Where have all the wasps gone Part 3
Leave a CommentLast summers wet weather decimated the colonies. It will be interesting to see how many new Queen Wasps have survived the winter and appear from hibernation this spring.
Where have all the wasps gone Part 2
Leave a CommentThe weather has certainly had an impact on this particular nuisance pest. The wet weather has kept them at bay. Nature will take its course and a very late season can be expected providing of course the weather improves. Watch out for activity around the gutter line of your property. Be careful when you are in the garden. They quite like making their nest in shrubs and trees and quite often the first time you notice them is when you brush past, Be warned ! contact Attack Pest Control Ltd for assistance.
Bed Bugs on the increase
Leave a CommentInfestation levels are rising dramatically. They do not take any prisoners and are not fussy as to who they visit. Protective mattress covers are available to make life a little more difficult for the little critters. Contact us for more information on what you can do to reduce the risk of infestation.
Bird Control with Birdfree Gel
Leave a CommentThe company is very pleased with the results of Birdfree Gel. It has been used in some very difficult situations where netting or bird spikes have not been an option. The birds see the gel as fire and will avoid the area completely. It is safe to use and does not contain any chemical so is environmentally friendly. The product works well with all bird species.Call us now for advice on your bird problems.
Controlling The House Sparrow
Leave a CommentThe house sparrow is one of the more difficult pests to control. Being smaller than your pigeon or starling, the house sparrow demands initiative and perserverence to eradicate it from your premises.
House sparrows can be difficult birds to control, in part because of their high reproductive capacity. A female house sparrow averages three to five broods per year with four to seven eggs per brood. In other words, she can generate about 25 young per year.
Such population growth can quickly repopulate an area with replacement sparrows after a poisoning, shooting or trapping program.
Their small size makes it difficult to "sparrow-proof" a structure completely. Repelling them with spikes, wires or sticky repellents can also prove difficult because sparrows can squeeze into much smaller spaces than can pigeons or starlings.
House sparrows are experts at exploiting human habitats in cities. They nest inside vents, gutters, signs, traffic lights, billboards, shopping centres, airports, warehouses and other structures. Large populations can feed quite well on scraps of food left by people in parks, fast-food car parks, picnic tables or overflowing rubbish bins. Whenever food or rubbish is spilled or discarded, it provides a banquet for house sparrows within a one-mile radius.
Two of the more common and troublesome sparrow problems faced by pest control technicians are: sparrows living inside a building, such as a food plant, warehouse, shopping centre or atrium; and sparrows nesting on three-dimensional storefront signs.
There are various bird control tools whose salesmen claim work just fine against sparrows. But sparrow management, as with all bird work, is as much art as science, so what doesn’t work in one instance may work well in others. Here are the methods Attack Pest Control have seen work effectively against the two common problems described above.
Inside A Building
When sparrows are found inside a building, you can assume a number of things:
- They have found adequate supplies of food and water.
- They have established regular perching locations, flyways and nesting areas.
- New birds will find their way inside just as the first birds did.
When called to a house sparrow infestation, Attack Pest Control are able to implement a number of methods to control your problem.
- Mist nets — These fine-mesh nets trap birds alive by entangling them. They are typically 7 to 8 feet high and 30 to 40 feet long, and contain pouches into which the birds fall. A mist net is placed loosely across a flight path in front of a dark background. The birds fly into (or are sometimes driven into) the net because they cannot see it and are captured. If there are lots of birds, the first sparrows trapped will be noticed by those remaining, who will become wary of the area, and so the net may need to be moved around or multiple nets used in order to cover an area completely.
- Sparrow traps — There are many different types of these traps available. Their effectiveness varies greatly and often depends on the skill of the trapper. House sparrows quickly become trap-shy, and it can be difficult to trap all birds at a site so repeat treatment may be required.
- Shooting — This is often the last resort for the last few sparrows inside a building. It is a method not employed by Attack Pest Control, as our technicians prefer to use humane trapping methods.
Storefront Signs
House sparrows seem to love to nest on and inside signs over stores, hotels and other businesses. These signs provide many suitable, protected sparrow nest sites because of their intricacy. Where pest control is concerned, it may often be difficult to treat the infestation as many proprietors do not want their signs defaced by visible bird control tools.
