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How to Avoid Getting Stung by a Hornet

Tips from Dovid Davis — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:14:00 GMT

Although many people consider hornets to be a separate insect species , they are, in fact, the largest type of wasp. Like wasps, they are a members of the Vespa insect species . They are distinguished from other wasps by their large vortex, i.e. the space between their two eyes. Their stings are painful, and their nests are generally found in trees shrubs and under eaves. Fortunately for man, they are usually found in out of the way places.

Hornets do not generally attack humans, and will only sting when they or their nests are threatened. If a hornet perceives it is under attack or that its nest is under attack, it will respond viciously. While wasps generally threaten by flying around the head of their victim, hornets go right for the target, in dive bomb fashion. Their sting is more painful than a bee, yellow jacket or wasp.

Notably, hornets have a signaling capability so that when an individual hornet or nest is threatened; the entire colony will come out against the intruder. This can cause fatalities to victims of multiple hornet stings.

Should you accidentally come upon a wasp nest, it is important to proceed with caution, so as to avoid triggering a swarm attack. The following suggestions will help you to minimize your danger. Don’t make a loud noise. Don't make a movement toward the nest with your body or arm. Don't breathe on the nest or breathe on a hornet. Don't prevent a hornet from returning to its nest. Do not try and break apart a hornet's nest. Even if you are following instructions, don't try to remove a hornet's nest during the day, when hornets are most active. If you are stung by a hornet don't panic, as a sudden move might trigger a swarm attack. Rather slowly move away from the nest.

More feared than the sting of a single hornet, is the insects ability to respond to a series of signal pheromones, which can trigger a mass hornet attack. The pheromones are released, either from the body of a dead or crushed hornet, or via chemicals released when a hornet stings a victim. The pheromone signaling alerts members of the nest that a source of food, e.g. a local bee hive, is near, or else a perceived intruder is approaching. In either case the powerful chemical attraction mobilizes any hornet in the area to come and join the attack.

Due to the signaling system, it is always unwise to kill a solitary hornet when found outside. The smell released from the crushed body will attract a horde of hornets, which will come out en masse against the hornet killer.

The pheromone chemicals found in hornet venom are also found in certain food flavorings, which can likewise trigger a hornet attack if they are taken on a picnic. Certain flavorings in bananas and oranges attract hornets. Other foods containing these natural flavorings attract hornets. Certain citrus scented products attract hornets, as well as certain volatile chemicals and perfumes. Because pheromones pare owerful at even small concentrations, wearing clothing or gloves that have been stung by hornets or worn while killing hornets, may attract a hornet attack if parts of the hornet were smeared into the cloth.

Despite the potential danger of attack, it is important to keep in mind that hornets are not intrinsically aggressive towards humans, if you happen to see one or a nest, follow the recommendations provided in the report and don't provoke them to attack.

How to Make a Home Made Wasp Trap

Tips from Dovid Davis — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:31:00 GMT

It's all over the web, someone has come up with a great idea for a simple to make but effective wasp trap , that doesn't cost anything to build. And here's the instructions, culled from the best of the online articles.

Take an empty plastic bottle; a mineral water bottle will do just fine.

Cut the top off, just where the diameter has become as wide as the body.

The base of the bottle looks like a jar with a wide opening.

Fill the base partially full of wasp bait.

Late Winter and Spring:: Use hamburger meat or luncheon meat. The macho wasps are attracted to protein during their mating season.
Summer and Fall: Use a sweet substance: Soda Pop, jam, honey dew melon rind, crushed grapes or a piece of fruit, molasses, vodka and orange.

To add to the killing power of the trap, add some sweet liquid, such as sugar water or lemonade along with some soapy detergent or a tablespoon of laundry soap.

Invert the top of the plastic bottle, which should look like a funnel, and place it inside the lower half of the bottle, remember to remove the plastic top.

It should hold in place, depending on the bottle shape

Make sure the interior fluid level does not reach to the lip of the funnel

Seal the edges if there is not a good contact all the way round, using tape, gum, leaves, staples, whatever is most appropriate

Cut two holes in the plastic where the two pieces come together, near the top. Put string through the holes and use it to hang the bottle.

Pour hot soapy water, dishwashing soap or Vaseliine into the exposed funnel, as this will cause the wasps to lose their footing and fall into the trap

Place in an area where not too many people walk

The trap works best at a height of four feet

The trap works best at around 85 degrees

The wasps will fly in, attracted to the sweet. When they try and leave, wasp logic dictates they should look for the highest point to exit. They will fly around, but miss the inverted opening. When they get tired they will fall into the soapy liquid. The liquid, will stick to the wasps body making it impossible for them to breath.

Empty the trap regularly making sure the wasps are dead.

Replenish the bait every few days.

Don't let live wasps escape as they can bring an angry swarm of wasps. Don't crush wasp bodies as that emits a smell warning the wasps. Kill the wasps with water, or freeze them. You can also free the wasps in the wild, however they may return

Bury dead wasps or flush them down the toilet as the dead wasps emit a warning odor to living wasps.

Good luck and enjoy your outdoor picnics in safety.
This tip brought to you by A # 1 Pest Control

Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants When They Emerge in the Spring

Tips from Dovid Davis — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:10:00 GMT

Hi folks, I'm Boruch Fishman, and I wish to welcome you to another episode of "Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist." In this broadcast, We're going to explore the life cycle of the carpenter ants , I will share with you some Dovid's techniques for getting this insect pest out of the house

Carpenter ants are large black, brown and red ants, 3-4 times larger than the typical house ant. Carpenter ants make their colonies in trees with thick bark. They live in the trees, breed in the trees, and survive off the wood products of the tree. Their colonies consist of a queen, workers, soldier ants and even slave ants, taken from captured colonies. Carpenter ants are not attracted to sweets or food like other species of ants. However, they will move indoors when there are fluctuations in the weather. This especially occurs in the late summer and fall when the weather begins turning colder.

