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When rodent pests invade your New Jersey home or business, they spread life-threatening infectious diseases, expose humans and pets to dangerous parasites, contaminate food supplies and foul food preparation areas with their urine and feces, and damage structures with their incessant gnawing. Every year, rodents destroy one-third of the world’s food supply, do millions of dollars in damage to wood, plastic and other materials, and transmit diseases that sicken or kill thousands of people.
Correct identification by a trained rodent control expert is the first step in ridding your New Jersey home or business of rodent pests. Four species cause most of the rodent pest problems in New Jersey.
- House Mouse. Small and gray, the house mouse lives indoors. This rodent nibbles on half a dozen foods during a single feeding, fouling surfaces and food stuffs with every step. It spends its entire life within 10 feet of its nest and can live out its life on a single pallet of food.
- White-footed Deer Mouse. Brown with distinctive white feet, the white-footed deer mouse is slightly larger than the house mouse. Living outdoors, this rodent is drawn to the stored birdseed and pet food in garages. White-footed deer mice transmit life-threatening Hantavirus and Lyme-disease.
- Norway Rat. The most common U.S. rodent, the Norway rat is dark colored and triple the size of a mouse, 10 to 12 inches long including their tails. These rodent pests live in large colonies in underground burrows and will invade the lower floors of buildings. A public health menace, they spread toxoplasmosis, Hantavirus and many dangerous parasites.
- Roof Rat. A tropical transplant found only in New Jersey port areas, this black, tree-dwelling rodent lives in the upper floors of buildings. A serious stored products pest, roof rats are voracious eaters and spread bubonic plague.
Next time: Excluding rodents from your home or business
Although mice and rats are active year-round, spring and fall are when rodents cause the most trouble for New Jersey home and business owners. Their narrow skulls and flexible bodies allow rodents to squirm through small cracks and holes to get inside buildings. A mouse can wriggle through a space no bigger than a dime; a rat, through a hole the size of a quarter.
Mice and rats use their long, thin tails as an aid in climbing, balancing and jumping. Rodents can jump12 to 18 inches straight up to reach counters and pantry shelves and can nimbly scurry along cables and pipes or climb tree limbs to gain access to your home or business. Rodents enter buildings from overhanging trees or landscape plants, under doorways, along pipes and wires, or through small holes and cracks in siding or foundation walls. Strong swimmers, rats can even crawl up sewer and sump pump lines.
Once inside a residential or commercial building, mice and rats nest in close proximity to food and water supplies. Nests are frequently found in wall voids, behind cabinets, under refrigerators or in attics, basements and garages. Many rodents live in underground burrows outdoors, making nightly forays into your home or business to forage for food.
Rodent pests are serious vectors for disease, bringing disease-harboring fleas, ticks, mites, lice and other parasites into homes and businesses, exposing families, employees and customers to dangerous infectious diseases. Their constant gnawing behavior, necessary to wear down their continually growing teeth, damages woodwork, cabinetry and furniture. Mice and rats dribble pheromone urine trails and drop fecal pellets wherever they go. Their urine and feces foul food preparation and work areas and contaminate food supplies.
Mice and rats are dangerous pests when they enter your home or business and difficult to eliminate and control. If you discover rodent activity in your home or business, immediately contact the rodent control professionals at ChemTec.
Next time: How to rid your home or business of rodent pests
With termites beginning to swarm in New Jersey, active new termite infestations are being reported in Morris and Bergen counties. As flying termites land to establish new colonies, termite infestations could quickly spread to neighboring counties, including Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Somerset, Sussex and Union counties in New Jersey and Rockland County in New York. (See our March 1, 2010 post on termite swarms.) Termites cause serious damage to one in five New Jersey homes every year.
Eliminating and controlling a termite infestation discovered in your New Jersey home or business requires the specialized services of a termite extermination expert. Termites have a finely honed survival instinct. Any disturbance to the colony or nearby areas can cause these tiny, wood-destroying insects to relocate, making elimination of the main nest and any satellite colonies more difficult. (See our March 4, 2010 post on termite behavior.) Do-it-yourself attempts to eliminate termites will merely spread an infestation and ensure continued structural damage by these voracious wood-eating pests. Elimination by a professional New Jersey pest control firm with demonstrated success in termite extermination is the only way to protect your property against termites.
Professional termite pest experts rely on Termidor to provide effective termite protection to New Jersey homes and businesses. The fastest-acting, most-reliable termiticide available, Termidor has an effective 100% kill rate when applied by well-trained, experienced pest control professionals. Using an application technique called “trenching and rodding,” Termidor liquid pesticide is introduced into the ground, creating a perimeter barrier around termite-threatened structures. Because Termidor is a non-repellent, termites are unable to detect its presence. As termites travel to and from their central nest, the poison clings to their bodies. The killing agent is eventually spread to every colony member during normal feeding and grooming activities, killing even the well-protected queen and infant nymphs.
