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

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.

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.