Archive for June, 2012

Jun 4, 2012 – Wharf Borer Wars

QUESTION:

I am an exterminator in NY and service a bar/restaurant that each spring has a problem with wharf borers. They are not present in large numbers but they do resemble German roaches so each one is a problem. The place is over a large unfinished basement that is always wet or at least damp, although the floor beams of the restaurant are high enough to stay dry. The literature is a little sparse on wharf borers. What can you suggest?



ANSWER:

Wharf borers are beetles in the family Oedemeridae, and yes they could somewhat resemble German roaches, although a close look by anyone qualified to make an ID would separate them. They lack the black stripes on the thorax that German roaches have and are an overall orange color with a black patch at the tips of the wings. I assume that the problem comes when patrons of this restaurant see one and think the place has roaches. The adult beetles do not even feed and are of no concern whatsoever, other than the fact that they are going to make more of their kind. 

The literature on these beetles states consistently that they feed only on wood that is very wet and even rotting. Dry wood is not attractive to them, so obviously the continual dampness of the wood in this basement is the attraction, and at some point in time the owners really should address that problem before the place falls in. If any of that very wet, decayed wood is of structural importance it eventually is going to lose its strength and the restaurant will have much bigger problems on their hands. Perhaps they should consult with an engineer or someone else qualified to give advice on how to place moisture barriers to prevent the moisture problem. This might be as simple as just covering the soil with the proper moisture barriers to keep the soil moisture from entering the air in that unfinished basement and to keep the wood drier. 
Ending the moisture problem is, of course, the best long term solution to this problem. If the customer is unwilling to do this for some reason you may consider a treatment of the wood, assuming all the wood there is also unfinished, with a borate product like Bora-Care. This will soak into the wood and hopefully kill any beetle larvae feeding within. It also will help to kill wood decay fungus that probably is present there as well. But, the better solution is moisture barriers properly installed so that the wood that attracts the beetles dries out and no longer draws them. 

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Pest QuestionsJune 06, 2012

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Jun 2, 2012 – A Smelly Result

QUESTION:

Any advice on how to eliminate the odor from dead rats?

ANSWER:

Ah yes, the drawback to the use of rodent baits by untrained people, such as the DIY homeowner who does not recognize that rats that die from toxic bait may die just about anywhere, including within hidden voids or other difficult to access places in the structure. They also may be victims of that oft-given advice (and myth) that the baits “make the rat thirsty” and cause it to go outside to die. This one has no truth to it at all, and we need to educate our customers on the facts. Rodents that feed on anticoagulants also do not “dehydrate” to prevent foul odors, another well known non-truth. 

If we look at the odors of dead animals as another kind of “pest” we recognize that the best approach if it is possible is to find the source and eliminate it. We can collect foul odors and we can mask them with other odors, but as long as that decaying rodent is still present and decaying it is going to stink, and even after it has somewhat dried it will continue to give off the awful smells. This could take some time to complete, so if you can make a careful search using your nose as a guide perhaps you can locate the dead animals, carefully place them within sealed plastic bags, and dispose of them. Doing this enables you, then, to thoroughly cleanse that area to remove any remaining traces of the rodent, which also could continue to create smells and attract flies. There may also be a need to treat that location with a contact insecticide to ensure any wandering parasites from the rodent are killed, such as mites and fleas. The use of an anti-bacterial disinfectant may be appropriate for cleaning the surfaces the rodent rested on, or you may even want to gather and toss loose material there such as insulation. 
If you cannot locate the offending source itself then you are stuck with trying to treat the odors from a distance. If you know it is within a wall but the customer does not want the wall damaged by opening it then you may be able to use a void injector fogger to blow a deodorant mist into the voids. Univar carries a number of effective liquid deodorizers that do not just mask the odor with a stronger one, but which are microbial in nature and actually feed on the molecules that are creating the smell. These may be products such as Bac-A-Zap, Rat Sorb, or Odor Hunter. Some of these come in small spray bottles for use on the surface itself where that dead rodent was lying, and are always more effective when applied directly to the surface. 
I also have received good feedback from PMP’s who have used the dry deodorizers, such as the Odor Remover Bags and Pouches. These can be placed or hung in the area where the odor is strongest and according to the manufacturers they will remove the odor from the air itself. It sounds magical but the results have been very good. 

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Pest QuestionsJune 04, 2012

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Jun 3, 2012 – With Mice Come Ticks?

