Bolton Pest Control

Archive for July, 2010

Bed bugs are unlikely and unwanted housemates you might have currently. They can never be as gross and scary as other insects and pests like cockroaches, but they can be really annoying.

Bed bugs are insects that thrive on small holes, cracks or crevices in walls and floors. Generally, bed bugs like to live in dark and untidy corners or portions of the house.

Bed bugs suck blood. It is their primary means of making a living. Hence, they go out at night and suck blood from unsuspecting victims, who may be sleeping by that time.

Bed bugs do not transit or carry communicable diseases, bu their bites can get really really itchy. To some people, especially the more sensitive ones, bed bugs’ bites can pose serious health situations.

So the basic question you will have in mind for sure (assuming that your house is infested with bed bugs) is, ” How are bed bugs infestation controlled?”

There are a number of measures or means to control bed bugs. For a start, you may start by preventing the occurrence or existence of bed bugs in your house. If your home is still not infested, be sure to know how to avoid them.

Cleanliness is one key factor in controlling or preventing bed bugs from thriving in your house. Be sure to make your furniture, walls, and floor spic and span.

Bed bugs love to thrive in beds, so, make sure your bed is fully protected. Regularly change your bed sheets and make sure the bed does not contain unnecessary holes or tears.

If your house already has bed bugs on it, a simple way to control infestation is by applying pesticides or insecticides to the infested areas.

A number of commercially available pesticides especially formulated for bed bugs control are available and accessible in the market. In using one, just be sure to carefully read all labels and instructions before use.

Pesticides, of course, are made up of harsh chemicals that can surely knock out insects like bed bugs. These chemicals are so harmful, that aside from controlling bed bugs, they can also pose health hazards or threats to you.

Hiring professionals The best and probably the most intelligent solution to controlling bed bugs infestation is through seeking the professional help and services of experts—pest control companies.

Controlling bed bugs is not a ‘spur of the moment’ thing. A lot and thorough planning has to be conducted beforehand. Before seeking the expert help, be prepared to discard several materials and furniture, if ever the experts will advise you to.

There are a number of pest control companies in your locality. All you have to do is to pick up the phone, and wait for a few hours.

If you are living in an apartment, coordinate with your land lord or land lady. It is their responsibility to make all the necessary arrangements for pest control measures.

State and civil laws mandate them to make sure that their building is safe and pest-free. Talk to them and know the arrangements for pest control service fee payments.

When you plan to control bed bugs infestation in your home with the help of professionals, also be sure to inform or notify your neighbors.

It is because some residues or stink of the pest control chemicals might reach their homes. If ever, that will post serious health risks for them.

Because bed bugs are so persistent, expect the process of controlling them to be really tedious. Insects have that general characteristics—they are so resilient and their systems are so strong.

Normally, controlling bed bugs the professionals’ way can take a few hours, because the experts have to check for any crevices, small cracks or holes where bed bugs might be hiding.

Furniture and home accessories will also have to be checked to make sure the treatment will not miss on any single bug.

At times, pest control experts might advise you to discard several furniture, especially beds. Is because, most beds are made up foams or materials that have tiny holes on it, which is very ideal for bed bugs to hide in.

In disposing or discarding beds, be sure that it can never be used by other people again. Otherwise, bed bugs will transfer from your house to another’s.

Because environmental concerns will rule out burning, you will surely have to put the bed into a special encasing or bug, to make sure all bed bugs on it are trapped inside.

Want to find out about kill roaches and cockroach control? Get tips from the About Animals website.

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If you have wasps or hornets in and around your home, it is essential to take steps to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Not only is getting rid of wasps and hornets an important step in keeping your family safe, but it is also essential for keeping your home in good shape. After all, wasps and hornets can cause quite a bit of damage with their nests.

Therefore, if you live in or around the Los Angeles area and are experiencing wasp or hornet problems, it is a good idea to contact a professional Los Angeles pest control company to handle the problem. In this way, you can be sure the wasps will be removed in a safe and thorough manner.

