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Rats, Norway Rats, Roof Rats, Rodents and Rat Infestation

We don’t often see rats, but signs of their presence are easy to detect. Most prominently are smudge marks around any openings or connections for water pipes, HVAC systems, electrical wiring or other conduits in your home. These are rat signs from their fur and the attached oils and dirt staining your bricks or other surfaces.

Rats, like house mice, are active mostly at night. They have poor eyesight, but they make up for this with their keen senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Rats constantly explore and learn, memorizing the locations of pathways, obstacles, food and water, shelter, and features of their environment. They quickly detect and tend to avoid new objects and novel foods. Thus, they often avoid traps and baits for several days or more following their initial placement. While both species exhibit this avoidance of new objects, this neophobia is usually more pronounced in roof rats than in Norway rats.

This information has been summarized from the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources Site about Rat Management Guidelines. Click here for the original article.

How to Spot a Rat Infestation

Because rats are active throughout the year, periodically check for signs of their presence. Once rats have invaded your garden or landscaping, unless your house is truly rodent proof, it is only a matter of time before you find evidence of them indoors. Experience has shown it is less time consuming to control rodents before their numbers get too high, and fewer traps and less bait will be required if control is started early.

Inspect your yard and home thoroughly. If the answer to any of the following questions is yes, you may have a rat problem.

Do you find excrement or droppings around dog or cat dishes or pet food storage containers?
Do you hear squeaks, scratching or other noises coming from the attic just after dusk?
Have you found bundles of grass, fiber or other remnants of rat nests when dismantling your firewood stack?
Do your pets, your dog or cat bring home dead rat carcasses?
Are fruits, nuts or vegetables that on vines or bearing trees falling from the vines/trees in your yard?
Do you see burrows among your plant beds or damaged vegetables when working in the garden?
Do you see rats traveling along utility lines or on the tops of fences at dusk or soon after?
Have you found rat nests behind boxes or in drawers in the garage?
Are there smudges or dirty looking areas,or other marks against beams, rafters, pipes, and walls?
Do you see burrows beneath your compost pile or beneath the garbage cans or around the edge of your house?
Are there rat or mouse droppings in your recycle bins?
Have you ever had to remove a drowned rat from your swimming pool or hot tub?
Do you see evidence of something digging under your garden tool shed or doghouse?

Spiders

Integrated Pest Management and Extermination of Spiders in your Environment.

Spiders in North American yards, forests, trees, and landscaping prey on insects and other organisms and in some cases, may prey on small birds and snakes. Many of the bugs or insects that spiders prey on are harmful to us, or to our grass, shrubs, trees, and gardens. Since spiders are beneficial to our environment we may be better served by doing our best to maintain them. We may not want some spiders in proximity to our family or visitors or businesses and homes and in safe places in our yards. There are two spiders, however, the black widows and the recluse that pose a clear danger and should be avoided and the risk of contact mitigated or eliminated.

Integrated pest management uses both pesticides that are labeled for spiders and habitat modification techniques that are highly effective at eliminating spiders, without killing them, within homes and businesses, and in reducing their populations in yards and landscaping to acceptable, manageable levels.

Residual pesticides, most frequently delivered in the form of toxic sprays, dusts, or granular baits, are toxic to humans and other living things, yet are not effective at eliminating spiders unless brought into direct contact with them. Spiders only hunt live prey and inert baits or dead organisms do not attract them. In addition, a spider’s body mass is usually relatively high above the surfaces it travels on and only the tips of each leg touches the ground or the spider’s web. This reduces the opportunity for residual pesticides to affect them.

Brown recluse spiders and black widow spiders are difficult to eradicate by using traditional pesticides alone as only a small percentage of these spiders are be treated directly through spraying or direct application. Most are are hidden and do not come into direct contact with pesticides. Also, residual pesticides are generally ineffective against them because they do not travel to the treated areas, and there is strong evidence that they have developed resistance to most pesticides. Brown recluse and black widow spiders that are hiding in corners or walls, or under furniture around and inside homes, garages, yards, sheds, dog-houses, barns and the like are often not reached by traditional pesticides.

