But as VPR’s Nina Keck reports the tiny pests are making a big comeback.

(Keck) Who can forget the old nursery rhyme - Good Night, Sleep Tight – don’t let the bed bugs bite? Unfortunately, they are biting – all over Vermont and the rest of the country. Jon Turmel is Vermont’s state entomologist.

(Turmel)  “I’ve been at it 35 years and we would get one or two bed bugs every three or four years – we’d never see them.  As it is now, I’m getting anywhere from 2 to 6 calls a week.”

(Keck) Turmel says cleanliness has no bearing on where bedbugs show up. Five star hotels are just as likely to have them, he says, as a crowded city apartment.   

Missy Henriksen, of the National Pest Management Association in Virginia, says in the last three years, reports of infestations are up 71 percent and include all 50 states.  

(Henriksen)  “From suburban areas, rural areas large cities – there really is no area that has been spared, unfortunately.”

(Keck) Experts believe the recent increase in bed bugs may be due to the fact that powerful pesticides like DDT are no longer used.

People are also traveling more than ever before and the tiny bugs often hitchhike to new locations hidden in people’s luggage.    

(Henriksen) “Bedbugs are very difficult to find and they can hide for up to a year without a meal – their meal is a human blood meal – so they can lay in wait – reproducing during that hidden life cycle and the female can reproduce 400 offspring.”

(Keck) John Turmel says bedbugs don’t spread any dangerous diseases. But he says the psychological trauma of getting bitten repeatedly while you sleep can be terrible.

So he says it’s best to call a qualified exterminator right away. It’s much better advice, he says than the old nursery rhyme.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_ants

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef603.asp

Please visit our online store to buy products to help with you infestations.
By TONY NAUROTH
The Express-Times
Ron Mahorsky knows what it’s like to deal with customers who have come face to face with the “eewwww” factor crawling all over their floors and walls.
“I just had a customer who was up in arms,” said the employee from Nazareth-based Rid-Et Pest Control, recalling an Upper Nazareth Township client.
Mahorsky described the recent atypical weather as “the perfect storm” for infestations of Narceus americanus, just one species of a large group of bugs more commonly known as millipedes.
Mahorsky and others in his profession predict an increasing number of infestations of the North American millipede and others of its thousand-legged ilk, particularly in homes surrounded by woods.
“Too much moisture or the hot sun will push them to higher ground,” said Mahorsky, who said he’s been in the pest control business for 40 years. “They’re pushed into the homes.”
Wooded areas are notorious for millipedes because the bugs eat decaying organic material on the ground.
Bonnie Brzozowski, who works with Mahorsky, added, “We have seen an increase. It’s in spots here and there. The last week or so it’s starting to get out of hand.”
Those spots, at least those treated by Rid-Et, are in Moore Township, Upper Nazareth Township and the Bath area, Mahorsky said.
“Over in the Bath area, it was really heavy. I did four or five of them in a row of town houses. There were literally hundreds of them. It was hard to even get in the front doors,” he said.
According to an Ohio State University Extension fact sheet, which Mahorsky relies on for millipede information, “Due to excessive rainfall or even drought, a few or hundreds or more leave the soil and crawl into houses, basements, first-floor rooms, up foundation walls, into living rooms, up side walls and drop from ceilings.”
Ron Mahorsky knows what it’s like to deal with customers who have come face to face with the “eewwww” factor crawling all over their floors and walls.
“I just had a customer who was up in arms,” said the employee from Nazareth-based Rid-Et Pest Control, recalling an Upper Nazareth Township client.
Mahorsky described the recent atypical weather as “the perfect storm” for infestations of Narceus americanus, just one species of a large group of bugs more commonly known as millipedes.
Mahorsky and others in his profession predict an increasing number of infestations of the North American millipede and others of its thousand-legged ilk, particularly in homes surrounded by woods.
“Too much moisture or the hot sun will push them to higher ground,” said Mahorsky, who said he’s been in the pest control business for 40 years. “They’re pushed into the homes.”
Wooded areas are notorious for millipedes because the bugs eat decaying organic material on the ground.
Bonnie Brzozowski, who works with Mahorsky, added, “We have seen an increase. It’s in spots here and there. The last week or so it’s starting to get out of hand.”
Those spots, at least those treated by Rid-Et, are in Moore Township, Upper Nazareth Township and the Bath area, Mahorsky said.
“Over in the Bath area, it was really heavy. I did four or five of them in a row of town houses. There were literally hundreds of them. It was hard to even get in the front doors,” he said.
According to an Ohio State University Extension fact sheet, which Mahorsky relies on for millipede information, “Due to excessive rainfall or even drought, a few or hundreds or more leave the soil and crawl into houses, basements, first-floor rooms, up foundation walls, into living rooms, up side walls and drop from ceilings.”
One Moore Township woman, who did not want her name or address used, was hysterical when she found them in her home.
“There isn’t any real danger to them, but people don’t like them,” said Greg Baumann, vice president and senior scientist with the National Pest Management Association, based in Fairfax, Va.
He said about 1,000 species of millipedes live across the United States. They grow to about an inch long in Pennsylvania. Some grow as long as 6 inches in North Carolina, where Baumann lives.
Baumann said Thursday the rain the Valley has seen in recent weeks will drive millipedes from the ground to the surface
“You’ll see them come out of their hiding places,” Baumann said. They like to hide in cracks and crevices.”
They gravitate toward wood decks and patios. When the sun starts beating down on the decks, they find their way into the cool refuge of homeowners’ basements.
The Ohio State University fact sheet notes that millipedes are not poisonous. They crawl slowly and protect themselves by means of glands that secrete an unpleasant odor.
A tip from Baumann: If you vacuum up a pile of millipedes, empty the vacuum immediately. They can decay and stink up the area near the vacuum. Or, millipedes that appear dead can come to life and multiply in there.
“It’s an unhappy situation the next time you go to get the vacuum cleaner,” Baumann said.
Mahorsky added, “These guys can live five to seven years.”
The best way to eliminate them is to call an exterminator, Baumann said.
Lehigh Valley editor Rudy Miller contributed to this report.