While carpenter ants are natural tree dwellers, once they migrate indoors,however, they will make the house their new home and stay their throughout the winter months They will usually gnaw out a new wood nest, in which they will live. Indoors, the carpenter ants will begin to burrow into the wood structures of the house. Carpenter ants are wood damaging insects, and are second only to termites in their ability to chew through wood products. Beginning in February, when the weather starts turning warm, carpenter ants will begin emerging from the indoor wood nests they have been living in all winter. They initially appear in warm indoor rooms such as the kitchen.

Dovid Davis, the owner of A-1 Pest Control in Baltimore, Maryland told me that he starts getting calls about carpenter ants, which have started to emerge beginning in February,. While the largest number of calls come in February, the ants will continue making their appearance in the home until the warmer weather of late spring arrives.

Carpenter ants like termites have a swarming cycle. Swarming begins in the spring when the weather warms. A portion of the ants in the colonies grow wings. Then the male and female swarmers take off in search of a new home. When they find the new location, the now pregnant Queen will ari form the colony, which over time will grow anew.

Dovid gave specific advice as to how to end a carpenter ant infestation. The homeowner or pest control specialist must first locate the queen colonies and then apply ant poison in liquid or crystal form. If the colony can't be located it is also effective to use poison crystal and sprays on the ant trails. The ants will carry the poison back to the colony and eventually this will cause the death of the Queen and the end of the colony.

The carpenter ant colonies may be found outdoors as well as indoors, and it is important to eradicate every colony that is found. Commercial ant feeding stations with boric acid are also effective; however, they take longer to act. One pesticide treatment is usually effective, but, if the colonies aren't located, several treatments, in areas where ants are seen crawling may be required.

Well folks that's it for another episode of Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist, and I wish you all a pest free day.

The Origin and Meaning of the Word Pest

Tips from Dovid Davis — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:03:00 GMT

In modern parlance, the word pest, as in the term pest control has come to refer to a myriad of small creatures that invade the house, and bring with them filth and disease. Typical pests include mice, roaches, termites, bedbugs, fleas and other insects, wild birds, wild animals, spiders and snakes. But when we go back into time, we find the word had a different twist. the word pest didn't refer to the animals we call pests today, but to the deadly filth and disease which they carry.

Lets examine the facts. Checking in Etymon's online etymology dictionary, we find that the term pest appears first and foremost in various imprecations, such as "a pest (or a plague) upon you." Going back further in time to 1539, we find that the word "peste" in Middle French, had the same meaning as its antecedent "pestis" in Latin, and meant deadly contagious disease.

Etymological derivations of other pest related words indicate that "pestis" also meant "plague." The modern word pestilence, derived from the 13th century Old French word pestilence, and from the Latin pestilential meaning plague, noun of action from pestilentem (nom. pestilens). In this derivation, Entymon notes that pestilens derives from pestis, which can also mean plague.

A mouse, in and of itself, is not a deadly contagious disease. However, a mouse carries Leptospirosis, a dangerous microbe, and it can also carry dangerous or even deadly viruses. Likewise, a pigeon, is a bothersome creature, especially when it uses our porches and sidewalks as a bathroom, but it isn't contagious. However, pigeons can carry and transmit histoplasmosis, and other dangerous or deadly respiratory conditions. The plague, the deadly scourge of the Middle Ages, was transmitted by rats and fleas. While rats and fleas both bite, they are not, in and of themselves causes of contagious diseases. However, they do transmit disease causing viruses and bacteria. such as the organism that caused the plague.s that ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages. Bats, another frightful household pest are not in and of themselves deadly. However, their bite transmits the virus which causes rabies, a progressive invariably fatal condition. Not only their bite, but in some cases their well aimed spit can transmit this incurable virally transmitted illness.

This historical background provides perspective that enables us to understand the true meaning of the phrase pest control ,which was first seen in use about 200 years ago. In a clasical sense, pest control means controlling pests, (deadly viruses and microbes which cause disease), by removing the animals and other creatures which carry these illness causing organisms from the domestic environment . But in modern parlance, the original associations is often lost, and people relate the term pest to the creatures and animals that spread filth and disease, and not the creatures that cause disease.

It must be noted that when taken in this light, the term pest control has come to have new connotations. Classically, for example pest control and mice control were not synonymous. It would be more proper to say that mice removal is a form of pest control because we are removing disease carrying rodents from our home. However, we could control mice by putting them in a cage, as is done in a laboratory, and this might not remove the pests they carry from our environment. Termites do not carry disease, and yet "termite control" is considered to be a form of "pest control" in modern parlance. These usages lead further credence to the belief that the words pests, like many other words, has taken on an enlarged meaning.

In the classical sense, vaccination, isolation and testing might classically be considered forms of pest control, becasue they help to protect us from disease causing viruses and microbes, but in general pest control has specifically come to refer to the removal of small creatures between the size of mites to the size of large animals, which carry filth and disease into the home.

Beg Bug Haunts and Bed Bug Feeding

Tips from Dovid Davis — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:42:00 GMT

Hi:

I'm Boruch Fishman, and welcome to another episode of close-up. Today I will be presenting some academic information about bedbugs, provided by Harvard University. Bedbugs , as you may know, are currently make a come-back. There is a tremendous resurgence in bedbug infestations, believed to be due to restrictions on the use of powerful insecticides, such as DDT, increased travel and increased urban congestion.

Experts believe that bed bugs inherited their name from their close association with beds and bedding. During the day, bed bugs hide out in bedding. And at night they snack on the occupants of the same bed. These insects are known by several names: wall louse, house bug, mahogany flat, red coat, and crimson ramblers, to name just a few.,

Bed bugs prefer feeding on humans, but their culinary adventures are not restricted to man. Various species of the bedbug insect family Cimicidae also feed on mammals, poultry and non-domestic foul. Among bedbugs reported in New Mexico, for example, are the western bat bug (Cimex pilosellus Horvath) and the swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius Horvath). While these insects prefer other hosts, they can, when stressed, feed on humans.

