One of
Dayton's    TOP
Pest Control Specialists Contact Us

4012 N. Main Street
Dayton, OH 45405

QUESTION:

Are the chemicals safe to spray on
hardwood floors?

ANSWER:

You don’t indicate what kind of pest problem you are concerned with here, so I will just talk generally about the use of insecticides on hard floors. If this happens to be a wood infesting beetle problem in a hardwood floor you may be considering the use of a borate or some other WDO product on the floor, and this may not be appropriate. Since the floor likely has a finish on it you would not be able to use the product according to the Label, and the finish would prevent it from penetrating into the wood where it would do the most good.

Another consideration to keep in mind is whether or not treating that hard flooring for a pest is going to have any effect on the pest problem. Hard floors such as wood, linoleum, or tile are not places where most pests like to hang out. They may run across the floor on the way from one place to another, or in the case of fleas may end up hopping around on a hard floor as they search for a host animal, but treating general expanses of hard floors is not going to put your chemical active ingredient and the pest into much contact. If the floor needs treating at all the application might be best around the perimeter against the walls, where the crawling insects are most likely to be moving along. If it is fleas then a light mist of pyrethrum over the floor will kill the adult insects, and this could be released a couple of feet above the floor so that it does not wet the floor.

One concern with finished surfaces of natural wood is the potential effect your insecticide mixture may have on the finish. Aerosols have been the worst culprits in the past, as they often contained fairly strong solvents, and these solvents could permanently disfigure the finish. They might discolor it to create white patches or they might eat into the finish to cause pitting that cannot be altered without refinishing the surface. Many of the old liquid concentrates we used to have used solvents like xylene, and these also could affect the look of the clear finish on hardwood surfaces. Fortunately, today’s products have for the most part moved away from these kinds of solvents, and many even are water-based. Water alone should not affect the hardwood floor, other than leaving spots from the hardness of the water or from the active ingredient after the water evaporates. Hopefully these could be removed easily with a towel or a towel and a wood surface cleaner.

Wettable powders and microencapsulated formulations generally have no solvents of concern, so if the water alone will not harm the look of the finished wood surface then they should be appropriate. It is strongly advised that if you have a concern about this that you treat a very small, out of the way spot first, and then inspect it a couple of days later to see if there has been any negative effect. This might be in a closet, a corner under some furniture, or even a scrap piece of that flooring if it’s available. Installers often leave leftover pieces of the flooring with the homeowners.

In general I would say that most of our products today “could” be used on hardwood flooring without causing problems, but test it first to be sure. And, evaluate the pest problem there to decide if an application to the exposed floor surface really is necessary. Since the pest will normally be spending only moments on that open floor the better place to apply your treatment would be along edges, behind floor molding, within walls, etc. These all offer a much better chance to get the pest and the active ingredient together for the longest period of time, and also eliminate human exposure to the material.

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QUESTION:

I am dealing with spiders in the attic! Would BP-100 work? Could you please explain how BP-100 works, how long it will last, and is it a good product to use?

ANSWER:

Let’s deal with the residual question first, and this one is very subjective. You will find answers such as it deteriorates within minutes, maybe within a couple of hours, or it lasts for days. My personal opinion is that pyrethrum applied where it is exposed to light (sunlight or fluorescent) will degrade within 2 to 3 hours. If applied into a dark and relatively cool wall void I have heard it might last a few day. If applied into a dark but HOT attic we again are probably looking at no more than a few hours. Regardless of the length of time the molecule remains intact, pyrethrum should be considered as effective only if it can contact the arthropod while wet. This might be droplets of a fog or mist landing on the bugs or the bug crawling on the surface that still is wet from the spray landing on it.

