Archive for the ‘pestcontrol’ Category

Seagull Expert: ‘Council Wrong’

Friday, January 20th, 2012

The managing director of one of Scarborough’s leading pest control companies has accused the council of getting it wrong over seagulls.

Andrew Hunn, of East Coast Pest Control, believes measures introduced in April 2010 by Scarborough Council, making it illegal to remove nests and eggs, are “100 per cent wrong”.

He states that it is perfectly legal for land owners, or people with the consent of the land owner, to clear nests and eggs from properties affected by the common herring gull.

Mr Hunn, who has been in the pest control business for 15 years, said: “The herring gull, unlike the kittiwake, is on Natural England’s amber list, rather than the red list. This means that they are not endangered, and as a result, any bird nesting can be removed legally. Mistakes like this from the council are costing businesses money and, worst of all, they are misleading the public.”

Mr Hunn’s comments follow on from a recent story, which focused on proposed new measures to tackle the issue of gull control in Scarborough. Network Rail is currently awaiting planning permission to install protective netting to the top of the Victorian railway station clock tower in Westborough.

Scarborough business owners also spoke out against the gulls, demanding tougher action to be taken against the birds.

Protect yourself from being bitten by Bedbugs

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

The best approach to protect yourself from being bitten by Bedbugs is to prevent your self from bed bug infestations. Prevention of Bedbugs involve a thorough inspection for bed bugs or signs of infestation in any appropriate hiding place, such as bedding, furniture stuffed with cushions or covered with fabric, or packing materials that might be introduced into your home or apartment. You should look for for feces, eggs, and discard “skins” of larval bed bugs, as well as for active bed bugs.

Bed Bug Vancouver

It is a good practice to inspect the hotel rooms you are staying for bed bug infestation. Upon arrival in a hotel room, verify the mattress, box springs, and behind the headboard before using the bed. It is very essential to report suspected bed bug infestations to the hotel management without any delay so that certain steps may be taken to control the infestation and prevent the succeeding spread can be executed as quickly as possible.

It is better for the hotel guests to place their luggage and clothing on dressers or on baggage racks instead of placing on beds or upholstered furnishings. Since these types of furniture may harbor bed bugs. It is good to keep the suitcases, brief cases, computers and their cases closed when not in use.

Rats

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Rats are very active during night time and live very close to humans, mainly if there is water and food. At the present, most of the people have started ringing their phones to the pest control exterminators in order to make their rat infestations vanish. People may not really get affected by rats until they start raiding our home!

Burrows are the place where rats usually put up to three meters deep. When they strive for food they are forced to leave their burrows and look for an alternative nesting place. There is an actual danger from a rodent attack if you have rats nearby to your home.

Some Unknown Facts about Rats

  • Rats consume up to 10% of their body mass per day and cannot be alive without access to water.
  • If a rat is released it travel up to four miles from the starting point.
  • Brown rats have characteristics of negative geotaxis – it has affinity to move downwards. These rats can jump vertically more than 77cm and 120 cm horizontally.
  • Black rats are said to be finer climbers. It can climb any slightly roughed surface up or down.
  • Nearly 11-31% of all female rats are pregnant at one time.
  • The female rats are able to differentiate their offspring sex by the smell.
  • Have a keen attention on rats when they get used to move around an obstacle. Even if the barrier is removed they will carry on moving around it.
  • Rodents know how to survive and breed in freezing provisions and have been known to stay in the fat layer of remains.
  • Burrows of rat are usually put up three meters deep but it is rarely more than 0.5 meters deep.

Rid Of Fleas from Home

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

Fleas are wingless insects, small dark brown or reddish brown in color. This pest can be found around the home causing distress and annoyance to both pets and people. Fleas can also spread disease and cause some allergic reactions resulting in rashes.

It is almost certain that everyone will have to deal with fleas if they own dogs or cat at one time.

And this is the place where the trouble begins – not just with the fleas themselves, but with an immense collection of commercial flea control products available. Most of these products may contain dangerous and injurious ingredients. These ingredients are often poisonous to the animals they are supposed to guard – and can still hurt you and your family.

Natural Flea Control!

This natural flea control uses normal methods and materials in the fight against fleas. In most of the cases you may find that normal substances are regularly available and are much cheaper than commercial products. Natural substances are frequently far less toxic as well.

