Bolton Pest Control

Archive for August, 2010

Termites are every homeowner’s nightmare, but there’s another insect that should also strike terror into the heart of the homeowner. Carpenter ants cause millions of dollars a year in damage to houses throughout the country, but they’re not as well known as termites. If you live in an area that often has wet or damp conditions, or if there is a damp spot in your home, your house could be at risk from carpenter ants.

What Are Carpenter Ants?

Carpenter ants are insects that live in hives. Their life cycle is similar to that of any other type of ant – they have queens that lay eggs. When the eggs hatch, some of the ants will be drones, some will workers and some will be queens. What makes them a danger to your house?

Despite popular belief, carpenter ants do not eat wood, but the do tunnel through it. They move through wood and create tunnels and galleries in their search for food and to create nests. In the process, they weaken and eventually destroy the wood in which they are nesting. If that wood happens to be a part of your house, your house is being destroyed. It’s not unheard of for nests of carpenter ants to destroy structural support beams on which your house depends. The longer a carpenter ant colony remains in your house, the worse the damage they can do to your house.

How do you tell if you have carpenter ants in your house?

The most obvious signal that you have carpenter ants, of course, is seeing them, but it’s not always a reliable sign that you have nests of carpenter ants in your house. Since the damage to your house is caused in tunneling to build nests, your biggest concern is whether or not there is a nest in the house. Carpenter ants nest both inside and outside a house, and they’ll travel as much as 100 yards from their nest in their search for food. If you’re only seeing the occasional carpenter ant in your house, particularly if it’d during the late Spring or Summer, there’s a good chance that it’s just a worker wandering far from his nest.

On the other hand, if you’re seeing carpenter ants inside during the winter or early Spring, it’s an almost sure bet that you have at least one nest indoors. Carpenter ants typically go dormant during the winter. If the nest is indoors, it may be warm enough to wake up the ants, or prevent them from going into dormancy at all. Since ants are most active at night, it’s not uncommon for a homeowner to enter a room, turn on a light and see ants scurrying for cover. The most common places to find carpenter ants are places that are moist – cabinets, sinks, rolled up towels, tubs and areas around the toilets.

How to Keep Ants Out of Your House

Prevention is always better than trying to cure a problem that has set in. The best ways to keep carpenter ants from setting up shop in your house are:

-Eliminate high moisture conditions that attract them. That means fans in bathrooms, and dehumidifiers in rooms that have a high moisture quotient, especially in regions that are moist to begin with.

-Replace moisture-damaged and rotted wood before ants are attracted to it.

-If you store wood or lumber near the house or in a garage, be sure that you keep it dry.

-Stack firewood away from the house outside to prevent ants from migrating from the woodpile to the house.

-Remove tree stumps and roots.

-Keep trees and bushes near the house pruned and trimmed to eliminate ‘highways’ that invite carpenter ants into your home.

Where are they nesting?

Before you can eliminate a nest of carpenter ants, you have to find it. The easiest way to find the nest is to follow an ant home. One way to make it easier to follow the ants home is to give them food. They’re particularly fond of tuna packed in water. Set out little flakes of tuna, and then watch for ants. The tuna will actually make it easier for you to follow the ant back to its nest.

Controlling Carpenter Ants

While it’s possible for a homeowner to control carpenter ants on their own, it’s not an easy task. It’s better to contact a professional. A homeowner can still play a vital role in eliminating carpenter ants by providing as much information about the infestation as possible.

Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about large businesses for home owners such as Orkin and Terminix
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Want a easy to take along treatment for wasp stings, bee stings, and other insect bites? Try this. Next time you go out for a hike, or even for a drive, make sure your first aid kit includes a bottle of tea tree oil. This little wonder from down under can take some of the bite out of summer insect woes.

Wasps are truly one of God’s wonders. These little creatures are incredible! They produce, like ants and bees, a substance called formic acid injecting it into you or I when the wasp or bee feels threatened or has it’s territory invaded.