QUESTION:

I have a service with a large property management company, mostly commercial but with a few residential. I think I have done a good job with very good feedback from clients. I have serviced the residential apartment units for 2 years with no negative feedback. However, I currently am working on a mice issue for a “sensitive” client in one apartment. I have excluded the single mouse from her unit that was entering from a hole behind the fridge. I filled this with copper mesh, sealed with silicone and then put 1/4 hardware cloth over that. I feel I am done and now this client wants to spray for Lyme ticks inside her apartment! She thinks they will drop off the mice and bite her. Is there any chance this could happen? Is it not true that other than a dog tick other ticks like Lyme ticks cannot complete their life cycle inside? If there were a couple of mice in a wall is that a Lyme Disease danger?

ANSWER:

You have some challenges here, so let’s discuss them first. You have a very important client in the Property Management Company and need to keep them satisfied that you are doing the best control you can, which seems to be the case so far. However, now they have a single tenant who is, perhaps, overly obsessed with the idea of Lyme Disease ticks being in her apartment, and if SHE is not satisfied that you have eliminated that threat then she is likely to make a loud and persistent complaint to the property management company. Your problem may be compounded by your need, or requirement, to verify the presence of a pest before you spray a pesticide, and if your best efforts do not find any ticks or other mouse parasites in this apartment you might be spraying a toxic substance there for no reason. This may be illegal in your state, and this is why I often encourage technicians to make the call to their local pesticide regulatory office and get their opinion. It may be that a single treatment with a properly labeled insecticide would resolve this tenant’s worries and make everyone happy, but you need to be sure that you are doing so legally. Ultimately you need to please 3 different people or agencies. 

Lyme Disease is certainly prevalent in your area of the Northeast, but Lyme Disease ticks (Ixodes) are much more associated with white footed mice, deer mice, and other Peromyscus than with the House Mouse. But, the House Mouse is “capable” of acquiring Ixodes ticks when active outdoors and therefore “capable” of bringing them indoors, and thus we could not in clear conscience tell this tenant that it is impossible for her to be exposed to these ticks. It is possible, just unlikely. I agree with you that the Brown Dog Tick is one of the few kinds of ticks that can complete its life cycle on humans, so without furry animal hosts available the infestation would not continue even if some of the ticks were now within this apartment. If the question then gets to “well, what about mice in the walls”, again we could not make unrealistic guarantees. If there were mice there and if they had ticks on them then those ticks or their offspring could make their way out through wall outlets, etc. 
It may be important in all of this to recognize that baby ticks (larvae) do not emerge from their eggs infected with the Lyme Disease bacteria. They must acquire it by feeding on some infected animal, so this further reduces any chance that this client could be exposed to ticks that are infected with the disease. Even if those few mice dropped a gravid female tick and she deposited her mass of eggs in the apartment, the emerging first instar ticks would not be infected. 
It is not unusual nor improper to treat an area around a wild animal nest for probable parasites from that animal, such as indoor bird or rodent nests. We know very well that these nests may harbor high numbers of arthropod parasites that could move from there to bite people. So, with your local regulatory agency’s approval, doing a one-time treatment with a product labeled for this indoor use might be appropriate. We don’t always see the fleas in a home but can recognize that the presence of infested pets and complaints of bites tells us there is a high likelihood that fleas are present. I would suggest you balk at any demand to continue to treat this apartment on every visit, but a single treatment to eliminate any wandering parasites that could be dropped by the mice could be appropriate. But, DO consider maintaining a lot of insect glue traps in the apartment, and inspect them every visit. Hopefully after a few months of no ticks on the traps the tenant will be more comfortable that any threat is eliminated. 

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Pest QuestionsJune 03, 2012

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experts say snakes, rodents out in abundance this year

“This has been our busiest spring ever, ” says Authority owner Rick Seifert. “From 2000 to about 2008 we had eight years of drought or partial drought.” Now after years of high rain levels combined with a mild winter, they say snakes …

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Pests in the NewsJune 02, 2012

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Er, actually, I think I’ll just walk: Lady cyclist gets a swarm of bees in her basket

The excited turned the bicycle basket into a buzzing bomb the size of a football outside the Co-op in March, Cambridgeshire, yesterday. Shocked shoppers gathered to watch the amazing phenomenon in the lunchtime sunshine as the humming bees clung to …

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Pests in the NewsJune 02, 2012

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May 31, 2012 – Insects And Public Health

