Archive for the ‘Pest Questions’ Category

Feb 10, 2012 – One Route For Lyme

QUESTION:

I read with interest the armadillo connection to leprosy. I have been curious about eating deer meat that may be infected with Lyme disease. Every deer I’ve ever seen killed is loaded with ticks. I’ve never tried to take a specimen to know exactly what kinds of ticks are more prevalent, but as many as they carry I wonder what percent of the population is likely to have the disease. Can they carry Lyme disease and what are the most likely ways to contract it? Processing the deer maybe? I’m assuming if the meat is cooked thoroughly you’re fine.

ANSWER:

I think this is natural for us, to at least have that nagging worry in the back of our mind about whether or not we are being exposed to some serious disease when we are in contact with an infected animal. However, in the case of Lyme Disease it appears that the ONLY route of transmission is from the bite of the infected tick. According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Lyme cannot be passed from human to human with any normal physical contact, nor contracted by infants through breast milk, nor by casual handling of meat of infected animals nor by eating that meat. CDC does recommend, as you say, thoroughly cooking any animal meat just as a general food safety precaution. 

What you do when you work with recently killed deer is to bring yourself into close contact with the ticks themselves, and these little buggers can be pretty stealthy and possibly manage to get onto you without your knowing it. But, various university sites as well as CDC tell us that all the evidence to date suggests that a direct bite and feeding by the infected tick is the only route of exposure. It also is known that the Lyme ticks – most in the genus Ixodes – will not pass the bacteria into a host for at least the first 24 hours of attaching, giving us plenty of time to examine ourselves and remove any ticks when we have been in areas where ticks are prevalent. 
According to the Lyme Disease Foundation the percentage of ticks infected with Lyme varies greatly across the country. In the western U.S. it is very low, with only 2-4% of Ixodes ticks infected, and thus a lower incidence of the disease in humans. In the upper Northeast it may be as high as 50% of the ticks in some areas, dropping to 5% or less the further south you go. Interestingly, there is some anecdotal evidence in the West that the first instars of the ticks feed commonly on lizards, including fence lizards (“blue belly lizards”), and that in some manner the bacteria may be killed within the system of that lizard. This helps reduce the level of the bacteria in the general animal population, thus reducing the numbers of infected ticks that would acquire the pathogen by feeding on an infected vertebrate host. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 10, 2012

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Feb 7, 2012 – A Rat In Disguise?

QUESTION:

In a new customer’s home there are droppings in the basement which appear to be weasel droppings. The weasel was seen standing on her young daughter’s chest in the morning. The home does have mice, which weasels love, but why would it be standing on her daughter? Would it bite a human? Is it aggressive? She is scared to go to sleep in her own house. I understand that weasels can travel long distances to find food. I know very little about them.



ANSWER:

In your state you have the same species of weasel that occurs throughout the U.S., and this is the Long-tailed Weasel. While finding one indoors is not out of the question I somehow wonder if it is more likely that what your customer saw standing on her daughter was a rat and not a weasel. Given the ability of rats and mice to enter structures easily, and the shock that this mother must have had when she entered the room and saw some kind of animal there, a rat would certainly be a more likely culprit. I would bet that this is a case of mistaken identity, but I cannot swear to that. The feces of weasels are larger than a rat’s and may be longer and not nearly as “pelletized” as a rat’s or a mouse’s fecal pellets. The feces of a weasel will also have hair in it and probably plenty of bones, from the animals that it feeds on. A large percentage of a weasel’s diet is birds, so feathers may also be visible in the feces. 

Weasels are entirely carnivorous predators that hunt during the daytime as well as at night. They remain active for most of any 24 hour period. In the winter their hair may turn white to camouflage against a background of snow, and at this time the hair is referred to as “ermine”. While they are extremely aggressive hunters I don’t think they would be thought of as aggressive toward humans, unless a person tried to grab the weasel, at which point it would defend itself. But, I really can think of a lot more reasons for a rat to be on the bed than a weasel, so it would pay to verify what animal is occurring there. You also need to offer this customer a program of rodent / animal exclusion to ensure that no more animals of any kind can get indoors. I’d suggest setting plenty of rat traps around in this home to see what turns up over the next few days, and hopefully you can reassure this customer that they can sleep without any disturbance. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 09, 2012

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Feb 8, 2012 – An Old Disease Is Still Here

QUESTION:

Can I get leprosy from armadillos?