When it comes to getting rid of wasps, hornets and other stinging insects, it is helpful to know more about the type of insect you are facing.

Although there are many different types of stinging insects that you might encounter, some of the more common ones include…

Paper Wasps
In general, paper wasps won’t cause problems to humans. If they build their nests in a high-traffic area, however, they can be quite a nuisance. In addition, they tend to build their honeycomb-shaped nests on the sides of homes, where they can be quite unsightly. When trying to get rid of these wasps on your own, you should wait until nighttime when the wasps are less active. Then, spray the nest with a pressurized wasp killer.
Bald-Faced Hornets
These territorial hornets live in large aerial nests and tend to feed between dusk and dawn. Their nests should also be sprayed at nighttime.
Yellow Jackets
Highly aggressive and territorial, yellow jackets have been known to repeatedly sting humans who are trying to destroy their nests. Therefore, for your own personal safety, it is in your best interest to contact a professional Los Angeles pest control company if you have a yellow jacket infestation rather than trying to eradicate them yourself.

Getting rid of wasps, hornets and other stinging insects can be a tricky task. If you are going to try to take on the job yourself, be sure to spray the nest at night when the insects are less active. Also, always wear multiple layers of clothing, as well as a pair of thick gloves, to better protect yourself. You should always move slowly so you do not catch the attention of the insects you are trying to destroy.

In order to ensure your safety and guarantee good results, it is always a good idea to contact a professional Los Angeles pest control company when getting rid of wasps, hornets and other stinging insects.

Locally owned and operated since 1994. We will provide you with excellent workmanship and pricing for all phases of your pest control needs. We provide services for residential, associations, commercial, and multi-family properties. We also offer NON-TOXIC treatments when possible(ORANGE OIL & FOAM), as well as preventative treatments including yearly maintenance plans, fumigation, escrow inspections, wood repair, and structural replacement. To learn more visit our website at www.AccuracyPlusCalifornia.com or call us TOLL FREE 888-675-0258!Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/roaches-are-dirty-pose-a-health-hazard-1307914.html#ixzz0qMZdtcQD Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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Bed bugs have been exterminated from the US soil sometime in 1940′s and the 1950′s. The use of DDT has been succesful in eradicating these pests. However, international travelling and immigration have brought back to the US the exterminated, blook sucking pests. And establishments that are said to be the bed bugs exchange centers are: One, busses, two, trains, three, cabs, four, airplanes, and five, hotel rooms, six, motels and breakfast-inns. Don’t you notice that the places where you can see bed bugs from and out of your clothes are transportation carriage and the place where travellers stay for the night? Right. Bed bugs are travellers and hitchhikers. You must know the ways on how to get the bed bugs out of your clothes when you get into these places.

You cannot get bed bugs out of your clothes simply by avoiding the mentioned hotspots. These places are unavoidable. They are part of our lives. But if you want to keep your house clean and free from bed bugs infestation, check out these Tips on How to Get the Bed bugs Out of Your Clothes. Simple Tips on How to Get the Bed Bugs Out of Your Clothes. In a hotel, you can get bed bugs out of your clothes if you shake off your clean and used clothes for bed bugs the night before you check out. Having bed bugs in your things or clothes does not mean that you are filthy and stinking. Bed bugs do not stay on a certain area or place because it is clean or filthy. They stay in a place because they are attracted to carbon monoxide, of which humans exhale, and they feed on human blood.

To get the bed bugs out of your clothes, you must make sure that the suitcase on which you will encase it is bed bugs free. Even if you shake your clothes just to get bed bugs out of your clothes, it won’t do good since the very suitcase that will carry your clothes with has bed bugs inside. The night before you leave your hotel, remove any items that you have and the clothes inside your suitcase. Buy a water based insect killer and spray on the insecticide around the suitcase. Don’t spray on inside. Then place your belongings and other items inside a clean, dry, bath tub. Bed bugs don’t like ceramics and marbles much, so they won’t be present anywhere near the tub. However, all the wood furniture near your bed are undoubtedly infested. Surer way to get bed bugs out of your clothes is to have your clothes, clean and used, to the laundry. Ask the laundryman to soak it in warm water for twenty minutes. Clinging nymps on your used clothes, especially the clothes you used on bed, will die when soaked in warm water.

