photo by PPMA

Hantavirus is serious, what precautions can you take?

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Alert: New Mexico Health Department confirms fatality in NorthWest New Mexico.

Hantavirus is a deadly disease transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva. People can contract the disease when they breathe in aerosolized virus.

CDC Hantavirus site

Tips:

Seal the home or cabin.
Trap or use outside rodent bait/trap stations to reduce numbers, I also suggest TickBoxes.
Reduce food sources, don’t leave out dog/cat food.
Don’t allow clutter to get the best of your home.
Trim trees and bushes.
When cleaning cabins or homes, use a dust mask and follow the CDC guidelines on cleaning.
Rodents cause other issues, be safe and follow CDC guidelines.

EndZone – coming soon – Bye Bye flies.

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The EndZone Insecticide Sticker starts to kill filth files in less than one minute after contact, with up to seven months residual action indoors and four months of residual action outdoors, when protected from rain, excess moisture, dirt, dust, and filth. (Video by FMC)

How do plants and bushes affect termite treatments?

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I truly wish everyone who builds or does work on homes would talk to one another. Here is my list of things I would want to talk about, not in any order:

Don’t plant anything under the roof dripline, it is impossible to stop roots from heading toward your foundation.
Leave the bottom shelf loose when building cabinets in the garage, this way I can see the expansion joint and treat it. Since the bottom shelf just sits there, is there a reason to secure it?
Don’t install water drip or irrigation systems to close to the home, have you ever seen the inside foundation wall just corroded and calcified.
Bear in mind that anything wood or carboard that sets on the expanion joint in the garage could be attacked by termites and that includes books.

The tips for keeping the bugs out, what are they?

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To a Pest Management Professional the slogan – Integrated Pest Management is really important. Why, you ask? Because it is at the heart of what we do, everyday! I don’t think that many of us that really want to harm nature and there is a fine line to doing that and protecting us from the bugs that could kill us.

At its core is this principle – “Integrated Pest Management is a process involving common sense and sound solutions for treating and controlling pests. These solutions incorporate three basic steps: 1) inspection, 2) identification and 3) treatment. Treatment options vary from sealing cracks and removing food and water sources to pesticide treatments when necessary.”

But you and I both know that it isn’t always easy controlling certain pests like cockroaches in apartments, so its take everyone’s cooperation and help to solve the dilemna. The same goes for scorpions, home-sealing is just one step to controling these beasts.

So heer are a few tips to help you in your mission to keep your home or business bug free.

Home-seal your home or buisness (fill in cracks and crevices).
Fix any leaking pipes.
Don’t stack firewood or any material against your house, the idea is to be clutter free.
Keep trees and bushes clear from your home.
De-clutter.
Don’t bring in used furniture until you check it completely.
Repair screens and door thresholds.
Those holes at the roofline are to allow the attic to breath, don’t let birds or wildlife make their home there.
A clean home is less attractive to wildlife and pests.

Termites are active in Arizona.

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The first picture is at the tire stop and the termites decided to just continue right on to the wall. The 3rd picture is my favorite, it appears someone decided to paint right over the tube. Maybe they were trying to hide it from the dreaded Termite Inspector (Me), by the way that doesn’t work.

What won’t termites eat?

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Termites don’t eat concrete or plastics, but they will build over it and many other products. There was a few years ago some type of foam which was filled with concrete and it always worried me as in my opinion it was just a space in which they could build a tube.

Garages are well known for termite activity, I guess when build it is the last concrete poured and who knows want went on after the pretreatment. That story for another day, but I find termites in garages often and this is not always what I find but it is interesting. Since the expansion joint is visible in the garage, this is what you look for when performing a termite inspection. Mud tubes or tunnels coming up the foundation wall into the structure, are often visible unless you have storage against the walls which most people do. So the lesson here is not to obstruct the expansion joint, better said than done since the garage is the catch all of our lives.

I recommend a yearly inspection which is free from ProBest unless it is for a sale of a home or business for termites if you live in the South or Southwest and if you notice anything that looks like mud inside the home call Professional Termite Company ASAP.

How do you know the problem is huge – when the cockroaches are everywhere?

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The very minute you walk into the home, you know there are issues. How does the bug guy know? Let me share my observations:

The cockroaches are in the door hinges or above the entry door into the home.
The cockroaches are in the bedrooms.
The cockroaches are in the living or dining rooms.
The home has a distinct odor. Once you have been in a home with a severe cockroach problem you never forget that smell. The same applies to Bed Bugs and sometimes rats or rodents.

Did you know that a smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people’s moods and even affect their work performance. Maybe walking into a house where someone is baking cookies and you instantly recall your Grandmother in the kitchen or if your a pest operator walking into a place where the roaches far outnumber any other living things. Gives you the heebie jeebies right?

Tell me your instant recall of a smell you have encountered, maybe I’ll share a few more.

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