Do-It-Yourself Pest Control blog

Carpenter Ant

Carpenter ants are becoming more of a pest in our homes because of the decreased use of pesticide sprays, the use of more natural building products and building houses in wooded areas.  If you see carpenter ants in your house you should take steps to eradicate them before they do serious damage.

IDENTIFICATION: These ants are normally much bigger than the average ant, and are not seen foraging in great numbers.  Colors vary and there may be different sizes in the same colony.  All carpenter ants have a humped back with no indentation, while other ants have one or more.  All ants, whether flying or not, have a very narrow waist (flying termites have no waist).

INSPECTION AND ELIMINATION: Large flying or foraging ants seen inside the home usually means the colony is inside, not outside.  The surest, quickest, cheapest way to eliminate the colony is to find the nest and apply dust directly into the gallery.  An inspection of the crawl space, basement, fireplace, attic, roof, gutters, windows, bathrooms, sinks, door frames, etc. is recommended.  You are looking for sawdust, dead ants, and moisture problems.  If you find the water leak the ants will be there also.  Tapping on the wall will excite the ants and make them start clicking which will pinpoint the nest. (Nobody wants to do this inspection, but carpenter ants often mean water leaks, and that needs to be corrected).  So you did the inspection and you found nothing, now what.  Try putting out tuna packed in water (not oil) and watching them take the food back to the nest.  The ants forage more actively at night.   Upon finding the nest, drill several ¼ inch holes into the nest and apply Drione dust with a bellows duster.  The colony will be dead within minutes.  Do not apply a liquid or an aerosol, the ants will probably escape and relocate from this treatment. In some cases there are more than one colony in your house, so continue to be on the lookout for foraging ants.

CARPENTER ANT BAITS: Maxforce carpenter ant bait and Advance granular bait are available for baiting.  Use both of these at the same time.  Refresh bait once a week.   Allow 4-12 weeks for control of the colony.  Do not use baits and any kind of spray at the same time.  These baits usually work, but I still recommend you find the colony and kill it with the dust.  Remember that the colony is often found in conjunction with a moisture problem.

PREVENTION: Trim overhanging tree limbs and bushes.  Keep the wood pile far from the house.  Remove dead limbs and stumps from trees in the yard.  Spray a residual insecticide such as Bifen on the outside of your house 3 times a season to keep ants from entering your home.  Correct all moisture problems in your home.

As always, call us if you are stumped.  Maybe a fresh look at the problem will help you find the colony.

Brown Recluse Spider

You know how sometimes a story will take on a life of it’s own? Like how chlordane was magical mystery potion and lasted for 400 years? Or that there is a special rat poison that dries the rats up so they don’t smell if they die in the wall?  Well, the latest one that I am hearing on a regular basis is how brown recluse spiders are the most dangerous thing since wearing a Red Sox Jersey at Yankee Stadium. Everyone I meet these days either has been bitten by or knows somebody who was bitten by a brown recluse.  Then they go into all of the gory details of the wound and how horrible it was. It’s a wonder anyone is still alive with all the mayhem brown recluse spiders have unleashed on mankind.

“So what’s the real truth Ken?”, I can hear you asking.

The truth is this: Brown Recluse Spiders are not as common as you think.  They are primarily found in the Central Midwest and to a lesser extent south of there.  As a rule they are not found along the eastern or western coasts or the Rocky Mountain States or in any state bordering Canada. The vast majority of bites blamed on them in these areas are mis-diagnosed.

“But my doctor said mine was definitely a Brown Recluse bite.”, I can hear you say.

