Stretford Pest Control Wasps £32.00

Bed Bugs On The Rampage (Ken Chadwick)

Bed Bugs On The Rampage – One of the most feared and misunderstood pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us have dozed off to sleep at night as children with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?

Bed bugs probably started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our ancesters started dwelling in bat infested caves.

Until the advent of DDT in the early 20^th century bed bugs were common non-paying guests in most poor quality housing.

The later part of the 20^th century saw pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug infestations indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student accomodation etc.

Many people confuse dust mites, which are not visible to the naked eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.

Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and decidely swollen after a feed of human blood.

They have an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the young are just smaller versions of the adult, they do not have a pupal stage like a flea or a fly.

Bed bugs typically feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and sensing their prey by detecting the exhaled CO2 from respiration and when nearing in on their target, body heat.

In the absence of a convenient human to feed on they can lay dormant for periods of up to 18 months.

Signs of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the underside of mattresses and some people can react badly to their bites.

The early 21^st century has seen bed bug numbers explode across the globe, the cheap availability of global travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the resurgence.

What is certain is that thet are now making a major comeback not only in poor quality housing but high class hotels, schools and even hospitals.

One London borough reported a doubling of bed bug infestations every single year from 1995 – 2001.

A single night away in an infested hotel is all it takes, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting instances of transport related bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple journey to work on an infested tube or train can be enough to spread the infestation to your home.

They are an expensive pest to eradictate as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They infest any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and eradication is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living under the toe-nails of infirm people and in the creases of flesh on grossly over-weight people.

They are not a pest that can be eradicated by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly be needed.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Chadwick

Ken Chadwick B.A. (Hons) is a Pest Controller and author on pest control issues. For further information please visit http://www.waspgo.co.uk

That concludes this article entitled – Bed Bugs On The Rampage

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• Don’t let the bed bugs bite… (guardian.co.uk)

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives – The rat population of Britain is currently at an all time high, fortnightly waste collections, lack of sewer baiting and the late night takeaway are all cited as culprits in this rodent explosion, but what do we really know about the humble creatures that thrive in our sewers and induce almost universal fear and loathing in all who encounter them.

Rats are not native to Europe or North America but originate in Asia and almost certainly arrived in Europe as stowaways on trading ships, indeed the common name for Rattus rattus is the ship or black rat.

In Asian folklore the rat is a prominent character, in Hindu mythology the elephant-headed god Ganesh is accompanied by a rat wherever he travels. An offering to Ganesh and his companion Vahana the rat is therefore an important part of Hindu worship.

To the Romans the sighting of a white rat was considered to be lucky but if you found that rats had chewed your belongings then you should postpone any business affairs that you were planning that day or they would surely fail.

Reviled in the west, the rat is revered in Chinese mythology, being part of the Chinese zodiac and respected for its quick wit and resourcefulness. The rat is considered good luck in China & Japan where it is credited with bringing the gift of rice to the world.

To the Polynesians rats were an easily bred and transportable source of food

In 1347 the Mongols laying siege to the Crimean city of Caffa began to succumb to a mysterious illness that killed swiftly and mercilessly. In order to weaken the city the Mongols catapulted the bodies of their own dead over the city walls and within days the inhabitants of Caffa also fell prey to the disease.

However, a group of Italian merchants were allowed to leave the city and return to Italy, and probably unknowingly took with them the Black Death, Yersinia pestis.

The ensuing plague raged throughout the continent reaching Britain in 1348 with up to 90% mortality in some areas and it reappeared in Europe in every generation for over four hundred years.

We now know of course that the rat was a carrier, or to be more precise the fleas that the rats carried on their bodies were the agents of plague transmission.

Indeed whilst being in no way established in fact, it is possible that the children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn is an allegory of the plague, it certainly indicates that the rat population was booming at the time.

Every cloud however has a silver lining and the survivors of the 14^th century plagues found that they could now demand higher wages and better conditions as the shortage of workers in the wake of plague deaths created a seller’s market for labour. The rise of the Yeoman Farmer and the British class system could be argued to be attributed to the humble rat.

Into modern times and the Black Rat is now almost extinct in the British Isles, having been replaced from the 18^th century onwards by the Brown or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and it is this creature that now thrives in our sewers, on our streets and in our homes and it is when we encounter it there that it creates most revulsion.

A typical rat weighs around 200 – 300 grams or half to three quarters of a pound, and has a tail around the same length as its body, often making it appear bigger than it really is.

One of the primary functions of a rat’s tail is thermo-regulation; it uses its tail to dissipate body heat. When a rat’s temperature falls it restricts blood flow into its tail.

