Saturday, January 29, 2011

Bed Bug Hysteria - Is It Everywhere?

The hysteria about bed bugs has touched almost every facet of our life and it's not just the general public. This insect is all the rage at pest control conferences all around the United States. I finally got to my breaking point with them yesterday. A local Connecticut newspaper carried a story about this insect and how they had the potential to bring tourism in New York to its knees.

Here's the truth, yes this insect is a true pest that has spread far beyond the wildest imaginations of those like myself who are on the front lines of the pest control industry. The real problem though is that the media has made this story far worse than it has to be. In fact, most homeowners are far more likely to have damage done to their home by termites than to bring home a bed bug. Termites are known to cause more damage than fire, flood and wind combined. Yet, this problem gets very little play except for those who have had termites and know the true cost.

It's true bed bugs have been found in movie houses, stores, multi family housing and other popular places where people gather, but this alone is not a reason to become fearful. If people were able to see the amount of germs that were on the average public railing I'd bet more people would be falling down the stairs. The fact is a railing in a public place carries more germs than I care to think about.

The bed bug issue needs to be kept in perspective and everyone needs to know what your actual chances of having them are. Here are your chances:

You have an extremely high probability of getting bed bugs if:

- You travel frequently, stay in hotels and never check your room for a problem
- Live in multi-family housing AND have a neighbor who has them.
- Stay with a person who has them.
- Let a person stay with you who has a problem.
- Do your laundry in a laundromat
- Have frequent guests that may have a problem at their home. (Ask if you must).
- Leave items in public storage.
- Pick up used items like furniture and clothing and bring them to your home.
- Live in a large metropolitan area and are not aware of the preceding circumstances.

You have a moderate chance of getting bed bugs if:

-You vacation one to two weeks per year and stay in a hotel.
-You go away to college.
-You have frequent deliveries especially of items that are cleaned and re-used
-If you are a service worker and work in a building that has a problem.

You have a very little chance of getting bed bugs if:

-You check your hotel room mattress and furniture BEFORE you bring luggage in.
-Have casual public contact with a person who has bed bugs at their home.
-You shop for clothing in a store, go to a mall or restaurant.
-You go to a movie theater.
-You travel little, know no one with bed bugs or very rarely have strangers in your home.

It's important to know that bed bugs are out there, but it's more important to know and remember that some of the worst things that have ever happened to people are things that have been thought of, but never actually occurred.

Let's all visit New York City.


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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bed Bugs Treatment Guide

The Bed Bugs are spreading at phenomenal speed in last few months in almost every big city. For more than 30 years no one had heard anything about them and all of sudden these are all we read in the news and health alert for them should be taken quite seriously too.

Of all the insects the harm done by bed bugs remains unnoticed for quite some time due to their cunning nature. They hide very well but the minute they arrive in your home, you start to see their negative effects quite fast. The best thing is that you can easily remove these bugs very easily with non toxic ways, if you inspect their hiding spots in better ways.

The human body is food source for these bed bugs so you should take steps to safeguard your family at earliest. The bugs residue, the dead skin can be quite bad thing along with their bed smell. The bugs tend to ruin the precious furniture with black marks; also these bugs will need to be removed if you wish to have some good friends or important guests coming over.

The bed bugs can easily hide in the cracks, if you are living in an old building try to close these gaps in walls or furniture to remove the good hiding places for the bugs during the day time. The bed bugs can remain without food for quite some time so if you leave even one area that can have one bug the problem will start all over, so try to remove it completely.

The bed bugs can arrive with the old furniture quite easily. If you wish to buy some old piece of furniture please take time to put some pesticide spray on it and leave it to absorb for while so no bugs can arrive via this route Similarly some of the bugs also arrive with the luggage too, especially if its inter city transfer via some cargo agent. Inspect and treat the luggage before also to make sure no unwanted insect enters home.

The treatment of bugs should also be done on the pet animals especially the cats and dogs can easily be prone to attack by fleas and bed bugs. The pets should be kept in their proper areas, their inspection should be done on regular basis and they should be given bath at regular basis to remove the possibility of them being career.


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Friday, January 21, 2011

Bird-X Woodpecker Pro Sonic Repeller Review

I would like to review 'Bird-X Woodpecker Pro Sonic Repeller' after using about a month.

Bird-X makes a lot of kinds of deterrent devices, such as Sonic Bird Repellent Devices, Ultrasonic Bird Repellent Devices, Animal Pest Repellent Devices, and Visual Bird Scare Devices. Among Sonic Bird Repellent Devices, I tried Woodpecker Pro which is particularly targeting woodpeckers. I was fighting with woodpeckers for several years. I never had a good luck. After several defeats, I decided to go for this expensive device (about $250). I thought if it works it would be worth while to invest that amount. Listening to a tech support's advice, I purchased a visual deterrent (a prowler owl) and an external speaker together with the sonic device. I installed the main system facing south and the external speaker facing north.

North and south sides are long edges of my house. In this way the sound covers pretty much everywhere of my house. I walked around house to make sure I could hear the sound loud and clear every corner and wall of my house. The sound wave has a relatively long wavelength, so it can bend (diffract) well. Thus, I didn't have a hard time in hearing the sound. I installed the owl on the most targeted wall by woodpeckers. The main device has a lots of settings such as interval, day/night mode, random mode, and 8 choices of different predators recordings (4 for woodpeckers, and 4 other general predators).

For the recordings, one may turn on and off individually. I turned on all 8 recordings and chose settings day time only, interval 5-10 minute, random mode. It seemed to work for about a week, but a woodpecker came and started pecking. The woodpecker didn't seem to be bothered by the sound at all. It was pecking the wall while the recording was being played.