Savvy home and business owners will consider a PestGuard Protection Plan with termite coverage to protect themselves from expensive termite damage.
More swarms are being reported in the eastern part of Bergen County now….add Cresskill, Paramus, and Teaneck to the list. Previously we had reported swarms in Parsippany or East Hanover neighborhoods of Morris County, New Jersey or the Rutherford, North Arlington, Saddle Brook or Maywood areas of Bergen County. If you think you might have termites or are concerned about protecting your New Jersey home or business from termite attack, what should you do?
First, call a New Jersey pest control company with recognized expertise in termite control to assess your insect problem. In many cases, swarming insects are a home or business owner’s first sign of possible termite infestation. But certain species of ants, with which termites are often confused, also swarm during early spring in New Jersey. When termite damage is discovered in the course of home repair or remodeling, carpenter ants and powder post beetles, which cause similar damage to wood and wood products, can also be confused with termites. Correct identification of insect pests is always the first step toward successful elimination and control.
When termite activity or damage is discovered, it’s important not to disturb the area. Termites and other insect pests have well-honed survival instincts. Initial disturbance will send termites rushing to defend and repair the breach in their tunnels; but continued disturbance can cause the colony to abandon the site, making it more difficult for New Jersey termite control experts to find and eliminate the main nest.
When the termite inspector arrives, he will perform a thorough inspection of your home or business, both inside and out. Well-trained and experienced in the habits of Eastern subterranean termites, the termite species active in New Jersey, the termite inspector will first determine whether your pest problem is, in fact, a termite problem or caused by another insect pest. Different insect pests can require different treatment protocols, making correct identification the first and most important step in successful treatment and elimination.
Next time: How to get rid of termites
Yes, there is a foot of snow (or more) on the ground, but Termites are still beginning to swarm in New Jersey! We have had reports of swarms in the Parsippany and East Hanover sections of Morris County; and the Rutherford, North Arlington, Saddle Brook and Maywood areas of Bergen County.
Typically, people associate swarms with the ”puddles” of what look like of winged ants milling around on the ground near foundation walls or in lawns. In New Jersey, these winged reproductives emerge from underground termite nests from March to May. Swarms can number from a few dozen termites to hundreds and are often a home or business owner’s first indication of termite infestation.
However, we what home and business owners are now reporting are indoor Termite swarms. Indoor swarmers are attracted to light. Rather than flying insects, building owners are more apt to discover hundreds of smoky gray wings littering window sills or entrance areas. Both wing litter and termite “puddles” are sure signs of an active termite infestation in the immediate vicinity.
Termites swarm to relieve pressure on overpopulated colonies, locate new food sources or relocate the colony when nesting sites become uninhabitable. Winged reproductives are produced and crawl to the surface where they form mating pairs and fly off to establish new termite colonies. Males die shortly after mating; but females land, shed their wings and crawl into the ground to begin building a new colony. Because termites are poor fliers, new colonies are often located nearby, creating satellite colonies, all attacking the same structure. This also explains why termite infestations appear to spread through a neighborhood. Colony-expanding winged reproductives are most likely to land in nearby yards and attack your neighbors’ homes.
Only mature termite colonies produce swarmers. It takes a colony 3 to 6 years to reach maturity by which time it can house 60,000 or more individual termites. By the time swarming occurs, considerable structural damage may already have been done to your home or business.
Termite extermination and prevention is a job for well-trained, experienced termite control professionals. If you notice signs of termite activity around your New Jersey home or business, call the termite experts at ChemTec Pest Control immediately.
 The first sign of trouble was a little mound of what looked like sawdust on the raised concrete ledge in the laundry room. My neighbor has a raised ranch. In the unfinished basement area there is a narrow half-inch gap between the wallboard and the concrete foundation. Between every set of studs we could see little pyramid-shaped piles of “sawdust.” I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but my neighbor had carpenter ants. The “sawdust” was the byproduct of their munching.
Carpenter ants can be quite destructive. While they don’t eat wood like termites do, carpenter ants chew massive tunnels and galleries into wood to house their nests. Usually found outdoors in wood piles or damaged trees, the large black ants are easily attracted to nearby home foundations, particularly when moisture is present. Carpenter ants’ tunneling can undermine foundations, destroy porch posts and railings, and damage roofs and wood siding. Damage will not stop until the entire nest is found and eliminated by pest control professionals.