Rats are rodents, the word comes from the Latin ‘Rodere’ meaning ‘to gnaw or eat away’, aptly named as their teeth never stop growing and they gnaw on hard objects to keep them sharp, unfortunately this can often include electrical wiring and water pipes. A rat’s teeth can penetrate mild steel.

Often a rat will move into a loft or roof void looking for somewhere safe to give birth, being excellent climbers the interior of the cavity wall of the building is a common route, especially if there is an underground breach in the drainage system.

They are sexually mature at around 13 weeks and have a gestation period of about 20 –22 days giving birth typically to 7 – 10 young per litter.

They are naturally shy and nocturnal creatures said to suffer from ‘neophobia’ a fear of anything new in their environment.

Often the first signs that a house is infested will be the patter of tiny feet on the upstairs plasterboard ceilings, although with the modern trend for roof insulation an infestation can often go undetected for quite some time. In homes with floorboards gnawing will often be heard in the sub-floor area.

Their need to eat will often betray their presence, food stored in cupboards will be taken, cereal packets chewed, chocolate and crisps are favourites, although a rat often has a diet that we would find somewhat strange.

The rat has no ability to taste ‘bitter’ foods so it can quite happily munch away on a bar of soap for the fat content. Pest controllers use this as a safety feature and all rat poison is coated in a bitter substance that the rats can’t taste but which would make it totally unpalatable to a dog or a child.

Although the rat is no longer a plague carrier it does come with a number of unwelcome traits. It is a carrier of a number of diseases including Murine Typhus, Salmonella and Weil’s Disease, spread from rats’ urine, which unfortunately usually claims at least one life in Britain each year.

If you have a rat infestation then you have a legal duty to remedy it and in extreme circumstances forced entry to your property can be made against your will.

As a final sting in the tail, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage by vermin so if a rat chews your wiring and the house burns down you may find yourself without insurance cover.

Hated, despised and unloved the humble rat continues to share and shape our environment in ways that we do not see or appreciate and despite our best effort the rat and man will always co-exist.

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• The Black Death in Europe (weuropeanhistory.suite101.com)
• Return of the Plague (time.com)

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford – Stretford Pest Control deal with wasps’ nests in the Stretford, Manchester area seven days a week and our fixed price for destroying wasps’ nests in 2009 is just £29.50. We do not charge extra for destroying wasps’ nests in the evening, Saturdays or Sundays and Bank Holidays. We work on Sundays 12 – 6 pm.

The stinging wasp season is almost with us once more, what would summer be without our friends the wasps to pester and annoy us as we enjoy our evening barbeques?

The biology of the wasp means they are rarely seen much sooner than July as until then only the queen wasp is in the nest.

In early spring the over-wintering queens leave their hibernating quarters to seek nesting sites which could be in a hole in the ground, a bush or artificial structures such as chimneys eaves, lofts and attics, garden sheds etc.

The young queen starts to make her nest with a papery material that she makes by chewing small fragments of wood mixed with saliva; this is known as Wasp paper.

She will raise the first few workers by herself and those workers will then carry on the enlargement of the nest and caring for the immature Wasps to follow.

Nest construction starts in earnest in June and will reach its maximum in size in September, when 5 – 30,000 workers may be in the nest. These workers will collect food up to 400 metres from the nest. The size of wasps’ nests will vary from year to year, the severity of the previous winter is probably the key factor.

In the mid-September the young queens mate and leave the nest to find hibernation sites, the rest of the nest dies out and the nest is never reused.

Individuals react differently to being stung by wasps; some are hardly affected, others suffer considerable pain and discomfort and a few become seriously allergic to being stung, which in some cases results in sudden death due to anaphylactic shock.
Control
It is adviseable to let a professional Pest Control Officer deal with a Wasps’ nest for the reasons given above. An insecticide will be used to cover the entrance to the nest. Returning wasps will carry the insecticide into the heart of the nest and within a few hours all wasps should be dead.

It is foolish to allow a wasps’ nest to remain untreated as the new queens produced by the nest will invariably nest nearby in the following spring resulting in many more nests the following year. For this reason several nests are often found close together in a neighbourhood a locality.

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed in Stretford

You don’t need to spend a fortune to get rid of rats. Using a few basic techniques and inexpensive traps it is possible to solve your rat problem without breaking the bank.