ANSWER:

When I first saw your question I suspected something new must have hit the airwaves, and sure enough there has been a more or less recent issue that I have overlooked. At least one article on this goes nearly a year ago, so my apologies. It seems that armadillos in the U.S. have been found to carry the bacteria that causes Leprosy, and in at least 25 cases of human leprosy the specific strain of the bacteria was identical in both the humans and in armadillos, and 8 of those infected people had made some contact with armadillos. We often think of leprosy as an ancient disease that must, by now, be a thing of the past. But, in the U.S. each year there are about 150 cases diagnosed, although the vast majority of these are suspected to have been acquired in other parts of the world.

Now, according to some studies reported in the news, it is believed that as much as 15% of the armadillos in the U.S. may be infected with the leprosy bacteria, and therefore are capable of passing this disease onto humans who handle the animals or eat the meat, and some medical personnel even suggest avoiding stuffed armadillos sold as trophy mounts. So far the infected animals appear to be primarily in the South from Texas to Alabama, but as armadillos expand their range they could carry the problem with them. 
So, your question of “could” you acquire leprosy from armadillos is answered as YES. But, the odds of this happening are really slim. I suppose we could say that it is possible for you to be stomped by a rampaging elephant in your driveway, but the odds are good that it won’t happen. There are so many other risks that we face each day that to worry about a rare disease spreading from an easily identified and avoided animal is not necessary. In addition, you are in New York, and this makes it even more unlikely that armadillos will be living there anytime soon. Some university experts tell us that the most likely scenario of infection from armadillos is when people eat under-cooked armadillo meat, so even properly cooking the meat should kill the bacteria. Casual contact with the animals or having them around your area is extremely unlikely to pass the disease. 
Armadillos are unusual in this case in that it is rare for a human disease to also infect other animals, and armadillos appear to be the only mammal capable of carrying the Leprosy bacteria. Thus, it should not pass along to dogs that may go after armadillos, nor be spread to people who contact pets that may have contacted armadillos. This is a very rare circumstance that can be avoided with basic precautions. However, it is likely that the news media will have a field day with wild headlines, so educating yourself so you can advise your customers with the facts will be important. If you do need to handle armadillos during trapping or other management then wear gloves, long sleeves, and wash your hands afterward. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 08, 2012

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Feb 5, 2012 – The Role of IGR’s

QUESTION:

A plant manager mentioned to me that another pest control company ULD’s his other warehouse with just Gentrol. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Unless they are using oil and Gentrol there would really be no sense to use Gentrol alone as it seems it would take too much and offer no pest control. Does this sound correct?

ANSWER:

Gentrol really does have Labeling for a great many pests, as well as for either fogging or surface application. So, this use of Gentrol as a space spray is a valid application that could very well offer some benefit. We tend to think of Gentrol in terms only of cockroaches, since that was the original use for it and perhaps still leads the way. Of course, now Gentrol is getting much wider use for bed bug control as well. But, on the label we also find stored foods pest moths and beetles as well as small flies such as drain and fruit flies. The active ingredient (hydroprene) works on all of these to disrupt proper growth and development of the early stages if those larvae or nymphs are exposed to the active ingredient. Larvae of moths and beetles, with any luck, will die prior to reaching the adult stage and nymphs of roaches and bed bugs will reach the adult stage but should be infertile and incapable of producing viable eggs. 

The Gentrol Label also does offer various uses, including surface treatments, spot or C&C, as well as fogging, and in a large warehouse fogging would be the most efficient way to disperse the active over large areas. Since the molecule of hydroprene is fairly stable it is possible that it may last for several months to affect larvae that emerge from eggs or even new pest insects that enter the facility well after the application. Hydroprene and methoprene (in Precor) also have the unusual ability to “move”, and this is why Gentrol Point Source works. The vapors of the active ingredient sort of “flow” over the surfaces adjacent to where it is placed, or where the mist or spray from fogging or spraying the material has landed. The Gentrol label does instruct that when fogging it should be directed into hidden locations as much as possible, such as under pallets or behind equipment, so ensure better coverage. 
There also are some very specific directions for use in any kind of food facility. If this warehouse that is being fogged packages food or has any exposed foods or surfaces where foods will be placed and exposed, those surfaces cannot be treated. They must be covered ahead of time or thoroughly washed following the fogging if they were left exposed. Even though these IGR’s have extremely low toxicity to people they still are pesticides and must be applied according to the label. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 07, 2012

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Feb 6, 2012 – What Constitutes A "Spot"

QUESTION:

When doing a “spot” treatment how large can the “spot” be? How much area needs to be left between “spots”?