Well, according to Rick Vetter, University of California Entomologist arguably the world’s foremost authority on the misdiagnosis of brown recluse spider bites, bites from recluse spiders are routinely misdiagnosed. The public often overreacts based on wrong or misleading information and arachnophobia, says Vetter.  This can often make it difficult to separate the facts from the legends. Wounds are often blamed on spiders, and particularly the recluse, when there is absolutely no way to verify it. Vetter explained that there are many things that can cause wounds that are virtually indistinguishable from the recluse’s bite, including Lyme disease, diabetic ulcers, herpes or ringworm. Then there are other spiders that bite and can cause wounds.  The Yellow Sac Spider is one of the most common spiders in North America. Many experts believe that they are responsible for more spider bites than all other spiders combined. And here’s the thing.  Their bites, and the resulting wounds, are almost identical to those of the brown recluse, with one exception.  They are not as severe. So there is all of this hysteria about the Brown Recluse Spider and it turns out that they are getting a bad rap from a completely different spider.

“But if a Brown Recluse bites you all your skin will rot away!”, I hear you saying.

Not really.  Turns out that about 90% of the time Brown Recluse Spider bites leave no scars and heal quite nicely on their own.  Sure, about 10% have bad outcomes but remember that we’re talking about 10% of real brown recluse bites.  There’s no way to know just how many reported bites are actual brown recluse bites but it’s safe to assume that is far less than anecdotal evidence would suggest.

“So what are you saying, Ken?” I hear you saying.

Just don’t believe everything you hear, that’s all.  And if you see a brown spider in your house, don’t burn the place down. It’s likely not a brown recluse.  Even if it is, it’s not the end of the world.  You can buy insecticides today that are much, much more effective on spiders than the ones we had just a few years ago.  So I’ll keep doing my part to stamp out arachnophobia. I just need a little help.

If ever a news story illuminated the extent  of the bed bug epidemic that faces us, this one (shown below) does.  It just goes to show you that bed bugs do not discriminate.  Be it an upscale clothing store in the SoHo district of Manhattan or government housing in the slums, bed bugs can and will exploit any opportunity they find. The Pest Management Industry needs to take the lead and advise retailers on the proper handling of returns to avoid such problems.  If it can happen at a Hollister store it can happen anywhere.

(Reuters) – Teen apparel chain Abercrombie & Fitch Co has closed its Hollister store in New York City due to bedbug infestation.

The store, in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, was closed on Wednesday, the company said. It said it was in the process of removing the bedbugs and hoped to reopen the store soon.

Abercrombie & Fitch spokesman Eric Cerny had no comment on how the store closing could affect sales and profits.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; editing by John Wallace)

We get bombarded by the media 24/7 about all the hazards that face us if we have the nerve to leave the safety of our house.  Many of the news stations don’t let the facts get in the way, just get a scary story on the tube.

Over the years pesticide phobia has increased dramatically.  Below are what our customers tell us and what the facts actually are.

I won’t use pesticides in my house, they are poison.  Yes, a pesticide is a poison, this is the very definition of the word:  a product that kills a pest.

I only use natural, organic products in my house to control pests.  If a substance, whether natural or manmade, kills a pest by its very definition it is a poison.  Many times the home cure is far more hazardous to your health than buying a pesticide labeled to control that particular pest.

As a homeowner, what should you do?  Just tolerate the bugs, rats, etc.?  Pests can spread all kinds of disease, not to mention the damage they can do to our possessions.  To protect the health of your children and your pets, judicious use of pesticides are often required.

Today’s pesticides are tested for many years before they are allowed on the market.  Once on the market they are monitored for long-term health effects.  This is not to say they are not poisonous, but if used correctly and at the label rate they pose few health hazards to you, your children and your pets.  When using a liquid product, the pets and the children should not be in the area until the product has dried, one to two hours.  The concentrated pesticide poses a far greater hazard and should be stored where small hands and pets cannot reach them.

Whenever possible, use mechanical or pheromone traps, dusts, and baits.  The dusts and baits have pesticides in them but at very small percentages which make them a very low hazardous product.  Use IGRS.  These are insect growth regulators.  These products disrupt the life cycles of insects in various ways and provide long term insect control with almost no hazard to you or your pets.

On a side note, I know that a lot of people will only buy organic produce.  The vast majority of food poisoning in the last 20 years has come from organic produce, not from pesticide or inorganic fertilizer poisoning.  Small amounts of pesticides applied at the right time and in the right amount on crops greatly increase the yields and quality of that crop with almost no risk to the consumer.

