Archive for the ‘Pest Questions’ Category

Sep 11, 2012 – One Final Challenge

QUESTION:

I have an apartment complex that I am treating for bed bugs. I have one particular apartment that has a major problem and the tenant is now irate. I have vacuumed the baseboards, mattresses, furniture. I have treated with Phantom, Gentrol, Phantom Aerosol Crack and Crevice III, dusted voids with CimexA dust and I still have a problem. What am I missing?

ANSWER:

If this one apartment seems to have “the” major problem then perhaps it has been the epicenter of the bed bug problem for this complex. Question is, are you getting all the cooperation you need here to eliminate these very difficult pests?

We are fully aware now, due to the great many seminars and articles and advice from experts that insecticides alone are unlikely to eliminate entrenched bed bugs. Since the female bugs can and will deposit (glue) there eggs just about anywhere within an infested room you need to take the necessary steps to ensure that even all those eggs are dead. This means in some way treating in some manner even the curtains, electronic equipment, all clothing and clothing storage areas, all furniture and every crevice in every dresser, headboard, and night stand, and every other crevice or hole in the room, including behind everything hanging on the walls. Edges of carpets and behind floor molding is very important. You also need to inspect all other rooms in the apartment, in particular living rooms where people also may fall asleep and become food for bed bugs hiding there, and now furniture like recliners becomes suspect and difficult to manage. 
You cannot expect to go into a fully furnished apartment and vacuum and then spray and expect to reach all of the places that the bed bugs hide. This becomes particularly important given the high levels of resistance exhibited by many populations of bed bugs. And, in a very recently published article in PCT some of our most respected researchers reported their findings on studies using IGRs for bed bugs and found, unfortunately, that IGRs do not appear to have any benefit in the fight against The Common Bed Bug. I’m sure more will come out on this, but that was their conclusion. Phantom, on the other hand, may still be as good an insecticide as is available, since it is non-repellent and is not a pyrethroid, which many bed bugs have developed resistance to. 
Has this tenant isolated and washed / dry cleaned / or hot dryer cycled every last bit of his clothing? Have the curtains or drapes been removed and in some manner run through a hot dryer or dry cleaned or washed in hot water? Has all electronic equipment in this apartment (TV, computer, bed side clocks or radios, etc.) been fumigated within a sealed plastic bag using Nuvan strips for the proper length of time? Have all other items – suitcases, shoes, sporting equipment, etc. – been removed, sealed in some kind of chamber, and treated with heat or fumigated? All of these items and everything else in that apartment could harbor bed bugs or their eggs and be the reason he continues to have them. Have you firmly identified that the bugs are actually there and that they ARE the Common Bed Bug and not Bat Bugs or Swallow Bugs? Has he installed mattress and box spring encasements to remove those bedding areas from bed bug harborage?
In other words, is this tenant fully aware of what is needed in order to eliminate every last bug and live egg and is he doing his part in the overall process. If you are having success in all the other apartments there must be some reason that this one stands out as unusual, and perhaps it boils down to not having all the needed steps taken care of. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 11, 2012

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Sep 8, 2012 – Fleas In All the Right Places

QUESTION:

When treating for fleas is it alright to spray wood floors?

ANSWER:

We have a couple of issues to contend with here. The first and foremost is the product Label of the product or products you may use for the flea control. You are bound to follow the label and its instructions on how and where the product can be applied, and if we pick a couple of commonly used flea materials – Dragnet SFR and Suspend SC – we do not see a specific mention of “hard flooring” of any kind. What the labels tell us to do is to thoroughly vacuum any place where the pets spend time resting, and suggest carpets, upholstered furniture, and pet bedding as likely examples. Once thoroughly vacuumed to remove as many flea eggs, larvae, and feces as possible, as well as to activate dormant flea pupae to hatch to the adult flea, these kinds of surfaces can then be treated with that product. 