Sometimes there are other substances that react with our immune system and cause a allergic reaction which in some cases can be life threatening. This reaction can come on violently and quickly. An allergic person should carry their wasp and bee stings kit with them. It is important to note, that some individuals who have never had a reaction before have had sudden symptoms appear. Sometimes these reactions occur swiftly, ten to thirty minutes or less!. Things like breathing difficulties, rapid pulse, intense sweating, swelling of the throat or eyes, and maybe a feeling of dizziness. If any of these or other symptoms appear, get medical attention immediately!

All that in mind, for most of us, getting stung is just a real pain. So, how can you best use tea tree oil as a treatment for wasp stings? In our house, and in our first aid kits in both the house and car, we keep a bottle of tea tree oil, benedryl, and vitamin C. For us, when we get wasp and bee stings, we take the age and weight appropriate dose of benedryl, 1000mg of vitamin C, and apply tea tree oil to the sting 3 or 4 times an hour until the pain subsides.

Mosquito bites?

Again, make sure you are getting the best tea tree oil available. Although your kids may want the latest mosquito bite ringtone, most of us at some point in the year, especially in warmer moist areas, are thinking of preventing bites. I haven’t met anyone yet who hasn’t had an allergic reaction to mosquito bites, and I haven’t found anyone yet who can take away the itch completely.

I have found though, that I can make my itchy bites feel better with just a few drops of tea tree oil 3 or 4 times every hour. Yep, the tea tree oil soothes the bite and relieves some of the itching. Leaving out the benadryl, unless you have a severe reaction to the mosquito bite, follow the same recommendations as above, and along with the tea tree oil you should feel relief quickly

It may be the antibacterial properties are effective, at least topically, should you squash the little bugger and you want to disinfect the blood and any bacteria that the mosquito is carrying. Some of the medical research suggests that tea tree oil has antibiotic properties when applied topically, so this seems like a real possibility.

A good balm with tea tree oil, or some tea tree oil on the affected area is sure to help. One company that uses tea tree oil in it’s products has an incredible sun-block lotion that some people report helps keep the mosquitoes away. Others have found Avon’s skin-so-soft to be effective.

Anytime you’re outside where it’s moist and warm, the mosquitoes seem to find people like me. I think I’m bait to keep everyone else safe. Ever since I’ve been taking a good multi-vitamin (we get these from the same place as we get our tea tree oil) I’ve had fewer bites, both from mosquitoes and from fleas that come off the dogs outside.

You can find out more on the many uses of tea tree oil on the website http://www.tea-tree-info.com Also you can contact me at beane@tea-tree-info.com for good sources of tea tree oil products for home, health, and beauty.

Nothing in this article is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. The statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Copyright 2007 Tea-tree-info.com

Having studied and benefited from the last 35 years of interest in herbs and alternative health, vitamins and essential oils, Jim now maintains a website on the benefits and uses of tea tree oil at http://www-tea-tree-info.com. He lives with his wife and five children in a farm community in Northern California.
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Bed bugs are insects that do not have wings. They are roughly shaped oval. They measure, once fully grown, from four to five millimeters long. You might find the next piece of information unexpected, but bed bugs are fast runners.

There are easy to see on white linoleum or marble floors, but very difficult to spot on brown wooden floors. This is so because bed bugs are rust brown in color and they even change into a deeper red brown when they finish a blood meal.

The fact that bed bugs are dorsoventrally flat assists their distribution. Since they are so thin, they can squeeze in and fit in very narrow cracks and crevices, oftenly ones that may be found on the floor. Because of their great skillful hiding, bed bugs are very hard to detect.

Bed bug distribution also adds up to the any pieces of information about the two main species of bed bugs that bite human beings.

First, is the common bed bug, more scientifically called cimex lectularius. This kind of bed bug is found in any crevice as long as it is around room temperature. They are of greater distribution in Australia. May it be remote or urban, common bed bugs do not care, only as long as they are distributed to an area that copes well with their needs.