Natural substances effective for flea control may include essential oils. These oils are botanical compounds in highly concentrated form. One of these necessary oils called pennyroyal has been confirmed as an effective natural product in flea control. But pennyroyal is contaminated when applied to the coat of a dog or cat. It can be poisonous if ingested. Since animals commonly conquer themselves when they have fleas, they could lick the pennyroyal with dire consequences.

The other natural way to get rid a home of fleas is to spray diatomaceous earth a fine powder that contains silicon dioxide around window seals, baseboards and doorways. Vacuum your cushioned furniture and carpets daily.

Stink Bugs: The New “It” Pest

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

If bed bugs were the pest of summer, stink bugs seem to be hard at work earning the title of “Pest of the fall.” These smelly bugs have been invading homes across much of the country in recent years, leaving many homeowners holding their noses and running for the door (which, unfortunately, is often covered in stink bugs!).

Stink bugs are an invasive species. They were brought into the U.S. from Eastern Asia, and were first found in Allentown, Pennsylvania only 12 years ago. They have spread quickly and have now been reported throughout the Northeast U.S. as well as Pacific Northwest, Midwest and South.

For homeowners wanting to avoid stink bugs, the NPMA recommends the following advice:

• Seal cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, behind chimneys, and underneath the wood fascia and other openings. Use a good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk.

• Damaged screens on doors and windows should be repaired or replaced.

• A licensed pest professional can treat for stink bugs in the late summer or fall just prior to bug congregation.

• If stink bugs have already entered a home or building, a vacuum cleaner can aid in the removal of live or dead stink bugs.

The bag must be removed to prevent odor from permeating the area.

• If an infestation has developed inside the home or building, a licensed pest control operator should be called to evaluate and assess the problem.

Species of Silverfish

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

The term silverfish is used for the Thysanura and for any of the species within the order. Thysanurans have a distinct carrot shaped body, short legs, long slender antennae and three tail-like appendages (anal cerci) at the end of the body. They are wingless with scale covered bodies which are about 1/2″ long. Nymphs resemble adults.

There are thirteen species of silverfish in the United States.

Mallis in the 1982 lists six species which may be pestiferous: They are the following,

  1. Firebrat, Thermometer domestica
  2. This insect is found throughout the world in warm climates. Firebrats may become serious pests in bakeries and in areas where starches are stored at warm temperatures, such as in warehouses. The females deposit eggs in crevices.

    A speices of Silver Fish

    Firebrat

    Development is rapid, with only 1 day spent in the first instars and more time passing between successive instars. A firebrat may pass through 45 to 60 instars during its lifetime. The nymphs resemble adults.

    Firebrats can be killed when exposed to temperatures above 120 F for one hour or more. Temperatures above 112 F and below 32 F kill nymphs. This can be an effective way to manage firebrats if it possible to elevate or reduce temperatures to these levels.

  3. T. campbelli (Barhart)
  4. This species is found indoors in libraries. Little is known about its habits, but its life cycle resembles that of the firebrat.

  5. Silverfish, Lepisma sacchrina L.
  6. This pest is common indoors on the East Coast, and is also found indoors in the Midwest and Pacific Coast. It is found indoors in warm, humid areas such as basements.

    The eggs are deposited in crevices or under objects singly or in groups of 2 or 3. Eggs hatch in 43 days at 72 F and in 19 days at 90 F. Adults may live up to 3 1/2 years, but most live 2 years under favorable conditions (72-80 F, relative humidity of 75%- 97%). Silverfish may pass through up to 59 instars in their lifetimes.

  7. Four lined silverfish, Ctenolepisma quadriseriata (Luccas)
  8. This species is common on the East and West Coasts and in the Midwest. It lives indoors, often infesting attics, particularly if the roof is made of wooden shingles. It may be found outdoors in summer. Its life cycle is similar to that of the silverfish but not as limited by temperature and moisture.

  9. Gray silverfish, C. longicaudata Escherich
  10. This species occurs indoors in the South, Midwest, and southern California. It prefers drier areas than common silverfish, such as crawl spaces and attics, but may occur around water pipes in bathrooms.

    It deposits its eggs in cracks in groups of 2-20. They hatch in about 60 days at room temperature. The nymphs are scale less when hatched; scales appear in the fourth instars. This species may live up to 5 years.

  11. Acrotelsa collaris
  12. This species was recently introduced into Florida, probably from the tropics. Little is known of its life cycle but it may resemble that of silverfish.