Unlike many modern day pests, bed bugs have never been proven to be carries of disease, at least not in the US. Nevertheless, they cause an annoying epidemic presence at times, and are spread via clothing, traveler baggage, guests, used beds, bedding material used household furniture and laundries.

Adult bedbugs are wingless. Their color ranges from brown to red-brown in color and their size varies depending on when they had their last meal. An unfed bed bug is between 1/4 and 3/8 inches long, and extremely thin. It is so thin it can fit into the head of a screw, or nest between pages of a book. This helps to explain why it is so difficult to eradicate a bedbug infestation. The upper surface of a bedbug has a papery, crinkly, flimsy appearance. After the blood meal, the beg bug can swell up to immense proportions. The body becomes elongated and the skin color resembles a dull red. The color, size, and shape change from an unfed to a full bug is remarkable.

There are five signs, which tell you if your home is infested with bedbugs: blood stains on mattress and beding from inadvertently crushed bed bugs, or brown stains from the blood filled bedbug feces, black dots of fecal remains found often on the underside of bedding; bed bug eggs, which are tiny pearl colored excrescences, found in the creases of mattresses and other places where bed bugs congregate; shed bedbug skins, from molting, these are light almost tan colored skins; bed bug bites, which are reddish bites similar to misquito bites, except that they do not itch initially. The bites are usually found on appendages. and can become infected.

If you suspect you have a bedbug infestation, you should call a pest specialist immediately and work with him to identify and eradicate the infestation.

That's it for another episode of close-up. I'm Boruch Fishman, and have a great day.

Getting Rid of Common House Ants

Tips from Dovid Davis — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:26:00 GMT

Tiny little black ants are common place throughout the world. Their name relates to their small size and their dark black color. They are usually only about 1/16th-1/8th of an inch. [spin]The Queen ants are about twice that size.

Little black ants dwell underground in chambers hewed out of the earth. They are grouped in colonies, each containing a queen. The presence of a colony can be recognized by a tiny mound of fine dirt, seen above ground. They usually live at the edge of the forest or near human dwellings. Sometimes they are found in rotting tree stumps

Tiny black ant colonies contain only one queen per colony. The queen breeds the worker ants who sustain the colony by foraging for food. After a colony has grown for several years, the Queen breeds a class of male and female swarmer ants. These are winged bearing insects. The swarmers engage in an autumnal mating ritual in which they fly through the air in search of a new colony. The male and female swarmers mate. The males die and the females tunnel under the earth to become the queen of a new colony.The queen lives underground without food until she has bred the new generation of worker ants who quickly go out and begin searching for food to sustain the colony.

Little black ants feed on sweet fruits, honey dew made by other insects and scraps of human food. Occasionally they will enter into homes in search of food. They are attracted to sweets and crumbs of food found in the kitchen.The little industrious ants are busy night and day foraging for food and they can carry up to 20 times their body weight in food back to the nest. That's the equivalent of humans carrying a 1,600 pound load! While adult ants have strong jaws, they imbibe food by sucking the juice out of the meal and leaving the dried residue.

When ants enter into a house the best way to get them out is to set up ant bait stations, with ant poison. The ants will take the poison back to the colony, where they and the queen will ingest it and die. This technique takes several weeks to fully work, but is an effective form of ant eradication.

How to Recgonize and Get Rid of the Pharaoh Ant.

Tips from Dovid Davis — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:12:00 GMT

The Pharaoh ant is a tiny light-yellow to red-brown voracious ant reaching 2mm in size. The ant is known for its aggressive breeding and invasive abilities. Pharaoh colonies proliferate by "budding," whereby a segment of the colony, including queens workers and their brood, (eggs and immature ants), leave the colony to form an alternative nesting site. Unlike some ant colonies, the Pharaoh ants have no inter-colony hostility. They help each other out, and can consolidate into smaller colonies, when under attack from ant poisons or baiting stations They are therefore referred to as unicolony ants.

While manyant colonies have only one queen, and are therefore easily eradicated, the Pharoah ant has multiple queened colonies. Killing a part of the colony will only stimulate the remaining queens to breed faster, and lead to an increase instead of decrease in the ant population.

Unlike many ants, which have two breeding cycles each year, Pharaoh ants can breed continuously in an indoor heated environment, and this contributes to their rate of spread. While the ants prefer warm environments, for their colonies, they can nest almost anywhere, and colonies as small as a thimble, can be found between sheets of paper, or in furniture The abundance of these small nests makes it hard to eradicate a population of Pharaoh ants, and clearing an infested building can be a project taking years.

Pharaoh ants are adapted to rapid urban spread, and are capable of infesting a whole city block in as little as 6 months time. They quickly spread through the urban envirnoment, invading apartment dwellings, grocery stores, food establishment and other buildings. They can even thrive in unsanitary hospitals or rest homes. They are a health hazard in improperly sterilized hospital environments, entering wounds, invading drip lines and instrumentation. They are an exception to the general rule that ants do not spread deadly disease, as the Pharaoh ants are believed to carry bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus and Psuedomonas.

While attracted to sugared foods such as jellies, honey, corn syrup, fruit juices and soft drinks, they are essentially omnivorous and can subsist off of many other human foods including greases, shortening and peanut butter, They feed off their own dead and a variety of household substances such as shoe polish.Pharaoh ants can also destroy household material, and have been known to gnaw holes in silk, rayon and rubber goods.

The most effective eradication strategy for Pharaoh ants is to place baited ant stations in areas where the ants like to forage. The ants take the slow acting poison back to the colony, where the other ants will then eat it and die. Because they are omnivorous, traps set with ground liver mixed with boric acid, a slow acting ant poison can also be effective.

