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Pest Control Specialists Contact Us

4012 N. Main Street
Dayton, OH 45405

QUESTION:

How do sodium channel inhibitors have an
effect on insects and how do they endanger
people?

ANSWER:

I suppose we could say that insecticides have the ability to affect humans in the same way they do insects, since in general the nervous systems of mammals and bugs work in pretty much the same way. We all have neurons that carry nerve signals to and from the brain and the chemistry involved is the same. There are some insecticides that may have very little effect on a human nervous system but be highly effective on that of an insect, such as many of the natural tree oils. These interfere with the neurotransmitter Octopamine, which regulates much of the metabolism in insects but is an enzyme that is not present in mammals.

But, for most nerve functions a nerve cell (neuron) is activated by some stimulus and the impulse moves from neuron to neuron to finally reach the brain for some interpretation and action. Of course this normally happens instantly. That signal is transformed to an electrical impulse of ions in order to pass along each neuron, and it moves through various “channels, one of which is the Sodium Channel. There also are “gates” that open or close to allow these ions to pass through or to block their movement. More specifically we might have certain pesticides that will interfere with this gate in the sodium channel by inhibiting a protein called GABA (gamma amino butyric acid). This protein is there to stop nerve impulses from continuing to fire by closing the gate, and if the pesticide has “inhibited” that protein the gates cannot close properly and the neuron continues to fire the signal along, well after it should have stopped doing so. The gates in the channel stay open and the ions just keep passing on through.

This results in tremors and eventually a loss of control of metabolic functions as they are overworked. In other words, it screws up the nervous system by interfering with the proper function of the neurons. The Synthetic Pyrethroids and Natural Pyrethrum are some of these GABA-gated Sodium Channel blockers. Similarly there are GABA-gated Chloride Channel blockers such as some chlorinated hydrocarbons and fipronil, and they would act in a similar manner except on this different channel (chloride instead of sodium).

How do they endanger humans? Well, these active ingredients work in the same way on humans as they do on bugs, but it is DOSE RELATED. The amount of an active ingredient that affects an ant or cockroach so seriously that it endangers that bug’s health is so infinitesimal compared to the amount that would be needed to affect a human that we have this huge safety factor. A safety factor, that is, if we use the products correctly and according to the Label and good common sense. We mix them at the proper concentration, apply them to the proper places where we minimize human contact, and we keep people off treated surfaces until the treatment is dry.

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QUESTION:

How to control gnats?


ANSWER:

“Gnats” would be a simple name we might apply to just about any kind of very small fly, and there is the first step in successful control – you must determine exactly what kind of fly these are. If they are outdoors they could be midges, mosquitoes, or one of many kinds of little flies found in and around the landscape. If they are indoors they could be fruit flies, phorid flies, fungus gnats, drain flies, etc., and each of these really requires a different protocol for eliminating them. The worst First Step would be to take a fogger and spray the place. You get a very satisfying knockdown of adult flies, but no control at all over the source, and that is always Key in fly management.

So my answer has to start with capturing a few of these small flies and determining exactly what kind they are. You can use a small hand magnifier to see key characters on them that will tell you which kind they are, and until you do know it would be hard to proceed to locate the source, which is wherever the larvae are developing. If it is fungus gnats their name gives you a clue, and you look for moisture sources where small amounts of mildew and fungus grow that the larvae feed on. This could be a wet crawlspace, potted plants, leaking plumbing, or even adult insects coming in from outside. If it is drain flies look for wet areas with a buildup of organic crud, and drains are often suspect. If it is fruit flies then some damaged, fermenting fruit or vegetable or spills of sugary liquids must exist somewhere in the account.

You could use a UV light trap to capture specimens for closer examination, or just get a few in a jar and freeze them to kill them so you can do a proper ID. The light trap may also be useful in guiding you to where the source is if this is a large account. But, do not focus on the adult insects. In a way they are only a sign that something else exists in this account that is a problem – something unsanitary and decaying that is supporting the larvae of these gnats, and no baseboard spray or space spray is going to affect this source. It has to be discovered with a careful inspection and eliminated in some manner.

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QUESTION:

What is a water carrier agent?