You can get bed bugs out of your clothes if you will resist the urge to sleep on the bed before you leave. The bed bugs may cling onto your sleeves as its last shot to draw blood from you and stay there before you leave. When you get home, remove all your clothing, and even socks, and soak them in warm water for twenty minutes. Do this immediately to avoid speading bed bugs around your house in case a female bed bug hitched at your collar or sleeve. A single female bed bug lays 300 eggs. And adult bed bugs can last for eighteen months even without feeding. You might think that following the tips abovementioned will make you look like a person sufferring from obsessive compulsive. This is untrue. This is the best measure to do to avoid having your house getting infested with these nasty bugs. They are very hard to terminate once they invade your household. The best remedy for a bed bug infested home is to throw away every furniture around and abandon the place for three years. So which is easier and better to do? Prevent the bed bugs from coming your house or exterminate them instead?

Find tips about bug guide and cinch bugs at the About Animals website.

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An ancient human scourge has returned to cause panic among home and property owners, home buyers and realtors. Bed bugs have invaded every state in the U.S. and reports of infestations have increased exponentially nationwide over the past few years. In a national survey of pest control companies conducted by noted bed bug authority Michael Potter for Pest Management Professional, Potter found, “A whopping 91% of respondents reported their organizations had encountered bed bug infestations in the past two years. Only 37% said they encountered bed bugs more than 5 years ago.”

Until a few years ago, most pest control companies said it was unusual to receive even one or two calls a year about bed bugs. Since 2004, however, bed bug complaints have grown exponentially with pest control companies nationwide now averaging between 10 and 50 calls a week. In major metropolitan areas, some companies are fielding 100 or more bed bug complaints each week. Some experts are predicting that 2008 will be the Year of the Bed Bug. Cindy Mannes, spokesperson for the National Pest Management Association, said bed bugs have become a serious problem in every state, noting, “There are some who call it the pest of the 21st century.”

Bed bugs are an equal opportunity pest. Infestations have occurred across the country in the tony co-ops of the rich and famous, in fashionable condominiums, in luxury apartments and in upscale suburban homes. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs are not caused by filth or dirt. Like lice and fleas, bed bugs are creatures of convenience. A nuisance insect, they are not known to carry disease, but they can cause considerable discomfort, both mental and physical.

All but eradicated in the U.S. following World War II, the banning of powerful DDT-based pesticides, coupled with increased international travel, has brought about a nationwide resurgence of the annoying insect. Potter, an urban entomologist at the University of Kentucky, calls bed bugs the pre-eminent household pest in the U.S., on a par with cockroaches and rats. “This is one serious issue,” he recently told the New York Times. “This will be the pest of the 21st century – no questions about it.”

If you’re buying a house or looking for a new condo or apartment, take to heart the old adage Buyer Beware. You may be moving into a home that has been invaded by bed bugs. Most states require home sellers to provide buyers with an accurate statement disclosing the property’s condition, including pest infestations. However, there are loopholes that should serve as a red flag to home buyers and their realtors.

Most real estate disclosure statements are fairly broad and do not specifically ask about bed bug infestations. If any pest disclosure is specified, it’s likely to be termites. Because bed bugs haven’t been a problem in the United States for so many decades, few current state or municipal codes address them specifically. In many states, sellers can choose not to fill out the disclosure statement and instead pay a penalty which is credited to the buyer. For sellers with a bed bug problem, a several hundred dollar penalty may seem an acceptable price for making the sale.