Precor IGR Concentrate almost exactly mimics this wording too, suggesting carpets, pet bedding, and upholstered furniture, but also adds the important phrase “When applied to surfaces where fleas are found”, and I think this is key to whether or not there is a reason to treat hard surfaces. Your goal with a flea treatment with an insecticide is primarily to kill flea larvae and emerging adult fleas over the next couple of weeks. In addition, perhaps, you may want to kill existing adult fleas present at the moment you are treating, but for this a light misting with pyrethrum will do the trick. The PT-565 XLO aerosol label, for example, suggests this method of misting from several feet high above the floor so that droplets are not covering the floor itself. 
The reason that statement on the Precor IGR label is important is because it would be highly unlikely to have a situation where flea larvae are living and feeding on hard floor surfaces. They may be around the edges or in obvious seams where debris may accumulate, providing them with the foods they need, but not on the open expanses of floor. And, vacuuming these open expanses should remove anything there and provide no reason to spray them as well. Since the flea larvae will be found only in those locations where they find dried blood from the fecal pellets of the adult fleas, you will have those fecal pellets on surfaces where the pets spend time sleeping or resting. This is most logically softer surfaces such as carpets or upholstered furniture. 
I would offer the direct response that the only reason you would treat hard wood floors would be to kill the occasional adult flea that may have found its way there, and that would be best with an aerosol that evaporates rapidly, leaving the vapors of pyrethrum to kill the fleas. Spraying the floor with a residual or an IGR really would not accomplish anything. 
The second major issue that needs to be considered is the appearance of that hardwood floor after you treat and the liquid dries. You may leave water spots or other discoloration that is difficult to remove. You never know what effect any oil-based products may have on the finish of that expensive hardwood, and in particular you do NOT want to directly spray the floor with aerosols. Use them well above the floor so that the floor is not wetted, as this would include solvents in the aerosol that could permanently discolor that wood or the finish on it. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 10, 2012

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Sep 9, 2012 – Termidor Limitations

QUESTION:

Why is Termidor recommended to be used outside only once per year?

ANSWER:

Actually, if we are talking about its use for general pests, the Termidor label allows a maximum of TWO applications per year, not just one. The label states “Do Not exceed the maximum of two applications per year” under its directions for use “to control listed pests on outside surfaces”. 

However, if we question why we are limited to just two applications the answer is not clearly defined. I think that part of the reason may be that it works so well on pests such as ants that a single application is all that is needed to knock out the local colonies of the ants and provide season-long control. 
A second reason may be that when the EPA originally approved registration of the product and its use it approved it conservatively. Manufacturers often get what they can to get the product onto the market, and then over time are able to add more and more uses. This was the case with Termidor, as a matter of fact, which began only as a termiticide but then added general pest uses as well. 
A third reason may be some nervousness and issues with the active ingredient fipronil. Over the years I have Googled this active and you can easily find a lot of negative dialogue about it. Now, we get negative attitudes about ANY pesticide, but the ability of fipronil to attach to insects such as ants and termites and paper wasps and to then be carried on that insect to its colony for further distribution can be worrisome. What if honeybees were exposed to the active ingredient? Could this easily wipe out the honeybee colony entirely. What if it gets onto other insects that are then eaten by beneficial insects? You can see where the concern may be, so limiting its uses to necessary ones on an appropriate time schedule seems to be okay. At least we have this weapon to fight some very difficult pests.
This also points out why our industry absolutely needs to adhere to the label and its limitations. I suspect there are plenty of licensed technicians using Termidor more often than allowed or on places away from the structure where it is not allowed, and this kind of misuse will lead to a product being taken away from us. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 09, 2012

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Sep 6, 2012 – Pet Foods and Pests

QUESTION:

How do you get rid of or control red legged ham beetles and the black beetles found in pet food stores?

ANSWER:

Pet food storage is a problem because the standards tend to be lower than they are for human foods, and the presence of a few “bugs” may be overlooked. Overlooked, that is, until the pet owner finds bugs crawling around in the food for Fifi and takes exception to it. Given the stuff some dogs will put in their mouths I wouldn’t think a little extra protein from beetle larvae would really upset the dog all that much, but perceptions are perceptions. 

