Taking up the fight to wasp pests
Residents are being asked to ”adopt a trap” in a new assault being launched by the The European Wasp Working Group to tackle the pest.
Pests in the NewsFebruary 28, 2012
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Archive for February, 2012
Feb 28, 2012 – Hatched And Hungry
QUESTION:
In regards to a newly hatched bedbug nymph, how soon does it need to have its first blood meal to remain viable.
ANSWER:
It seems pretty clear that we are not going to starve bed bugs out of infested homes. Typically we read that a newly emerged bed bug nymph must feed within just a few days or it will die, and this may be the “normal” situation for most of these newly hatched bugs. But, in the excellent “Bed Bug Handbook” by Pinto, Cooper, and Kraft, they report that one of the authors “has had newly emerged nymphs survive for over three months without a blood meal”. This tells us that at least some of the first instar nymphs are likely to survive for a long time, and all it takes is just those few survivors to get the problem rolling again. This is the reason that our industry experts advise us that we must kill every last bug and egg to be able to claim success. To leave just a couple of live eggs behind means the problem is still there.
Older nymphs and adult bed bugs can go a lot longer without a blood meal, and since blood is the only thing they eat the presence of a host animal is necessary. Just how long they can survive depends a lot on temperature, and at 50 degrees Fahrenheit a bug that has had a previous blood meal may survive 5 to 10 times longer than it would if the temperature is 80 degrees. A table in the bed bug book is fascinating but frightening, showing that late stage nymphs that have previously taken blood were able to survive for up to 485 days without another meal. That is well over a year with the temperature at 50 degrees, although it dropped to only 40 days at 80 degrees. Adult bed bugs were not far behind, averaging about 415 days (50 degrees) and up to 87 days at 80 degrees for females. Obviously numbers like these are not hard and fast rules, but they do point out the survival mechanism built into these efficient parasites.
Pest QuestionsFebruary 28, 2012
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Feb 25, 2012 – Proper Pesticide Transport
QUESTION:
I see pest control companies that use cars as their service vehicles, and I believe they transport the chemicals inside the passenger compartment in a locked box. Is this
legal?
ANSWER:
This is a matter of interpretation, and the ones to make that interpretation will generally be the county regulatory agency that oversees pest control company activities. Since you are in California I can speak from a bit more experience on this.
I would say that in nearly all cases the use of a passenger car would make it illegal to have ANY kind of pesticide inside the car, other than in the trunk. The wording of the law is that all pesticides must be transported in a compartment “separate from” the driver’s compartment. Many companies use vans, and if they have built in partitions of some kind that clearly separate the driver from the storage areas then this may be okay with regulatory inspectors. However, carrying rodent baits in a cardboard box or a hand sprayer with chemical mixed up in it would not be considered compartments “separate from” the driver. Even a plastic rodent bait disc is a pesticide, and it must be stored for transport in some separate compartment.
So, it is one of those somewhat vague regulations that is open to interpretation, unfortunately, but any county’s inspectors may approve or disapprove of it. Obviously a consistent interpretation would be easier on us, but sometimes allowing things like this can be helpful. As a supplier of pesticides I believe that Univar has taken the stance that even the trunk of a passenger vehicle is NOT separate from the driver’s compartment, and we will not release pesticides to people who come to our will call counters in their cars. Clearly air movement easily flows from the trunk into the seating area of that car, and thus any spill of chemical in the trunk could jeopardize the health of the driver or passengers. Just putting a locked box inside the car and claiming that this constitutes a separate compartment is a bit of a stretch, but do check with your own local inspectors and get their opinion on it.
Pest QuestionsFebruary 27, 2012
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Feb 26, 2012 – Chemical Questions
QUESTION:
Do you believe the only way to avoid more than a mild presence of liquid pesticide ‘junk’ around a cap is by allowing the product to drip for 20-30 seconds? Do you think making a concerted effort to not get liquid around the outside threads of the cap area is the only way? A related question pertains to the little flakes and chips of pesticide that sometimes do not break down in a tank mix. I have assumed these are generally pieces that stuck to the threads around the cap, and through twisting the cap have flaked off and perhaps landed in a tank mix. I really think I am one of the most careful professionals concerning chemical contamination. Are those chips considered as dangerous as the liquid form? I have had small chips get stuck in filters and I really do not know what to consider them (regular trash or active concentrate). Many of them are not soluble through regular tank mix agitation. What is your opinion, and do other technicians sometimes have a problem with that flaking of product that has accumulated around the cap area?
ANSWER:
Well, I’ve never really given much thought to this before Christopher, so we’ll see where my mind wanders. I suppose it would be normal for trace amounts of liquid to remain around the outside of the threads when you pour the material and then replace the cap. The likely result then would be for diluents to evaporate and leave behind the more pure active ingredient, and this very well could be the flakes that you notice. If so then these flakes could later end up in the tank and be difficult to dissolve back into solution, thus leading to your second observation. And then if these more solid flakes are taken up into the pump they would be filtered out before getting into the narrow passageways in the spray nozzle.
So, obviously all I have done so far is recap what you already told me, but your question seems to center on whether or not these little flakes are of any concern to you health-wise. If they do concern you perhaps you can have a dedicated rag available to wipe the threads following each use of the material so that no buildup occurs. Now perhaps the question arises of what to do with that rag that obviously is “contaminated” with pesticide. Well, I suppose you could toss it in the laundry along with your “contaminated” clothing. Or, you could do as you now do with a lot of other equipment that has trace amounts of pesticide on it and just dispose of it in the garbage as you would empty aerosol cans. This has always been an interesting question. How do you dispose of old spray hose, or old shoes, etc? How do you legally wash your service vehicle, knowing that you are washing pesticide off of it and onto the surface below? The answer is that so little actual pesticide is involved that it really can be overlooked, as long as the materials are ending up in a landfill somewhere.