ANSWER:

Most of our pesticide applications today are made by mixing some concentrate material with a large volume of water to dilute it to the concentration recommended for application. The water is now the “carrier” for that pesticide concentrate, so we refer to it as the water carrier.

Now, there are some things about plain old water that many pesticides do not like, and we should be aware of them. These are the pH of the water (is it acidic, alkaline, or neutral?), salt content, and mineral content, which also may equate to “hardness” of the water. There are materials we can add to a tank to correct these inherent conditions in the water so that the pesticide works better, and these additives are called “agents”. They may be a buffer to correct the pH or something to “soften” the water to remove minerals such as calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate.

This is an area you should be aware of for the water you use in your region. Over time ground water tends to become alkaline due to leaching of minerals in the soil or leaching of organic breakdown products from the surface. In general highly alkaline water is not good for pesticides, and this was a particular problem back when we relied on organophosphate and carbamate insecticides. These molecules degraded pretty quickly in alkaline water in a process known simply as Alkaline Hydrolysis, and we could counter the effect by adding a buffer to bring the pH to a more acid level. Simply mixing these insecticides in a tank of water and then leaving it over the weekend could result in a significant loss of the actual pesticide active ingredient, so that on Monday morning when you finally used the tank mix it might no longer kill the bugs.

Hardness in water also can seriously affect pesticides by causing the minerals to bind with the pesticide molecules and fall out of solution as insoluble salts. This could result in a sludge at the bottom of the tank composed of the minerals in the water and the active ingredient that you thought was mixed properly in the tank solution. This is particularly a problem with some herbicides, including glyphosate and 2,4-D. This points out why just assuming you can fill your tank with water and add the pesticide concentrate may not always be good policy. You need to be aware of the chemical makeup of the water you use. Where I grew up and where I worked in pest management for a couple of years the water was commonly ground water, and it had an extremely high mineral content. If you didn’t quickly dry your car after washing it you would have thought it had snowed on the car, from the layer of white mineral material left there once the water evaporated.

So, a water carrier agent is simply an additive mixed with your pesticide spray tank mixture to counteract some negative features in that water carrier that comes through the garden hose.

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QUESTION:

What are the new laws for rodenticides in bait stations for June 2011?


ANSWER:

This potentially is an important change for the PMP, and it is called the Rodenticide Risk Mitigation Decision (RRMD) from the EPA, scheduled to take effect on June 4, 2011, so less than one month away. The biggest effect we will see as professional users of rodent baits is that from that date on the manufacturers will need to relabel their products, including a statement that the bait must be within a tamper resistant station when used outdoors, and this station MUST be within 50 feet of a structure. Fences are NOT considered structures, so baiting a fenceline or some other perimeter of a property with the affected baits will be history.

Another change on rodenticide labels for products for roof and norway rats and house mice is that the label will state “Only” for these rodents, eliminating any vague suggestions that they could be used for other rodent species. This EPA decision addresses all of the current active ingredients used in rodenticides except for a couple of the “natural” actives. It includes all the anticoagulants as well as zinc phosphide, bromethalin, and cholecalciferol. Another change you will see once existing inventories are depleted in our warehouses (and new labeled material is brought in) will be the quantity you must purchase. For professional users the minimum package size for First Generation anticoagulants and Acute toxicants (warfarin, diphacinone, chlorophacinone, bromethalin, cholecalciferol, zinc phosphide) will be 4 lbs. The minimum package size for Second Generation anticoagulants (brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone) will be 16 lb containers. And liquid bait will no longer be allowed for residential use or outdoors.

The retail market will see a bigger change, as consumers have more restrictions. One of the biggest will be that they no longer will be able to buy those Second Generation active ingredients. They no longer will be able to buy pelleted baits, but only paraffin blocks. Package size is restricted to 1 lb. or less and must be sold already within a bait station or with a bait station included.

For professionals we will still have access to all the same bait forms and actives, and it will be the size sold that you notice first. Pay VERY close attention to the labels on the packages that you are purchasing, for you can continue to use your product as labeled. But, on June 4 manufacturers can no longer ship old labeled material, so the new labels will start hitting our warehouses after that. Look on the websites for Bell Labs and LiphaTech and Eaton for summaries of this and updates.