The venerable wooden snap trap like the one made by Victor, is still one of the most effective ways of trapping rats. They are the least expensive of all rat traps and can even be purchased in bulk by the dozen in order to save even more money. One of the most effective strategies for trapping rats is to place as many traps as possible in a given area at one time. Bait the traps without setting them for several days to a week so that the rats become used to feeding at the traps. Then set the traps all at once. This is to ensure a large kill before the rats become trap shy and to interrupt their breeding cycle. It takes a lot of traps to implement this strategy so this is where the wooden snap trap shines because of its low cost.

You can bait your traps with items commonly found around the home. Homeowners often bait traps with foods such as bacon, nuts, candy bars and peanut butter. Peanut butter tends to be one of the most widely used and effective dates that can be found at home. No need to buy expensive commercial rat attractants.

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After trapping as many rats as possible began to seal any and all access points into your home. Openings or cracks even as small as one quarter to one half an inch must be sealed. Stuffing copper wire mesh into the holes is a very effective way of sealing them. Follow that up with a construction type expanding foam or possibly a caulk to seal the mesh in place. Some people have had success using the copper mesh pots scrubbers found in the kitchen to seal the occasional opening. Heavy hardware cloth can be placed across vents and other larger openings. Just ensure that the holes in the mesh are small enough to keep rodents from crawling through. It is not necessary to spend lots of money but you do want to make sure that the materials you use to seal your home cannot be chewed through.

Make sure you remove all sources of food the rodents might use around your home. Do not leave pet food out, make sure trashcan lids are tight and any fruit or nuts on the ground from trees are removed. If you like to feed birds and have a rat problem you may need to stop that practice. Rats are very fond of eating birdseed! If you have to get rid of rats, making sure there is nothing for them to eat is vital.

Lastly, it is time to de-clutter in and around the home. Thin out any thick undergrowth and as much as possible, keep a relatively clear space all around the perimeter of the house. Rats like to hide in thick growth while chewing their way into your home. At the same time cutback any bushes or trees touching the home as the rodents use these to climb onto the roof and seek access into the home. This can all be accomplished with just some time and energy if you do it yourself.

You can get rid of rats around the home with a little money, a little sweat and some ingenuity. Apply the basics of rat control consistently and you can win the war against rats without spending a fortune.

After battling rats in his attic and around his home for many years, Randy Parsley eventually won his battle against rodents. He shares his unique perspective in the form of honest reviews and information about rat control devices and methods at http://ratcontrolreviews.com.
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Go Natural

Organic wasp control can be achieved via commercial products or tried and true home remedies. The type of wasp involved does not really matter, as organic methods will successfully eliminate wasps regardless of type. These chemicals are hazardous toward humans, even though they can be cheap and effective. With so many natural pest control options available, why not give one a try?

Pest Control from the Kitchen

There are some useful organic pest control remedies that you can make from items found in your kitchen and even your bathroom. When attempting to use any extermination technique on wasps or an active nest, be certain to wear protective clothing. The best time to act against wasps would be at night, as they are much less active.

Mint Oil: There are organic wasp control products on the shelves that use mint oil as their active ingredient. For something similar, add a tablespoon of mint oil to water to spray with to have an effective mixture. Coat the nest with the mixture thoroughly, making sure that you can reach them by spray from a few feet away.
Detergent: Possibly the simplest and best way to safely exterminate wasps is with liquid detergent. A natural pest control solution would be to spray liquid detergent on the wasp nest. By preventing them from flying and overpowering them, the soap will eventually get in their systems and have them suffocated.
Beef Liver: While not recommended as a long-term organic wasp control solution, a beef liver trap is a good way to keep wasps away while you are outside enjoying a family cookout. Hang some beef liver over a bowl of soapy water, away from the view of potential guests. Wasps may be deterred if they are offered an alternative food source, such as liver, and will feed on it solely. The wasps then fall into the bowl and are killed.
Sugar Syrup & Soda Bottle: Another type of organic wasp control trap can be made by placing sugar syrup into a soda bottle. Take a 2-liter bottle and cut off the top about one-third of the way down the bottle. Then, invert the top piece in the bottle to funnel to the bottom. Put some syrup in the bottle after you secure the two pieces together with tape. Hang your trap from a tree or other location and smear a little syrup on the outside to make sure the wasps find the scent. The wasps, by funneling into the bottle, will become stuck. Wasps are likely to look for sweeter food sources during late summer, so employ this method at that time.

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Don’t Try this at Home

Some do-it-yourself pest control remedies, while potentially effective, are dangerous to attempt. The following list details wasp removal methods that are probably not the best.