Some signs are best "sparrow-proofed" by being netting entirely. This works best where the sign is high above the ground so the netting becomes invisible. The netting must be installed by a professional in order to keep out sparrows as they have been known to squeeze their way through extremely small openings.
If you would like any more information, advice or services on house sparrow pest control, do not hesitate to contact us.
Choosing A Pest Control Company
Leave a CommentThere are numerous pest control companies across the UK, so it’s often a difficult task to choose the provider best for your situation.
Discovering a pest problem or infestation that is threatening your property, your health or even just your peace of mind can be a major annoyance.
The last thing one needs in this situation is the added stress of finding a reputable pest control company to service the problem.
However, for preventative and reactive measures alike, finding a local, qualified pest control professional is easy to do if you’re willing to do a little homework.
Essentially, you are entrusting a pest control service provider with the well-being of both your home and your family.
A credible pest professional will protect both your property and your family’s health from the damage and diseases associated with pests through responsible and effective service.
If you are looking for pest control services, then here are some tips for selecting a pest professional:
- Ask friends and neighbours to recommend pest control companies they have used successfully and how satisfied they were with the service.
- Be wary of the operator who comes to your home uninvited and offers to give your house a free inspection for pests. He or she may try to scare you into authorising immediate and costly treatments.
- If a sizable amount of money is involved, get bids from several pest control companies.
- Don’t rush a decision. Since you are paying for professional knowledge, look for someone whose judgment you can trust.
- Before signing a contract, be sure to fully understand the nature of the pest, the extent of the infestation, and the work necessary to solve the problem.
- Find out if the pest professional has liability insurance to cover damage to your house or furnishings during treatment.
- If a guarantee is given, know what it covers, how long it lasts, what you must do to keep it in force, and what kind of continuing control, prevention and management are necessary.
- Buy value, not price. Beware of bargains that sound too good to be true.
Sheltering From The Cold
Leave a CommentWith the cold weather now and truly on us, it’s not just humans who want to burrow down in the blankets and seek refuge from the cold.
Now that we’re on the cusp of February, residents across the UK are bracing themselves for the cold, wet weather that usually hits the UK at this time every year.
It is now that you may want to take a moment to glance around your home, looking for possible access areas from the outside that any unwanted guest may find to escape the frigid Winter temperatures.
Specialists in dealing with rodent infestations, it is this time of year that the pest control officers at Attack Pest Control come into their own, being able to quickly establish potential areas of weakness within your home or office / factory structure.
Mice only need a quarter of an inch and rats need half an inch of space to enter your premises, so it is important that these areas are found and sealed before the pests have gained access and start eating their way through your stocks of food and other produce.
Common areas of entry include soffits, flashings and guttering around the roof of a building. It is important to check that these are tightly sealed especially around openings in the structure, for instance where the cables go in for television and phone.
If your premises are near overhanging trees, then these can provide an easy walkway right onto the roof. In this situation, you can either ensure that the trees are trimmed back away from the building or regular checks to the state of the roof are commissioned so that any openings are spotted quickly and repaired before the rodents can take advantage.
Attack Pest Control provide pest services to homes and business across the east of England, and are here to offer tips and advice for keeping your premises clear of unwanted creatures.
Pests In Apartments
Leave a CommentIf you have a pest infestation in your apartment, it may be that it did not originate from your dwelling, but that of a neighbours.
An apartment dweller can clean up after every meal, vacuum religiously and dust every conceivable crack and nookie in their home but bugs can still inevitably invade their personal space, and it isn’t just those tenacious cockroaches that are to blame.
Residents in flats and apartments are at the mercy of their neighbours when it comes to fighting cockroaches, ants or the newest scourge in the entomological world, bed bugs.
Residences too often have "focus units" where bugs go, thrive and then spread out to other parts of the building, and they can occur in almost any building.
Identification of these focus units is often only possible after repeated requests for pest control treatment occur from adjacent residences that are already neat and clean. If there is a suspicion that a focus unit exists, effective pest control can only take place we are invited in to do so. This can lead to the problem of a focus unit being left intreated for far too long, so an infestation is even more difficult to eradicate.
