Are You the Victim of a Bed Bug Infestation?
Don't Throw Away Your Mattress and Box Spring!
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Rats & Mice (Moving into the Winter Residence)
Born to survive, rats and mice are consummate opportunists who will take advantage of anything that benefits them. When the weather starts to turn cold and wet, a nice, warm commercial building will suit their needs just fine. If you don't take the appropriate precautions you may just discover that your new "tenants" are moving in, not just for the winter, but for an extended stay. However you don't need to panic. Below are some things you can do to protect your buildings and send the rodents packing before they invade it: 1. Eliminate outdoor harborage such as construction debris, old containers, piles of wood or anything else that may offer shelter. Be sure to trim ground cover plants, like Ivy, at least one food from foundations and walls. 2. Be sure that all trees and shrubs are pruned back so that they are at least 6 feet from eaves and rooftops to keep Roof Rats from gaining access from above. 3. Seal or screen all gaps, holes, vents or other openings into the structure. Be sure that all doors and windows close tightly and are properly screened. Be sure to take note of how well your roll-up doors close. Make proper adjustment, improvements or repairs to make sure they are tight. Adult rats only require a 1/2 inch opening to gain access. Mice only require 1/4 of an inch. 4. Clean up and properly dispose of fallen fruits from any fruit bearing landscape plants. Remove any other potential food sources. Never allow tenants to leave food outdoors for any animals, wild or domestic. If your building has a current infestation It is a prudent course to have your pest professional do a thorough inspection to identify the rodent involved, it's access points and the areas of activity so that an appropriate plan can be developed for effective control. For assistance, call us at one of the numbers listed above or contact us online. |
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Bed Bugs Infesting Office Buildings
Lately headlines like these have become more and more common: June 15, 2010, CBS News, By Richard Blake, "Latest Assault on Goldman Sachs: Bed Bugs?"
May 29, 2008, By Samuel Maull, Associated Press, "Fox News Employee Sues Office Landlord for Bedbugs."
In New York, New Jersey, San Francisco & Seattle; in all sizes of cities, even small towns, bedbugs are infesting not just homes and hotels, but offices and entire buildings. They're brought in, unwittingly, by employees and customers. They're transported to work in and on coats, purses, clothes, books shoes, briefcases and other items. They can be picked up in infested homes, taxicabs, trains, planes, you name it. Bedbugs are on a rapid rise and the places where they can be picked up are increasing.
Inside a home, bed bugs have an easy to reach source of blood and tend to remain mostly localized in a bedroom, close to where their hosts sleep. Fairly concentrated numbers of these insects tend to remain in close proximity to the bed, within easy reach of the host. But in an office building a meal isn't so easy to come by. Since bed bugs are nocturnal and most of their hosts (humans) are gone at night, their search for a meal can take them throughout an office and even throughout all floors of a building. When this happens the infestation becomes widely spread. In this environment they tend to be found one at a time or in small groups. In the early stages, workers are rarely bitten and the bugs are seldom seen. The infestation my go undetected for some time. They can also be spread to other offices or buildings occupied by the same company, being transported in files, computers, boxes and personal items. They will, eventually, out of necessity, begin to feed in the daytime and multiply. Once their numbers have increased and an infestation is suspected, locating them may be difficult, time consuming and frustrating. It's common for visual inspections to fail in finding the bed bugs. In large offices, bed bug sniffing dogs may be the answer. These dogs are able to detect single bugs and their eggs. They're not 100 percent reliable. They may miss some insects or alert where there are no bed bugs, but overall they will do much better than human eyes and tend to be 90 percent accurate.
Treatment for bed bugs in an office building is also troublesome. One of the first methods of treatment, while the infestation is still in its early stages, is to vacuum up localized individuals and groups with a powerful, pest control vacuum and crack and crevice attachment. One thing to remember, however, is that bed bugs can hide in the deep recesses of furniture, baseboards and moldings, up inside the hollow areas of office cubicle dividers and other inaccessible areas. And bed bug eggs are glued to surfaces by the female when she lays them. It may be helpful to use the attachment to reach inside these areas to crush the bugs and eggs, scraping them loose in the process, for removal. But keep in mind the fact that this method will only get at the "easy ones." It is likely that further, more serious method may be required. The use of steam may be helpful in reaching some of the bugs but not all. This would be used for rugs, carpet, drapes, fabric covered items like furniture and dividers. The down-side of this method is that it has no residual effect on their populations.