If you see a dull, black ant, approximately 1/4 to 3/4-inch long in New Jersey, it is a carpenter ant and you could have a serious problem. Pest technicians traced my neighbor’s problem to a huge nest in a damaged tree in her back yard. That colony was still thriving but had spread to her home. Fortunately, a quick call to ChemTec was able to eliminate both nests and minimize carpenter ant damage to my neighbor’s home.
Carpenter bees are also known as “wood boring bees”. While they can assist pollination in gardens, they are considered a pest because of the damage they can cause to wood structures. These bees have the ability to bore through wood, and they build their nests in wood structures around homes. They are considered one of the most amazing types of bees in the world, because they can create perfectly circular holes that are almost always similar in size.
It is easy to distinguish carpenter bees from other types of bees. The adult carpenter bee measures about 1 to 1 ½ inches in length, and it is either entirely black in color or has some yellow markings at the rear. It has a robustness that makes some people think that it is a bumble bee. You will know whether a carpenter bee is a male or a female by looking at its face; a male has a yellow face while the female has a black face.
One of the sure signs of carpenter bee infestation is the presence of circular holes in wood structures around your home. It is likely that you will find piles of sawdust on the ground directly below the holes. Carpenter bees can build their nests in almost any kind of wood structure, which may include siding, fences, desks, window frames, and overhangs.
It is important to get rid of carpenter bees as soon as possible, because they will cause more damage to your wood structures if you wait too long to eliminate them.
Mice are everywhere in New Jersey and New York City, and it is not surprising that many schools are experiencing mouse problems. School cafeterias provide a great source of food for mice, and they are the main reason for the infestations. According to the Freedom of Information, a total of 545 cafeterias in NYC schools alone have at least one serious health violation, and signs of mouse infestation are found in more than 30% of these cafeterias.
Manhattan’s Landmark High School is one of the schools that have a very bad mouse problem. Health inspectors found a lot of mouse droppings and a live mouse in a glue trap when they were conducting an inspection at the school. A representative from the Center of Science and Public Interest, Sarah Kline, said that mouse droppings are not only disgusting, but they can be dangerous to the human health if they somehow get into food, and the schools are not taking the proper measures to ensure food safety. It is known that mice are carriers of diseases, and they can cause a variety of health problems, including salmonella, hantavirus, and Lyme disease. This makes them a serious threat to the health of kids in schools.
The best way to get rid of mouse infestation in homes and schools in New Jersey is to call a pest control professional. ChemTec Pest Control provides effective pest control service in many New Jersey areas.
Excerpt from “How Green Are Natural Insecticides?” written by Corrinna Underwood for FoxNews.Com…our very own Gary Stamer, ChemTec Field Operations Manager is quoted….
Botanicals use essential oils from plants known to have natural insecticidal properties, such as chrysanthemum, garlic, sweet flag and clove. Not only do these natural avengers zap the bad bugs, they are also harmless to humans and the environment.
Many of the newer green pesticides have a unique mode of action that targets and blocks a key neurotransmitter receptor site.
“The neurotransmitter in insects is called octopamine; it is basically the insects’ version of adrenaline,” explains Gary Stamer of Chemtec Pest Control, based in Saddle Brook, N.J. “The botanicals block the octopamine, resulting in a shutdown of the insect’s nervous system. Since only insects have this receptor, there is no harm to mammals, birds or fish.”
You can read the entire article here. We don’t fully agree with the IPM definition but the article is informative. ChemTec Pest Control offers Green Services in Bergen County, Passaic County, Essex County, Hudson County and Morris County in New Jersey and Rockland County in New York State.
Cockroaches are common pests in households, and they are hardy creatures that can multiply very quickly. As such, it is important to get rid of them as soon as possible, and the best way to do so is to eliminate sources of food and water as well as hiding places in your home.
One of the main reasons why homeowners experience cockroach infestation is because they leave food in the open. You should store your food in the refrigerator or tightly-sealed containers. Even crumbs of food on the table or ground can attract cockroaches. Make sure that you clean your home properly and put your garbage in tightly-closed trash cans. Also, you should not to leave unwashed dishes in the dishwasher or sink overnight.
You can also reduce cockroach infestation by cleaning up clutter in your home, because clutter provides ideal hiding places for cockroaches. Do some repairs to make your home more cockroach-proof, including sealing up cracks and openings on pipes. A number of solutions and insecticides can be used to eliminate cockroaches. You can either get a cockroach spray from the store or make your own solutions, such as mixtures of soap and water, and powdered sugar and baking soda. Spray the insecticide or solution in areas of your home where cockroaches are commonly seen.
If you find that cockroaches are still showing up in your home after you try these methods, it is best that you call a pest control professional.
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