Red cotton bug

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Physical features:
The fully grown bug is about 12-15 mm in length. Usually, the females are Lengthier (15 mm) than the males (12 mm). This bug looks blood red in colour apart from its scutellum, eyes, antennae, and anal style which are black in colour. It also has a black spot on each of the membranous forewings. Sequences of white crosswise bands are present on the lower end of the abdomen. Mouthparts are used for piercing and sucking which forms a straight beak.

Red Cotton Bug

Stages of Red cotton bug:
During spring, the full-grown female lays eggs in a groups of 70-80 eggs mainly on damp soil surface or on fallen leaves and in crevices. The eggs are sphere-shaped, yellowish-white of about the 1.2 mm in size. The eggs need 7 days incubation period and humid weather, eggs are hatched into 1 mm long red colored bug which are look like the adult not including size and wings. The small bugs mainly feed on the cotton balls and they take 49-89-days to reach adult stage. In wintry weather the life span of the adult is for 3 months duration but in summer it life span varies. Red cotton bug breeds on cotton during August- November and takes refuge under debris or leaves from December till March. The life span of bug is done within six to eight weeks.

Damage caused due to Red cotton bug:

Unlike bed bug which feeds on human blood, Red cotton bug both small and adults  suck the cell sap from the tender shoots and damage the strength of the plant. If the damage is severe, buds open badly and the lint is of low quality. Red cotton bug also feeds on the seeds which produce poorer oil content and some seeds become unfit for sowing.

Red Cotton Bug damaging Cotton buds

Control Measures:

  • Plough the Cotton fields in order to expose the eggs to the sunlight.
  • Sometimes this bug should be handpicked and killed with kerosene water.
  • Spraying of Malathion O.O5% is effective to control the pest.
  • Moistened cotton seeds should be dangled up at various places in the field where bugs gather together; later they can be killed with kerosene water.
  • If nothing works, then opting for a pest control is the best option.

PESTS Categories

Friday, October 28th, 2011

Insect pest are most talented in feeding almost all sorts of living organisms. The insects are capable of destroying crop plants, stocked food, fruit plants and residential property. The pests can lead to many health issues to man and animals. They are classified depending on the host they pests breed upon

Household Pests:
The wide environment around us seems to be very attractive to pests such as industrial complexes, lawns, flowers, parks, shrubs and houses. Pests that damage residential property are usually referred to as household pests. Household Pests are main concern to man, his belongings and his immediate surroundings.
Pests such as cockroaches, silver fish, weevils, ants, houseflies, crickets and fruit flies, etc. which pollute edible food and ruin it or spreads diseases are usually comes under this category. The insects like bed bugs,carpet beetle, cloth moths and furniture beetles cause damage to human-belongings this as well fit in the category of household pests. Therefore, all kinds of insect which are unnecessary guests to our houses which is the main reason for damage to human belongings and his wellbeing are called as household pests.

Veterinary pest

The insects which attack domestic animals such as horses, chicken, cattle, etc and other blood sucking insects such as lice, bugs, fleas, stable flies, mosquitoes are some of the examples of domestic animal pests. Biting lice such as Mallophage brings about irritation and loss of fleshy tissue in poultry farms. Horn flies, Tabanid flies suck the blood from farm animals to horses. Both flies can lead to severe stomach disturbances in horses. Grubs of ox warble flies leads to loss of flesh in cattle and can cause harm to the leather by creating holes in the skin.

Tabani

Tabani flies

Structural Pests:
Structural pests are those destructive insects which cause damage to
furniture’s, fencing posts, wooden frames, doors, library books, stored
papers, cardboards and parts of buildings are named as structural pests.
The termites are social insects and colonial, grows on cellulose which means it damages wooden objects in uneven form. Silver fishes feed on ghee and starch material, therefore damaging book bindings, photographs, wall papers and all kinds of adhesive labels. Cloth moths and carpet beetles can also be attack carpets, cloths as structural pests.

Storage Grain Pests:
The storage of food grains has been a long custom among the farmers and merchants. A significant loss both in quality and quantity of food grains happens in storage area due to several factors. Creatures like insects, rodents, bacteria, mites and fungi are directly blamed for causing damage in accumulated products.
The stored food fruits, nuts, grains, seeds, etc. are contaminated due to internal borer insects in the godowns and warehouses are most harmful of all insects. The borers can damage crops, even during the harvesting time in the farm ground itself. The moths, Red rust flour beetle, grain weevils cause a main damage to stored cereals (barley, wheat, rice,  corn, oat, millets, etc.) and pulses (beans, gram, lentils, peas, etc.) correspondingly. Mostly the pests ruin the stored food grains and make them unhealthy for human consumption, sowing. The stored grain pest can be distinguished into two kinds such as :
(i) Primary type: This group of pest’s attacks to whole grains in an uncrushed state.
(ii) Secondary type: this group of pests feed or damages the crushed or broken grains.