Integrated pest management, including Habitat modification techniques facilitate the management of not only hidden and visible spiders but other harmful insects as well low toxicity pesticides and other non-toxic management methods.

Eliminate, seal, and cleanse voids in your home and in the landscaping of your yard to eliminate hidden black widow infestations in your home and landscape without having to fire a single shot of pesticide.

Reduce or eliminate clutter and tidying up areas where spiders can hide can eliminate an existing black widow or brown recluse spider infestation.

Regular cleansing solutions containing natural that are effective at dissolving or weakening spider webs

Clean up and remove debris accumulating in and around spider webs as well as other clutter that serves as a retreat or places for spiders to hide in

Use natural cleansers that include or you can add cedar, mint, eucalyptus, or other natural fragrances to soapy water. These aromatics help clean up residual smells left behind by animals and spiders make the cleaned area less attractive to organisms attracted to pheromones and scents. Soap-and-water solutions are used to clean are often not intended to kill spiders. However, a non-nurturing environment that is cleaned ans swept often does not attract spiders. Live spiders seen only rarely, will not set up housekeeping and

Directly applied soap-and-water solutions, used to clean up the areas where spiders reside, often kill the spiders they come into contact with as well as over-the-counter pesticides. Though not intentionally used as anything more than cleansers, they do much more than that, yet they add no toxic substances to the air, and leave no residual toxic substances behind.

Ordinary soap-and-water solution can be lethal to spiders because their respiratory system is vulnerable to water-based solutions that have low surface tensions. Plain water alone is not necessarily threatenting a spider as some spiders can live underwater for extremely long periods of time. However, adding a wetting or sudsing agent, such as a liquid soap, produces a solution that can kill spiders on contact. All three of a spider’s respiratory organs: skin, lungs, and tubular tracheae are compromised when a wetting or sudsing solution is sprayed directly on the spider.

Many, if not most, yard spiders are diurnal (day-active) feeders (though recluse spiders, and many orbweavers are nocturnal, i.e., night-active); after the sun goes down insect activity tapers off and many diurnal spiders rest, especially the wandering hunters and jumpers that rely on vision to locate prey.

The best way to produce an environment with fewer spiders in it.

Ordinary outside lighting transmits short wavelength illumination in the blue-ultraviolet spectrum that attracts insects. This, in turn, attracts any spiders in the area including hunters and jumpers, during the dark hours, because they have the opportunity to feed as long as the lights are on. Wolf spider populations increase around such lights, where they have the opportunity to congregate in cracks and crevices waiting for a chance to jump an insect that alights nearby. We advise that you use bug lights for exterior lighting and screen your windows if you do not enjoy orb weavers and other spiders attracted to the light.

Our Pest Control Services and Do It Yourself Store can help you manage your environment and reduce any spider population and allow them to help you manage non-beneficial pests. Contact Us at 903) 892-3238 or stop by our store at 608 South Sam Rayburn Freeway Sherman, TX 75090

Cockroaches, German Roaches, Water Bugs and Oriental Roaches

Cockroaches come in many shapes, sizes and species and live throughout the world. We don’t worry much about most of them because they don’t pose a problem for most people. However there are a few that can be a real pain when they invade our homes and businesses.

The German cockroach (Blattella Germanica) is one such cockroach. This fast multiplying fast growing roach has a reputation for being very difficult to get rid of. Many people have battled this roach in their homes/businesses for years and some have come to believe that nothing can defeat it and this was almost true years ago before we had the newest technology in Ultra-Low toxicity bait products.  With the new highly effective baits there is no spray, smell or mess left behind for humans or pets to contact.