I can’t tell from the brief description what the “black” beetles may be, but one common pest in poorly stored pet foods is the Black Carpet Beetle, so I’ll go with that one. The red legged ham beetles are interesting insects in that they are, for the most part, carnivores. They generally feed on the larvae of other insects, typical of the many species in this family Cleridae, so it is possible they could be in this store in response to the presence of OTHER insect infestations. However, these beetles also feed on the bits of leftover meat on carcasses, so perhaps in a pet store there could be some kinds of “chew” sticks or other materials like dried hog ears or feet or whatever the heck they sell. Due to the very high protein nature of many dry pet foods these beetles also may infest those. I once saw them in a taxidermy shop where they were feeding within the antlers of deer where soft tissues were still present. 
But, like just about any stored food pest the key to control is to find the infested product, isolate or dispose of it, and do a mop-up operation around that area. Then, better storage of the susceptible products and better stock turnover will help to prevent it for the future. These beetles thrive best in warm and humid conditions, so finding a way to reduce both will be a big help. Perhaps it is time for this store to do a thorough spring cleaning, removing all foods from shelves and pallets, vacuuming carefully under and around those areas, and then YOU applying a labeled residual insecticide in cracks and crevices before the packages are replaced. 
You may use insect traps baited with kairomones (food attractants) to narrow the search for the infested products, as well as that good visual inspection using a flashlight and a lot of help from store employees who need to cooperate with you. Look for spilled product, torn packages, crawling insects, etc. The adult insects can fly, so they may occur anywhere in the store. If the black beetles turn out to be Black Carpet beetle they too do best in older product that has been sitting too long, and may gain their foothold in spilled product or damaged packages. Control essentially is the same, that you must find the infested packages and dispose of them and then do thorough cleaning of the area and apply labeled residual insecticides as needed in crevices nearby where the larvae may still be hanging out. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 08, 2012

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Sep 7, 2012 – Crop Mounds, Not Circles

QUESTION:

Dirt mounds are popping up in the yard. Grayish colored, almost BB sized dirt. What would cause this?

ANSWER:

My best guess would be earthworms. While we think of them as subterranean animals they commonly come to the surface to either escape overwatering and saturated soils or to migrate, and I have read that quite often when we find the worms squirming over a sidewalk or driveway it is because they chose to go there in an effort to relocate. Unfortunately, once the sun comes out they don’t do so well. 

The earthworm has a hardened area on its head that it uses like a shovel to did through or into the soil, and as they emerge from the soil they do push up little earth mounds that look like a bunch of tiny round balls stuck together. Many other small critters also can make soil mounds on the surface, including burrowing bees and wasps, Green June Beetle adults, etc. But, these are going to be just little piles of dirt, often with a hole in the middle leading down to the chambers below, and generally not composed of the little BB sized balls that you describe. 
The best course of action is to ignore this and appreciate the work the worms do. If the soil piles are objectionable to the customer they can quickly be raked over and eliminated, and the free soil aeration accepted. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 07, 2012

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Sep 4, 2012 – Life to Black Widows?

QUESTION:

An industrial client called us about black widows in their paint shop. Upon inspection I found black widows and multiple other species of spiders in the four ventilation ducts. This is a relatively small area where mining equipment is spray painted. I was amazed at the large number of spiders living in paint fumes. I was wondering if you could bat that around a little.

ANSWER:

Sort of like the canary in the mine shaft? Perhaps if the employees at this shop started seeing the spiders dropping dead from the overhead areas it would be a bigger concern that something is amiss in the air they breathe. It is amazing what kinds of conditions spiders and other bugs can tolerate, and not to get overly colorful, but in the past a high percentage of black widow bites were acquired by people sitting on the throne in outhouses, men in particular because of their………ummm………increased exposure. This tidbit brought to you courtesy of a well known spider guru at U.C. Riverside. 