Similarly, when you open the filter you could knock loose most of the material on it and then dispose of the paper or rags with that debris. Even if they are active ingredient the amount is going to be insignificant once it all reaches a landfill. It would seem to be inevitable that we will create some level of pollution, but it still can be dealt with in a responsible manner that does not ultimately pose any danger to our environment. We triple rinse containers that held liquid and pour that rinsate into the tank for further use (and this may also then wash some of the dried flakes in as well). But, we do not triple rinse bags that held granules or dust, so legally disposing of these containers in a sanitary landfill will inevitably carry some of the residual pesticide with it.
I don’t look at any of this as bad environmental stewardship. If we use the products properly we end up with very little wasted material, and since insecticides in particular degrade fairly quickly once exposed to the conditions of the environment – UV light, water, heat, soil micro-organisms – those trace amounts in the landfill are not going to be there for long.
Pest QuestionsFebruary 26, 2012
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Feb 23, 2012 – Happy Where They Are
QUESTION:
I service a potato processing plant where one of their shops has 2 pigeons roosting in it.
From what the customer has said they have been there for over 2 years, but in the 4 months
I have been working on site I have only ever seen the same 2 birds. Exclusion is as good as
it will get and I can’t seem to catch or bait these 2 pigeons. Any suggestions? I have prebaited with several different styles of feed, none of which has been effective. There are too many ledges and other resting spots to place spike strips or similar things.
ANSWER:
Well, dadgummit. You shot down nearly all of my usual suggestions, but that won’t stop me from investigating them anyhow. What would surprise me would be if after 2 full years this location has not attracted more pigeons than just these two. Since you indicate there is an abundance of roosting / loafing locations within this shop it would be logical for other pigeons to enter as well. But, if it is really just this pair of birds then one final option you have not mentioned may be necessary, and that is to kill these birds, and shooting with an air rifle may be effective. It also may not be effective depending on the interior of this shop and what kinds of problems might occur from a stray pellet. But, years ago an expert from one of the major bird control products manufacturers made the comment that there will be times when that firmly entrenched bird or birds just will not leave their favorite sites no matter what you do, and killing them could be the last resort.
You say that exclusion is not going to get any better. Is this because of the porous nature of the building or is it because of a lack of cooperation or effort on the part of the customer? If these birds have found a way to enter and exit every day for the last 2 years then obviously an opening or openings exist that are likely to allow more birds to enter in the future. Ideally what you strive for with bird management is to eliminate the problem without having to harm any birds, and this means some manner of exclusion. Either you eventually work to close off the entry points or you bit by bit install devices on the roosting ledges so that the birds never find any more places to land. This doesn’t have to be done all on one day, but over a period of time perhaps it could be accomplished. Netting and spike strips would be permanent materials on the inside of a building.
Your prebaiting sounds like you may be using Avitrol, but of course even an effective bait like Avitrol is designed to move the birds, not to kill them, and moving the birds but leaving the opportunity to re-enter is not the long term solution. Trapping the birds also has its pitfalls. Catching them and releasing them anywhere in the vicinity is only going to allow them to return, and releasing them someplace other than “on site” may be illegal according to many states’ wildlife laws.
For now the immediate resolution to this problem may be to shoot and kill these birds, but to work with the customer to exclude more birds for the future. The use of other kinds of “repelling” devices, such as physical objects that are designed to frighten the birds, could have some temporary effect, but pigeons generally figure out pretty quickly when something is not really harming them, and they begin to ignore it. If these birds have been here for 2+ years then this is their HOME, and they will not readily abandon it.
Pest QuestionsFebruary 25, 2012
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Fortnightly bin collections ‘lead to surge in rat population’
Over half of pest controllers reported dealing with cases of causing structural damage to homes and one in 10 had seen homes damaged by fires caused by rodents chewing through cables. One pest controller counted 220 rats in a single property …
Pests in the NewsFebruary 24, 2012
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Feral decimate birds on Fraser Island
THE best square kilometre of birdwatching territory in Australia is being destroyed by feral animals. Birdwatchers have called for urgent action from rangers to trap or shoot dingo-cross dogs that may have wiped out a substantial number of ground-dwelling …
Pests in the NewsFebruary 24, 2012
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Warm weather breeds early bug bonanza
One of the USA’s warmest winters in years could lead to a bug bonanza over the next few weeks, with like beetles, ants, termites and wasps all coming out much earlier than average. “Even things like mosquitoes might come out earlier …
Pests in the NewsFebruary 24, 2012
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Gov’t makes investment in berry borer pest control programme – Jamaica Observer
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Gov't makes investment in berry borer pest control programme
Jamaica Observer But the sum is just a small fraction — only 10 per cent — of the $90 million needed to help the coffee farmers, who are faced with losing up to half of their coffee crops this year, and effectively more than $432 million in export earnings if the … |
Pests in the NewsFebruary 24, 2012
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‘We’ve got rats the size of cats’ – Reading Post
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'We've got rats the size of cats'
Reading Post People living in Rainbow Park called in pest control after hearing scratching in their lofts, however their housing association initially refused to pay the bill for removing the pests. Kim King, 43, who has lived on the estate for 16 years, … |
Pests in the NewsFebruary 24, 2012
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