One way to lengthen the residual is to use a microencapsulated formulation like Microcare CS. The active ingredient (the pyrethrum) is contained within those millions of microscopic capsules, and this protects it somewhat from environmental degradation until it slowly oozes out of the capsule. This might get you a couple of weeks of residual and also be effective once dried on the surface. Better for spiders are the synthetic pyrethroids, and most of them are not labeled for use as a space spray, which seems to be what you are looking for. They would need to be applied directly onto surfaces the spiders will crawl on, and this means crawling around in the attic. A possible option though would be a total-release aerosol such as Pro-Control Plus T/R aerosol with synergized pyrethrum AND cyfluthrin (a pyrethroid). This is labeled for attics and for spiders. You also could consider the use of a contact dust such as Drione or MotherEarth D. These are desiccants that last forever, are extremely low in hazard to people, and kill by causing dehydration of the arthropod when they scratch into the exoskeleton.

How does pyrethrum work, and BP-100 is a 1% pyrethrum with 5% dual synergists. The synergists are there to enhance the ability of the pyrethrum to kill arthropods by blocking their ability to metabolize the pyrethrum before they are killed by it. The specific mechanism by which pyrethrum actually causes the death of an arthropod goes like this, and it sounds a bit technical. Pyrethrum is an “Axonic Poison B”, which also called a “GABA-gated Sodium Channel Blocker”. Within an animal’s nervous system the nerve impulse is carried along through axons, and several “channels” in that axon are involved. In the case of pyrethrum it attaches to a protein in this sodium channel that normally would halt a nerve impulse from continuing. Binding to this important protein results in continuous firing of that nerve cell, and thus the insect cannot control it, organs are over-excited, and in a short time the organs fail and the insect dies.

This is the very same manner that some other insecticide families work on the nervous system, including the Synthetic Pyrethroids and some chlorinated hydrocarbons such as the old DDT. In general, pyrethrum is an excellent active ingredient with limitation on its use. It works only on exposed bugs and usually cannot penetrate under or into hiding places, and since it degrades so rapidly it cannot be counted on for residual results.

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QUESTION:

I am presently studying the Purdue course on “Termites and other wood destroying pests”. I have read that expansion joints are an entry way through which termites can attack a building. What is an expansion joint? How can I find them in the structure? How does one treat an expansion joint?

ANSWER:

Expansion joints are those seams you see in concrete as you walk along a sidewalk, and appropriately that seam is a cut all the way through the concrete. Like so many other materials concrete expands and contracts with changes in temperature, and if the concrete cannot expand slightly it might just crack and buckle, giving you a bigger problem. This joint may have only dirt in it or it may be filled with some kind of pliable sealant that fills it but still allows the sideways expansion to occur. Because the termites are able to burrow through this soil or the soft filler it does provide them with a way to pass through what otherwise would be impervious concrete.

Exterior slabs of concrete show the expansion joints pretty obviously. Another line you may see on concrete walkways is only a depression that goes an eighth of an inch or so into the concrete, and not all the way through. This is not a legitimate expansion joint. Instead, according to one account I read, this line is there only to allow normal cracking of the concrete upon drying to occur at this weakest, thinnest point. The crack then, hopefully, occurs as a straight line across the walkway at an intended location rather than haphazardly anywhere.

In the slab of a structure you might normally have a solid pour, and there are various kinds of slabs under structures – floating, monolithic, etc. Some may have expansion joints, particularly around the perimeters over the foundation. A Floating Earth slab is a slab poured on top of a gravel fill, with the expansion joint around the perimeter. A Supported Earth-filled Slab is similar, except it is poured on top of the foundation, but after the foundation already is in place and hardened. A Monolithic slab is one solid pour creating the slab and the foundation all at once, so no expansion joints exist around the perimeter.

Even if there is a solid slab with no expansion joints there are usually many other invading objects that go through the slab, such as pipes, drains, etc., and where these enter they may offer that break in the concrete around them that the termites can find a way through. Over time it also is normal for slabs to settle and crack, and even a thin crack could eventually become wide enough to admit the tiny worker termites. The only way to identify the presence of these expansion joints and stress cracks would be to pull back any coverings over them to see the concrete itself. This usually is carpeting, but the tough one for you would be hard flooring such as tile or wood, which you are not going to be able to destroy just to expose the slab. A basement may already have the slab exposed, easing the problem for you.

