All posts in “ProBest”

Home seals, are they worth the money?

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Based on these pictures I would have to say – YES!

 

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If your dealing with scorpions or crickets, you can see how they get in. So what do you do about it, seal it. Or pay somebody else to do it, by the way do it in the winter when its cooler. We use clear caulking, it goes on white and dries clear. It is very difficult because you are only working in an area of maybe 4 inches, don’t seal the round holes as they allow the house to breath and let water escape.

 

probestpestmanagementIMAG0751      probestpestmanagementIMAG0758 Even small Smith’s Black Headed Snakes might be able to get in….

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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2 things to do to reduce scorpions activity at your home!

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  1. Reduce the food source – if you take away their food, they will die.
  2. Black light and reduce their numbers.

 

probestpestmanagementIMG_20130906_131434     probestpestmanagementIMG_20130731_155852Photo by David H.

Reduce their food supply and harborage areas by performing monthly pest control.

If you spend the time to reduce their numbers, you will keep their numbers in check.

As always call ProBest Pest Management 602-249-7378 or 623-414-0176

Termites issues – See anything?

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Termites – Notice anything unusual?

Termites issues

Termites issues

termite

termite

I was driving the other day and noticed this on numerous homes in one specific neighborhood. Well here is my take, the pretreat didn’t work. So why did the pretreat not work? Here are my clues on this one.

  1. Wasn’t done at all.
  2. Wasn’t the correct mixture.
  3. Maybe somebody thought they did these homes, maybe not.
  4. Maybe a chemical we thought would work in AZ and didn’t.
  5. Wasn’t done at all, oops I said that again. Many of these homes had limited angle drilling and that leads me to think something is amiss, I’m not dropping names but in my opinion it’s a scary thing.

Why does it look like the ants are marching?

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The ants go ing in one and one…

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We have some very artistic pieces of folk art here in Arizona.  If these ants invaded your picnic it would be all over. Once an ant finds food they lay a trail and head for home, once home all the other ants follow that trail right back to the food. So if you stop that first ant, you may stop the party for the ants. Have a nice time at the picnic but beware the bugs.

ProBest Pest Management delivers on new service – document disposal

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Did you Know…

  • The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees. This amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year!
  • Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away each year in the U.S.
  • Recycling creates 1.1 million U.S. jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales and $37 billion in annual payrolls.
  • Thousands of U.S. companies have saved millions of dollars through their voluntary recycling programs. They wouldn’t recycle if it didn’t make economic sense.
  • Recycling creates four jobs for every one job created in the waste management and disposal industries.

ProBest Pest Management and our U.S. Contract Postal Unit will now have on hand – secure drop off bins for easy destruction of personal papers and documents. We have teamed up with TNT Shredding – you drop off your papers and documents to a secure bin and they pick up and shred.

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Citations:
NAID
is the international trade association for companies providing information destruction services. The NAID Certification Program establishes standards for safety, security, and privacy needed to be maintained by certified companies.

BBB (Better Business Bureau)

A BBB Accredited Business since 12/15/2009. BBB has determined that TNT Shredding, LLC meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints.

CrimShield

NAID is the international trade association for companies providing information destruction services. The NAID Certification Program establishes standards for safety, security, and privacy needed to be maintained by certified companies.

 InfoSafe

InfoSafe is the industry leading information security and privacy compliance certification program. InfoSafe forces companies to have the necessary administrative, physical, and technical required by all major federal, state and industry regulations.

NPMA’s strategic plan – education, protection, and growth

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NPMA_RGB

 

August 21, 2013 (Fairfax, Va.) – The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) is pleased to announce the launch of a new logo and tagline as part of the association’s ongoing evolution of its brand, which began in 2012 with the creation of the association’s strategic plan.

During its July meeting, the Board of Directors approved a new logo and tagline that represents the goals identified in NPMA’s strategic plan – education, protection, and growth.

“It was the perfect time to evaluate our company’s brand and logo to ensure it was in sync with who we are and where we are going,” stated NPMA Executive Vice President Bob Rosenberg. “For 80 years, NPMA’s members have helped to build a trusted brand in the pest management industry. It is with them in mind that we are excited to unveil our new, fresh visual identity to further strengthen our position as an industry leader and carry us into the future.”

The new logo showcases a shield around a person and a structure, graphically depicting the industry’s protection of person and property. The new tagline, “Our Mission is Your Protection” provides a dual purpose. While NPMA’s mission is to provide protection to its members through advocacy, education, and business opportunities, the logo and tagline was also designed with association members in mind, as it is their mission to protect their customers.

Over the next few weeks, NPMA will be updating its collateral, stationery, and Web site with the new logo. A formal launch is planned for PestWorld 2013, to be held in Phoenix, Arizona on October 22-25. For more information, visit www.npmapestworld.org/pestworld2013.

Spider skeleton & other facts

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skeleton

skeleton

The skeleton of a spider is located on the outside of the body.

The sense of smell of an ant is just about as good as a dog’s is.

It would take about 1,200,000 mosquitoes to fully drain the average human body of blood. Not something I would like to test, just saying.

One single bite by a Bullet ant (4+) is so painful that is compared to bullet; hence its name is bullet ant. It can make your time very bad, causing trembling, burning, perspiration, throbbing and sometimes paralysis that last about 24 hours. It lives in rain-forests from Nicaragua to Amazon basin. There is a guy who lets insects bite or sting for a pain index – Justin O. Schmidt 0-4 with 4 being you might want to be dead.

A baby cockroach can run side by side with its parents.

Insect bodies have three parts, the thorax, abdomen and head.

Beetles are the most bio-diverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species described to date, making up 40 percent of all insect species on the books. That’s a lot of beetles to catalog.

Only male crickets chirp.

Most insects hatch from eggs. (Don’t collect praying Mantis egg cases in winter and store them in your bedroom over the winter) they will hatch.

Bugs fear him and homeowner’s (OK maybe like him)

3 Comments

I saw these huge fly swatters the other day at a store and couldn’t help buying one, if your problem requires the use of something this BIG then you need to amke one call. That call would be to ProBest Pest Management 602-249-7378 or 623-414-0176.

 

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There are some things you can do on your own, but take caution on termites, bed bugs and Africanized Honeybees.

Now that we talked about sanitation, what is the next step?

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On August 25th we did a home seal on Sanitation. We briefly talked about sanitation, but what factors play into cleanliness? How about the age of the building, how about shift work and who is responsible for over all cleaning? The entire staff must understand and management must concur with protocols.

  • So what if the building was 20 years old, will it differ from something newer? Maybe?
  • What type of floor does it have, tile, concrete and what about mats?
  • What about equipment, are there numerous cracks and nooks within?
  • Is there water present, how about fans and what range of temperatures?

Is this establishment a restaurant? Are there specials conditions?

  • Is there a bar, how about a buffet?
  • What kind of seats are available?
  • What are the operating hours, when must the work be done?

So what if this is your home? Why does sanitation play a role?

  • If you’ve seen Hoarders you know why? I have seen peanut jelly sandwiches between mattress and box springs, really!
  • Carpet or tile?
  • Laundry and who is responsible, depending on ages of children (or that guy that never cleans)?

So that next step might be to go back to the beginning and then make sure everyone knows their job and duties. The job is never-ending. But in the long haul if everyone understands their responsibilities it will be easier to figure out where the pests are coming from and handle the situation before it becomes impossible.

So do you have any other comments or ideas that may help?

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