Archive for January, 2012

Attendance Down Friday After Bedbug Found

A company treated classrooms in Kistler Elementary School on Friday after a single bedbug was found there Thursday, said Jeffrey T. Namey, Wilkes-Barre Area School District superintendent. Attendance was lower at the school Friday but back to …

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 31, 2012

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Tussock moth infestation hits Inland Northwest

The native primarily attack Douglas-fir trees, grand fir and subalpine fir trees. Aerial surveys indicate that the moth outbreak also affected 1,600 acres in eastern Spokane County and about 9,000 acres in the Blue Mountains of southeast …

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 31, 2012

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Purdue Researchers Look to Develop New Method to Control Disease-Carrying

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Purdue researchers are discovering the next generation of insecticides directed at disease-carrying like mosquitoes, ticks and tsetse flies, which could help professionals in the …

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 31, 2012

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Pests find new home — yours – Northern Star

Pests find new home — yours
Northern Star
CREEPY crawlies are invading North Coast homes and pest controllers say it's all because of the rain. Increased moisture has led to big and small infestations of spiders, ants and rodents seeking shelter inside suburban homes.

and more »

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 31, 2012

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More bedbugs discovered at North Mianus

Exterminators found two additional bedbugs at North Mianus School since a first discovery of one of the insects was made last Wednesday. Helen Neafsey/staff photo Photo: ST / CT

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 31, 2012

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Jan 31, 2012 – Roaches At Sea

QUESTION:

I have some questions about German cockroaches and flies. I service oil platforms once each month for 3-4 days at each site, and an inspection has discovered a lot of roaches and a very low level of sanitation. Due to the kind of site there are very strict rules and procedures in place that we have to adhere to, including treating only at night. We currently are using residual sprays, gel bait, and glue traps, but we get complaints from the workers there that the chemical is not effective because they are not seeing dead roaches, and they ask us to change chemicals. They also wonder about the use of the traps, since they are non-toxic. What kind of roach attractant could be used on the traps to enhance their effect?

ANSWER:

Hopefully you are not forced to allow these workers on these platforms tell you how to do cockroach control, because you are the one who has the training and knowledge of the insects and the products needed to handle the problem. Also, since you have noted poor sanitation you have the people who work there making life more difficult for you. Perhaps they believe that pesticides are miracle products that can overcome filth, and this simply is not the case. It may be helpful for you to do a very thorough Inspection, write down all of your findings on a Sanitation Inspection Report, and consult with the supervisor of this platform to determine how to correct these “contributing conditions”. If you cannot get cooperation from the client to do their part then you will have a very difficult time eliminating the pests. 

This really would be no different than trying to eliminate roaches from a restaurant or apartment where food scraps and other resources for the roaches are all over the floor and under the equipment. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect a rough and tumble oil rig to look as pristine as a well kept restaurant, but there is no reason the workers there need to accept that cleanliness is impossible. If you are forced to spray insecticides onto filth you may as well save the time. 
Since you are present on each rig for several days maybe this is your opportunity to focus on exclusion instead of constant reapplication of chemicals. I assume the roaches are found primarily in the dining area, but maybe in the living quarters as well, and you should be allowed access to ALL areas to inspect and determine what is attracting and supporting the roaches where they are found. In employees’ rooms there could be food exposed or spilled, and these are such easy fixes to clean up foods on the floor and store snacks in sealed plastic containers. In the dining area begin an effort to fill in every possible crack, crevice, and hole permanently, using a caulking or some other appropriate material for this. German roaches are not going to change 350 million years of adaptation and instinct and start hanging out in the open. They must get into hiding all during the daylight hours, and every hiding place you take away from them means less roaches and less other places for you to treat. 
Focus your sprays of residual products directly into crevices where the roaches may hide. This puts them into contact for the longest period of time with your active ingredient, and hopefully the crevices are cleaner than the floors and walls. Continue to use gel baits, placing them as well only into crevices where the German roach prefers to feed. Change baits now and then or use alternate baits to ensure they remain attractive. Continue to use glue traps as a monitoring device, not a “control” device. Glue traps can tell you if you still have roaches, where they may be coming from, and are a measure of the success of your work, but alone they do not control a roach problem. 
The fact that dead roaches are not lying around for the workers to see is not necessarily a sign that the roaches are not dying. They do not flip up in the air and die the moment they touch insecticide. Instead, the active ingredient works on them slowly, and they could well be dying in voids or their other hiding places. It sounds like it is time to make some changes in your approach here, and begin with the new inspection and written report. Then make a plea with the supervision of the rigs to get cooperation in cleaning up whatever is currently supporting the roach populations. And, focus on exclusion by slowly but surely sealing as many openings to roach harborage as you can. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 31, 2012

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Jan 28, 2012 – Share A Drink With A Fly

QUESTION:

If an outdoor bar has an issue with flies is it a good idea to have garbage bins inside the bars?



ANSWER:

Since you are in the Caribbean I can see that outdoor bars and eating are going to be common. And, of course, flies will be attracted to odors coming from these settings. The issue comes down to this in an effort to prevent fly problems. Either you make the area unavailable to the flies, which in an outdoor bar is probably impossible, or you remove the attraction, which might be something to work on. A problem is human nature, and bars can be pretty busy places where the folks who work behind that counter need to move quickly and have no obstacles to what has to be done, meaning trash cans are most likely going to be left open on top so empty bottles and other junk can be tossed right in. Changing this is probably impossible. It would be helpful if those garbage bins had tight-fitting lids on them and plastic bags inside that were disposed of each time the bin got full, but again that human nature thing. 