Conclusion.  Use common sense.  Read the pesticide label.  Pick the product or products that will cure your particular pest problem.  Don’t apply a bunch of bleach, borax, baking soda, salt, diatomaceous earth, boric acid, ammonia, etc. on your carpet or in your cupboards.  You risk destroying your possessions and may put your pets and small children in hazard’s way.

We hope everyone had as an enjoyable 4^th of July weekend as we did here! We had many customer phone calls about eliminating backyard pests in preparation for their celebrations. Anticipating more outdoor gatherings to come this summer, we prepared some simple tips to eliminate backyard pests in time for your next event.

The two most common backyard pest complaints are flies and mosquitoes. To reduce flies, place a few fly traps around the backyard a week before your gathering. These fly traps will also help reduce the amount of flies that get inside your home. For mosquitoes, make sure you remove any unnecessary standing water in the area. Standing water is a mosquito’s perfect breeding ground. We highly recommend spreading Mosquito Granules in the area the day before your event. Mosquito Granules is also labeled to decrease flies in the area so it’s a great two-for-one treatment.

If you spend a large amount of time in your backyard, there’s nothing quite like the Mosquito Magnet for a persistent mosquito fighter. The Mosquito Magnet attracts mosquitoes with a pheromone and literally sucks the mosquitoes up like a vacuum. Depending on the model, prices range from $350-600.

We always recommend having a can of pyrethrum handy to target any extremely pesky flies or mosquitoes. Pyrethrum is one of the safest insecticides available but avoid spraying your food. As always, please contact us if you have any questions!

“I won’t use insecticides in my house.  They’re just too dangerous.”   I’ve heard this so many times and it always makes me wonder just how pesticides got such a bad reputation.  I would never suggest that pesticides are completely safe and not worthy of concern. It seems to me though, that when the discussion turns to pesticides, concerns have turned to fears, and fears have turned to phobias.  To make matters worse, the pest control industry has done a very poor job of explaining to the public just how low the level of toxicity is with most of today’s pesticides. The resulting fear of insecticides has caused many people to unknowingly put their family and pets in harm’s way.  I personally know of a situation where a man was so scared of insecticides that he refused to treat his property for fleas.  The resulting flea infestation was so severe that he lost and adult dog and 3 of his 6 puppies.  The flea infestation, as it turned out, was a far greater threat than was the toxicity of the insecticides which would have prevented it.

Toxicity of products is usually measured and expressed as the “LD50”.  The LD50 is usually expressed in mg of product per kg of body weight of a test subject (usually rats).

It’s basically a measure of how much product is required to kill 50% of a test group of rats. So the higher the LD50 number the safer the product.  Below is a chart that shows some common insecticides and some common household products along with their respective LD50’s.

Toxicity Chart - click to enlarge

As you can see, many peoples concerns about insecticides are far out of proportion to the actual level of risk.  I’m not saying that you should be careless and unconcerned about pesticides.  I am saying that there is a risk vs. reward when using pesticides and we can’t look at the risk without also looking at the reward.  That’s all.  I’ll get off my soap box now.

I recently read an article in the American Naturalist about a study which seems to prove that mother crickets have the potential to teach their offspring, while still in their eggs, about the hazards of spiders. You see, in the cricket world, momma is long gone by the time her eggs hatch.  So you would think that there is no way for her to teach them about the dangers and threats they will face day to day right?  Wrong!  It seems that certain crucial knowledge is passed from mom to her babies before they are even born.

To better understand how crickets learn to avoid spiders, researchers covered a wolf spiders’ fangs with wax so that it was harmless. They then placed it into an enclosure with pregnant crickets. The spider could hunt and catch the crickets, but couldn’t kill them. Other crickets were placed in a second enclosure that was left spider-free.