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QUESTION:

I have questions about the degradation of pesticides in the heat. How does heat affect concentrates, such as being in the compartment of a truck bed? I have the same concerns about the final mixtures. Is it a problem if leftover mixed material heats up going from one job to another? I also am having problems with bait separation, such as Maxforce ant gel. It becomes a problem applying the bait after it has separated. Is the active ingredient being compromised? Does more stay in the gel part of the bait than the liquid that separates, or vice versa?

ANSWER:

These are some good questions, and two resources that are very important reading are the Product Label and the Product MSDS. I think we often overlook the importance of that MSDS, and just keep it on the vehicle or in the office to comply with regulations. But, the MSDS has vital Storage information on it specific to that product. I picked at random 3 products and looked at the label and msds for each one to see what guidelines or precautions they had specific to temperatures (we need to keep in mind COLD temps too).

Termidor SC – states on the Label only “protect from heat”, but on the MSDS states that it should not be stored below 0 degrees Centigrade (= 32 degrees F) or above 40 degrees C (= 104 degrees F). It does not go on to say what the consequences would be if you did store it at that too high of a temperature, but the assumption is that it will affect the integrity of the product in some way – degradation of the active ingredient or a negative effect on the concentrate solution with respect to diluents and solvents in the product.

Dragnet SFR – states to store it above 40 degrees F, and further only states to store it in a “cool, dry location”, without specifying higher temperature limits. Maxforce FC Ant Gel “recommends” a maximum storage area of 81 degrees F, and that the 30-day average temperature MUST not exceed that 81 degrees.

So this shows us that there may be no hard and fast rule for storage limits. Certainly the ideal storage will be room temperature, and temps that start getting above 100 degrees F can begin to cause problems for the material. We have been taught that heat is one of the enemies of pesticide molecules, hastening the breakdown of that molecule and reducing its life. Water is another enemy of the molecules, so leaving pesticides mixed in a tank in water is going to cause loss of the active ingredient. This may have been a greater concern with the old organophosphates, which were very susceptible to “hydrolysis”, and less so with pyrethroids and newer chemical families, but good policy would be to never leave insecticide mixed up overnight, and certainly not over a weekend. Mix what is needed and use it on the job at hand.

The slight warming of the mixed material from one job to the next would not seem to be a serious concern. If you used cool or cold water initially it just should not warm to over 100 degrees in the next half hour. However, so much better to store that spray tank in an enclosed locker if at all possible.

With respect to the bait gels, you can see the warnings on the product documents, and this probably does have to do with thinning and separation of the gel. I suspect that the active ingredient is still just fine at these lower temps (below 100 F), but that the use of the gel to apply it properly would be hard if it is too runny. To be honest, I don’t know if the liquidy part contains more of the a.i., but it would seem to me that the liquid part is exactly the same as that which is still a gel, but the gel part just has not melted yet. Over time if it stays liquid there could be some separation of the ingredients, but not right away. A good practice in the summer heat would be to store all materials like this in a small cooler in the storage compartment – perhaps a small styrofoam cooler and start with some ice in it.

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QUESTION:

My employee did an interior and exterior treatment of a home recently, and later the owner’s wife and my man found spiders under the bathroom toilet. This was the second time, as the cleaning lady found them there last week. These are small spiders you would normally see outside.
What is going on with the spiders? Are they coming
up the drains like we have seen some roaches do?

ANSWER:

It’s always going to be a “best guess” when trying to analyze a problem without being on site. First, I would really think that spiders would not be coming up through drains, managing somehow to navigate through the water trap in the drain. Of course, I always said that about cockroaches too, and lately have been corrected by some people with first hand observations watching roaches walk directly into the water in a drain and not come back out. But, spiders would just seem even more unlikely to feel comfortable immersing themselves, so I’d be inclined to look for other entry points.

I’m going to assume from your description that the spiders found inside are not web spinners, but are small hunting or wandering spiders. Perhaps they were already inside before the treatment was done and just made their way to the toilet afterward, where they then were spotted by the homeowner. If there is a cleaning person perhaps she washed the floor there after any insecticide application and managed to remove any residual on the floor so that the spiders could wander without fear. Perhaps the spiders are finding a way in somehow behind floor moldings or nearby cabinets. It could even be that they were on the exterior walls or in the attic and found their way down from above, bypassing any treatments around the exterior foundation. I certainly would not decide that the spiders must be immune to our normal insecticides, so either they had not spent enough time on the treated surfaces or they managed to bypass it.