The Urban Entomology Site from Texas A & M University provides key insights into cockroach management. It is easier to “prevent a roach infestation that to control an established population” . Here are the keys as listed on their site:

Inspect
Cockroaches and their likely habitats should be identified before any treatment. Look for evidence near cracks and crevices in walls and cabinets.
Homeowners can detect conditions that will foster the development of infestations through frequent inspections.

Maintain a Sanitary Environment
Proper sanitation effectively limits cockroach populations. Keep it clean indoors and outdoors.
Do not leave unwashed dishes, kitchen utensils, and uncovered food out overnight.
Clean up all spilled liquids. A light application of bleach mixed with water will sanitize most surfaces. Read the instructions on the container.
Areas beneath and behind cabinets, furniture, sinks, stoves and refrigerators should be cleaned often.
Clean and sanitize all cupboards, pantry shelves and storage bins where particles of food frequently accumulate.
Kitchen waste and excess refuse should be kept in cockroach proof container. Dispose of compost and waste materials often.
Store dry pet food in tight containers away from the kitchen and other food.
If pets are fed indoors, leftover foods should not be allowed to remain in the feeding dish overnight.
Outdoors, garbage cans, racks, platforms or slabs should be cleaned regularly

Exclude or protect entry opportunities
Seal any cracks of 1/8 in or more in the foundation and exterior walls to discourage entry.
Check the seal or caulking around air conditioning unit, windows, doors, pipes or other openings into the home.
Inside the home eliminate all possible hiding areas and food sources.
Eliminate and seal any cracks and holes in floors, walls and ceilings.
Seal around plumbing fixtures, furnace flues, electrical outlets, windowsills and walls, and along baseboards and ceiling moldings and any other openings.
Leaky water faucets and pipes should be repaired.
Seal thresholds on doors should be as tight as possible and cracks in porches and stoops.
Eliminate hiding places such as paper, Cardboard, lumber, firewood and other debris next to the home provide excellent refuge for several cockroach species.
Keep yard trash and stacks of firewood away from the home or garage to minimize the chance of cockroach invasion

Add Traps
There are a number of cockroach traps that are inexpensive, convenient to use, disposable and contain no toxic insecticide.
Most are about the size of a large matchbox, that are open at both ends and have the inside surface covered with a very sticky adhesive. (The adhesive immobilizes cockroaches that enter the trap.)
Some may contain a slow release food attractant.
Trapping alone will not eliminate cockroach populations, but must be used in conjunction with preventive measures for maximum effectiveness.
Trapping can reveal the hiding places and the severity of infestation, help monitor the effectiveness of control measures and detect population increases which may require an insecticide treatment.

Traps should be placed where cockroaches are likely to travel to and from feeding and hiding areas. It is best to place traps against walls and in corners where both ends are unobstructed. Reposition the traps if no cockroaches are caught after two or three nights. The number of traps required for a home or building will vary with the kind of cockroach present and the severity and location of the infestation.

Contact Results Pest Control or visit our Do It Yourself Store for the best advice and professional products for cockroach population control or prevention.

Ants, Fire Ants and Ant Nest Control

From Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project – “The impact of red imported fire ants in the state of Texas is estimated to be $1.2 billion annually. Red imported fire ants are pests of urban, agricultural and wildlife areas and can pose a serious health threat to plants and animals. The goal of the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project is to find effective methods to eliminate this invasive species as a major economic and medical pest.”

“The red imported fire ant was imported around the 1930′s and has spread to infest more than 260 million acres of land in nine southeastern states, including all or portions of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma (Lofgren 1986, Sparks 1995). This species has become very abundant, displacing many native ant species when abundant. It has the potential of spreading west and surviving in southern Arizona and along the Pacific coast north to Washington (Vinson & Sorenson 1986).”

It is not possible to eliminate Fire Ants entirely quite simply because it’s not possible to treat all areas that are infested. Our goal with integrated pest management programs is to suppress fire ants as much as possible with biological control methods. We only recommend using pesticides or insecticides where it is economically and environmentally justifiable to do so. We can help you find the cost effective, low toxicity method or methods that are environmentally sound.