When the baby crickets hatched, researchers discovered very distinct behavioral differences between the crickets whose mothers were exposed to the threat of spiders and those from the spider-free enclosure. Crickets from spider-exposed mothers proved far more wary of wolf spiders.  In fact they remained hidden 113 percent longer than crickets whose mothers hadn’t faced a threat from a spider. The crickets with a spider-exposed mother were also found to be more likely to ‘freeze’ when they ran into spider silk or feces, a behavior that could very likely save their life.  It’s no big surprise that crickets whose mothers were exposed to the spiders, produced offspring that survived better in the presence of spiders.

Researchers found this same behavior to be true in wild crickets as well. They collected pregnant crickets from their natural habitat and found that their offspring behaved differently toward spiders.  They were far more cautious than the crickets whose mothers lived in areas where spiders were less common.

The researchers aren’t exactly sure how the mother transfers the information to her unborn young.  They suspect that a mother cricket’s fearful encounter with a spider releases a stress hormone that influences the development of her embryos.

This information starts to blur the line in the “nature vs. nurture” argument. Perhaps nature IS nurture.

Rodents are just like us.  They need shelter, food and water.  Since we have all of that, they like to live with us.  If you would prefer they live elsewhere, follow these four basic steps.

1. Inspection –  If you see a mouse in your kitchen, you may have more mice in other parts of your house.  Inspect your house from your attic to the crawlspace for signs of rodents.

2. Elimination –  Start with glue boards and snap traps. Follow up with poison baits in protective bait stations if needed.  Your goal is to have zero rodents in your house.

3. Removal of Shelter, Food, and Water –  Only when you are certain that the rodent population is completely eliminated should you go to work depriving them of their three basic needs for survival.

Shelter –  Cut overhanging tree branches from around house.  Many houses have vines and bushes on their house.  Eliminate these if possible, or at least trim them so there is a space between them and the house.  Your goal is to deprive the rodents from having easy access to your house.

Food & water –  Bird feeders and pet food are the biggest rodent attractors.  Buy a rodent proof bird feeder.  Sweep up excess bird seed.  Feed and water the pets inside, put out only enough pet food for one feeding.  Keep a protective bait station set with a snap trap under the bird feeder at all times.

4. Exclusion –  When you are certain that you have killed all the rodents and you have removed the branches, bushes, clutter, etc. from around the house, you are now ready to exclude future rodents of their basic need of shelter.  For small areas such as plumbing use Stuf-It.  (copper mesh that can be cut to size)  For larger areas such as roof peaks, cut hardware cloth to size and staple it around the entry points.  Spray the wood under and around the patch with Ropel.  This gives the wood an extremely bitter taste and prevents the rodent from cutting the wood surrounding the patch.

Every rodent elimination job is different, but remember rodents cannot survive for long without food, water and shelter.

Genetic Engineering.  It’s a scary term that conjures up visions of mad scientists and Big Brother.  But Luke Alphey of Oxford University has been able to genetically alter male mosquitoes so that their female offspring cannot fly.  The potential impact of a breakthrough such as this is enormous.  Since mosquitoes of one species only mate with their same species researchers will be able to target specific disease carrying species.  The initial goal was to reduce the spread of Dengue Fever, a serious mosquito-spread disease around the world. A number of confirmed cases of Dengue Fever have been reported recently in Florida, making this research even more interesting.  If testing goes as expected we could see genetically engineered efforts aimed at Malaria soon.

Flightless Mosquitoes Developed to Help Control Dengue Fever

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — A new strain of mosquitoes in which females cannot fly may help curb the transmission of dengue fever, according to UC Irvine and British scientists.

Dengue fever causes severe flulike symptoms and is among the world’s most pressing public health issues. There are 50 million to 100 million cases per year, and nearly 40 percent of the global population is at risk. The dengue virus is spread through the bite of infected femaleAedes aegypti mosquitoes, and there is no vaccine or treatment.

UCI researchers and colleagues from Oxitec Ltd. and the University of Oxford created the new breed. Flightless females are expected to die quickly in the wild, curtailing the number of mosquitoes and reducing — or even eliminating — dengue transmission. Males of the strain can fly but do not bite or convey disease.