I assume those vents that have so many spiders would be for outgoing air, and the attraction to the vents could be due to a higher population of other bugs at those points as well. Spiders seem to figure out what attracts their own food and they hang around those places, such as porch lights at night and bright windows on the interior. Perhaps their survival is a testament to the fact that the air within this painting facility is kept relatively clean, without the excessively high levels of paint or fumes that might kill them. Many arthropods also have a means for shutting off the intake of air when they detect something hazardous to them, so perhaps these spiders manage to close their “book lungs” during those periods when fumes are highest and keep the chemicals out of their system. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 06, 2012

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Sep 5, 2012 – Restaurant Provides The Food

QUESTION:

Any suggestion on German roaches in a restaurant? I treat with Suspend and an IGR and bait with Maxforce Roach bait. Not sure if restaurant employees are feeding roaches and that is why the roaches aren’t eating the bait. Any suggestions like dust and flowable powders? The bait dries up in Las Vegas weather after a week.

ANSWER:

You may have hinted at one big problem here and that is sanitation. Since you did not mention this aspect of roach control I am thinking that perhaps it has not been emphasized to this customer. As a wise person stated it many years ago, “pesticides cannot overcome bad sanitation”, so not only will filthy conditions in a restaurant offer the needed food for roaches, insecticides applied onto dirty and greasy surfaces don’t stand much chance of doing their jobs either. Active ingredients will quickly be tied up by organic matter, and grease and filth are organic enough to do this and to make those materials unavailable to the roaches that wander over or sit on those surfaces. 

So, let’s start at the beginning again and suggest that on your next visit you perform a VERY thorough Sanitation Inspection. This needs to encompass the entire restaurant including dining areas, storage rooms, and of course the kitchen area. You should use a Written form on which you write down every unacceptable condition you find so that you can present it to the management of this restaurant. This includes greasy or food stained floors and walls, particularly under and behind equipment where cleaning is probably never done. It needs to include all equipment, such as stoves, refrigerators, drink dispensers, dishwashers, etc. Look for any accumulation of food that should be removed. Check the grease traps for appropriate service and cleaning. 
Keep in mind that every unsanitary condition you point out for this customer could save them a problem with the local Health Department should they get inspected. Dirt and food buildup breed bacteria and bacteria make people sick, and if this occurred it would put that restaurant on the pages of the local newspaper in a very negative light. You are there to HELP this customer and working with them to correct any conditions that encourage the roaches to be there are a benefit to them. Univar ES sells many different products for sanitation, including a wide range of materials from Rockwell Labs that can be applied to walls and floors to remove grease and other buildup, into drains to feed on the gunk that lives and grows there, into grease traps to eat the grease, and onto equipment where food and grease buildup in crevices that are hard to clean. Sanitation is a HUGE part of cockroach management, so this must be addressed. 
There is nothing wrong with Suspend or the IGR or Maxforce bait products. If you put any of these in contact with the roach for a long enough period of time the roach is going to die, or in the case of the IGR the roach will become sterilized. The question is WHERE are you applying the residual product? If you are treating exposed surfaces such as baseboards, floors, walls, etc., then you are wasting your effort. The roach spends very, very little time on any of those surfaces, but does spend 80% of its life tucked back into crevices and voids. These are the places you need to apply your materials so that the roach spends 15 hours or more of the day resting on that active ingredient. 
Dusting within dry wall voids and equipment voids is very effective, and an inorganic product like silica gel or diatomaceous earth will last for a very long time. Flowable powder refers to Avert dry bait, and yes this can also be applied into voids but not in combination with other contact insecticides that might affect the palatability of the bait. Try a variety of other gel baits, as some of them are touted to last much longer with respect to their moisture and softness, and it just pays in general to offer insects a variety of food baits to see which ones they like. 
Be liberal with a use of insect glue traps, placed in many locations so you can monitor to see where hot spots may exist. But, emphasize sanitation and work with the customer to make the effort. Emphasize exclusion, and rather than spraying into a crevice on every visit just fill that crevice in permanently with some appropriate caulking. This permanently removes a harborage point and reduces the carrying capacity of the environment there. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 05, 2012

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Sep 2, 2012 – Many Portals?