Do-It-Yourself Bed Bug Detector

From December 18, 2009 Science News, by Susan Milius

After trying some 50 arrangements of household objects, researchers have come up with a new, homemade bed bug detector.

Wan-Tien Tsai of Rutgers University worked with Changlu Wang, also at Rutgers, for six months on designing homemade devices that lured bed bugs out into a trap so residents can tell whether a home is infested.  Like many insects that search for blood, bed bugs are attracted to plumes of concentrated carbon dioxide, good clues that an animal filled with liquid dinner is breathing somewhere nearby.  In lab tests, carbon dioxide beat heat and several chemical attractants in drawing the bugs out of hiding.

Visit us at: http://www.ant-ser.com/home.php  for several bed bug products.

I service some HUD housing and if you live in public housing of any type DO NOT put up with insects. Visit our store (click here) for do-it-yourself pest products @ http://www.ant-ser.com/home.php.

Recession Tempts Landlords to Reduce Pest Control Inspections

While homeowners are reporting that their greatest pest concern these days are bed bugs, throughout the New York-area, a combination of wintertime and the recession is raising the risk of cockroach and rodent infestations for apartment dwellers.

“Inspections both deter and spot new infestations, enabling pest management professionals to take steps to eliminate them,” says Leonard Douglen, the executive director of the New Jersey Pest Management Association. “Without such inspections any structure, homes, offices, and others can quickly become overrun with roach and rodent populations. It’s a no-win situation.”

Douglen noted that public health laws mandating pest control are invaluable. Despite the increased threat of rodent infestations as mice and rats move indoors wherever they can find harborage against the cold, public facilities such as restaurants remain protected by the work of pest management professionals.

The rapidity with which pest populations can proliferate “tends to take people by surprise,” says Douglen. “If you see cockroaches in your kitchen, for every two you see, there can be several hundred you do not.” The young of German cockroaches mature in 36 days while American cockroaches take up to 160 days.

Rats are ready to breed within three month’s time of their birth and their gestation period is 22 days. They have an average litter of eight. Mice, too, reproduce rapidly.

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With best regards,

Jeff Ahrens, The ANT-SER Man.

California’s Top Pesticide Blunders

In Butte County, Calif., a man used a salt shaker to apply insecticidal dust on his dog for flea control. Later, he thought the salt shaker contained garlic salt and sprinkled the insecticidal dust on a bowl of chili.

The man realized his mistake because the chili tasted strange and the beans were a gray color. He experienced some stomach discomfort and went to a hospital for treatment.

This incident is one of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) “Top Pesticide Blunders,” which reminds the public to avoid illness and injury by following label instructions and using household cleaning and gardening products that pose the least risk to their health and the environment.

What follows are two Butte County incidents and blunders that were drawn from 2007 illnesses and injuries reported to DPR. State privacy law protects the individuals’ identities.
• In Sacramento County, a teenage girl saw a mouse in her home and used gopher bait to control the problem because she had seen her parents use it effectively against gophers in the yard. She read the label, but did not understand it. She poured a handful of pellets into a corner of two bedrooms and waited in another room. Within two hours, she experienced a sharp pain behind her eyes, and tightness in her chest when she breathed in. She was taken to an emergency room for evaluation.
• In Los Angeles County, an elderly woman spilled insecticidal powder on herself as she tried to open the container to use for roach control in her house. She apparently held the container over her head. She experienced “burning” and was taken to her doctor.