Buyers and realtors should be aware that real estate disclosure laws that apply to home sales often don’t apply to co-op and condo owners. Before you buy, check with the local building and health departments to find out what the regulations are in your area. Although some states are now considering adding specific bed bug regulations to their realty laws, at this point common law is generally on the side of the seller. As real estate attorney Edward Sumber of New York told the New York Times, “Under the doctrine of caveat emptor — let the buyer beware — the seller has no affirmative obligation to reveal circumstances about the apartment to the buyer.”

However, disclosure laws in most states require the seller to answer honestly if specifically asked whether his home or apartment has been infected by bed bugs or other pests.

Additionally, real estate brokers are usually obligated to reveal a bed bug problem to the buyer if they know about it. Unfortunately, in most states sellers are not required to tell their real estate brokers about bed bug problems. Essentially, that means buyers must rely on the integrity of sellers and landlords anxious to make a sale.

Many buyers shopping for a new home, apartment or condominium are now hiring a pest control company with an expertise in bed bug elimination to inspect the property before they buy. Some realtors are recommending that sellers have their homes inspected for bed bugs before putting them on the market as both a reassurance and inducement to buyers.

What are bed bugs?

Evolved from bird and bat nest parasites, Climex lectaularius, the common bed bug, is a tiny nocturnal insect that hides in dark crevices during the day and feeds on human blood during the night. Their oval bodies are flattened and wingless and a light to reddish-brown in color. Adult bed bugs are 1/4 to 3/8 inch long or about the size of an apple seed. Before feeding, the bed bugs are as flat as paper, becoming dark red and bloated with blood as they feed, much like a tick. As they puncture the skin to feed — usually for 3 to 10 minutes — they eject an anesthetic that can cause an allergic reaction and the symptomatic itchy, red welts that bedevil their hosts. However, welts may take a day or two to develop and not all bed bug sufferers react to their bites, which can delay detection.

A female bed bug can produce up to 500 eggs during its average one-year lifespan, laying about 5 eggs per day. Difficult to detect without magnification, the eggs are whitish, pear-shaped and about the size of a pinhead. The female lays her sticky eggs in bedding and carpets or cements them into cracks and crevices near the bed to ensure a food source when the nymphs hatch. Nymphs, which are lighter in color and look like slightly smaller adults, hatch in 4 to 12 days and begin to feed immediately. Bed bugs progress through five nymphal stages, molting after each stage. The whitish carapaces they shed are a telltale sign of bed bug infestation. It takes 5 to 8 weeks for nymphs to reach maturity. Since several generations of bed bugs can be produced in a year, all stages of growth can be found in an infested room.

Bed bugs feed every 3 to 5 days and must feed at least once to develop to the next stage and to reproduce. They often void while feeding, leaving telltale rusty or tarry spots on sheets and in hiding places. Bed bugs can survive for 1 to 7 months without a blood meal and have been known to live in an abandoned house for as long as a year. They give off a distinctive musty, sweet odor often likened to ripe red raspberries or coriander.

Bed bugs will readily travel 10 to 15 feet to feed but have been observed traveling more than 100 feet from their established harborage to feed on a host. Once established, infestations can spread rapidly to adjoining rooms or units through crawl spaces, wall voids and electrical and plumbing conduits. Adept hitchhikers, bed bugs can easily enter your home on clothing, bedding, luggage, used furniture, cardboard boxes, etc. They can be brought home from a hotel stay or by sitting in a car, cab, bus, train or plane recently inhabited by an infested person.

What to look for

Bed bugs may be tiny but they leave telltale traces. Look most closely near beds and in bedrooms where bed bugs feed. Look for these telltale signs of bed bug activity:

A heavily infested room may have a characteristic musty or sweet odor like the scent of fresh red raspberries or coriander; however, the odor may not be obvious.

Look for active, crawling bugs on bed linens, carpet and furniture near the bed.

Look for dark fecal and blood stains on bed linens; carpets and carpet welting; and in the seams, creases, tufts and folds of mattresses and box springs.

You should also look for fecal smears or pea-sized pearly egg deposits behind headboards; along baseboards and door and window casings; around electrical plates; in plaster cracks; and under loose wallpaper, paintings and posters.

