All posts in “Lyme Disease”

Promoting the proper use and handling of pesticides

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I ran across some great information (BASF ran a home seal) and wanted to pass it along as it pertains to all you Do IT Yourselfers (DIY) pest control folks. The pest control industry is regulated and yes, I know there are some out there that just can’t seem to be honest and ethical about it. The use of pesticides – read the Label and understand before you use it, the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) or (MSDS) and all use directions.

So here is the homeowner site from “Pesticide Environmental Stewardship” site. You know my stance on the use of pesticides, they are essential to our lives. There are some that would argue and honestly I’m sorry that they just don’t understand the big picture. Without pesticides death would constantly be knocking at our doors. I’m not kidding we often hear of Hanta Virus and Bubonic Plague here in Arizona. Even West Nile Virus (WNV) rears its ugly head occasionally and in others states Lyme Disease.  There are some that advocate oils and organics (if you want to argue – put your money where your mouth is and send me some to test – has to be labelled for scorpions) but they in general just don’t hold up long enough. If my tests are proved wrong I’ll tell you about it. We have scorpions in Arizona and in a perfect world we could exclude homes and do other things to keep them out and by the way we do that with home-seals. But not everyone has that kind of money, wish they did. I advocate Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and prefer to do our work from outside (trying to limit the amount of pesticides within homes and if possible outside as well).

Don’t get me wrong here; I don’t advocate power spraying unless there is a need. We do it every once in a while on ticks but if possible we recommend that the pets to get properly treated and try to solve the issues to the benefit of our customers. That is the reason why we are members of PESP and QualityPro, to protect and serve our customers from the bugs that might be harmful and nasty.

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What do you know about ticks?

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In Arizona we run into ticks very often, they are commonly found on dogs, cats, pets and the abundant wildlife we have in the desert. A common way for them to migrate is on the wildlife, such as Ground Squirrels, rodents or even birds which might visit your yard and the tick(s) might actually fall off.

With Bed Bugs becoming more of an issue these days it is extremely important to know what they both look like. So before thinking you have Bed Bugs identify and then plan your attack strategy.

  1. Keep the grass trimmed and keep bushes and trees away from the house.
  2. Keep an eye out for your pets and if you locate a tick remove it correctly.
  3. If you see rodents, take care of them immediately.
  4. Ticks will enter your home so sometimes it is necassary to use pesticides – call a Pest Management Professional for any help in this matter.

Who takes the heat on pesticides?

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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.

Eagle Scout project wages war against Ticks…

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Eagle Scout candidate Matt Aranow with a “tick tube.”

Courtesy By Eleanor Burke/Special to the Town Crier GateHouse News Service Posted Mar 21, 2012 @ 01:08 PM

Eagle Scout candidate and Lincoln-Sudbury High School senior Matt Aranow is on the warpath against Lyme disease in his hometown of Lincoln. This spring he will launch an educational blitz in town, and with the help of his troop, disperse some 600 “tick tubes” in the brushy areas near the town’s playing fields and at Drumlin Farm Audubon Center.

“The tick tubes are supposed to control the numbers of baby ticks in the spring,” explains Matt. “You soak cotton balls in an insecticide, put them inside a cardboard toilet paper core, lay a bunch of them in mouse habitat areas, and the mice take the cotton balls to make their nests. The tick larvae die when they contact the treated cotton.”

Black-legged ticks, often called “deer ticks,” transmit Lyme disease, but white-footed mice and chipmunks–not deer–are the most common source of the bacterial spirochete that causes the disease. As large exurban home lots encroach on and fragment forests, people visit the borderlands where backyards meet woods, prime habitat for the rodents that host the tiny tick larvae when they first hatch from eggs in spring. This first meal helps them survive to the next year when, as nymphs in the spring or as adults in the fall, they find and infect their second and third hosts—often larger mammals such as humans or their pets.

Lincoln’s geography typifies a perfect incubator for the rapid upsurge of Lyme disease seen in Massachusetts and the northeastern U.S. over the last decade. Suburban incursion into previously wooded areas is a major factor in the quadrupling of Lyme incidence in Massachusetts, from1158 to 4019 cases per 100,000 people between 2000 and 2009, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read the rest of the story on Matt Aranow.

Thanks to the following Copyright 2012 The Sudbury Town Crier. Some rights reserved

Trivia question – I’ll send to who ever guesses correctly ($25 gift certificate) what my Eagle Scout Project was! Comment below…………

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