Thanks for reading,

Jeff The ANT-SER Man

Cockroaches are unwanted pests. Cockroaches contaminate food and food utensils with their excrement and saliva and disease organisms, their control are crucial. Most types of cockroaches live outdoors, although some, German roaches, are well adapted to living indoors with humans. While they prosper in polluted areas, even the most clean and sanitary areas are at risk of infestation. Cockroaches are primarily nocturnal and appear during the day usually when disturbed or when large populations exist and they seek additional harborage (hiding places).Indoors, they prefer warm, dark, humid shelters, such as cracks under or inside cabinets: behind window or door frames; in bathrooms; in motor compartments of appliances; or around the kitchen and bathroom sink. Outdoors, cockroaches find harborage in decorative bark, leaf litter, and in sewer manholes. While cockroaches feed on a wide variety of food items, including starchy foods, baked goods, and meat, some also enjoy a feast of leather, wallpaper paste and book bindings.

CONTROL

A variety of control measures should be taken to eliminate any infestation.

• Insecticides
• Bait stations
• Baits
• dusts

Prevention . . . the best technique. All cockroaches require food, water and harborage. Denying cockroaches from any of these essential elements will cause their demise. Use

air-tight containers for food (including pet food) items. Caulk cracks and crevices along kitchen splash boards and around window and door frames.

Contact your online self-help store for proper professional products.

Use trash receptacles with tight fitting lids. Rinse out and recycle aluminum or glass containers and store them and other recyclable items in containers with tight fitting lids. Cockroach traps are another very effective method to find cockroach harborages. These traps are nontoxic and contain a sticky adhesive coating inside. The cockroaches enter the trap and

become immobilized. All installations are required to have a self-help pest management program which should include these cockroach sticky traps. The number of traps required will depend on the size of the area and the extent of the infestation. Normally about six traps per home are adequate. Place traps in paths between the cockroaches ‘hiding places and feeding areas. Keep in mind, cockroach trapping will not usually eliminate large cockroach populations. Insecticides can effectively control cockroach populations when combined with other control techniques. However, consider the following items to get the most from insecticide

applications.

+ Perform all housekeeping duties prior to applying insecticides to reduce washing

off applied insecticides.

+ Before applying insecticides, read the instructions on the product labels.

+ Identify the cockroach’s harborage sites. Carefully apply insecticides directly into the

cracks, crevices, and voids where cockroaches occur. Treating these areas ensures that most of

the cockroach population is affected. Be sure to not over apply insecticides. Over application

is dangerous to your health and may hinder control efforts by repelling cockroaches.

+ Treat outdoor populations as well as indoor infestations. Since cockroaches invade homes from the outside, they may reinfest the home once the insecticide disappears. This

reinforces the need for tight fitting door thresholds.

Please visit our online store, ANT-SER.Com, for all your professional pest product needs.

Thank you for reading,

Jeff the ANT-SER man.

Rats and mice often become a serious problem in cold winter months when they seek food and warmth inside buildings. They may suddenly appear in large numbers when excavation work disturbs their in-ground nesting locations, or their food source is changed, such as, rats feeding in school premises may enter adjoining properties during the school holidays. Rats are commonly a problem where a building is located near waterways, creeks and canals or other places where ready water supply is available.

The Danger-

They will live and breed in your home? They will have multiple litters in a year. Rats and mice live in drains, under concrete, in sub-floors and in garbage refuse areas, kitchens, roof voids and other areas where a potential food and moisture source is available. Rats often cause electrical fires in buildings by gnawing through plastic electrical junction boxes. Rats must constantly gnaw on hard objects to cut back their constantly growing incisor teeth.

In addition, they live in the most unsanitary places, and are carriers of serious health risks to humans from their droppings and constant incontinence (they use urine trails to find their way in the dark).

The Solution-

Pest control options may include the use of:

• Sticky straps,
• Mechanical traps
• The selective use of latest generation rat baits.

Any rat baiting program should use safety dispensers, Bait Boxes, placed in areas and is secure from access by children and pets – such as in a roof void and sealed sub-floor and/or storage rooms.

Visit my store for supply options @ http://www.ant-ser.com/home.php

I stop and inspect my ankles and identify the culprit as fleas, flea products. Since I now know why I continue on to the office. My choice of treatment for fleas is CB-80. I treat the truck carpets and my pantlegs.

The how of this is I inspected a house which had pets prior to my visit, the house is now empty. Remeber fleas can lay dormant for quite a period of time and when they smell CO2 they hatch and attack.

Please remember fleas can attack even in December.

Please visit our online store, ANT-SER.com, for all your home pest control needs.