Homeowners should avoid the temptation of killing individual ants and trails of ants as they make their way to the ant stations, as this prevents the ants from collecting sufficient poison and carrying it back to the colony, which is essential for effective Pharaoh ant eradication. .

Argentine Ants

Tips from Dovid Davis — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:54:00 GMT

The Argentine Ant Spread from South America to the United States about 100 years ago. The ant is known for its rapid breeding, which is the result of multi queen colonies that can survive even after the death of one queen, its friendliness towards its own species, and ability to subdue other ant species. The ant is also omnivorous, and can thrive in human habitations.

The ant mostly spread artificially along lines of transportation. Originally entering through the Port of New Orleans, it was subsequently found in locations along every major rail line going out of New Orleans. From focal cities such as New Orleans, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Atlanta, the ant spread to local towns.

The ant can survive in all types of soil and adapt to all types of vegetation, although it shows a preference for habitats where honeydew producing aphids are prevalent.

The ant has invaded over a third of the states, infesting an area greater than 4,000 miles. One notable location is a huge super colony which stretches along much of the California coast line.

The Argentine ant is, for the most part, warm weather restricted, although it can survive in states such as Missouri, Illinois and Maryland. However, during the winter, it is not able to live outdoors, in these areas, and migrates into homes to survive. In urban areas the ant can spread from house to house, and thus enlarge its distribution rapidly despite its inability to survive outdoors.

Because the colonies have so many queens, merely spraying the area with poison will not eradicate it. On the contrary, it stimulates surviving queens to lay even more eggs.The Argentine ant can be eradicated through the prudent use of ant stations; however the special poisons in the stations do not kill the insects initially. Rather, the ants take the lethal meal back to their colonies where the workers and queens ingest the poison and die. The whole process takes about five days.

The Difference Between Exterminate and Eradicate

Tips from Dovid Davis — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:17:00 GMT

In the field of, pest control we often here the phrases extermination and eradication. People talk of pest exterination  and pest eradication. These two central phrases in pest control talk actually have slightly different meanings, which are valuable to know about.

Extermination  comes from the Latin, "exterminare," and means to drive out, expel. It is a compound word derived from "ex" "terminus." Ex means out of, and "terminus" in Latin means boundary or end. In Roman history, the word is related to the diety Terminus who presided over boundaries. Looking back into ancient history we find the word "tar" in Sanskrit, which meant the boundary or edge. It is related to the ancient Greek word "terma," meaning a "goal," and "termon," meaning a border, "trans," across or over, and "intro, "enter into.

Pest extermination, in the classical sense, therefore means to drive the pests out of the boundaries of the house. One famous example of pest extermination is the Pied Pieper of Hamlin. Using his magic pipe the piper lured rat pests out of the town and over a cliff.

Eradicate, comes from the Latin "eradicare," meaning to root out. Specifically the word breaks down into "ex" plus "radix." "ex" means out and "radix," meaning root, together the compund word means to root out.

Based on this quick etymological history we see that both pest control related words connote processes related to getting rid of pests. If exterminate, means to drive pests out of the borders of the home, then eradicate means to bring their breeding spots, the places where the infestation has, so to speak, taken root, to light, and to uproot it. In this sense, eradication would only be the first step of pest control, as once the pests have been uprooted, they must still be exterminated.

It is possible to better understand the difference between these two words, by examining the different forms of pest control. If mice invade a home, they can be exterminated by killing the visible mice and boarding up entranceways. On the other hand, certain types of mice poison create a thirst in mice, and actually drive them out of their hidden nests in search of water. This treatment uproots them from their nests, and then subsequently exterminates them as it drives them across the boundaries of the home, where they run, in search of water. Boric acid makes roaches sterile. A boric acid spray, which reaches down into roach breeding crevices, will stop roach breeding in the home. Although it doesn't drive the roaches out of the home, it uproots them from their breeding holes by stopping their breeding.

At first glance, animal trapping can be likened to a form of extermination in that live wild animals are forcibly removed from the boundaries of the home The process is also like eradication in the sense that hidden animal breeding nests, in attics, garages, etc are broken up and brought to light during the extermination process. Snakes come indoors seeking mice. When the pest control technician sets down sticky paper to trap the snake this is both extermination and eradication The technician is rooting out the hidden snake. Subsequently when he takes the snake off the property he is exterminating it.

Ant control is most similar to eradication in that most ant poisons are meant to be taken back to the colony, where the colony members eat it and die. It is similar to extermination in that some ant treatments target areas of ant ingress, in an effort to prevent ants from entering the home. T
Termite control is most like extermination in that the areas surrounding the house are treated to present termites from entering the house. It is similar to eradication in that areas of active termite infestation in the home are treated to wipe out termite nests. Bed bug control might seem, at first glance most like eradication. The pest control technician must walk around and inspect every little crevice where the bugs hide and breed, and spray inside to root them out. And yet, in modern pest parlance we talk about bed bug extermination This term refers to the actual killing process, more than the initial process of ferreting out the hiding places. Flea control is similar to extermination in that the house and all areas where active breeding fleas are located is treated with pesticide. While fleas do not require pets to enter the home, treatment of pets for flea infestation is a bit like extermination and eradication. It is like extermination in that it blocks fleas from ingression via pets, it is like eradication in that fleas actually live and breed on pets, and have taken root there.

In most cases, we see that successful pest control involves a combination of eradication and extermination. Only if pests are rooted out, and exposed is it possible to completely exterminate them.