Another kind of bed bugs is the tropical bed bug, or cimex hemipterus. This bed bug has been guessed to be distributed in the tropics a long time ago. However, it was only recently recognized by the medical entomology department. This department can tell you more information about the distribution of the cimex hemipterus in the tropics.

Bed bugs are also distributed finely in human dwellings, bat caves and bird’s nests. In truth, the habitats that have been recently mentioned are the ones found to be most suitable for these said bed bugs. Why? It seems to be quite obvious. Bed bugs are distributed to these habitats because of their offered warmth and hosts they can feed on.

However, you must always remember tht bed bugs are never evenly distributed throughout the environment. You will come to notice that instead of being distributed in the environment, bed bugs are distributed mainly in harborages.

When human dwellings is the subject, the harborages are inclusive of the crack and crevices that you can find, sometimes not find, in your house’s walls, behind your wallpaper, furniture and wood paneling, or even under your carpetting.

Bed bugs are more usually not so prone to activity during the night, but will feed on anything during the day, especially when hunger strikes them. So, most likely, these said bed bugs would be distributed to trees and leaves and roots and absolutely anything that they can land on and strike their fancy.

Bed bugs can also be distributed to clothing, in bedding or even your luggage. However, much to their dismay, they do not have appendages that could allow them to cling, possibly to hair feathers or fur. This would bring you to the conclusion that bed bugs leave to feast on their hosts but once done with that thing they do, they leave their hosts since they have nothing to cling with in the first place.

Adult bed bugs live exclusively as parasites that feed mainly on warm-blooded animals, the best example, and probably the most usual, would be human beings. Since bed bugs can be distributed to poor housing conditions, then it would be conclusive that the infestations o fbed bugs can be found in these places too. And if these said bed bugs do get distributed to domestic premises, then the room they will most probably attack is the bedroom.

You already know of the fact that bed bugs are distributed to cracks and crevices where they most typically hide, but you probably would find this quite surprising. Throughout this essay, have you ever wondered or asked yourself why these insects are called bed bugs? It is because they love to distribute themselves in bedrooms, specifically in the vicinity of where the host, in this case, human beings, sleeps. Oftentimes, they would even habitate in the host’s sleeping place itself, the bed. Its distribution in bedrooms are also inclusive of bed frames, behind skirting or wallpaper and the matress itself.

To read about silverfish bug and bug habitat, visit the About Animals site.

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For many people, summer means preparing for an invasion. Armies of troops come in lines barreling for their houses, game to assail. No, these people aren’t oppressed people in third world countries; they’re recurring people like you facing the nominal of invaders: ants. Ants are great creatures to have outdoors. They are good for the environment and help rout down old, smelly rotting stow so you don’t concern about it, but inside, it’s a different untruth. Inside they contaminate your food, and can harm you and your children. Nevertheless don’t dread, there are tons of simple conduct to drive these tiny invaders back beyond, and keep them there.

If you find a few ants in your house, you should actually take this as a good endorse. This means that these just inspect ants and you can finish them before they can go back to the colony and outset the gorged invasion. These ants go out and find food, goodbye an aroma trail as they go. They then respect the detect trail back to the colony and tell others to follow and come get food. The best way to prevent this from episode is to defeat the perfume trail. This way, these ants won’t be able to make it back to the colony to tell others of their find. There are much food you can shower on the trail to make it impossible to find. Some suggestions are black dust, talcum powder, cinnamon, or vinegar (just put it in a spray container). Just dash or spray one of these substances on the ants and their footstep. You can examine them for a summarize before you harness while they hike so you know there before channel. Make certain to get the means they have come from.