Treating expansion joints generally is done by drilling holes next to each joint and treating under the slab through those holes, just as you would treat any other location under the concrete slab. The goal would be to ensure that the soil under and around that expansion joint has been treated so that termites are forced to contact treated soil if they are attempting to access that joint.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

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QUESTION:

I have a customer that has fleas. Not a big deal right? My question is that they have land turtles that roam around inside of the house. I know they need to be gone for 4 hours. Will it be safe to have them on the floors inside the house after we have treated for the fleas?

ANSWER:

There is an issue here regarding perception vs. reality. I asked a similar question of a product manufacturer years ago, where turtles or tortoises roamed the yard and a flea treatment was planned. The response was that in reality once the spray has dried it is highly unlikely that these reptiles would acquire any dangerous level of the active ingredient, and that keeping them off treated surfaces until those surfaces are dry “should” be sufficient. However, if anything were to happen in the near future to one of those animals you would probably be blamed. The suggestion then was to remove the animals entirely for a longer period of time, perhaps a week or two, and then wash down the treated areas before bringing the turtles back in.

In your case it should be simpler, as there must be some recourse for keeping these animals OUT of the house for a week or two. I won’t comment on the sanitation issues of allowing wild animals to roam freely through a home. Or did I just make a comment? We know that synthetic pyrethroids are relatively more toxic to cold blooded animals such as reptiles than they are to warm blooded animals (dogs, cats, birds, people), so the more you can avoid exposure to the recently applied material the better.

A few more thoughts. First, the “4 hours” restriction on allowing people and pets back into treated areas is only a guideline that we often use. The more appropriate guideline, and it is on most product labels, is to ensure no one re-enters “until the treated surfaces are dry”, and depending on the weather and other factors this may take much longer than 4 hours. They should test the carpets with a tissue paper first, pressing down on it with their shoe and checking for dampness, and only if it is dry should they re-enter.

Second, I believe that the best flea control includes the use of an IGR, and the growth regulators should have no effect whatsoever on reptiles or any other vertebrate. The IGR will last for months to interfere with proper development of eggs and larvae, and will prevent production of new adult fleas from these early stages. To eliminate the many fleas currently sitting within their protective cocoons in the pupa stage you MUST have the customer vacuum, vacuum, vacuum – before you get there for the first treatment and each day after for a week or more. They should vacuum every square inch of carpet and all edges of hard floors. This removes organic debris, some flea eggs, and causes the pupae to hatch to the adult stage so that it is exposed to your treat. You then could consider using only a pyrethrum product for the adult stage if there is strong concern about the use of a residual material. The pyrethrum/IGR combination will have a good result but you may need to retreat due to the lack of residual of the pyrethrum.

Determine WHY they have fleas, and presumably this is due to dogs or cats also in the home. If so these must be treated properly to eliminate all fleas, and some steps taken to prevent more fleas from infesting them, such as a topical product. After your first treatment it would be helpful to place a number of insect glue traps around the home to monitor your success, and again tell the customer that the more they vacuum the sooner this problem will be resolved.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

QUESTION:

What makes foam better than regular surface
sprays?

ANSWER:

Foam is only a carrier, but if you have watched some of the home improvement shows you may have seen where they applied foam insulation by spraying the liquid into a wall void. Immediately the liquid converts to an expanding foam that fills that void completely. While this is a bit different than using foam with insecticides it is similar. The foam you inject into a void expands to fill that void, carrying the insecticide mixed with the foam along with it to apply the active ingredient to all the surfaces the foam contacts. Since you are injecting this into an inaccessible void it offers an excellent means for getting the active ingredient onto all the surfaces, increasing the chances that insect pests will contact it.

Some of the first applications our industry had for this was foam injections under slabs. The termiticide is mixed in a tank along with the proper amount of foaming agent, and when it was injected the result was the foam expanding to push outward from that point. Since subterranean termites often would tube along the underside of the concrete where there had been settling and subsidence of the soil below that slab, this applied the active ingredient to all surfaces and kept the termites from bypassing the treatment.