You might place a number of insect glue traps along walls inside this home and see what gets stuck on them and where. Spiders would normally travel along walls, and it may just be that they are coming from other places in the home, and this might lead you to entry points that can be dealt with. If they are small spiders they may be less easily seen on carpets but quickly seen on linoleum or tile flooring as in a bathroom. This time of year we also just have the seasonal explosions of bugs, so there is going to be a lot more pressure on the structure by bugs looking to get inside, so perhaps it was just the odds that a few made it past the outside treatments.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

QUESTION:

I have two mobile homes, where one had a bad German roach problem and now the other also has roaches and never had them before. What is going on? Am I doing anything wrong? She keeps it very clean. What do I need to do?

ANSWER:

It may sound trivial, but  be sure of the kind of roach you are finding in this second mobile home. California has good populations of the Vaga roach, which strongly resembles its cousin the German roach, but which lives outdoors, comes to lights, and flies. Just possibly you or she has found a few of the Vaga roaches in this clean home and mistaken them for Germans. The Vaga roach has a distinct black area down the front of its “face” between the eyes. If these definitely are Germans it would not be unheard of for them to occupy a home that seems clean to you and me, but still holds food and harborage opportunities for the roaches. If there has been that really bad infestation in a mobile home immediately adjacent to this second one it could be very possible for some of the roaches to be forced to look for less-competitive accommodations, and they may have moved out and over next door. It’s also possible that both of these tenants shop at the same infested grocery store, and the odds simply were that the second home was going to get some hitchhiking roaches at some point in time.

So, I don’t know that YOU are doing anything wrong except believing that somehow it is your fault, which it probably is not. You now need to do a very thorough inspection of this second home to determine the extent of the problem, to identify the food resources the roaches are being offered, to identify moisture sources that do not need to exist, and to identify exactly where the roaches are hiding so you can deal with them at that point. These roaches could not survive in this very clean home if there were no food, water, and harborage available to them, so at some level these must be present and food, at the least, can be eliminated. Discuss this diplomatically with the customer so that she does not feel she is being accused of being unsanitary. Even low levels of spills and clutter will support some roaches, but the customer must cooperate with you in your effort to remove the resources the roaches are using and to clean as thoroughly as possible.

Start with the inspection, recommend all the sanitation corrections needed, where possible use caulking to close all openings to harborage, use gel baits within crevices that are as close to the roach harborage as possible, treat directly into the harborage openings with a crack and crevice application, dust into walls with a residual dust (and silica gel or diatomaceous earth are good options), and place insect glue traps in various places to monitor your results or to inspect for additional roach populations you may not have discovered initially. If there are pets here their food should be placed only as they feed and then removed and sealed up until the next meal. Water dishes should not be left out at night. All other foods should be placed in sealed containers such as plastic tubs.

With the variety of selections we have for German roach control today these pests are not as invincible as they once seemed. Baiting continues to be excellent, and offer a bit of a variety of baits to see which ones they like. Some of the current aerosol products are excellent for the crack and crevice application, so discuss this with your local Univar sales reps to see which brands are giving the best results in your area. The inorganic dusts do a great job of killing roaches and lasting for many years in the future in case new roaches enter.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

QUESTION:

What is going on with bed bugs and MRSA? Is it just another media sensational story or a real threat?

ANSWER:

My oh my the power of the news media. This morning when I reviewed the daily batch of internet news articles pertaining to pests I saw at least a dozen separate media proclaiming this terrible new “possible” threat to our health. For those who may not know what MRSA is, it stands for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, which is the so-called “flesh eating” bacteria. It also is a very real and very serious health threat, as it is a virulent bacteria that is resistent to antibiotics and which has the capability of causing major damage to human bodies and organs.