Kerosene: Yes, dousing a nest with kerosene and lighting it on fire will kill wasps and definitely destroy the nest. Keep in mind that it can also set your house on fire, putting you and your family in danger. Furthermore, using keroson is not beneficial to the environment at all.
Hairspray: Hairspray will work. This works by sticking to the wings of the wasps, making it difficult for them to fly. The question is, how difficult? It is likely that a few wasps will escape your Aqua Net attack and take their aggression out on you.
Cigarette Smoke: The premise behind this method is that you blow cigarette smoke on wasp nest while outside smoking. The smoke will temporarily faze the wasps so you can knock down the nest without incident. This method tends to be unsuccessful because it is more likely for the wasps to become irritated than anything else.

Green Market

Purchasing an organic pest control product may be the easiest way for you to handle your wasp removal. Any product containing the following ingredients will provide more than adequate natural pest control:

Mint oil
D-limonene
Pyrethrins

Traps and decoys are also available green pest control solutions. The traps work much like the home-made variety, using sugar as the primary bait. By preventing further nests from forming these nest decoys can complement a wasp control plan nicely. The wasps will see the decoy nest and move on to a different area, as they have quite territorial mindsets. These two products will be difficult to find in stores, so your best bet would be to look online.

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The best way to get rid of the insects is to squash them, but not in the case of bedbugs as these hide during the day time and come out only at nights to feed on humans. To remove them, you need to take effective measures.

Bedbug infestation has become a common problem around the world and people are experiencing sleepless nights because of this problem. These tiny oval shaped creatures reside in several areas inside your rooms and come out at nights. Instead of using the traditional pesticides, you should try the new methods of effectively removing these creatures. Take a few steps to put an end to your misery and eliminate them from your residential or commercial buildings as these breed quickly and a few will turn into too many in a short while.

Bedbug Hideouts

Bedbugs hide during the day and come out only at nights. They hide at places like crevices in the furniture and cracks in the walls, these places are too small to even notice if bedbugs are breeding inside. Other common places are under the bedding, mattresses and behind the loose wallpaper, if you vaguely remove them, you will find a few hop around and hide at other places. If you have any items cluttered over the tables or counter tops, they would be residing in that area.

Bedbug Detection

Since they hide at such small areas, detecting bedbugs becomes the most daunting task. You can only speculate that they are hiding at this or that place and spray pesticides randomly. Applying pesticides without knowing the exact location of these creature doesn’t eradicate them altogether. It only leaves a weird odor in the rooms and effects your health in a negative way. To take the right measures, you have to first detect them.

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Bedbug Dogs

For so many years, dogs have been used to find out hidden explosives, drugs, arson and many other illegal things. Now the most extraordinary task dogs have been given is sniffing out the bedbugs from residential and commercial buildings. These dogs are provided training for recognize the odor of the bedbugs and locate the areas where they hide around the rooms. Dogs have a sensitive smell capability which helps them to identify things based upon their smell. They can sniff out almost anything and bedbugs are no different.

Locating Bedbugs Within Minutes

When these are trained enough to find out the bedbugs, these are employed by bedbug extermination services to thoroughly inspect the rooms and find bedbugs. Owing to their small size, they can conveniently crawl under the furniture to find the bugs. They are quick enough to identify bedbug infestation within a few minutes. These bedbug dogs can sniff out an infestation within the radius of three feet. Once they locate bedbugs, they normally bark at the area or swat their paw in order to alert their handlers.

Eradication Of Bedbugs

When the handlers are informed of the areas by the sniffer dogs, they use Cryonite to exterminate the bedbugs. It is a frozen form of carbon dioxide that kills the bugs instantly by freezing them. Unlike traditional pesticides, it kills not only the bedbugs but their eggs also. Cryonite doesn’t have any harmful substance in it, so the areas can be used immediately after the treatment. It’s environment friendly and there is no pesticide odor, wet residue or health implications associated with its use. Since it is made by recycled carbon dioxide from many industrial areas, no extra carbon dioxide is added into the environment when applied.

You can take these eco-friendly steps to get rid of the bedbugs. Studies reveal that there are many homes that are infested by bedbugs in NY Bed bug dog is the best way to detect the bugs in order to eliminate them. There are a few services that provide extermination of bedbugs in New York City, so give them a call before these creatures multiply around your buildings.
This article has been written by an expert associated with Green Eco Environmental, a leading company providing New York pest control services to remove all kinds of pests by applying environment friendly methods.
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Do you need to get rid of rats in your crawl space or attic? Well it is possible to do that now without having to kill them. How can that be? Frighten the living daylights out of them by using a new kind of strobe light!

Before getting into the details, I need to let you know that I personally fought with rats in my attic for 18 years. In the beginning and off and on over the years, I had pest control companies killing rats, and sealing holes. But the rats would just chew another hole through my cedar siding and the drumming of tiny feet on my ceiling would begin again. I tried every trick in the book. Besides the ongoing trapping of rats and sealing entry points, I tried peppermint oil, sonic repellers, and predator urine. None of that stuff worked for long and their invasion into my home seemed unstoppable.