Now we have various formulations of insecticides in foaming aerosol cans for injection into wall voids or directly into termite galleries in the wood. We could foam into a wall void for ants or termites using a contact insecticide mixed in a sprayer with the foaming agent, and using the proper equipment that is designed to create the foam upon release we increase the chances of depositing the active ingredient on more surface area. The trick is to regulate the foam output so it is a “dry” foam that expands and dissipates slowly, much like shaving cream, rather than a “wet” foam that runs down quickly and whose bubbles disappear rapidly. We also have foaming injection of drains for fly management, such as the Invade Bio-Foam products, perhaps using the Foamer Simpson for application.

We might use Fast-Out CS Foam for roach or bed bug control to increase surface area coverage in the hidden voids these insects hide in. We can do odor control using a liquid concentrate deodorizer, again mixed properly with the foaming agent in an applicator that will create the foam, and injecting it into voids where there is a source of a foul odor. Many pesticide labels will have specific instructions on how to use them with a foaming agent and a dedicated foaming applicator.

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QUESTION:

I’ve got one for you. Today I was checking my rat bait stations and found a baby opossum inside one of them. I have been putting Fastrac rat bait in the stations regularly for the past few weeks and the baits have been disappearing at a record rate. Instead of the regular gnaw marks that are normally found when rats are feeding, I have seen big chunks of baits bitten off both inside and outside of the bait box. Should I continue to bait the box or would you recommend the use of a live cat trap. The area where my stations are located is in a false ceiling in a government office full of professional women. What do I do?

ANSWER:

Several things come to mind that may factor in your decision here. First is that these rodent baits are labeled to be used where they are “inaccessible” to children, pets, and wildlife. Normally we could consider the false ceiling in a large office to be such an inaccessible area, but since the opossum obviously have found their way into it this cannot apply, and to continue placing bait meant for rats and mice in this area could be inappropriate. There also are no poisons labeled for opossum, so allowing them to continue feeding on it would be off-label. And, if these opossum have been feeding on the bait, as you indicate, for the past few weeks, I would expect some of them to be dying from the bait. If this does occur with a large animal like this you could end up with a VERY serious problem with odors and flies.

You also say that you are finding chunks of the bait bitten off both inside the station and outside, and you probably mean that the chunks are being found outside after being carried out by the animal. If instead you are placing the bait outside the station this probably should stop, and all baits be only within the TP station. Somehow I have a hard time picturing a full grown opossum getting into a bait station meant for rats. If the mother is foraging with her young then perhaps only the smallest of the young made it into the station, as you have found. The mother might be making some effort to work at that station to get to the bait if she smells it, but you should see evidence of this by the station being tipped over or moved. I would think it a little odd for the young to be out foraging on their own if they are still small enough to fit into the station, but this is an unknown to me.

I definitely would discontinue the baiting for now and go to an intensive trapping program to live trap these animals. Along with this you need to perform a very careful inspection of the exterior of this building to see where these animals are gaining access. While they are good climbers I would not consider them capable of climbing vertical walls, so it is most likely they either are finding access near ground level or making their way to the roof. If there are any trees adjacent to the building ensure all branches are cut back at least 6 feet from the roof line. Other openings, it would seem, should be pretty large to admit a full grown opossum. These are opportunistic feeders that eat almost anything, so bait the traps with something with a nice, tempting odor, such as bacon, fish, fruit, etc.

Another concern is the disposal of the animals when you trap them. I do not believe there are any constraints against killing them, but you may want to check with your local wildlife agency on this. Some U.S. states consider them to be “fur-bearing” animals and require a permit to trap or kill them. Releasing them can be tricky legally, as some regions do not allow them to be released just any old place. You may be required to release them “on site”, which emphasizes the need to perform good exclusion, or to get a permit to take them off site to release them in a natural area.

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