QUESTION:

As pest professionals we likely want to feel we are offering a legitimate and valuable service other than just killing bugs because they are icky and annoying. This pertains in particular to vector control and the pathogens arthropod pests are known to transmit to people. Do you know of any great source that will list some of these various pathogens? I know I can find some here and there, but does the CDC, for example, have this information compiled all together? I know pest control is recommended for most homes and buildings to control potential vectors such as roaches, ants, and other insects, and we fight with the occupants over the subject of sanitation and its role in the presence of the pests. So, do pests really make people sick?
Also, I notice that a lot of outdoor flying pests will run to and rest on the lower parts of buildings. Is it better to spray a barrier treatment higher up as to kill less of these? Is a barrier treatment actually helpful in deterring pests (including ants) from crawling up the building?

ANSWER:

The bottom line for one of your questions is that ABSOLUTELY arthropod and rodent pests will make people sick, and coincidentally we posted a news article just today on PestWeb’s “Pests In The News” that highlights a new and growing epidemic with Chagas Disease, a terrible disease vectored by kissing bugs and so common in Latin America that at any one time up to 8 MILLION humans are infected with the disease, with many tens of thousands of them dying annually. Sadly, I would bet that almost no one in the U.S. is even aware of the disease outside of those in pest management. This is all about to change though, with the new publicity this disease is now going to receive, as new evidence tells us that there may be as many as 300,000 people in the U.S. are now infected, many of them immigrants who may have come into the U.S. already infected, but serving as the reservoirs for the pathogen to infect other people. 

The list of insect and arachnid (ticks, mites, etc.) borne pathogens is virtually endless, and new ones are discovered all the time – witness the relatively recent knowledge of Hantavirus, Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus. Entire books are dedicated to the topic, such as one of my old textbooks in Entomology just called “Medical Entomology”. However, the Internet is our new Encyclopedia, and with just a few key words you can find what you are looking for. I “Googled” “insect borne disease list” and found nearly 2 million possible hits, including the Centers for Disease Control. This brilliant website not only lists all of the diseases, but also offers statistics on where they are occurring, vaccinations recommended for travel, etc., along with fact sheets on most of them. 
The American Mosquito Control Association is also going to offer the same kinds of thorough lists of pathogens vectored by insect pests. There are books and websites, such as the Avitrol and Bird Barrier websites, that list all of the diseases associated with birds. Similarly books and websites list all of the rodent-borne diseases. So yes, with just a short search you will easily find compilations of the information you want. 
With respect to treating outdoors, it sounds like you prefer to avoid killing many of those flying insects that occur sitting on structures but which are really not pests. Thank you for that attitude, and it is one I strongly encourage. We need to spend just a little more time properly identifying the bugs that occur in homes and yards and avoid spraying insecticides when those bugs do not need to be killed. A landscape is much better off with many insects and spiders living in it than without any of them. Barrier treatments around the base of the structure can be effective in intercepting crawling insects, so the use of contact insecticides is a very legitimate use of the products. Perhaps it is unfortunate that some beneficial insects are also going to be affected by these applications, but it may be unavoidable. It is hard to pick and choose which critters come crawling along the base of the foundation at night, and in order to keep out the earwigs and ants and crickets there may be some spiders and soldier beetles killed as well. 

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Pest QuestionsJune 02, 2012

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Earth-friendly pest protection is worth the wait

THE GROWING season is upon us and along with the flowers, tomatoes and green grass come insects, weeds and other unwanted . Many of the calls I receive at the office are for advice on controlling these –quickly. Unfortunately, the most …

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Pests in the NewsJune 01, 2012

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The Mosquito Invasion

Freezing temperatures keep insect populations in check. This year’s mild weather means more survived to spring. The winter was especially kind to the Asian tiger mosquito, a tropical species now living here. While most mosquitoes are …

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Pests in the NewsJune 01, 2012

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Falls restaurant closed after citations for health violations

For example, food storage containers, utensils, dishware and other items designated as clean were covered with debris, dead , mold and dust, the health department said. This was called a repeat violation from a previous inspection, according to the report.

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Pests in the NewsJune 01, 2012

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Architects building dream homes for bats

The winged mammals are valued from an ecological viewpoint for preying on , dispersing seeds and pollination. But their numbers have declined dramatically in North America, where a fungal disease called white nose syndrome is estimated to …

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Pests in the NewsJune 01, 2012

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