The gist of this latest news is that a single study done in Canada focused on bed bugs taken from impoverished locations, and on 3 of the 5 bed bug samples they found MRSA on the bugs. The study made NO conclusions and made NO statements that this, therefore, meant bed bugs could vector MRSA to humans, but only that the bugs are clearly able to carry the bacteria on their bodies. The news media, however, printed rather sensational headlines about it, and I posted a couple of the daily articles on PestWeb in our Pests In The News on 5/12. Heaven only knows how many will be available tomorrow. It is VERY important that our industry NOT use this current panic to drum up business. We need to stick to the facts, which are only that this bacteria has been found ON bed bugs, but no evidence exists that the bugs have or are capable of transmitting it to humans.

I recall very well back in the early 1980’s when AIDS was the major health news, and headlines in this country were blaring that bed bugs had been “found” carrying the AIDS virus, and therefore, obviously, must be capable of spreading it. Last year we heard the same things about Swine Flu. The fact is that MANY different pathogenic microorganisms have been found on and within bed bugs, but the Common Bed Bug still has NEVER been shown to be capable of vectoring them to humans. I think this is important enough to copy below the response that the NPMA produced today – 5/12/11 –  on this issue. Thanks for asking about it Bill.

From the NPMA – Background:

Yesterday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the results of a peer-reviewed study that suggests bed bugs may be involved in disease transmission. The study, conducted in an impoverished community in Vancouver, British Columbia, tested a small sampling of bed bugs (5) collected from several patients (3) who were hospitalized for unstated causes.  Hypothesizing the bugs were vectors for “the transmission of antimicrobial drug-resistant pathogens” researchers performed tests which found the bacteria Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) present in the collected pests.   Marc Romney, one of the study’s authors, noted “even though this is a small study, it suggests that bed bugs may be playing a role in the transmission of MRSA in inner city populations where bed bug infestations are a problem.”

Since the release of yesterday’s report, as of last night, more than 450 news articles had been published about the study.  We expect this study to reignite the bed bug fever within the national and local press.

The National Pest Management Association has reviewed the report and found that it leaves many questions unanswered.  We do not plan to fuel this conversation and public fear by promoting news coverage of the survey.  Comments from NPMA will cite the study as one of the many examples of why additional, scientific research on bed bugs must be conducted.  We encourage members to refrain from comments suggesting that bed bugs may contribute to the spread of MRSA or other diseases.

Statement for Member Use:

Since the resurgence of bed bugs in the 1990s, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) has been advocating for funding for research on bed bugs, including most recently at the EPA’s Bed Bug Summit, the Congressional Bed Bug Forum and through direct visits with Members of Congress.  With the dramatic resurgence of this pest and the lack of basic biological data available consistent with today’s scientific standards and practices, it is imperative we better understand more about the biology and habits of the pest.  According to a study conducted by NPMA, one in five Americans has now come into contact with bed bugs directly or indirectly through friends or family members. Scientific research on the pest will better equip pest management professionals to control bed bugs efficiently and effectively.  

Talking Points

• Many pathogens have been found to be associated with bed bugs, however, no evidence has been uncovered (including the results found in this particular study) indicating that bed bugs can transmit disease to humans.  This is why additional research continues to be a great priority. 
• Only in recent years has research ramped up on this pest and there is still much work to be done regarding scientific research on the biology of bed bugs.
• More than 95% of pest professionals reported treating bed bugs last year; up from fewer than 25% of professionals in 2000.
• 76% of pest professionals believe bed bugs are the most challenging pest to control.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

QUESTION:

How to detect and trap a gopher?

ANSWER:

Detecting the gopher is usually pretty simple, meaning the gopher is going to make its presence known by creating those unsightly piles of dirt. The clue that it is a gopher is that the fresh dirt pile is sort of “U” shaped, and on the inner side of that semi-circle there often is a smaller pile, looking a little more moist than the rest of the dirt, that is the “plug” the gopher pushed into place to close the hole it shoved all that dirt out through. A single gopher may occupy a range of up to an acre of ground, with meandering tunnels in various directions. Even though these are fiercely solitary animals there also could be multiple gophers in one area, but whose tunnels do not join with those of other gophers. To determine where the tunnels themselves are you start with that mound of dirt, locate the plug, and then go on a line from the plug. Use a steel rod (an old ski pole is good) to poke down into the soil here and there until you feel the rod break into some cavity.

