Do I have a rat problem?

What a nuisance rodents would be when they get into your house! Rodents, rats and mice do a lot of damage to your property structure, insulation, pipes and even electrical wiring. They scurry in our walls and above our heads during the night and reproduce rapidly. The question is that how can you know if you have rodents, rats or mice in your house or office? Well, I am going to tell you some signs! First of all, if you heat scampering or gnawing sounds at night in the attic or behind walls, then what that could be? Possibly these small pests: Rodents, Rats or Mice! If you have seen gnawing on food boxes and walls around pipes or ducts, or smudge marks on walls, then that’s the time to call a professional pest control exterminator. Search on Google for a pest control company and call them. You can use keywords like “pest control Melbourne” or “Rodent control Melbourne” (if you live in Melbourne) and you will see a list of pest control companies. Check their certificates, customer ratings, service areas and of course, price! Then ask them for a Rodent/Rat/Mice control service.

But how do rats and mice get in to your house? It’s easy question! They are very small pests and can gain access through holes as small as a pencil! They can climb up trees near buildings or pipes even to access roofs. Rodents and rats can get in to your property through pet doors, holes in walls, small opening around pipes, through vents and via roof.

If you want to keep rats and mice out of your house and property: seal all holes, cracks, voids and vents. You need to cover ducts with fine mesh and fit brush strips to base of external doors. Adoption of high levels of sanitation and hygiene, is always an effective practice and solution for controlling unwanted pests and preventing them. So remove all food and water sources in garden and yard and cover bins with proper lids. It is a good idea to move stored firewood away from the house and keep house tidy and clear.

Six Facts About Bed Bugs

If we track the news and have screened all the consideration bed bugs have received in the past few years, we might wonder we are familiar with all there is to know about this pest: They feed on people while they sleep at night, they cause itchy, red bumps and they are hard to remove! But these annoying bed bugs have a lot of secrets that we might be surprised to come across.

1. Bed bugs could possibly make it at any place. While nearly everybody think of bedbugs, they think of hotel rooms. However the actual truth is, bed bugs may also do well in single-family houses, apartments, hospitals, office buildings, schools, trains, movie theatres, outlet stores and just about at any place that humans are.
2. Bed bugs are not just metro area dwellers. Opposed to popular belief, bed bugs are not just in big towns or third-world countries. They are found all around us. Unfortunately, the occurrence of bed bugs is 3 (three) times higher in towns than in rural zones due to variables such as superior population amount, apartment living and greater mobility, which generally are helpful to the hasty extent and breeding of bed bug pests.
3. Bed bugs are lasting. Bed bugs could possibly reside for a number of months without ever a blood meal. This implies they can reside in home or office furniture, carriers and carrying cases for a long time awaiting they are close a person host once more. Additionally, bed bugs can persist temperatures of nearly freezing to very hot. Because of this, bed bugs are not a pest that can be treated with actions. Well trained pest control specialist is the most doable strategy to handle a bedbug infestation.
4.  Bed bugs are savvy. As a effective instinct, bed bugs are challenging. They know to hide during the daylight, hiding in mattress crevices, in the rear of electrical switch-plates, in picture places, and even behind wall coverings. However during night, the carbon dioxide we breathe in brings them out of their covering spots.
5. Bed bugs are methodical. Bed bugs have a standard feeding pattern. Just after a bed bug detects a human, it will usually supply 3 or more times, for 5 to 10 minutes every time. These three meals are mostly referred to as breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the three nibble marks they make behind usually right one after the other and on exposed skin on the chest, arms or legs are revealing evidences of a bedbug infestation.
6.  Bed bugs might actually have a certification in anaesthesiology. Groups of people often doubt why a biting bedbug does not wake up its human host when it feeds. The reason is that bed bugs feed by applying two dimpled, beak-like feeding tubes into their host. The initial conduit injects the bug's saliva, which actually includes anaesthetics to numb the feeding spot. The other tube takes in blood. Immediately after feeding, they move to quiet places and conceal for five to ten days. During this period, they do not feed but alternatively fully digest their meal, friend and lay eggs.

In case you have a bedbug infestation, do not attempt to control it on your own. Alternatively, call an accredited bedbug treatment and pest control professional who is trained on the (very special, in most cases sneaky) behaviour of bed bugs. They qualified to check your apartment and recommend an effective solution of integrated pest management and control.