Why, one might ask, are pest specialists   called exterminators and very infrequently eradicators. This might be because in the classical sense, rooting out an infestation, exposing it to light is only the first step in the process. Exterminating the pests, getting them out of the home is the final solution. Think of a pest infestation as some ubiquitous process that takes root in the home, taking advantage of some weakness in the house or home structure. Then the infestation grows until it becomes visible, like a tree emerging from the ground. Extermination refers to getting rid of the visible process, eradication refers to getting rid of hidden roots of the infestation and its attachment to the home.

Although coming from different sources, and having different shades of meaning, in modern American parlance, the two words exterminate and eradicate are used almost interchangeably. Extermination is defined online as "killing in mass." Eradicate is defined, online as "get rid of, tear up by the roots, kill in large numbers. The modern definition of exterminate may derive from the Holocaust in German. Germany wanted to exterminate the Jews, which was taken to mean kill them in large numbers. In fact, during the earliest actions against the Jews, in 1933, Germans attacked Jewish stores and homes, and as they beat the Jews they said, "You have been in German long enough." Originally the goal was to drive the Jews out of Germany It was only after the Palestinian leaders told Hitler they didn't want the Jews coming to Israel, that the Germans adapted the final solution and began to equate extermination with mass killing in the death camps. This extreme political process many have been responsible for changing the modern meaning of the word exterminate.

Regardless of all this history, in pest control , at least, everyone knows what the two words imply. If someone has ants crawling all over her kitchen and calls an "exterminator," she knows that she will be paying him to get rid of the ants, No More Ants. If someone has rodents and calls a pest control specialist and asks him to eradicate the mice in her home, she knows she will be paying him to get rid of the mice, - No More Mice. Whether the specialist brings their hidden breeding places to light, kills them or drives them out, it doesn't matter, as long as she, the homeowner will not have to look at them again.

Bedbug Infestation Continues, While Many Cities Are Declaring War Against the Tiny Invaders

Tips from Dovid Davis — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:38:00 GMT

The bedbug infestation , which has raised its head in cities across the globe, in recent years, continues to grow. Just in the last two weeks, a Toronto hospital announced it was infested with bedbugs , in New York, the House and Senate have already approved a new bill that will require landlords to inform prospective tenants of any bed bug infestation on their premises, and pest specialists in Australia are urging citizens to take precautions against bed bug infestations , after a rise of infections was noted in the Southwest, and in major urban area.

60 years ago, bedbugs were almost extinct in North American cities. The recent rise in bedbug infestations is believed, by experts to be the result of increased world travel, more urban congestion, and the ban against use of strong broadband pesticides such as DDT. Bed bugs easily spread from dwelling to dwelling. They can spread from private homes to public areas such as buses, schools, camps and hotels, and from there to other private residences. Bed bugs are problematical because they are easily transmitted, when a person visits an infested hotel, or purchases used furniture.

One pregnant female can lay up to five eggs a day, which is enough to introduce an infestation into a home. Once introduced, bedbugs are difficult to eradicate. Before a blood meal, they are small and thin and can nest in the head of a screw or between pages of a book. Furthermore, the bed bug life cycle is rapid, with eggs forming nymphs in only 2 weeks time. Within 5 blood meals, an average of 25 days, the nymphs reach the adulthood and can start breeding. Just last year, the EPA held a bed bug summit, and many cities across the globe are now declaring war against bedbugs. Signs that a home is infected include bumps or swelling on the skin, usually noticed in the morning, tiny living bugs, very tiny eggs, shed skin, and tiny blood stains on sheets and bedding, which result from bed bug feces, or inadvertently crushed bed bugs. A bedbug infestation can be recognized by itchy bumps on the skin, tiny visible bugs, eggs, (tiny black specks), shed skin or tiny blood stains from bug feces or inadvertently squashed bugs.

According to Dovid Davis, a Baltimore pest control specialist, homeowners are sometimes unaware they are infested until they learn from a neighbor that bed bugs have been seen in the neighborhood. The homeowners then go back and inspect their homes and finds evidence of the invasion. While troublesome, bed bugs are one of the few pests that are not known to transmit bacterial or viral disease.

Effective bedbug treatment is multifaceted, and involves washing all exposed clothes and bedding in very hot water, (113 degrees), inspection and thorough pesticide treatment.|Effective treatment is painstaking and inconvenient and can frequently result in the loss of clothing and or furniture. In addition to pesticide treatment all the exposed clothing and bedding must be washed in high heat, above 113 degrees. Pesticides are safe when used as directed. To insure that treatment is all inclusive, it is best to hire a pest control specialist.

Secondary prevention includes encasement of mattresses in protective plastic, inspection of any second hand item before admission to the home, and travel precautions, which include never placing the suitcase on the ground, and thoroughly washing of all belongings immediately on return from a trip. Homeowners wishing to protect themselves should take certain preventative steps. Mattresses should be protected by encasements, and all second hand furniture must be inspected before being allowed into the home. Anyone travelling should avoid placing his suitcase on the ground and upon returning from a trip, all clothing should be immediately washed.

How to Recognize and Get Rid of Black Odorous House Ants

Tips from Dovid Davis — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:26:00 GMT

Pest Control Dovid Davis talks about how to reognize and get rid of black odorous house ants.

nimalandpestcontBox Elder Beetle InfestationBug

Tips from Dovid Davis — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:42:00 GMT

Hi, and welcome to another episode of "Day in the Life of Dovid Davis, pest specialist. I just talked with David, the director of A #1 Pest Control Exterminator Bed Bugs, Roach, Animal, Fleas Termite Control and he told me that it's the second day of spring weather in Baltimore and he has already had 6 calls from people wanting his help to get rid of Box Elder Beetles. And I'll admit, that's 6 people who knew more about the box elder beetle than I did, until I had my chat with Dovid.
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Box Elder Beetles , I learned,. are beetles that come off of a mature elm tree which is quite popular in the Northeast. Their characteristics colors are grey with an orange-red strip across the back. These beetles live and breed in the bark of the elm tree. And they emerge in the spring, and live

on the south side of buildings and homes, so that they can absorb the radiant heat from the sun.The problem is that when the sun sets, and the temperature begins to drop, these beetles will seek warmer shelter, and will try to get into your home. They penetrate into the house through windows, cracks and doors. A good gathering of these beetles can be in excess of 2-3000. and typically, 10% will succeed in entering the house,

Those that enter into the house then can start to breed into the house. So as Dovid pointed out this is an outdoor pest that but once it comes inside it becomes an indoor pest..