I don’t know how big these bins are that you are dealing with, but if they are really designed to be the outdoor bins then that is where they should be – outside and away from the areas of food service and human activity. Smaller bins on the inside may need to be emptied more often than a big one that holds a whole evening’s garbage, but that convenience needs to be balanced with the possibility that flies are going to end up in someone’s drink or all over their food simply because they are present in larger numbers due to the attraction of the garbage. Convenience should not supersede health. Ideally I suppose all garbage receptacles should be away from the service areas, but this is not really practical for the people who work there and need to toss waste materials into something quickly so they can move on with the next thing to do. 
Work with this customer to evaluate their waste stream, and see if they currently are practicing good sanitation with the garbage receptacles. They should probably have plastic bags in them that can then be sealed when taken to a larger dumpster outside somewhere, and definitely washed to remove residues of sweet liquids that invariably land on the outside and surrounding area. The garbage bins probably are not the only reason that flies are in this area, but if they are part of the problem then correcting it as much as possible at least reduces the fly population. The use of a few UV light traps placed where they will be seen quickly by approaching flies could help a bit too, along with fly baits applied to exterior areas where there also are flies and other attractions. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 30, 2012

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Jan 29, 2012 – Prices and Flexibility

QUESTION:

I want to have a set price for carpenter ant work and sell them over the phone to potential customers. I am just wondering if it is necessary to do an inspection first. I am afraid if I sell them over the phone I might be in violation of some state law. Can you find out?

ANSWER:

I’ll answer this on several levels, and the first is whether or not you are allowed to quote prices over the phone. My answer, as always, comes from experience with this in California, but I suspect most states would be fairly similar in their interpretation of the law. You definitely can quote a price over the phone if it comes from a standard company price list for the work. BUT, and I capitalize that for a reason, quoting a firm price over the phone is going to lead to trouble for you at times. First, you really cannot take a homeowner’s word for it regarding what pest they have. They may call you up and tell you they have carpenter ants when really they have subterranean termites, and now they want to hold your feet to the fire for that price you quoted to take care of their pest problem. It is definitely good policy always to have someone go to the site and verify the pest that is present there with that inspection. 

This also can get you into trouble when you quote a price but do not know the actual extent of the problem. What the person on the phone tells you is just some standard size house could turn out to be 6000 square feet, with carpenter ants billowing out of cracks in every room. Not every job for a particular pest is going to require the same amount of work to manage the problem. Yes, definitely inspect first, verify the pest and the level of the problem, and then you can give a better estimate of the time you will need to resolve it. 
But, you can have a price list for your work that is, perhaps, a minimum charge, and given on the condition that it is subject to an inspector visiting the property to provide the final quote. You might say that our minimum charge for carpenter ant work will be $200, based on your history with carpenter ants that it normally takes about 2 hours of technician time to do the work on an average property. If you leave it at this all the customer hears over the phone is “it will be $200″, and there is no room to increase it if the work ends up requiring 6 hours and 2 return visits. 
This issue has come up, as I say, in California, where a license is required to do “pest control”, and pest control is defined as, among other things, identifying pests and quoting prices for the work. The regulatory agency was asked if office personnel could offer prices over the phone, and their answer was essentially what I suggested above – quote from a price list as a basic price schedule, but subject to the final quote by the technician who visits the property. The same answer was given for door to door sales people who were selling pest control service but were not licensed. They could do so as long as they did not identify specific pests on the property or do anything other than quote a standard but flexible price. 
As always, because regulations vary so much from state to state, it is important to check with your local regulatory agency to get their opinion on this. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 29, 2012

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Netting planned for pigeon pests all along – Market Rasen Today

Netting planned for pigeon pests all along
Market Rasen Today
THE ongoing fight to stop pigeons roosting on railway bridges in Market Rasen has taken another twist. The Rasen Mail can reveal long term plans have been in place to put up netting on the town's Chapel Street bridge as part of works to improve …

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Pests in the NewsJanuary 28, 2012

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Jan 26, 2012 – Keeping Bait Tasty

QUESTION:

Does tracking powder placed in a rodent bait station affect the rodent’s attraction to the Contrac Blox bait? Is there any rodent bait that is effective against slugs and snails to keep them from eating the bait? These slugs and snails are having a field day on my rodent bait placements.

ANSWER:

Slugs and Snails just love rodent baits, and particularly formulations like pellets or meal, which they can feed on easily. One suggestion would be to only use paraffin baits, which you may already be doing since you specify Contrac Blox as one bait in use. The anticoagulants and other active ingredients in rodent baits will not affect slugs or snails, so no options there I’m afraid. What you could do would be to use a slug and snail bait on the outside around the stations to attract the slugs and snails to that bait first, and hopefully to kill them before they go to the rodent station. A liquid snail bait like Deadline might be a good option, as this can be dribbled on the soil as directed by the Label and it will not pose any temptation to rodents but will be highly effective against the snails or slugs that feed on it. If these stations are on bare soil then a meal bait for the slugs and snails may be a good option as well, particularly if you can use it around harborage sites where these mollusks are hiding, killing them as they come out at night and long before they get to the rodent stations. 

Another possibility would be to place copper strips at the entrances to the rodent stations, as copper, for some reason, appears to cause some electric sensation as the mollusks slime onto it, deterring them from going further. You should be able to find copper in either screens or rolls of foil. 
As far as tracking powders, no, using the powders within a rodent station should not affect the attraction to the bait. I assume you are talking about toxic tracking powder to kill them as opposed to a non-toxic powder used for monitoring. These powders work best on mice, which constantly stop to lick their feet and groom themselves, ingesting the powder from their feet. Even zinc phosphide tracking powder, with its potential repellent taste, does not seem to stop mice from ingesting it during grooming. Anticoagulant powders would be tasteless to the rodents and not cause them to feel ill for several days. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 28, 2012

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