Beyond that, you may have to ask whether it is possible to seal yourself off from your neighbours. To do that, an apartment owner will have to inspect the unit’s gas lines, water pipes and electrical outlets.
If you are the victim of an infestation caused by an external focus unit, you may be able to minimise the impact of the pests without using traditional bug-battling techniques.
It can be done without chemicals or with non-invasive chemicals. Pest control technicians can use very good baits and traps, and can also place highly repellent, all-natural mineral products within a unit’s walls to provide a barrier to bugs coming in from the exterior.
Top Tips
Too many apartment units have bathroom pipes without an escutcheon plate – the little silver ring that encircles a pipe as it enters the wall. By fitting this small piece of plumbing equipment and ensuring that it is flush and caulked to the wall prevents pests entering your apartment through any small gaps that may have surrounded these pipes.
Another easy fix involves the drip condensation pan under a refrigerator. Insects love moisture, and keeping this plate dry will discourage pests from taking refuge in your kitchen. In addition, by cleaning up any crumbs or food items and keeping rubbish bins sealed you are discouraging pests to settle within your property.
The Rat Race
Leave a CommentDespite the availability of a plethora of traps and baits, rodents rank within the top five pests by volume of work.
Pest rodents are the fourth-ranked top pest by volume of work, so why are rats and mice still such a focus of effort?
Enough bait and traps have been sold in the past decade alone to kill millions of these pests, and no secrets exist in the life cycles of these animals, or in understanding their simple requirements for food and shelter.
In addition, the basics of improved sanitation and rodent-proofing to limit infestations are well understood. Yet frequent news reports and individual observations suggest that commensal rodent problems are as bad as ever in many cases, particularly in our cities.
There are a number of issues at stake which have allowed rodents to prosper within our neighbourhoods:
- Many people with rodent problems are simply not prepared to pay for the level of effort required to solve the problems when they finally become serious enough for them to truly take notice. In fact, it often would have been far cheaper to practice prevention.
- Most pest rodents are tackled in isolation at the individual customer level.
- Control efforts all too often are sporadic and insufficient to prevent reinfestation.
- Most importantly, too much reliance is placed in rodent control (as with bait and traps) and not enough on rodent prevention techniques and environmental improvement.
To solve the problem of a rat or mouse infestation, a true integrated pest management rodent program is needed – a solution which provides more than simply trapping and bait-station replenishment.
In addition to standard pest control techniques, an integrated solution is also comprised of surveys and the monitoring of conditions for both residential and commercial customers, enabling rapid identification of problem areas within your property.
Attack Pest Control are the number one provider of 1st class pest control for the south-east region, and specialise in the operation of integrated pest management solutions. Contact us for further information.
Winter Warmth Sparks Pest Concerns
Leave a CommentAn unseasonable warm winter in many parts of the country has sparked concerns for a busy spring pest season ahead.
After an unseasonably warm winter in many parts of the country, it is predicted that a busy spring pest season lies ahead.
As pests are most active during the spring and summer months, the pest control technicians at Attack Pest Control advise that homeowners take action now to guard their largest investment from potential infestations.
Rodents are of particular concern this season as major cities are experiencing rodent problems in restaurants and other public areas. Like us, rodents seek food, shelter and water in their environment.
With March as the beginning of the rodent breeding cycle and spring plants providing easy access to food, homeowners must take precautions to prevent rodent and other pest infestations in and around their homes.
Research has found that spring and summer are when pest problems are of most concern to homeowners. A variety of pests including rodents, flies, ants and cockroaches can move in without leaving many visible warning signs during early spring. To ensure that your home is unwelcoming to multi-legged guests, we offer the following tips:
- Seal up cracks and small openings along the bottom of the house.
- Eliminate sources of moisture or standing water.
- Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house.
- Keep kitchen clean by wiping counters frequently, emptying the rubbish religiously, and keeping food containers sealed.
- Avoid leaving pet food dishes out for long periods of time.
- Keep rubbish bins clean and sealed both indoors and outdoors.
- Screen windows and doors.
Early spring is a good opportunity for homeowners to secure the services of a pest professional, who will be able to point out problem areas and treat for infestations.