Get Rid Of Bed Bugs – Sleep Tight & Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite

One of the most reviled pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us gone off to sleep at night as young ones with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?

Bed bugs possibly started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our forebears started dwelling in bat infested caves.

Until the advent of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in a lot of poor quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century has seen pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug calls indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student lodging etc.

Many people confuse dust mites, which are not visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.

Adult bedbugs are red-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and very swollen after a feed of our blood.

They experience an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the nymphs are just smaller versions of the adult, they don’t have a maggot stage like fleas or flies.

Bed bugs regularly feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and finding their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from respiration and when nearing in on their target, infra red body heat.

In the absence of a suitable human host to dine on they can survive for periods of up to 18 months without feeding.

Indications of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the underside of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.

The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers increase across the globe, the cheap availability of global travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the increase.

What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in poor quality homes but high class hotels, schools and often hospitals.

One London borough noted a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 – 2001.

A lone night away in an infested hotel is all it requires to become infested, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple ride to work on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread the infestation to your home.

They are an expensive pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They crawl into any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and treatment is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living beneath the toe-nails of infirm persons and in the folds of flesh on heavily over-weight people.

They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly need to be called in.

Eradicate Ants From Your Home – Permanently

Eradicate Ants From Your Home – Permanently – Only the unfortunate people who have experienced it will know the true  of winged ants in their homes.
Suffering an infestation of ordinary wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their yearly mating  cycle the situation can become insufferable.
Ants often build colonies under the floors and in the wall cavities of our homes and these colonies will survive for many years if left untreated becoming progressively more intolerable each year.
Our homes are warm and dry and provide the ideal places for a thriving ant colony; even ‘solid’ concrete floor is permeable to an ant.
Our room heating systems maintains their metabolism even in winter  and my earliest ant call-out was on my birthday, in early January!
Ants prefer a sandy soil and there are many locations in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which tend to suffer more ant infestationsthan others, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham leap to mind as hot ant spots.
Unfortunately it is during their mating cycle that they are most troublesome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this tends to be fairlyoften  around the third or fourth week in July.
Ants mate on the wing and around mid-summer they produce winged immature Queens and winged males which in  a more natural environment would fly off and mate on the wing. Many thousands of these winged ants are produced per nest and nests tend to synchronise  their release so that they mate with ants produced by other nests.
Invariably this process starts after two or three days of warm, dry weather  and will usually go on for about a week although smaller releases will continue throughout most of June, July & August.
Unfortunately when the colony is hidden beneath the floor of the dwelling the results can be catastrophic, literally thousands of winged ants are released into the lower rooms, congregating on windows as they head for the light.
This can be extremely distressing for some people leading to extreme emotional trauma to the degree that people learn to hate the warm months of summer and have actually sold their homes to escape the invasion of ants which they know comes each year.
The wet summers of the last couple of years has meant that ant problems were down on previous years but appear to have a way of catching up and 2009 looks set to be a very busy year.
Most people who have this problem attempt DIY solutions with powders from hardware shops etc but usually these efforts are in vain as they are not getting to the heart of the problem which is the colony itself, hidden away in the cavity wall or sub-floor area.
Fortunately for many people the answer is at hand.
At Harrier Pest Control (subject to site survey) we are able to cure this problem and issue an extendable three year guarantee.

The procedure which is carried out mainly from the exterior of the property, is perfectly safe for animals and children and produces no smell, involves drilling small holes into the cavity walls of the property, not unlike a damp-course injection and injecting an insecticidal powder into the cavity under pressure.
This forms an impenetrable barrier across which the ants cannot go and together with a precautionary internal spray treatment (if appropriate) will gradually bring the infestation under control.
The holes, which are only 8mm in diameter remain open so it is a simply matter of re-injecting the cavities every three years to extend the effectiveness of the guarantee indefinitely.
This procedure is best carried out in the early spring although it can be done at any time of year.
As a limited time special offer before our busy period begins  we are offering 25% off the usual cost until April 30 2009. Whilst we usually cover the whole of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, we are prepared to travel further afield but this will increase the cost.
For a discussion or to arrange an appointment contact Harrier Pest Prevention on Free Phone 0800 019 8382 or

http://harrierpestprevention.com

Image via Wikipedia

Problems With Pigeons in Our Lancashire Towns – Ken Chadwick

Pigeons and doves are members of the Columbidae family and in nature live on cliff faces and rocky places.

The high buildings in we live and work make wonderful artificial ‘rock faces’ and hence our towns and cities are frequently infested with high pigeon populations fouling walkways, motor vehicles and statues.

Frequently this problem is heightened by kind-hearted but misguided individuals feeding the birds.

However it is when these birds gain access into a roof void or upper floor of a building that the real problems begin.

Often pigeons will find a broken window or dislodged slate in the upper and often unused areas of tall buildings.

They rear the young ‘squabs’ usually only one or two per nest on a diet of various seeds and city detritus that they easily find on our busy streets.

There can be many nests in a typical roof void and a build-up of pigeon guano swiftly collects, sometimes over a foot in depth on a long standing infestation.

This pigeon dung itself is teeming with wildlife, yellow mealworm beetle, larder beetle, spider beetle and their associated larvae.

Often the first hint of a problem is when these insects start to migrate into the occupied areas of the building.

On no account should amateur attempts be made to remove this guano, breathing in the dust of pigeon droppings is associated with various respiratory disorders including ornithosis and specialist equipment is needed.

The solution to the problem is of course to prevent them from gaining ingress by sealing all holes and repairing broken windows.

However this does not prevent them from roosting and occasionally even nesting on window ledges and fouling the masonry and walkways below which can become dangerously slippery due to their droppings in wet weather.

The solution to this problem is to apply pigeon spikes onto the ledges.

These are a pigeon deterrent and do not harm the birds in any way but make the ledges uncomfortable for them to land on and they move elsewhere.

Sometimes the only solution is to remove the flock and humanely dispose of them.

This can be achieved by shooting, although this is rarely practical in a busy city environment, or trapping the flock.

Trapping involves pre-baiting of an area until the birds are habituated in feeding there and then setting cage traps to collect the birds.

This is often an emotive procedure and is best done on flat roof-tops etc where the public cannot see the traps.

For help and assistance with your pigeon or general bird problems ring Harrier Pest Prevention on 0800 019 8382.

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