Personal items, computers, phones and other electronics, paper files, storage boxes, furniture and related items will be difficult to treat. These will be better dealt with off-site. Be sure that during transport these items are tightly wrapped and sealed off to prevent bed bugs dropping off and infesting other areas along the route. Treatments will vary with the types of items infested. Some will require heat treatment and others will require fumigation. Once the items are successfully treated they should be stored and not returned to the building until it is free of the infestation. Wall voids, room dividers, and other hollow structures should be steamed or treated with an inorganic substance such as food grade Diatomaceous Earth. Where possible the furniture, room dividers, etc. should be disassembled prior to treatment. In some cases fumigation of entire suites, buildings and even entire buildings may be the answer. Unfortunately, in at least one state, fumigation of an entire building is illegal.
After the apparent, successful treatment of the office or building and its contents, consider putting down a protective barrier of a residual insecticide labeled for bed bug control around places such as furniture, baseboards or other floor moldings, around the bases of room dividers, edges of rugs and carpets.
Office infestations are difficult to control so, even after all of this, there could be residual populations of bed bugs, so vigilance is important, going forward. Repeat inspections should be done on a regular basis and follow-up treatments may be necessary until you are reasonably certain that the infestation has been successfully controlled.
Remember too that a re-infestation is always possible. At any time an employee or a customer could enter the office with an infested item and begin the whole process over again. You can't control all factors, but if there is an employee with an infested home and you can identify who it is, it may be wise diplomatically approach that person and offer to have the home inspected so they can have the home treated. This may not be easy to do, but if you succeed you'll avoid repeated re-introductions of bed bugs to the building and possible expenses resulting from multiple treatments.
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Dengue Fever and Other Diseases May Increase as We "Go Green"
In my research on various pest problems throughout the United States and the world I ran across this article:
DEERFIELD, Ill., July 27 /PRNewswire/ - Several cases of dengue fever, a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of urban dwelling Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, have recently been reported in the continental United States. Prevalent in Central America and the Caribbean, dengue fever's most common symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and body aches lasting several days. The disease's more threatening form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause internal bleeding, loss of blood pressure, and death. Over the past five years, outbreaks of both forms of the disease have been reported in Texas and Florida... You can read the full article by clicking here.
According to this article Dengue Fever, Spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes is back in the United States. One of the two forms, Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever is life threatening. The re-emergence of this disease in the US underscores the concerns of many people in the pest control industry who believe that the rush toward banning chemical sprays before truly efficacious, "natural" pest control methods are fully developed and completely tested, could already be causing real harm.
In another article Posted: 07.27.2010 at 10:29 PM at ConnectMidMichigan.com, by Jessica Harthorn, entitled, "Mosquito tax dividing Grand Blanc Township," some folks in this Michigan community welcome chemical spraying to control mosquitoes (which can be carriers of West Nile Virus) while others fear the potential, long-term consequences of using such measures. Their concerns echo those of significant numbers of ordinary citizens, scientists and researchers who view chemical treatments as a threat to human health.
So, let me see if I understand the logic here...the immediate danger posed by West Nile Virus, Dengue fev er and Dengue Hemmoraghic Fever, are preferable to chemicals, which are proven to lower the incidence of such dangerous infections, but may possibly affect some people sometime in the future? If this is true, ladies and gentlemen, common sense has left the building!
According to a licensed pest control advisor of my acquaintance, insects and the diseases they spread are part of the normal and natural state of homonids throughout history. It is only over the last few decades that we have, through scientifice advancement and the use of chemical controls, altered that state and have gained control of common pests and diseases. I concur with his opinion. To quote my friend directly, "Now that the availability of chemical control tools is being minimized are we seeing the very beginning of a return to normalcy. I predict that there will be a drastic increase in other pest related problems, and diseases as well, if the trend continues. It's about choice people, going "green" does have a down side as well!"
It is this authors opinion that we need to employ a little common sense, as we move forward. Lets keep using the chemical controls that have served us so well and saved so many lives, until on-going research provides us with better alternatives that actually work as well as or better than current methods. That is unless we wish to return to the " natural and normal" state of humanity.
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| Fall Fertilizing
(Give your landscape a head start for spring) 
Commercial and Multi-family landscapes are your customers' and tenants' first impressions of your business. As such it is of great importance to you, the business or property owner/manager. And Autumn is no time to let up. Although, to many folks, the cooling weather and slowing growth of plants, along with the annual leaf-drop occurring on deciduous trees and shrubs, signals a time when they don't need to be concerned with their landscapes, the truth is that fall is an important season. It's a crucial time to give your landscape plants and turf a lower nitrogen, higher potassium and phosphorus feeding to help build strong root systems, aid in recovery from Summer heat and build strength for the rapid growth of Spring. Pest Control Center's Landscape Division offers Fall Feeding, with the proper mix of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorous, along with micronutrients to give your landscape the assistance it needs. We can also give your plants the added benefit of Micorrhiza, a fungus that works synergistically with your plants root systems, giving them increased winter hardiness, more efficient moisture and nutrient uptake and for some plants, extended flowering seasons. Contact us today for your no charge landscape evaluation and price quote.
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