ANSWER:

This is a darned good question and one that I do not have the complete answer for. So, before I launch into my discussion of it I will do what I so often do and suggest that you speak directly with YOUR regulatory agency for your state and get their opinion. Since they are the ones who oversee what you do in your state, and would be the ones to agree or disagree with your decision, it is important to know what they expect of you ahead of time. With the new labeling on all pyrethroid products this once again comes to light as important, although “spot treatment” has always been on product labels for many of their uses. 

That being said, the EPA does clearly define what a “spot” is, and we can find this in some of their literature as well as on some product Labels. A spot is an area no larger than 2 square feet. Period, end of definition. So, a single spot could be 1 foot wide by 2 feet long, or 4 inches wide by 6 feet long, or a circle 19 inches in diameter, or any other combination of dimensions that add up to 288 square inches. This is a pretty broad definition, but that seems to be all the EPA has to say about it. Directly out of FIFRA here is what EPA says:
“Spot treatment is application to limited areas on which insects are likely to occur, but which will not be in contact with food or utensils and  will not ordinarily be contacted by workers. These areas may occur on floors, walls, and bases or undersides of equipment. For this purpose a “spot” will not exceed 2 square feet”. 
The question of how close together these spots can be is the hard one to define. For many years I have taught in seminars that the overall surface you treat with “spots” can have no more than 20% of the surface area covered. Then one day I decided to find this in some regulations somewhere, preferably in FIFRA from EPA, and by golly I could not, and still cannot, come up with it. I spoke with my own state’s regulatory agency and asked where in their laws a “spot” was defined with regard to the overall area and it appears not to be in our laws. I have seen on at least one product Label, and I do not remember now which product that was, the statement that spots cannot cover more than 15% of the overall surface area. Obviously this contradicts what I had been preaching, and since it is on that specific label then you MUST adhere to that guideline when using that product. But, there simply appears to be no further legal definition of spot treatment beyond what I show above. 
So, does this mean we can be sneaky and treat a 2 square foot area, stop spraying a moment, and then spray another 2 square foot area immediately adjacent to the first one, and so on? No, I really don’t think we ought to start that. Logic and common sense tell us that the INTENT of the definition is to limit the treatment to spots that are separated by some reasonable distance, and since 20% has stuck in my mind for all these many years perhaps that would be a reasonable guideline to use until someone in authority tells you different. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 06, 2012

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Feb 3, 2012 – New Pyrethroids Labeling

QUESTION:

With the new label restrictions on pyrethroid use outdoors, as pertaining to liquid pesticides, is it permitted to apply a band/fan treatment spray within 3 feet or less of the
structure on impervious horizontal surfaces such as porches, decks, or concrete that is adjoining to or adjacent to the structure’s vertical foundation? I already understand that it is permitted to apply the band 3 feet up from the ground vertically on the structure foundation, but what about horizontally?

ANSWER:

These important new changes on ALL labels of synthetic pyrethroid insecticides that have any labeling for outdoor uses are going into effect at this time, but over a period of the first few months of 2012. Some products’ labels will already have the new wording in place while others may have that new wording with the next purchase you make, but it is extremely important that you check the labels of the products when you purchase them from Univar to see if that batch is now labeled with the new wording. The changes will be primarily in the sections on “Environmental Hazards” and “Directions for Use – Application Restrictions”. You can find the complete text of the changes on PestWeb now. Look in the tab “Industry” and then “PestWeb Features” for the highlight on the pyrethroids updates. 