Doing your own pest control

It is not always as easy as you may read in many “do-it-yourself pest control” blog posts or websites. Did you know that it may also be very dangerous or even deadly! If you are going to do your own pest control, you need to take required safety precautions, be very careful and aware of possible dangers.

In some situations, you may use pesticides to control or remove unwanted pests. Pesticides are toxic. These materials need to be used and applied with great care. If you use them carelessly they may damage your health or the health of your family. They may also damage the environment or your home. In some conditions, you may use some pest control devices or special product packages that may also be very dangerous. There are a lot of reported deadly incidents where pest control products or devices are used by unprofessional unqualified people or even carelessly. Due to the potential risks involved in handling pesticides, anyone who uses pesticides is required to pass certain training courses and hold a Licence to use pesticides.

I read an article in a news website (source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8503096/cockroaches-1-melbourne-thai-0) that a cockroach 'bomb' blowed up a Thai restaurant. Staff at the Melbourne CBD restaurant, activated 10 cockroach bombs after the restaurant closed on Saturday night. An unknown ignition source caused the bombs to explode, blowing the back door off its hinges, destroying an internal wall and shattering a second storey window. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade reported that a staff member at the restaurant suffered minor cuts from shattered glass in the explosion, which occurred about 12.50am on Sunday.

This is not the first time a restaurant has exploded by the staff using cockroach bombs purchased from a supermarket. They tried to save money, but lost many more! If you have a pest control problem or need pest inspection, it is easier and of course safer to contact a professional pest control company in your area. Following are some safety precautions and recommendations.

• Always follow recommendations provided by the professional pest control operator carefully.
• Use only a licensed pest control operator.
• Obtain the full chemical name of the pesticide to be used – in case of an emergency; this will assist with first aid.
• Ensure food, clothes or furniture are covered or removed from the area to be treated.
• Ensure that all doors and windows are closed if the pesticide is to be applied outdoors.
• Vacate the premises while the pesticide is mixed and applied, and until the pesticide is dry.
• Advise your neighbours in advance of any external pesticide treatments.

What do you know about Pest Control?

Have you ever thought about the Pest Control? If not, you should know that Pest Control is an important step toward protecting people from unwanted pests. Pests in homes, offices or urban areas,  can pose a significant threat to the health and safety of people. Pests also could cause significant damage to houses and buildings. Some property managers hire a pest control service to spray the house or building in order to remove or control bed bugs or cockroaches.

In traditional pest control methods (relied heavily on the use of broad-spectrum pesticides to control pests), pest control companies used toxic chemicals that were also dangerous for human. Another problem is that the tenants have to collect and pack up all of their belongings whenever the exterminators sprayed. Instead of using the new, safe and more natural Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, the property manager chose an unsafe and invasive solution that could even worsen the problem (as reliance on chemicals has grown over the years more and more pests have developed resistance to insecticides).

Integrated Pest Management refers to a set of techniques and methods used to prevent and control a pest infestation, using more than one control method or approach to pest management. It relies on the integrated use of Cultural, Physical, Biological and/or Chemical pest control methods and provides the most appropriate, fastest, safest techniques and the best possible results.

It also includes best practices and recommendations for preventing pest problems, physical pest control and safe chemical pest control methods. For example, instead of immediately spraying chemicals to control and kill cockroaches, Integrated Pest Management experts start with the least toxic methods for removing pests including identifying the exact pest problem and checking outside and inside prevalence points or physical issues such as blocking and sealing up cracks around the exterior of the property, providing tenants with lidded trash cans and scheduling regular garbage pickups. You can read more about Integrated Pest Management here.

Improvement in standards of hygienic is a part of Integrated Pest Management programs. To control an infestation, a professional pest control company provides hygienic recommendations and training materials, also eliminates sources of food and water, finds and alters nesting sites, or uses baits that are safe to use around humans. Regular property inspection is an important part of this approach, to help prevent or control any pest infestation, and if required (an important principle of this approach is that pesticides should be used only when absolutely necessary to prevent and control pests and these chemicals) apply treatments using the least-toxic and safe treatment available.

This approach is based on the planned and strategic use of pest control methods (using more than one control method). So a plan for Integrated Pest Management inspections should be prepared and scheduled. The professional pest control companies provide tip sheets about how you can keep your spaces pest free. They also prepare proper guidelines and encourage tenants/owners to report all signs of a pest infestation.