Pest Control Strategies

Here's a good article I found by Dave Swanborough about Pest Control Strategies. I thought I'd post it here for you to review. Please do comment on this one. The Author is British by the thinking is global.

Pest Control Strategies
by: Dave Swanborough

The first line of defence is to keep them out, sounds simple enough but in practice it can be tricky:

1: Thoroughly check the exterior of your property for rodent access points. So you think it looks OK ?

LOOK Again ! Mice can access your property through a gap the width of an inch and the diameter of a standard biro a Rat can enlarge any gap by gnawing. Pay particular attention to air vents, under doors and around pipes entering your home any gaps need to be filled with cement or crushed chicken wire and expanding foam .Doors will need brush strip fitted. Air vents with large vent holes will need wire mesh fitted to deny rodent access.

2:Thats great but they are already inside my property:

Rats and for that matter Mice need the same things in general terms that we do, food, warmth and somewhere safe to live. So we need to restrict their options by keeping all loose foods in sealed containers, by not leaving spilled food available and don't forget the garbage, overflowing bins are Rat heaven. Rats also need water more if their food source is dry so it's a good idea to identify where they are potentially getting food and water and as best as possible restrict these sources. If it's not possible to restrict these sources as can often be the case it is still important to identify them so a strategy can be formed for stage three.

3:The final option is to Poison, Trap or ask them to leave!

A variety of poisons are available from your local Farm Suppliers Store: If you have identified that their food source is dry ie. grain then use a liquid bait would you need more food if you had Plenty or would you need something to wash it down with? Conversely use grain bait if water is not an issue. So far so good? What if they have access to water and food sources that can't be restricted by you. Trapping is a viable option using conventional traps or sticky boards. Rats are neophobic which means they have a fear of new objects in their environment so conventional traps will take time on the other hand sticky boards which lay flat on the ground and can be placed along their runs are both quick and effective however they are not for use by the sensitive as being faced with a live Rat stuck to one of these boards is not a pleasant experience also there will be legislation in most countries to ensure best practice on their use.

About The Author Dave Swanborough is the founder and webmaster for http://www.rats.me.uk/ You will find FREE information about Pest control methods for rats using poison and ultrasonic devices.

Drywood Termites Infestation

My neighbor Michele had a termite problem and she asked me about it recently. Well, I went online to do some reading and tell Michele more about termites. I discovered that what Michele has in her home Drywood Termites. At first she thought she's got a weird strain of albino ants in her place. She found them by accident almost, as a piece of furniture broke down and she took it out to the garbage. She noticed these strange little "white ants" crawling over it and stopped to gaze for a while even.

As it turned out, these little white ants were in fact Drywood Termites. Michele and her husband weren't sure what to do and I advised contacting a professional pest control agency. As much as I find termites fascinating, with their complex social structure, I realize they are a real danger to the household. A Drywood Termite infestation can literally bring down your wooden home. These tiny creatures have evolved in nature to be able to consume trees (which they do in their natural habitat), but as they moved into our homes, they just went ahead to consume our furniture and wooden infrastructure. An infestation may be small in scale to begin with, but then it can and will move on.

It was a good thing that Michele called the bug guys so soon. They managed to track down the nest and stopped the termites in their tracks. They told her this was a lucky break, as the little buggers can be hard to find. I actually read that some companies use dogs to track them down! Anyway, it didn't get to a complete fumigation… yet. They did say that if more termites are found, total fumigation may be required.

Pest Control & Termite Control Myths

Sharing a great piece with you today. Read this to learn about some of the common pest control myths out there!

Pest Control & Termite Control Myths
by: Bruce Gow

1. "Electronic pest control systems actually work". This is one of the biggest myths of the industry and lots of people still believe it without any valid scientific evidence. The only ones that work are the ones that emit a spark, barbequing the unfortunate cockroach. How could you place a solitary ultrasonic device in one room of a house, pointing in one direction and expect it to protect your whole home from pests? Even if it did annoy a rat when it crossed through the rays, wouldn't it just hide somewhere else in the house, close to the food and shelter? Why on Earth would it run outside the house?

2. "Make the poison a bit stronger for me so that it will work better." This is just dangerous and a waste of chemical. You can't kill a cockroach twice by doubling the strength or make the residue last longer. All you do is make the residue more dangerous to humans/environment and waste money on something that isn't necessary.

3. "Black widow spiders eat their male companions after mating." Female black widow spiders rarely eat their male companions after mating. But females are the most treacherous of the black widow spiders. Typically black, the body of female black widows is approximately one and one-half inches long, including the legs. The female back widow spider can be identified by the red hourglass shaped marking on the abdomen. Male back widows are one-half the size of the females and lack the red hourglass marking.