The stated purpose of the changes is to minimize applications that are likely to lead to runoff of the active ingredient from the property. Thus, applications to turf and soils around landscaping are still permitted, essentially as they have been previously. The assumption is that the soil and the plants will soak up or attach to the spray and runoff is not likely to happen. But, granular applications where granules end up on sidewalks or other hard surfaces (where they have no business being) need to be swept back onto the lawn or garden soils. 
The changes are for applications to HARD, or “impervious” surfaces, and the new wording specifically mentions “sidewalks, driveways, patios, porches, and structural surfaces such as windows, doors, and eaves”. These are limited to spot or crack and crevice treatments ONLY. No more broadcast applications to large surface areas. In some discussion on these statements that I have found the question of covered patios comes up, and since these could possibly be affected by rain or sprinkler irrigation they too must be treated by spot or C&C only. I don’t recall finding “decks” specifically mentioned in the new regulations, but logic would tell us that a deck of wood or any other material would be considered an impervious surface that cannot be treated overall. Therefore, a deck built adjacent to the structure could not be treated as a band treatment of any kind, but would have to be spot or C&C. 
There is one important interpretation on the word “spot”, in that EPA is allowing the application of bands no more than 1 inch wide around doors and windows, and is allowing this kind of narrow band to fall within their definition, in this case, of spot or C&C. They also will continue to allow surface / spot applications under the eaves if the eaves are covered, as this area is unlikely to be affected by rainfall or irrigation. There also will be wording in most cases to avoid applications of any pyrethroids during a “rain event” or even if rainfall is predicted within 24 hours. Again, the whole purpose is to keep pyrethroids out of waterways, and driveways drain to gutters, and gutters drain to storm drains, and storm drains lead directly to the local creek. 
So, just in case I talked too much and the answer to your question was lost in the mix, NO, you will no longer be allowed to do any band treatments of impervious outdoor surfaces such as decks, porches, or patios. You can continue to do wider applications to soil or turf around the structure. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 05, 2012

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Feb 4, 2012 – Marketing Your Skills

QUESTION:

Are technicians who are willing and able to perform reliable bed bug work accepting a premium in the workplace? Can you point me to reliable data or surveys to help answer this?
There exists an element of risk in routinely undertaking this work. Does hiring by members of the pest control industry take this into consideration?

ANSWER:

This is a really good question, and honestly I cannot tell you if pest control company owners recognize and reward the value of the skilled and willing technician who can do bed bug work, day in and day out. I certainly hope they do. It was pointed out early in our reintroduction of The Common Bed Bug that this pest is unlike any other pest that we deal with, and it cannot be eradicated if the technician tries to treat it as though it were a carpet beetle, cockroach, or earwig. For one thing, there is no “tolerance” level for bed bugs. They need to be eradicated right down to the very last nymph and egg or the problem will continue. No other pest we deal with seems to generate the fear and loathing that bed bugs do, and for this reason the lawyers in the U.S. are looking at a cash cow. People whose homes are infested with bed bugs recognize that they MUST have obtained them from someone or somewhere else, and therefore are “victims” who must sue. 

There is tremendous profit to be made by our industry if we know how to remove bed bugs from a structure, and of course the list now goes well beyond just homes to include stores, schools, hospitals, theaters, etc. The liability to those commercial accounts is HUGE, and they should be willing to pay the price needed to eradicate the bugs before someone sues them or they make the headlines on the front page of the morning news. A properly trained pest control company recognizes the long journey to elimination of the bugs, and will be charging the price needed to be profitable. The pest control company should also accept that it too is immersed in the liability once it takes on the responsibility of removing the bugs, so the fee to do so needs to be high enough to take that into account. 
So, there we are. A huge public health and liability issue with a pest that is terribly difficult to extract from a structure, so who are we going to send out to do the work? The new guy? I hope not. It must be the technician or team of technicians who are willing to do tedious work of this kind, who are diplomatic and outgoing enough to work with and get the cooperation of terribly stressed clients, and who are willing to accept that added burden of ensuring they do not take these bugs home with themselves. This can be very rewarding and profitable work when it succeeds, but it can be terribly frustrating and tedious to do. I think that deserves a higher pay scale than the technician who does other more routine work. Something about if you want monkeys you pay peanuts. 
I don’t know of any surveys on this, and no mention of pay scales ever came up during the many sessions I recently attended on bed bug topics at the NPMA conference. Perhaps money matters are just areas that university speakers and researchers prefer not to become involved with. However, if you plan to put a lot of time and effort into developing technicians who are successful with bed bug eradication you would hope to keep them with your company, and compensation talks. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 04, 2012

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Feb 1, 2012 – Old Home Remedies

QUESTION:

An old timer was asking me about “white washing” barns with lime used for greening up lawns. The question is, does it help with bug control and does it have any effects specifically on termites?