The beetle is problematical because of the sheer numbers. Say 3,000 beetles are congegating on your wall and 10% get in, that's 300 bug pests crawing around your home. The other problem is that when you try to kill these beetles manually you get a reddish orange stain. The stain will get on your walls, your floor, your carpet, whatever surface the beetle is on when you try and kill it. The best form of eradication, according to Dovid is interior and exterior pest control treatment.

According to Dovid, The beetles are out right now, They come out at the beginning of spring. and their season will last for the next two months.

So if you see some of these grayish beetles, with the orange reddish stripe on their back climbing up your wall, and trying to get in your home, that's the time to call an exterminator. Well, that's it for another day in the life of Dovid Davis, pest specialist . And I want to wish you all a pest free day!

Spring Will Be Comming in and With It Will Be Comming the Fleas.

Tips from Dovid Davis — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:43:00 GMT

I caught up with Dovid Davis, Director of A #1 Pest Control, yesterday. Dovid is a hard man to reach. But yesterday, his home town Baltimore was having a record snow. The snow was up to his porch and all he could do was stay inside and watch football games and eat up the food he had managed to stock up before the blizzard hit. But the phone lines were working great. And although it's still the dead of winter, Dovid thought it not a moment too soon to issue a stern warning about pests that will be coming out when the weather warms up. And specifically, he wants to draw people's attention to fleas.

Flea infestations increase in the spring because they begin to breed in earnest when the weather warms up, Fleas go through a complete metamorphosis from the egg stage to the larvae to pupa and adult. During this metamorphosis, they change from what they look like as an infant to the adult stage. And all fleas feed on blood. You can have cat fleas and you can have dog fleas. Cats can get dog fleas and dogs can get cat fleas. A female flea, during her short life cycle, will lay between 4-8 eggs a day, In her entire life she can lay between 400-800 eggs.

Now regarding their feeding cycle, Dovid painted a picture of true gluttony. When a flea bites into its blood meal, if unhindered, he will drink from the victim's blood until he is so full and heavy from the meal that he simply falls off. It is actually the weight of the blood that causes a flea to fall off his victim.

Wherever the flea falls it will stay. That can be on the carpet on the floor on the sofa in the streets, Why is this important? Because, you can get fleas even without pet ownership. Just walk past a location where a flea fell off its last victim, and it may latch onto you.

Fleas rarely bite above the knee level, and they really don't fly they don't walk, rather they hop or spring. And, they can crawl, Their hoping range is from 10-20 inches. Fleas can feast on any warm blooded animal. They can feast on rats, rabbits, rodents, wild life of any type, and man. Not only do fleas increase breeding in the spring, but with more warm blooded animals and humans walking around outside, fleas find conditions ideal for spreading from one host to another.

I asked Dovid where the fleas are hanging out right now, while the weather is still cold. Dovid said the fleas go into hibernation wherever they are. If someone had fleas in an apartment, for example, and everyone was out of town, so there was nothing for the fleas to eat, they would go into hibernation. Then, when a blood meal comes along. they are aroused from their hibernation, and attack.

I asked Dovid what are the signs of an infestation that people should look for. Dovid replied that fleas are very visible and physical You can feel them and see them. You will usually fell an itching sensation where they are feeding, and when you touch the area, the flea will spring off.

White, light and motion attracts flea, so a good flea test is to put on long white socks, walk across the floor and you will see 10-200 fleas, tiny little dark specks, on your socks. Fleas looks like flat specs and they are bigger in size after a meal. But you don't need a microscope to see them.

Well folks, if you discover that you have fleas in your house, be sure to call a licensed exterminator. Because, as Dovid mentioned, there are effective treatments to rid the home of these little itchy pests.

Thanks for reading this report, and have a pest free day!

"Roost No More," A Pest Specialist Tells Us How to Get Rid of Pigeons

Tips from Dovid Davis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:49:00 GMT

What to Do when Pigeons Roost on Your Property?

Hi,and welcome to another episode of Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist. Dovid is the most intelligent and knowledgeable pest specialist I know of, so whenever I get a spare moment, I ask him to talk about an area of his work. I like many people have
walkways and a porch that has been turned into a bathroom by noisome pigeons, so the last time Dovid and I chatted, I asked him to talk about pigeons.

Dovid told me that pigeons are rodents with wings, rodents that fly. In fact,he told me, they are called the rats of the sky, because, they go anywhere, and will eat anything. There are lots of different types of pigeons, but Dovid said he would limit his comments to urban pigeons."They are domesticated birds. People fed them, but you can't pet them,as they will fly away, but they don't bite. They will roost any where that is comfortable to them, that is weather protected and close to their food source. And their food is grain and garbage."

"Well I am glad to hear that pigeons don't bite," I said, "but what do you do if you have them on your ledge and they are messing up your porch.""Pigeon elimination," Dovid said. "To kill them you are going to use an avicide." Use with extreme caution, because it is very lethal. In America, you have to be licensed to use it. The avicide looks like cracked corn." Dovid told me that if he spreads it out at noon on the lawn of a home infested with pigeons, in ten minutes, the pigeons will be squawking and literally falling down dead, right from the skies.

"Now if you just want to stop the pigeons from roosting," Dovid said, "you have products called 'roost no more,' and "'hot foot.'" These basically are silica gel with pepper. The bird alights on the ledge, sticks its foot in the gel, and it burns them. So they leave and won't go back tothat ledge. The gel works for more than a year. It is sticky stuff that sticks around for months, and is not affected by water."