Once you locate the tunnel you can place your bait or traps in the tunnel a few feet away from the dirt mound you started from. The gopher may continue to push dirt out that hole or it may create new ones periodically. Somewhere down in all of this, usually much deeper than these surface runways, will be the gopher’s living chamber, but finding it is not necessary. You can place traps or bait in the shallow runways or in “pop holes” you may find that actually are open above. Traps are either “strangle” style or “impale” style and either will work, but trapping is time consuming and you need to ensure your customer understands that a high cost may be involved.

Begin by digging to expose the surface runway, and then place traps either down along your hole or in the runway itself, and if in the runway place traps on either side of the hole you dug. The traps need to be tied securely to a stake on the surface. Most often the hole is then filled carefully with soil to prevent spooking the gopher and to allow it to continue to move through the runway. Gophers do not like light, and may be suspicious if they suddenly see their runway exposed. Some people also prefer to leave the hole open to encourage the gopher to go there and try to close it with soil, perhaps then getting into the trap. Make sure your customer understands that trapping a gopher does not prevent new ones from moving in, and this could be an ongoing problem. But, trapping is a sure way of knowing you eliminated the gopher at that time.

Recognize too that traps may seem pretty gruesome to some people, so discretion is called for, and checking the traps frequently to remove dead gophers or reset traps that were sprung by the gopher is necessary.

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QUESTION:

I am dealing with stink bugs in the second floor office of a home. The home has all new windows and seems to be recently remodeled. Any suggestions on where they may be entering?

ANSWER:

These insects, and essentially the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug these days, are small enough that a great many opportunities to get inside a structure exist, other than just gaps around windows. Normally this problem occurs in the fall, although it may be that you are now seeing the results of these bugs having been in this home all winter long, and now just getting active and looking for ways to exit the building. It could be that they were cozied away up in the attic or in the wall voids for the past 6 months without anyone knowing they were there, and now they have warmed up and are moving down through ceiling fixtures and vents and any other openings they might find, to become visible to the occupants. May be they moved down into wall voids and out through switch plates, but moving toward “light” would be a more normal habit, and ceiling lights could offer that little lighted area that draws them.

As far as how they enter initially, it could be almost any gap more than about 1/8 inch wide. Susceptible places on a structure run from ground level up to the roof and the chimney, so flashing on the roof, shingles and other roofing covers offer gaps, chimneys offer gaps, there are notoriously gaps under the eaves around attic vents and soffits, gaps where plumbing and other services enter the home, gaps around crawl space vents or holes in the vent screens, under siding, etc. It can seem like a monumental task to address every possible entry point to plug them and prevent these bugs from entering, but if taken one “bite” at a time and done over a long period of the year, suddenly you find 90% or more of the entry points permanently sealed. Every gap or hole you manage to close presents one less opportunity for the stinkbugs, and coincidentally any other bugs that like to overwinter in homes, to enter. This includes ladybird beetles, cluster flies, other true bugs including a few kinds common in the western states, and even rodents and bats.

Why the emphasis on Exclusion? Well, this is the long term answer if we are really trying to use insecticides properly. We can definitely cut down the numbers of stinkbugs that get into a home by spraying the exterior walls in the fall and fogging or dusting the voids inside after they get in. But, this will then be an endless process that needs repeating annually, perhaps more than once each year, and what is more satisfying to the customer and is a more responsible IPM approach is to permanently exclude them so pesticides are no longer needed. It also relieves the customer of having to see the bugs in their home at all.

This kind of exclusion effort will take a tremendous cooperation from the customer. They may choose not to do this kind of exclusion themselves and actually pay YOU to do it for them, and if so you could make good income charging by the hour to seal off all those gaps. Option 2 is that they choose not to do it themselves and don’t want to pay to have it done either, and instead just ask you to go ahead and “spray something” every year to knock down the problem the best you can. I think there still is that belief amongst the public that pesticides are magic potions that somehow make all bugs fall over dead instantly and with a little luck even disappear as they die. Good stewardship of the chemical tools we have available means using them only as needed, and addressing non-chemical pest management whenever possible.

So, grap the flashlight, some binocular, a ladder, and a written inspection form and diagram of the home, and wall by wall inspect to determine where all of these entry opportunities are. Then you can suggest how these can be closed permanently, a little at a time, so that the bugs no longer can get inside where they are a much bigger concern.

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