ANSWER:

Isn’t it amazing what USED to be done in efforts to prevent or kill pests, and prior to all of our magical synthetic molecules people relied on what Nature provided for them. They long ago made the connection between certain inorganic materials that could be taken from the ground, such as borates and boric acid and calcium oxide (lime), and their ability to kill insects in some manner. Lime is also used in agriculture and even landscaping to raise the soil pH if the soil is too acidic. Acid soils can occur from leaching of other minerals from the soil with irrigation, by excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers, and even the heavy use of mulch and other plant materials to add nutrients to the soil. My father in law grew up in Wisconsin, and he advocated using lime in the garden to “sweeten” the soil, although I never quite knew what that meant. 

Years ago we had a product introduced and then removed from the market, and this contained powdered limestone. It was used as a desiccant much the same as our current silica gel and diatomaceous earth dusts are, so it had the ability to kill insects in that “non-toxic” manner by cutting into their exoskeleton and causing dehydration. It is possible that by painting a thick slurry of the cheap lime over barns and maybe even fencing it could help to keep fly populations down by killing the adult flies that landed on those surfaces. Lime and limestone dust are not, I do not believe, considered to be of any use when ingested by insects, and once the lime gets wet it may lose its desiccant properties. So, for termites the lime is probably not an effective material at this time. Mixed in the soil it is not likely to either repel or kill termites, and on wood the termites may bypass it of put mud over the top of it. 
It’s always interesting to look for information on the toxicity of such “non-toxic” products, and as luck would have it the internet is filled with good information. For example, the LD-50 for hydrated lime is about 6500 mg/kg, making it only a little less toxic to mammals our Synthetic Pyrethroids, and since lime is used at a very high concentration, while the pyrethroids are diluted hundreds of times for use, it kind of makes that whitewash more hazardous that our “toxic” insecticides. 
At this time I do not know of any commercial insecticide products using lime or its derivatives, so just in case he was asking for your approval to once again white wash the barn, I’d stay away from it. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 03, 2012

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Feb 2, 2012 – Home Is Where The Crud Is?

QUESTION:

I went on a fly job last fall and was informed that the home was infested with 200-300 flies for the past couple of weeks. I expected to find the usual fly – fruit fly, phorid, or drain fly. I was also informed that another company had treated the area before me. I am sure I looked in the same spots he did, which were sink drains, under the sink, washing machine lines and drains. I was unable to find any signs and inspected the rest of the house. As I came into the front room on the south-facing wall, on the outside of the electrical outlet, I spotted a couple 1/8 inch flies. I took off the outlet cover and sprayed a flushing agent behind the outlet. Within ten minutes, thirty flies came out of the outlet and died. I removed the outlets and dusted inside and behind the outlet boxes and after a week this seemed to resolve the problem. But I still have remaining questions.
What organic material could they be feeding on and breeding in behind the wall? Could this be a foundation leak? Could this be an underground sewer leak? And, could they reappear in the spring due to temperature change?
Feedback is much appreciated.

ANSWER:

One thing that was missing from your question was the species of fly that you discovered, and this is very important in determining the possible breeding sources or other reasons for the presence of these flies. If you had not suggested you were expecting small flies like phorids or drain flies I would have said that this sounds like a classic Cluster Fly problem. But these much larger flies don’t look anything like the small, orange phorids or gray, hairy drain flies. Cluster flies are larger than house flies, have distinguishing short, curly golden hairs all over their thorax, and commonly overwinter within the walls or attics or other voids in structures. Since your first call came in the fall, and you are in the Northeast, this would be very characteristic of Cluster flies. If it turns out that these are the larger cluster flies then there isn’t necessarily any sanitation problem within this home. The flies are just opportunistic and found a way into this home to spend the cold winter months. 

