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Pest Control Specialists Contact Us

4012 N. Main Street
Dayton, OH 45405

QUESTION:

A different question for you. For the last 6 months I have been building a collection of antique pest control memorabilia, advertisements, application devices, books, etc. Unfortunately, the only reliable sites I have come by are craigslist & ebay. The pickings on those sites are pretty bare bones. I was wondering if you knew of any place that I could visit (web or in person) to help expand my antique collection. The end hope is to donate an “evolution of pest control” exhibit at a local museum that is showing interest in the endeavor.

ANSWER:

Wow. I really don’t have any great ideas for you. I collect butterflies and moths but looking for them is a much easier thing to do. Finding old memorabilia of any industry may just be one of those stumble-upon-it opportunities. Certainly you could advertise your interest in this, and on PestWeb we do offer the free resource of the Classified Ads. Under the tab “Industry Information” you will find Classified Ads, and if you select this you can “Add” your own advertisement for this sort of thing, and it can be left in place for just about as long as you want it to be. These ads may be read by PMPs throughout North America, and they may just be willing to part with some old equipment or trade magazines that have been lingering in their office or warehouse.

Other than this it’s probably very much like the show “American Pickers” on TV, where you simply find people who have old barns and sheds full of junk they either gathered themselves or owned and neve threw away. Antique stores probably are going to cater more to trendy things, but you still never know what you may find – old rodent traps, old sprayers or dusters, etc. You could check used book stores to see if any of them carry old magazines or very old reference books on pests. You might also call the NPMA (National Pest Management Assoc.) in Virginia and tell them what your goal is. Since you want to donate this to a worthy museum the NPMA folks could have some ideas as well.

Locally you could call on old farm homes where barns tend to accumulate odds and ends from times past. Even your own customers are going to have some interesting things tucked away in storage sheds and garages. I have had my own customers show me very old pest control equipment that they found under homes or forgotten in storage, and with the owner’s permission were able to take it for themselves. Even advertise locally in your town’s newspaper – this can be fairly inexpensive and you never know what will show up. Contact your local Dept of Agriculture, whose field inspectors could very well turn you on to some leads that they have seen as they have called on farms or had very old pesticide containers turned into them on toxic cleanup days.

I’ll go ahead and post this to show on PestWeb and you never know who may read it and want to cooperate with you on this. Anyone who thinks they have some items this person would like can contact our [email protected] and we can forward the contact information.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

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Kansas.com

Disease carried by insects is killing deer in Kansas Kansas.com A deadly disease spread by insects is taking a toll on the Kansas deer population. A deadly disease spread by tiny insects is taking a toll on Kansas' deer population in some areas. "We had a guy in (Monday) who'd found 13 dead deer … Disease carried by insects killing deer in KansasSalina.com all 12 news articles »

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QUESTION:

Do rodents eat cockroaches?

ANSWER:

Absolutely rodents will eat cockroaches if they find them and can get them before the roach hides. In Dr. Robert Corrigan’s excellent book on Rodent Control he makes the statement that natural populations of rats and mice in habitats away from structures consume “tremendous numbers of insects”, and this is one of the beneficial aspects of rodents in nature. He also states that our perimdomestic rodents, specifically the house mouse, will consume cockroaches in and around our structures. We also know that rats feed on insects as well as slugs and snails, and because these rodents are omnivorous (feed on many different kinds of foods) and opportunistic, they will take advantage of what they find available.

Rats and mice certainly have preferred foods, and I suspect that the mouse with an abundance of seeds, grains, or cereals to feed on might turn up its nose at cockroaches. This may not be the case though, because insects do provide a great source of protein that the rodent may feel a need for. Cockroaches could be fast enough to skitter away and into hiding when seen by a mouse, making its capture more trouble than it is worth to the mouse. But, both animals being nocturnal should bring them into contact with each other where both infest a structure.