While it is important to get them out of the house, it’s just as important to keep the ants from launch back into the house. If you can find where they got into the house, operate anything you’re using (sprinkle, talcum, etc) on their entrances as well. This will keep other ants from next the trail into your house. When they panic and try to get away, timepiece where they go; you may be able to find where they got in the house. There are other goods you can direct at the entrances to keep the ants from future in again, including the crushed bay leaves and cayenne pepper. You can also sprinkle these products, or the ones mentioned prior, in cabinets and near food. This will keep the ants away from the food. Another idea to keep them out is to draw a line along the inside barrier of the house where ants come in. Ants normally won’t want to thwart the line. These tactics will keep the ants from impending into the house or at slightest decision the food. If they don’t think food is existing, they will finish looking there.

Along with these tactics you should try to seal your food as well as you can. Ants can sometimes get them into congested jars, so keep those in the fridge if necessary be. If these tactics don’t get rid of your ants, you can forever buy ant poison. Just be convinced to buy the right kind for the ants you have. If the exact drink isn’t worn, the ants won’t eat it.

Learn about how to get rid of carpenter ants and argentine ants at the Facts About Ants site.

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A brief history of Ant Farms:
Invented by California entrepreneur Milton Levine (also known as Uncle Milton) in 1956. The transparent, sand-filled Ant Farm allowed you to observe the inscrutable doings of a colony of harvester ants.
Originally it could be yours for only $1.98 and during the next two decades, Levine would sell over twelve million of them.

Today, more than 20 million Ant Farms and Ant Habitats have been sold around the world. The product has become a treasured part of American culture, having been recognized as one of the Top 100 Toys of the Century by the Toy Industry Association as well as garnering considerable media attention throughout the years. New space age ant habitats and innovations such as the

AntWorks Illuminated Ant Habitat keep the idea of ants for pets fresh in the minds of kids and adults alike.

Antfarms® and Formicariums can make excellent science projects and are great for educational toys for your youngsters to learn with. Read below for interesting facts about ants and their behavior. We have numerous insect videos and documentaries about ants that may help you to understand them better.

Care and Feeding:
If you have a gel based Formicarium you will not need food or water as the gel supplies that. Ants will appreciate a drop of honey, sugar, or bread dipped in sugar water, and tiny bits of fruit or vegetables. Very, very small amounts will do; you don’t want the food going moldy in the bottle. Ants get water mainly from their food; however, every couple of days you can add a cotton ball soaked in water to supplement the supply Be careful not to knock the bottle over or shake it up; this will destroy the ants tunnels.

Unless you have dug up or order a queen ant yourself, you will need to replenish your ants from time to time as ants only have a life expectancy of 45-60 days. It is illegal to sell /export a queen ant in the United States and a few other countries because one doesn’t want to import or export a queen to a non-native region where indeed the species can run rampant or cause ecological damage.

How to make your own Formicarium or Ant Farm:
1. Place the smaller glass container that you have chosen inside the larger container. The purpose of the smaller container is purely to take up space and to encourage the ants to build their tunnels against the outside glass for easy viewing.

2. Locate an ant colony in your yard and dig carefully in the area where you see the most ants. Transfer some soft soil, with the ants, into a bucket. Try to find some larger ants or a queen ant with wings, along with eggs and larvae.

3. Using a paper cone or funnel, gently add soil and the smaller worker ants to the space between the two containers. Add the queen, eggs and larvae last, sliding them gently down the funnel to rest on the soil. The worker ants will quickly begin to relocate their queen and her offspring in their new home.

4. CAUTION: Some ants bite, so keep your child away from exposure to the ants while you work. Ants will climb even glass walls, so you’ll need to securely cap your container. Punch air holes in the lid of the larger container, but make the hole openings too small to allow ants to escape.

5. Once you have the ants in place, put the lid on the container. Make a paper sleeve, covering the container from the bottom to the top of the soil. This darkens the habitat and recreates an underground environment. Your ants will begin working immediately.

Hi Tech Gifts & Gadgets | Remember Ant Farms when you were a Kid? |
Educational Science Toys
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