I wanted to get some more details, and Dovid told me that with the avicide, you don't have to kill all the pigeons. You can use it onetime, kill say 15/25 infesting pigeons, and the rest will stay away.Another alternative to the avicide or the gel are tiny spears which can be put in the lawn or on a roof or ledge and which deter pigeons from roosting. This is an ancient pigeon determent, however, the spears don't work 100% of the time.

I don't know about you, but Dovid's talk gave me a lot of satisfaction. If I want to pay the pigeons back with a vengeance, I can get rid of them with the avicide. If I am in a more merciful mood, I can use the gel and still keep them away from the ledge for over ayear. Of course they might move over to another ledge, whereas the avicide will keep them off my entire property for a long time.

We'll that's it for another episode of Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist. Thank-you for reading this article, and I wish you all a pest free day.

Getting Rid of Ants

Tips from Dovid Davis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:22:00 GMT

Yesterday, I talked with Dovid David, the Director of A # 1 Pest Control, of Baltimore. I asked Dovid, what he recommends for getting rid of pesty ants. Dovid started out by lamenting the fact that in America most of the really strong pesticides are banned. In other countries, he said, where they still use the good old stuff, they don't have as many problems with bugs.

But, in any case, he said, ants are easy to get rid of. You have three choices, sprays, gels, or powders. If you are spraying, or when Dovid does a treatment, its important to spray around the baseboards. There are all purpose sprays which can be used in cabinets as well. However, if you have ants in your drawers, or areas where yo store food, then you should uses a gel.

If you have a long term ant problem, Dovid recommends you go out and invest in a plastic pump sprayer. You can get one for 15 dollars, buy concentrated spray, and spray once every couple of months. The pesticides, which Dovid recommends are Combat and Max force. Actually, Dovid added, they are the same thing. The inventor forgot to patent the spray and some one else got hold of it.

What doesn't work, Dovid made a point of noting, are the things you plug into the wall socket, which supposedly kill the bugs by emitted electrical waves. They don't do a thing.

Dovid reminded me that there are two basic types of ants that invade the house, those that go for honey and those that go for salty foods. You can test which type you have by putting out a little honey and seeing if the ants go for it. The type of ant you have is important to known, because most of the gels are a combination of boric acid and a sugar. The sweet loving ants will eat the gel and die, but the salt loving ants won't eat it, and won't be affected by it.

The gels and powders are slow working, and the sprays are quick. One good thing, ants are susceptible to general all purpose pest control, so while you're killing the ants, you will be killing all other crawling bus infesting your house, such as roaches, spiders and crickets.

Dovid explained to me how the spray works. The poison is water based, and as soon as it hits the floor the water begins to evaporate leaving the poison stuck to the floor. When the bugs crawl through the poison, it adheres to their body. The bugs, as it turns out lick themselves clean much like cats do. Only now, they will get a mouthful of the poison and die. And this is why general all purpose bug spray does not work on flying insects. The treatments are really effective, Dovid emphasized. When he is called to a house, he sprays once inside and outside, and that usually gets rid of the pests.

Thanks for reading this report, and have a pest free day!

Mice

Tips from Dovid Davis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:56:00 GMT

Hi, and welcome to Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist. Yesterday, I had a chance to talk with Dovid Davis the Director of A # 1 Pest Control of Baltimore Maryland. He asked me what I wanted to learn about, and I answered mice ."Okay," he said, "We'll talk about mice.

Mice , Dovid noted, are generally 2-3 inches long, they weigh from half an ounce to an ounce and 1/2 generally they are brown or grey. Some of the things they prefer, food wise, include cereal, fruit, vegetables and meat. Mice are strange in their behavior pattern in that they do not eat a lot of food at once, they tend to nibble 20-30 times. But altogether, their daily consumption of food is less than 1/10^th of an ounce.

There are some interesting facts about mice that people should know. Mice are excellent climbers. They can climb up on walls; they can climb up on furniture. However, the range of how far they travel is less than 30 feet. So they won't go more than 30 feet for food water or shelter. Since they don't go more than 30 feet from where they're nesting, if their food source is more than 30 feet away, they'll move their nest.

Mice are nocturnal, which means that most of their activity, their running around their exploring and feeding takes place after sunset and before sunrise. Most people don't realize, that when mice travel and they are healthy they travel at 12 feet per second. And that's why it's so hard to catch them. And one mouse, the average mouse, makes approximately 50 droppings a day. Ugghh!

So how do we catch these critters? The traditional way is with mouse snatch traps, and or placing commercial strength rodenticide, in areas that are not visible and not accessible to children or pets. It generally takes 72 hours for them to be attracted to the bait, to eat it, and to die.

I wanted to know what happens to the mice when they die, because no one wants dead smelly mice lying around their house or kitchen. But Dovid assured me that the poison makes the mice thirsty so they tend to go outside and eat grass and drink water, and die outside. But if they do die inside the house they are only odorous for no more than 72 hours. Then they start to disintegrate. Well I don't know about you, but I am not crazy about the idea of smelly decaying mice in my house, even for less than 72 hours. However, it does beat having live mice.

Bees, Hornets & Wasps

Tips from Dovid Davis — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:35:00 GMT

Welcome to a Day in the Life of Dovid Davis Pest Specialist. Yesterday, I had a chance to talk with Dovid Davis, the owner of A#1 Pest Control. I asked Dovid what he wanted to talk about, and he said Bees, hornets and wasps.

According to Dovid, the end of the summer brings an abundance of stinging insects, the bees hornets and wasps. The three stinging insects have different characteristics but several things in common.When they detect aggressive behavior, they will defend themselves. They may interpret your waving your hand to swap them away as a sign of aggression. They may determine your trying to douse them water, alcohol or other liquids as a sign of aggression. Or, they may interpret your trying to cut out their nest from a tree or the ground as a sign of aggression.