QUESTION:

There is a debate going on between myself and another pest control company here in the Southwest. He claims and tells his customers that our bark scorpions come up the house drains and this is the reason they find them in sinks and tubs. My belief is they do not and cannot come up the drains from the sewers and the reason people find them in sinks is that they crawl in or fall into them. Please settle this issue!

ANSWER:

I really do feel uncomfortable getting in the middle of disagreements, so I’ll try to be diplomatic with my response. Let’s examine one thing first, based on my basic knowledge of plumbing. ALL sinks and drains in a structure should have, if properly constructed, a “P” trap below the drain. This is a u-shaped curve in the pipe that retains water, and the purposes of this P-trap are to keep out odors from the sewer and to prevent insects from coming up that pipe from the sewer. Now, I never say never when it comes to bugs, and I used to feel confident stating that even American Roaches should not be able to swim past that water barrier in the P-trap, and therefore “should” not be able to enter homes directly from the sewer. However, I have been corrected twice now by technicians who claim they have personally watched American roaches go down into a drain and continue walking right down into that water barrier. In one case the roach returned within about 30 seconds and in the other it never reappeared, suggesting that it just continued down through the water and on toward the sewer. 

So, what is the chance that a scorpion will be living down in a sealed, enclosed sewer or perhaps in a septic tank in the first place? I think this would be very out of character for scorpions, which definitely prefer a warmer, drier environment, particularly in your area in the southwest deserts. It is impossible for them to be in a sewer? Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it just seems that it is much more likely that they are living above ground and finding ways into the structure that are more in keeping with their life style. It also would seem out of character for a scorpion to willingly take the plunge and move into a water barrier like you have in the plumbing. 
What I believe definitely CAN happen is for scorpions and many other insects to fall into a slick-sided sink or tub of porcelain and not be able to climb back out again. This is why we find silverfish and so many other bugs in tubs and sinks. They fell in, perhaps detecting moisture there that they were seeking or perhaps just being clumsy. I think that given the two choices – up from below or down from above – the far more likely reason the scorpion is there is because it was wandering around in the home and just fell in. 
Bark scorpions in the genus Centruroides are excellent climbers, and their name is given due to their tendency to climb trees and shrubs outside. If branches then touch the structure this enables them to get onto the structure, perhaps the roof, and from there easily find some gaps where they can enter the attic or into wall voids. The bark scorpions, according to some resources, can squeeze themselves down so flat that they can move through a gap only 1/16th inch wide. Clearly this is hardly anything, and it makes your job of providing exclusion that much more of a challenge. But, permanent exclusion for the structure and habitat modification for the landscape are two of the keys for managing scorpions long term. 
In this case I think I need to side with you and go with the more logical approach that the scorpions have found their way inside via holes and gaps around the exterior of the structure, and then in their wanderings have fallen into these places where they cannot manage to get back out of. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 04, 2012

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Sep 3, 2012 – Death to Black Widows

QUESTION:

What is the best pesticide for killing black widows?

ANSWER:

Based on their history of success I think that the synthetic pyrethroids still are excellent products for spiders of all kinds. We do have to keep in mind, though, the new labeling on all pyrethroid products and how this may affect our application. There are now restrictions on how much of the exterior surface of a structure can be treated, and this now allows only “spot” applications above that 3 feet above grade level. Since a spot is an area no larger than 2 square feet, as defined by EPA, the use of a power sprayer to treat for spiders may not be the most manageable way to apply the products. The new labeling does not further restrict applications to turf and ornamentals, so if the spider problem happens to be on and within shrubbery in the landscape then there are no changes. And, it appears that treatments to the “undersides of the eaves” also fall into the “exceptions” the EPA put into place and that treatment to this area is not restricted to spot application. 