We recommend a two-step process. First broadcast baits. There are two main types and the main difference is how quickly fire ants will be affected or controlled and how long the effect will last. From the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project we know that “faster acting bait products include indoxacarb (works in 3-10 days), hydramethylnon (works in 7-14 days for mound treatments and in 2-3 weeks when broadcast), and spinosad (works in several weeks). They may need to be re-applied more often than slower acting and longer lasting products such as abamectin, fenoxycarb, methoprene or pyriproxyfen, which work in 1-2 months when applied in spring and 6 months when applied in fall.”

Secondly, use long residual contact insecticide treatments where necessary. “Granular fipronil products are slower acting but longer lasting; only one treatment is permitted per year. Faster-acting contact insecticides, such as pyrethroids eliminate ants on the surface for months but may not eliminate colonies nesting deeper in the soil.” With the long residual contact insectide treatment With this approach, a contact insecticide is applied to the lawn and landscape surface. This is more expensive that other control methods but it may be more effective in smaller areas because ants that move into treated areas will be eliminated as long as the chemical is active. Granular products are best applied with a push-type fertilizer spreader and must be watered in after treatment.” (Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project)

For individual mound treatments we recommend the “faster acting baits products (hydramethylnon, indoxacarb, spinosad) can be used to treat individual ant mounds and are ideal for treating inaccessible colonies like those nesting under sidewalks, in plant beds and at the bases of tree trunks. Some mound treatment products are available as liquid drenches, injectable aerosols, dusts or granules that are watered into the mound. Ants are killed only if the insecticide contacts them, so proper application is essential. These treatments are most effective when ants are nesting close to the mound surface (as they do when the temperature is mild). Colonies should not be disturbed during treatment. If you use a watering can to apply insecticide, do not use the can later for other purposes.” (Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project)

Contact Us! Stop by our store for assistance or simply call (903) 892-3238

Bed Bug Control

You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard of the resurgence of the Bed Bug in the U.S. over the past few years. You may have dealt with this insect yourself and if so you have learned how difficult the Bed Bug is to get rid of once they have established themselves in a structure.  Even though the Bed Bug is not known to carry or transmit disease, this blood sucking parasite strikes fear in the minds of all who have encountered them.  Lets face it, anything that can crawl into our beds with us and get a blood meal from us without us even knowing it is pretty creepy.

There are a lot of theory’s among pest control professionals as to why the Bed Bug has made such a come back in the U.S..  Since the Bed Bug is more common in less developed countries the increased travel to and from those countries is  most likely the main source of import.  Their ” small apple seed” size and the fact that they like to crawl into tight cracks and crevices makes them very stealthy and able to hide away in our luggage and personal items to be transported to our next location.

Another reason for the Bed Bug come back is tied to the changes in professional pest control products and their use  over the past few decades.  20 to 30 years ago insecticides were more toxic, stayed around longer and were used on a regular bases whether there was a pest problem or not.  Today we have less toxic, pest specific products available which lessens the amount of pesticides in and around homes and businesses.  Now this is a GOOD thing.  After all, who wants a lot of toxic material inside their living/work areas.

Now lets talk about getting rid of the Bed Bug once they have invaded your home or business. Believe it or not, the use of insecticides are only a small part of dealing with this insect pest. Because the Bed Bug likes to get into cracks and crevices in our beds and furniture (where we sit and sleep) the adverse affects of human contact with insecticides must be a major consideration.  Although some insecticides are needed, the treatment of items that have a lot of human contact is best done with heat chambers for larger items and steam only on and around bed frames and mattresses.

Dealing with Bed Bugs is definitely NOT a do-it-yourself project.  But if you decide to tackle this pest problem yourself PLEASE, get the advice of a knowledgeable professional before starting.

And of course, call us here at RESULTS PEST CONTROL SERVICES anytime, we’ll be happy to help.  903-892-3238