Stinging insect home colonies are always guarded by quick response soldiers. Stationed outside to repel any outside invaders, they can quickly call in reinforcements within 20 seconds, in large numbers. If the colony is small, approximately under 25, or less than the size of a tennis ball or a baseball, then the home owner can attempt to remove it himself. Of course, while removing the nests, he should be wearing protective clothing and should have suitable replant

close at hand. If the nest is anything larger than a tennis ball or baseball, Dovid recommends that you call a professional

It should be noted that the home colonies of the stinging insects are not only paper nest hanging from a tree. Quite commonly, bees will make their homes in the ground and can make their home in the crack or a crevice of a concrete or brick wall, or, in dead or hollowed out dead tree trunks. Extreme caution should be used in trying to eradicate them yourself. And a home owner should get rid of the small nest in the evening,when the stinging insects are less ferocious, whereas a professional can properly irradiate them during daylight hours.

I was amazed to hear that these insects live in hives made of paper, and I asked Dovid to clarify that point.He told me that indeed, Bees make the paper hives. They chew anything made of cellulose and they spin into a large paper ball with many layers and many cells in it. Dovid also cautioned that home owners should not attempt to rid a bee hivewhile standing a ladder larger than 6 feet tall,. as the bees always win. And also,if someone is allergic to bee stings, he should call a professional immediately.

I asked Dovid how much it costs to remove stinging insect hives. He told me the cost depends on the difficulty. Heusually charges 50.00 -70.00 to remove a hive on the ground. If the hive is in a tree, or otherwise located above ground, the cost varies on the height. A beehive in a tree, higher than the first floor of a house, for instance, might run125.00 or more.

We'll that's it for another episode of day in the life of Dovid Davis, pest specialist. And I wish you all a pest free day.

Mites

Tips from Dovid Davis — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:45:00 GMT

Hi,

And welcome to a day in the life of Dovid Davis.

I'm Boruch Fishman your moderator. Today, I had a talk with Dovid Davis, the Director of A #1 Pest Control Exterminator Bed Bugs , Roaches , Animal , Fleas Termite Control , a Baltimore Pest Control company. I asked Dovid what we are going to talk about today, and he said we are going to talk about mites.

I asked him, if Mites are pests? And if so just what are they?
He replied that they are pests. Mites, he said, are associated with the spider class, but they are very small. They have 8 legs, and there are three types. Dust mites are found in cluttered dusty and dirty houses. Paper mites are found if you are storing a lot of paper and binders and books. And there are bird mites that come out of bird nests. They will appear as little spiders. Smaller than a pin head.

Mites feed on dead decaying matter such as your skin. Regarding the dust mites on your pillow, it would not be uncommon if you were to professionally inspect your pillow and find 250,000 dust mites. Mites do bite, and cause allergic reactions. And all three classes of mites do infest the person.

Regarding mite symptoms, Dovid said symptoms might include wheezing at night, rashes on the body and bite marks.

I asked Dovid what we should do to get rid of mites.

Dovid replied that bedding should be cleaned in hot water and dried and the house should be treated with an insecticide under the bed and over the carpeting area. You should keep the floors clean if there are no carpets.

I then asked Dovid that when he went out to a house to treat for mites, was one treatment usually enough.

Dovid replied that one treatment is usually sufficient to get rid of them as long as the householder follows instructions.

I had one last question for Dovid, I wanted to know how you can tell the difference between bed bug bites and mite bite.

He replied that bed bug bites are bigger and leave blood on the sheet. And mite bites appear like a little insect bite, and they also itch

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Tips from Dovid Davis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:38:00 GMT

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It's Summer, It's Hot, and There are Mosquitoes

Tips from Dovid Davis — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Today, I had the chance to talk with Dovid Davis, the Director of A # 1 Pest Control , in Baltimore Maryland, and Dovid talked to me about what's going on withmosquitoes , this summer. He reminded me that were are having a hot summer and that one of the things which is unusual about it is the combination of periods of hot dry weather and then periods of heavy rainstorms and downpour, which is good for causing mosquitoes to increase. The mosquito larvae typically will live in any container that holds a minimum of two teaspoons of liquid, and that can be an empty soda can, or it can be a swimming pool that you are not using. Any place where there is sufficient liquid can become a mosquito breeding spot.

Mosquitoes are drawn to people by the CO2 levels in the air that they expire. The CO2 levels in the air people breathe causes a magnetic attraction for mosquitoes. Naturally, when we think of mosquitoes , we want to know what we can do to keep them away from us, and Dovid told me about a very interesting type of repellant. He indicated that. if you want to think in terms of natural repellants than one should certainly not wear bright clothes and they should put some type of ointment on their skin. A natural way of doing this is to take a fabric softener that you use to dry your clothes, prior to wearing them, Put two sheets of fabric softener in the dryer with the clothes you are preparing to put on. That turns out to be an excellent natural repellant for mosquitoes, As long as you're wearing those clothes the mosquitoes will be effectively repelled.

Dovid told he gets calls from homeowners wanting to know if he can spray in their yard. Dovid can spray in the yard, and it does help for a while, but it doesn't have a long lasting residual benefit. There is currently no effective spray that has longevity against the mosquito. You can spray in the yard and it is probably good for about 48 hours. However, if it rains in that particular area, then the spray will wash away, although for that 48 hours you will have relative comfort.

You can take preventive measures and treat your yard, but if there are any mosquito breeding spots close buy, then the mosquitoes will return. This means, for example, you can, have your yard treated, and if your neighbor has a mosquito breeding spot, either a pool or other type of body of water, then the emerging mosquitoes from your neighbor's yard will have no trouble flying over the fence and coming over to your yard to attack you.