Prior to the introduction of pyrethroids for our industry we had some tough times killing certain spiders, and in particular this was the cellar spiders (a.k.a. “daddy long legs spider”) that make so many messy webs under the eaves and around windows. When cypermethrin was first used it seemed to resolve all these difficulties and spider management took a nice turn for the better. I still hope, however, that many customers can develop a tolerance and appreciation for many kinds of spiders that do not make messy webbing and which are not dangerous. This includes wolf spiders, ground spiders, and the fascinating jumping spiders. Given that all spiders are feasting on other kinds of bugs, having them around would seem to provide a benefit. 
The news media recently has headlined, in California at least, the appearance of the Brown Widow – Latrodectus geometricus – and since the best news headlines are the scary ones they also have “suggested” that the venom of this species “may” be more toxic than that of the black varieties. For decades this species has been present in Florida, but in 2000 began to show up in other surrounding states and in 2003 showed up in southern California. Now, there’s nothing we folks in California like better than a good spider scare, so the media have accepted the brown widow with open arms. However, experts at U.C. Riverside tell us that the venom itself appears to be no more or less potent than the venom of black varieties and that the Brown Widow appears to be unable to inject as much venom with a bite, so the overall effect on people is less. 
The web of black widows is usually easy to distinguish. It is a haphazard pattern and not the neat geometric design of orb weavers. It is sticky and extremely tough, so that passing a stick through the web results in an actual audible “snap” as you break the strands. The spider itself will often be hiding nearby in some cozy crevice, so treating the surfaces around the web will be necessary. It also is handy to remove all the webbing so that you can tell if the job is successful. If new webs are built shortly after your treatment then the spiders somehow survived. 
Black widows are one group that disseminate by “ballooning”. The very young nymphs release strands of silk into the breeze and then let go of the surface, allowing the wind to transport them to wherever it will, sometimes well up on buildings. The widow spiders are very clumsy on the ground and are far less likely to walk to a structure than to fly to it. This makes prevention more difficult but helps your customers to understand why they keep getting the darned things. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 03, 2012

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Aug 31, 2012 – Chickens With The Munchies

QUESTION:

I have a customer with American roaches in her shed. She’s concerned if we treat the shed and kill the roaches the chickens next to the shed may get contaminated or hurt if they eat the dead roaches.

ANSWER:

I really believe this is not a concern. The amount of actual insecticide active ingredient that is needed to kill a cockroach would be FAR too low to be harmful to the large chickens. However, it still would be a very good idea for you to ensure that dead cockroaches lying around are removed as soon as possible just to alleviate her fear. Frankly, roaches are pretty filthy animals, and the chickens probably stand a bigger risk of consuming some nasty bacteria and being made ill than they do any reaction to minute traces of insecticide. Poultry houses also routinely treat chickens directly with insecticides in an effort to kill the various bed bugs, lice, and mites that are common on these birds, so many insecticides can be used on and around the birds without harm to them. 

However, since she has voiced this concern to you it would be proper for you to spend some time helping her to feel comfortable with what you plan to use. I would suggest going online and downloading information on poultry that shows how insecticides are used on them for their health. Many of these may be pyrethroids that you could use yourself for the roaches. You also have many “natural” insecticide options. You also can use insect baits in stations that can be highly effective on these large roaches, and the active ingredients in many roach baits have extremely low toxicity to vertebrate animals. 
Along with your decision to use insecticides you should also do a careful inspection of this property to determine just why these roaches are there in the first place, and then do whatever you can to change that environment so that you remove the contributing conditions. The roaches are hiding somewhere, whether it is under things on the soil or within thick vegetation, so doing a major cleanup to eliminate that harborage will be very helpful in reducing the numbers of the roaches. On the shed itself you may be able to do void and crack and crevice treatments to kill the roaches without any exposure by the chickens to the products you use. Again, granular bait products are very effective but they MUST be secured within bait stations to prevent the chickens from accessing them. 

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Pest QuestionsSeptember 02, 2012

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