Agricultural Crop Pests:
Most of the agricultural crops are infected by number of pests that lead to severe harm. Pest represents many numbers of insects attacking the different crop plants. The main crops such as cotton, sugarcane, jowar, wheat, bajara, etc. are spoiled by pests like stem shoot fly, borer, armyworms, aphids, leafhoppers mites, flea beetles, jowar midge fly, etc. The semiloopers, potato beetles, cabbage worm has chewing kind of mouth parts. They chew up and swallow the outside parts of the plants. Whereas some insects like blister beetle feed on pollens, etc. therefore causing severe harm.

Forestry pest:

Forestry pest go into into the plant and lead to deformations in the structures like stem borers pierces stem causing burrowing inside and enlarging. Leaf cutters and leaf rollers leads to harmful deforestation. Gall insects leads to enlarging, bark feeder damages surface of stem. Example Bark beetle damages the timber in the forest; the termites destroy the timber logs even after parting the forest. The sap suckers such as aphids, plant bugs and Thrips absorb plant juice in nursery plants which slows down the photosynthetic activity.

Thrips

Thrips

Pestering Pests

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

We call a person ‘A pest’ when he/she keeps on nagging us and the same way pests are insects which annoys us by spoiling our belongings. Some people try home remedy to get rid of pests and for some this problem go out of hand; in that case nothing can be done unless you opt for a pest control services. Many of us are unaware of the different type’s pests that exist and here are some commonly known indoor pests – rodent, cockroaches, fly, mosquitoes, lizard and bed bug.

bed-bug

Opting for pest control service alone does not solve the problem; you have to approach the right pest control service. Here are few steps in order to approach the best pest control.

Based on the information provided above about the types of pests, you need to identify the pest that is bothering your house. Once you identify the pest, identify the areas mainly affected due to this pest. Locating the pest affected areas is very important as it locates the pest’s territory and now, do some researches on best available pest control services in your locality. Do some initial enquiry and go for the one that suits your need. Discuss with the pest control representative about the pests affecting your house and gather information. Fix an appointment with the pest control professional   to make a visit to your house and let them inspect the affected areas.

Pest Control Services

Most of the professional pest control services provide you complete pest control treatment and will be quite knowledgeable about pests. They will be more informative about the types of pest affecting your house and will clarify any pest related doubts. You won’t face any more problems regarding the pest, if you have approached the right pest control services and so it depends on calling the right people for pest control.

Life cycle of hover fly and its specialty

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Hover Flies are also named as Flower Flies in America. It is quite interesting to analyze about the attractive fly Hover. They are called as the true flies or Diptera that comes under the Family Syrphidae. Hover Flies may sometimes pretends like a stinging bees or wasps because of their mimic color.

Their bodies are described as a slender one which ranges from small to medium in size. Their abdomen contains the yellow-black wasp’s model and the narrow waist mimic pattern.  These flies come with very large eyes and short antenna and they contain a pair of wings which is very clear in color.

Like bees and wasps hover flies may take a visit to flowers. They are considered to be the major pollinators of some flower plants. They seemed to be usually resting on flowers and feeds on the nectar and more over they are the pollinators of plants as well.

The maggot-like larvae of Hover Flies are considered to be the predators of many spongy body insects like aphids, scale insects, thrips, and caterpillars.  Many Hover Flies are sometimes seemed to be searching for the aphids.

It has been said that they hover even at the time of mating. Various species of Hover Flies lay their eggs near the aphid’s colony. Hover Flies also feed on honey dew that is being formed by aphids as well. It has been analyzed that some larvae in the family of hovering flies lives in ant nests in which they play their role as scavengers or predators.

Hover flies family and Bee flies families resemble the same appearance. The main attribute to distinguish between them is that the Bee Flies come with longer wings where as hover Flies come with shorter wings with a series of closed cell on the wings hind margins. The specialty among the hover flies is that – their neck remains still at the same time as in flight.