The presence of a few cluster flies sitting on a wall inside the home also would be normal, as warmth from the home’s interior could activate them, or if you had a warm spell outside it could warm them up enough to get them moving around. However, if these did turn out to be one of the small flies then proper ID is still critical to control, and finding a lot of them within a wall would be pretty unusual. Whether they are phorids, drain flies, or even vinegar flies (which would be REALLY unusual in a wall) it hints of something in there that they could be breeding in, and this would be a very wet area where organic material has built up. Both phorids and drain flies can breed in the same settings, but it is going to be a sloppy wet one. If they actually are breeding within that void then a plumbing leak would be possible. If they are only in there because they moved to that spot from some other nearby breeding site then it is also possible that plumbing under a slab or in the soil is leaking and creating a soupy situation for their larvae. A leak from the outside due to some breach in the foundation could, I suppose, also be possible, as anything that creates excessive moisture could create the proper conditions for these small flies. 
But, identification is oh so important, and it still sounds more like a classic cluster fly problem. A neat tool that I think would be perfect for this and for so many other jobs, where you need to look inside a hidden void, is a remote camera on an extendable and flexible tube, and one of the major Big Box stores has had this on their shelf for a year now for only $100. You slip the tube into that void and view the scene inside on the screen that you hold in your hand. Now you may be able to see if there is any obvious sign of dampness and growth of fungus or buildup of junk. You also can see if there are any other flies hanging out in there. This seems like such a great tool for the PMP that takes away a lot of the guess work. 
If these are cluster flies and you did not kill all of them, then yes, some will try to reappear once the weather warms and they need to get back out. If they are one of the small flies breeding in organic sludge, and that sludge and the cause of it are not repaired, then yes you will continue to have the flies breeding in it and appearing as the adult flies. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 02, 2012

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Jan 30, 2012 – Used To Like It, Now I Don’t

QUESTION:

In the past it seemed as though there was one rodent bait that stood above the rest. Now it is avoided despite any other food source around. Do mice build up a dislike for or a taste avoidance to these baits?

ANSWER:

Hopefully those things I have learned in the past are not now all outdated and incorrect, and one concept that was taught to us is that rodents can develop bait “shyness”. There can be other factors involved instead, and we’ll mention those too, but bait shyness could be possible where a rodent associates some negative feeling or reaction with the food (the bait) it has been eating, and begins to avoid that bait in the future. Or, perhaps even might avoid eating baits placed in stations if it somehow associates the station with the problem. This could be a rodent that has eaten less than a lethal dose of the bait but begins to feel ill, and decides that the bait and the ill feeling are connected. Mice, in particular, are nibblers and may not quickly consume enough of the bait to kill them.

Possible ways to overcome this are to make some changes in the baiting protocol. Use a different bait entirely, such as place packs instead of paraffin blocks, pellets instead of blocks, a non-anticoagulant instead of an anticoagulant, a different manufacturer’s product just to change the food ingredients and the look or taste or feel of the bait. Put the bait stations in different locations. It’s also worthwhile to make another inspection to be certain no alternative foods are available. After all, if the mice or rats are still present they must be eating something, and for rats finding water as well. If you are baiting on the exterior then there really could be plenty of alternative foods in neighboring properties. If you are baiting on the interior hopefully you are taking measures to rodent-proof the structure so that you can eventually  deal with these rodents only on the outside. Continuous baiting on the interior leads to those problems we already recognize – dead rodents, flies, odors, etc. Of course, if this is some large commercial structure such as a warehouse the exclusion becomes a lot more difficult. 
Dr. Corrigan, in his Rodent Control book, lists some possible reasons for poor bait acceptance, and I will just quote these:
  • the choice of bait is just not attractive anymore (change baits)
  • bait stations are no longer placed in high rodent activity areas, or where too much human activity is occurring.
  • other food resources are available and more attractive.
  • the bait has become unpalatable – rancid, moldy, bug infested, or contaminated with other unsavory odors and tastes from contamination.
So, sure, it is possible for various reasons that these rodents no longer want to eat the bait, and making changes in the bait and the placement might be helpful. 

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Pest QuestionsFebruary 01, 2012

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