Eventually, after years of struggle and thousands of dollars spent to kill the rodents. it began to seem hopeless and I became fatalistic about ever getting the rats out of our attic. It seemed as if they were a horde of little kamikazes, determined to maintain control of my attic no matter how many had to sacrifice themselves to do it.

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Then there came the day when I came across an article online from a pest control trade magazine. The article talked about how a well known pest control company in my area had successfully tested a kind of strobe light that repelled rats and squirrels. The article described that the test went so well that this company incorporated the lights into their rodent control services. I could hardly contain myself! My first instinct was to just dismiss that this strobe light could work. My cynicism after years of failure with the rat wars ran deep. But, the glowing testimonial given by this large pest control operation in my area, overcame my jaded senses.

I had to have these lights! I searched for and ordered some of the lights and placed them in my attic. It was a miracle! The scrabblings and scratchings in the ceiling became less and less and very shortly, not a single sound. My prayers had been answered. The rats packed up their little rat bags and left my attic! I wanted to yell the good news to the world, “the rats are gone!” I managed to restrain my enthusiasm though my gratitude for this solution remains.

The strobe lights, called the Squirrel Evictor and Rat Repeller, work by emitting a blinding strobe light that pulses slower than the party type strobe lights. According to the manufacturer, this pulsing light has the effect of annoying the eyes of the rodents and causing their eyes to become fatigued so they no longer want to stay and nest. I like to imagine that it just frightens the living daylights out of them! The lights are so overwhelming that I cannot believe any human or animal could stand the lights long enough for their eyes to get fatigued. It is overwhelming to the senses. The solution to rodents in the attic has arrived unless rats and squirrels get their hands on some little rodent sunglasses.

If like me you have been trying to get rid of rats in the attic, shine a light on the problem. Just because it’s a strobe light, the rats won’t start dancing to the music, they will be shoving each other out of the way to get outside. Well, that’s the way I like to imagine it at least.

After battling rats in his attic and around his home for many years, Randy Parsley eventually won his battle against rodents. He shares his unique perspective in the form of honest reviews and information about rat control devices and methods at http://ratcontrolreviews.com.
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Dog fleas are an unfortunate but all too common problem that every dog owner must face at least once in his or her life.  Dog fleas not only cause dog skin allergies and force your pet to itch and scratch, but they also plague an entire household and can wreak havoc on the other human and animal inhabitants as well!

The best way to deal with dog fleas is to practice dog flea prevention.  Dog fleas, as mentioned above, will result in a number of health issues for your dog, including possible worms and dog skin problems that will need immediate attention.  If your dog has fleas, this is what you can do to eliminate and prevent them:

1)    Dog Flea Shampoo: If you suspect you dog has fleas, break out the medicated dog flea shampoo and get scrubbing!  Rinse, dry, and then vacuum up your entire household from top to bottom.  Dispose of the vacuum bag or empty the canister outside so that there is no risk of any dog fleas getting back into your home.

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TIP:  You can choose to use a flea bomb that you can buy in pet stores, but you can make your very own flea repellent using natural oils and herbs.

2)    Medication: The best way to prevent any future outbreak of fleas is to medicate your dog so that they are able to properly ward off not only fleas, but ticks, mites, heartworms, and other pesky parasites that may choose to acquaint themselves with your pet.  You can speak to your veterinarian about the right sort to medication for your dog, as well as what the dose should be (it varies depending on weight).

3)    Cut your Grass: If the dog fleas are inside the house, there’s a good chance that they are on the outside as well.  Make sure that the grass is cut short (fleas love tall grass) and get rid of any piled up yard material, such as leaf piles, as fleas thrive in dark, moist areas.

TIP:  You can throw down some natural flea repellent items such as cedar chips, or you can try to use “Flea Away” throughout your entire yard.

4)    Avoid Flea Collars: Flea collars are the most thought of choice of defense against dog fleas, but let’s be honest here; the dog flea collar is only around the neck, which means only the immediate neck area is being treated or fleas.  Not only that, but the chemicals in the flea collar are hazardous and can rub off on absolutely anything and everything.  Choose to use natural herbal concoctions and dab a nylon collar in that if you choose to use a flea collar.  Avoid the unnecessary chemicals at all costs.

 

To know more on dog fleas, dog skin allergies or other dog health related information you’re welcome to visit Nil’s blog at Dog-Health-24.info. 
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