Look for whitish nymph molts and old exoskeletons under area rugs, at the edges of carpets, and in under-the-bed storage containers.

Beware of bats in the attic or eaves. Quite often bed bugs feeding on bats in the attic of a house will migrate to the living area in search of an easier food source, humans.

Buyer beware!

Bites, odor and voiding smears are indicators of a bed bug problem. However, these insects often go undetected when symptoms are not obvious. Bed bugs are also easily confused with other nuisance bugs like carpet beetles, bird and rodent mites, shiny spider beetles, parasitic wasps, even lint by the more paranoid, making definitive diagnosis a job for bed bug experts.

Before you buy a new home, ask the owner if there has ever been a bed bug problem. In co-ops, condos, apartments and any multi-unit residence, ask the property owner whether bed bugs have been reported in any unit. Before they buy, many home buyers are now requiring a pest inspection by a bed bug expert in addition to the traditional home inspection. When it’s buyer beware, it makes sense to protect yourself.

Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com.
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For what it’s worth, OT had the Tigers down to win at Adams Park, such has been the champions’ form since the return of their England internationals and the return to fitness of playmaker Toby Flood. That they did not show how Tony Hanks has turned things around at Wasps after their struggles in the league last season when they lost seven of their first 10 games. Fifth place, just a point off the top four with a game in hand, is not a bad place for Hanks’s side to be midway through the season, and probably one they would have settled for at the start of the campaign.

But more importantly for OT are the portents Wasps’ form could have for England in the 2009-10 Six Nations and, a little further down the line, the 2011 World Cup. A strong Wasps team is important for England: not just because they have some of the most talented players in the Premiership, but also because of their approach to the game. In an ideal world where all players were fit, it is conceivable that Wasps could provide up to eight players to England’s matchday squad for their opening Six Nations clash with Wales on February 6. Clearly, that will not be the case. Phil Vickery, Tom Rees and Jason Hobson will still be recovering from injury, while England’s selectors have not yet seen the light when it comes to hooker Rob Webber and scrum-half Joe Simpson, or managed the international careers of Danny Cipriani and Tom Varndell with any degree of skill.

But there is every chance that Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Paul Sackey (pictured) and Tim Payne will be involved in one form or another against Wales, and the number of Wasps representatives could increase by the end of the championship if they continue their form and the recuperation of their injured players goes well. At their best, Wasps bring an attacking approach to the Premiership that few teams have been able to match over the past few seasons (with the obvious exception of 2008-09) and a return to those heights can only be a good thing for England. The 10-12 axis of Jonny Wilkinson and Shane Geraghty was one of the most disappointing aspects of England’s autumn campaign.

It promised so much, but patently failed to deliver. Can anyone remember one moment when the two combined to great effect? Okay, so it was a new combination and they were up against the likes of world beaters Dan Carter, Matt Giteau and Ma’a Nonu, but there was a strong sense the England management had tried to crowbar two fly-halves into their backline. So what better time for Flood to be showing his full array of skills for Leicester? OT has never been convinced of Flood’s international credentials, but he’s made a big difference at Welford Road since his return from injury and – this could be crucial – is comfortable taking a flat ball.

The problem is that Flood also plays fly-half for his club, which leaves England with three decent stand-offs and a lack of a proven international inside centre – until, that is, Riki Flutey is available again. Inside centre has been a problem position for England since the retirement of Will Greenwood and, to a lesser degree, Mike Catt and much now relies on Flutey’s ability to add much-needed direction to their backline. OT would go so far as to say that England’s chances of a decent Six Nations now rest firmly on the shoulders of the Brive centre. Euro sport.

For Six nations Hospitality please visit: England V Ireland Hospitality , England V Wales Hospitality , Ireland V Italy Hospitality

Learn more about Six Nations Hospitality:

http://www.corporatehospitalitygroup.com/Six-Nations-Hospitality/
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