4. "Rat poison is "secret stuff" that keeps rats from smelling in your home". The truth? There is no such rodenticide. If you are baiting rodents, you can rest assured that they will die in areas where they normally frequent: their nesting site, their food source, or in between. Most rat and mouse baits are simply anti-coagulants, blood thinners. Any mammal's blood clots naturally. An anti-coagulant (Talon, Bromakil etc.) stops the clotting to an extreme, causing the rodent to die from internal bleeding. This is why you sometimes find a dead rodent that has blood showing in its nostrils or ears.

The first commercial anti-coagulant rodent baits contained Warfarin, which is still in use today by medical professionals to help prevent unwanted blood clots. Rat and mouse baits being used today are mainly third and fourth generation anti-coagulants. These newer materials kill rodents faster, requiring less bait to kill targeted rodent pests. To lessen the chances (or amount) of odour, incorporate glue traps or snap traps into your baiting program. You will then have dead rodents that can be removed before there is an odour.

5. "If you see one cockroach there are always 100 more where it came from." myth. But it is true sometimes. If you see cockroaches in your kitchen every day, or at every night when you turn on the light, you have a real problem.

6. "Cockroaches clean themselves; therefore they are one of the cleanest animals on Earth." Try eating one........only kidding! They inhabit the dirtiest places such as sewers and rubbish bins. They also urinate and defecate on your food. Still think they are clean?

7. "If your neighbor gets their cockroaches sprayed, they will all run into your house." Cockroaches don't crawl up to an invisible barrier and back up and go elsewhere. They run over it and pick up poison then die.

8. "Only dirty houses need pest control or being very clean will stop you having pests" Hygiene is a very important factor in pest control as it reduces the food supply of pests and increase the hiding places. Pests can be introduced to your environment via cardboard boxes from stores or by having them fly in on hot days from the street or other buildings close by (especially food preparation sites).

9. "Termites are white-ants" They are more closely related to cockroaches biologically speaking, although they look a little like "white ants." In Australia sometimes they are commonly called "white-ants," but they are really termites.

10. "If you surround your home with timber, termites will eat this and stay out of your home." Termites will love plenty of food supplies if they are stacked around your home and will breed like crazy. This will result in lots of termites and new colonies foraging around the perimeter of your home. Think that they will be satisfied with staying outside?

Outright Pest Control Lies

1. "Without pesticides the world would be a better place." Love the idea, but up to a third of the world's population would starve to death if pesticides didn't exist. Would like pest control managers to be more informed and better trained than what they are now. ALWAYS ask for accreditation and license details before committing to getting any treatment done at your place.

2. "Twelve monthly termite control treatments are necessary to protect my home against termites." This is a con job and used to be a normal practice years ago, before people woke up to the fact that termiticides (insecticides that kill termites) last for years. Twelve to six monthly inspections are necessary in high risk termite areas, but treatments aren't required yearly.

3. "All pest control firms/treatment/protection are the same." Do your homework before committing to a company or treatment and ask for references from happy customers. Remember: "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the low price is forgotten."

About The Author Article written by Bruce Gow. Bruce holds Certificate 1V in Urban Pest Management and holds Termite Specialist Accreditation amongst many other pest control certifications. He owned and managed Best Pest Control (NSW) Pty Ltd www.bestpest.com.au, a successful termite and pest control firm for 24 years, and now acts as an internet consultant for the new owner.

Humane Approach to Pest Control

Welcome to the pest control in your home blog. We're going to bring you news and information and share articles from the web relating to this topic. What exactly are pests? Well, the word comes from the word "to pester", so I guess it's basically anything that bugs you! See, there it is, when we say "to bug", we don't mean something very nice, we mean something nagging and irritating.

Now, we don't feel that bugs, insects or rodents are a bad thing. I for one feel that some bugs are downright beautiful to look at. I love butterflies (who doesn't?), and I actually do sometime stop to look at a pretty shiny beetle or a moth with an interesting patter on its wings. Insects can be beautiful indeed. As for rodents, I actually like rats and mice. Snakes too. Not to mention cats and deer and skunks. All are creatures which at some point may fall into the pests category by some people. My point is that you can be an animal lover and still deal with pest control.

As long as animals, be them ants or brown rats, live their life alongside mine, without causing damage to me or my property, I say "live and let live". It is only when termites eat into my furniture, or mice put my family's health at risk that I begin to worry. It's when I act as well.

Pest control doesn't have to be inhumane. Granted, when dealing with insects, people, myself included, are more likely to use more brutal methods. Once we're talking mammals, I would advocate more humane methods, such as capturing them and re-locating them. This would go for snakes and rats even, in my case. This is my opinion though, I will share others people's opinions here as well, bringing it about in articles by other authors. I hope you enjoy this blog, happy surfing!