Just because mice and rats “will” eat roaches does not suddenly make rats and mice desirable biological controls for cockroaches. There are just too darned many negatives to having rodents living with humans to really call rodents beneficial. And, there is no likelihood that rats and mice are going to eliminate a cockroach infestation, any more than a few assassin bugs living inside a home are going to eliminate bed bugs.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Watch out Fido, Fluffy: Fleas ferocious this year Press & Sun-Bulletin Source: Dr. Suzanna Riddle and John Burke, owner of Burke Pest Control Animal owners beware: There are a lot of fleas out there this year. "It has been a more significant problem this year," Dr. Suzanna Riddle said. "We're seeing a majority of our … and more »

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GDRFA and Dubai Municipality join to combat rodents AME Info The initiative for spreading the culture of public health was organized in collaboration with the Pest Control Section of Public Health and Services Department of Dubai Municipality. The workshop has shed light on the ways to combat the scourge of … and more »

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QUESTION:

I have a farm and family center in central NY that has mosquitoes in the greenhouse, garden center, and some getting into the main store area. What would you recommend to do in a situation like this? I am not sure if fly zappers would work or if just the cold weather would take care of the problem, but they are asking us to deal with it. Please advise as to what we might be able to do.

ANSWER:

This is always a really tough demand on the part of customers – handing you the task of stopping flying insects from flying onto their property. Hopefully I can offer some worthwhile suggestions, and the first one is always to make certain of that identification. Are these really mosquitoes, or could they possibly be non-biting midges, crane flies, or some other similar fly? But, mosquitoes certainly are a possibility in your area, so we’ll work with that assumption. Second, yes, cold weather is going to cause them rather suddenly not to be active anymore, but your customer is not likely to accept this solution if they think that you should have a magic wand in your pocket that eliminates the mosquitoes immediately. So, the question really is how to prevent these insects from coming onto this property and to prevent them from entering the store, and this is difficult.

Of course, we always look to the source. You can inspect the property itself, especially that garden center / greenhouse, to see if there are any breeding sources on site. Perhaps there are decorative fountains in place that contain water with mosquito larvae, catch pans under potted plants with water constantly in them, or any other standing water that would allow the mosquitoes to breed right there. If so, point it out to the customer and suggest ways to remedy the problem by eliminating the water. Then, move to the surrounding properties around this center and see what other local breeding sites may be nearby – ponds, creeks, low areas with water retention, waste areas with old tires, buckets, etc. Many of these could just be emptied of water while others might need to be treated with a larvicide if you are able to do so. Female mosquitoes generally do not fly very far from their breeding source, although some species are “capable” of traveling fairly long distances. But, the odds are that the mosquitoes at this garden center are coming from a local source.

So, do what you possibly can to reduce the numbers of mosquitoes that can visit this site and make sure they really are mosquitoes. Then, we have to ask what can be done to prevent or capture them as quickly as possible, and of course suggestions that work for homeowners are not appropriate for a retail store – wear repellent, long sleeves, keep doors closed, etc. Mosquitoes do not like air movement, so if this is a regular problem at this store they might consider the use of some sort of air door at entrances. Placed properly the air flow would either push the mosquitoes away from the doorway or just discourage them from even trying. Unfortunately, UV light traps of any kind (zappers or glue trap kinds) are not effective at attracting and controlling mosquitoes, and in fact are much more likely to kill many beneficial insects instead. Mosquito monitoring traps that use UV also use carbon dioxide, which is really the major attraction to a mosquito, along with some other interesting lures that may also enhance the draw to the trap. But, these are best used for monitoring and not control.

You might consider the application of residual insecticides as a “barrier” treatment while the store is not in operation. The treatments would be directed to places where the mosquitoes are likely to rest during the daytime, which is often shaded places such as under the eaves, within shaded cavities, or anyplace where there is semi-darkness and little human activity at that time. Around homes barrier treats have been shown to provide very good relief from biting mosquitoes for 2 weeks or more. The use of pyrethrum mists or fogs could also drop the population of adult mosquitoes but it has some drawbacks. First, you probably would not want the misting occurring while customers are present. There are just too many negative attitudes about being exposed to any kind of (and say this with dread in your voice) PESTICIDES!! You could fog the garden area at night, but pyrethrum lasts only a short time, so if more mosquitoes can come to the site the effectiveness is very short, and you would have to do this every day to keep the effectiveness going.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Fruit flies can pose year-round health risks Delmarva Now Bill Reilly, owner of Reilly's Pest Control of Selbyville, said fruit flies are tough to control this time of year due to the remnants of livestock and summer produce, such as corn, watermelon or tomatoes. "They're kind of a difficult problem," he said … and more »

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