When genetically altered male mosquitoes mate with wild females and pass on their genes, females of the next generation are unable to fly. Scientists estimate that if released, the new breed could sustainably suppress the native mosquito population in six to nine months. The approach offers a safe, efficient alternative to harmful insecticides.

Study results appear in the early online edition of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of Feb. 22. The research is receiving funding support from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, which was launched to support breakthrough advances for health challenges in the developing world.

“Current dengue control methods are not sufficiently effective, and new ones are urgently needed,” said Anthony James, Distinguished Professor of microbiology & molecular genetics and molecular biology & biochemistry at UCI and an internationally recognized vector biologist. “Controlling the mosquito that transmits this virus could significantly reduce human morbidity and mortality.”

Using concepts developed by Oxitec’s Luke Alphey, the study’s senior author, researchers made a genetic alteration in the mosquitoes that disrupts wing muscle development in female offspring, rendering them incapable of flight. Males’ ability to fly is unaffected, and they show no ill effects from carrying the gene.

“The technology is completely species-specific, as the released males will mate only with females of the same species,” Alphey said. “It’s far more targeted and environmentally friendly than approaches dependent upon the use of chemical spray insecticides, which leave toxic residue.”

“Another attractive feature of this method is that it’s egalitarian: All people in the treated areas are equally protected, regardless of their wealth, power or education,” he added.

James and Alphey have pioneered the creation of genetically altered mosquitoes to limit transmission of vector-borne illnesses. While their current work is focused on the dengue fever vector, they noted that this approach could be adapted to other mosquito species that spread such diseases as malaria and West Nile fever.

The hard facts. Fleas are becoming resistant to all of the products that are used for monthly treatments.  Relying on only these products for flea control is a recipe for a flea infestation sometime this summer.  The use of a product containing Methoprene (Insect Growth Regulator for fleas) at the beginning of the season would have prevented the flea cycle from getting out of hand.  If you have not yet sprayed Methoprene, spray now and again in 6 months for continuous interruption of the flea life cycle. (Egg, larvae, pupa, adult)

Trouble shooting tips to eliminate a flea infestation:

1. Cleaning the house. Vacuum daily.  Don’t forget the window sills, furniture, under the cushions, and the back of closets.  Cats especially like to sit on shelves, etc.  Dispose of vacuum bag daily.  Apply insecticide on the bottom of a flat mop.  Mop  under all the appliances and furniture on tile or wood floors.  Change or clean the air conditioning filters.  Wash the pet’s bedding.
2. Pets. Keep the pets inside.  The pets will attract the hatching fleas.  Dip or shampoo the pets weekly.
3. Treatments with adulticides. No product will kill the flea pupae.  Over time the pupae will hatch into adult fleas which can be killed with spraying.  Treatments often have to be done 2-4 times over a period of a few weeks to get relief.  You have to wait for the pupae to hatch.  Applying water on a dry yard outside will speed the hatch.  Applying a thin mist of water only through a sprayer and vacuuming inside will speed the hatch.
4. Garages.  If the animal spends a lot of time in the garage, consider taking everything out of the garage.  Sprinkle a dust (Drione works well) onto the bare concrete garage floor.  With a stiff broom work this dust into the cracks and crevices, paying extra attention to the corners.  Vacuum up the excess.  Put stuff back into garage.
5. Sensitive areas.  If you have a room with an invalid or a baby, consider placing a Flea Trap in that room.  The trap is a glue board with a hot lamp above it.  The fleas get stuck on the glue.
6. Weird animals.  Sometimes people have fleas but no pets?  It can happen.  Raccoons in the attic.  Opossums or feral cats in the crawl space.  Stray dogs spending time in your yard.  As with any insect infestation, eliminating the source is the quickest solution to correct the problem.

As always, our technical support staff is on hand to guide you in the correct use of our products and answer all questions you may have.