I called the tech support and asked. They told me not to turn on all 8 recordings and suggested me to use 2 or 3 settings and to try to find the recording that works by experimenting. I followed their advice and turned on 3 recordings only. About 3 days, one attacked my house again. I changed the setting. And a few days later other woodpecker was pecking the wall again. And I chose another combination of the recordings, increased the volume of the sound and chose the interval more frequently to 1-4 min. After a few days, a woodpecker was pecking the wall about 3 feet away from the owl. The device simply did not work for me and my house.

It does make a lot of noise. In my case, my house is located in a rural area. So, the device didn't bother my neighbors much. In a crowded city, the noise may be problem even if the device works. Well, wherever you live, if it doesn't work, there is no reason to keep. Although I used longer than 30 days return period, they were quite friendly every time I called and were willing to give me money back.

The bottom line is that you really have to try and experiment to see if it works at your house. In my case, it didn't work. Now, I have to other alternative to protect my house from woodpeckers.


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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Choose a Cheap and Effective Pest Controller

Sharing our living spaces with creepy crawly pests is a fact that we all have to face. Insects such as fleas, spiders, wasps, mice, flies, mosquitoes and even termites are a cause of problem to homeowners since they pose threat to human lives as well as to the wildlife. Often, people try to handle the pest problem on their own by using various over-the-counter or do-it-yourself products which are cheaper but may be beneficial only for small infestations. If the infested area in your home is large then the products available in the supermarkets may not be very reliable or efficient and may prove to be more costly in the long run.

It is best to opt for a cheap and effective pest controller who will be able to tackle the pest problem more effectively than you. In order to choose the most reasonable and reputable of them, you can search online. Many pest control services advertise on their websites regarding the services offered by them. Choose that pest controller which offers a free detailed inspection of your residential structure in order to identify the pests hiding in there.Good and effective service providers always give free initial inspection.

Look for those pest control companies which offer a money back guarantee to customers who are not satisfied with their performance. Getting these services can be costly because treatments are needed to be repeated once or twice a month and since you do not want to waste money on ineffective treatments which will not exterminate the pests completely, you can always be sure to get your money back incise the initial treatment is not able to exterminate the pests completely.

In order to choose the most economical pest controller, try to choose the one who will provide additional treatments, if required without charging extra money for it. Since you do not want to waste money on incomplete treatments, find such a service which will give free additional services. You can always take suggestions of your family and friends who will help you from their previous experiences in locating the most reliable and economical service in your area.


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Commercial Pest Control Methods

One of the biggest problems of most commercial buildings, especially restaurants, food chains and hotels are pests. A well-managed commercial establishment starts with three basic commercial pest control methods: Inspection, Sanitation, and Exclusion.

Inspection

Once it was determined that there are pests in your building, the first thing to do is to inspect. This includes knowing where pests are breeding, harboring, or traveling so that you will easily know where you exactly should concentrate applying pesticides. The Places that you need to inspect are trash bins, floor drain, sinks, electrical outlets, electrical boxes, kitchen cabinets, wall voids, crevice, and any hollow tubing on legs of appliances and in on other equipments that have cracks. You can use glue boards near the areas you want to inspect to help you monitor these areas and to help you know what types of pests are living in.

Sanitation

Prevention is better than cure! So to prevent pests from breeding in your building, you need to have a proper sanitation for the whole area. All the suspected places where pests can possibly live in must be cleaned up as regular as possible, and especially before leaving the place overnight. If left uncleaned, any of the areas in your building can pose a pest infestation.

Exclusion

A proper way of pest exclusion is to do it immediately. Want to get rid of pests in your area? Do it now! You have to take a necessary action once you know you have unwanted guests in your building before they become hundreds then hundreds more until they become too hard to eliminate. Included in this method is making sure that weather seals on the windows and doors are tight; caulk each opening that leads to wall voids; and do not leave doors and windows open, most especially if they don't have screen. Eliminating pests outside near your building is also a good preventive option to avoid your commercial area from pest invasion. To know more about how to commercial pest control services visit us now!


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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Complete Guide of Bed Bug Infestation

The Bed bug infestation needs to be handled as soon as there is any hint of its arrival in your city. The size makes it very easy for them to travel quite easily. The recent spread however is said to be due to the increase of traffic and staying at hotel that was facing bugs. While most responsible hotels closed their doors for customers when they were dealing with infestation, there are a few who kept their doors open and have become the reason of spread of this bug to length and spread of country.

The health guide line, warnings and other instructions being given by the federal and state health department have indicated that the spread of bed bug needs to be tackled right from the start. If you get lazy in handling these bugs in the start chances are they might start spreading diseases like skin rashes and swelling too.

The risk for bugs is more urgent due to their apparent ability to hide and move quickly. If you are living in home with garden with some old tree, be careful with that also, as old trees and even the dead branches can be a great hiding place for the bed bugs. Trimming your hedge timely, and keeping the garden area clean should be a priority during the bed bug infestation too.

If any of your neighbor is having bugs infestation, chances are you might be the next target. As a rule always be careful when visiting any area which is known for. This means you should shake your body well and change cloth too after inspecting for any bed bugs. The same rules apply if you are visiting any adventure camp or holiday where you might have seen any insect lurking around.

During extermination the home should be cleaned systematically. This means you should also includes areas like basements, attics, guest room, patio or any other space which might not be high traffic. Opening the windows during the sunny days, and letting the air flow often can keep not only the places damp free but insects would also stop loving these places too.

The furniture pieces that might be discarded or hidden away for repairs should also be inspected for the bed bugs too. Keeping your home bug free is easy you just have to keep sharp eye on everything that is coming in your home, inspect it apply the anti bug spray on it before using it.


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Monday, January 17, 2011

Controlling Pests With Effective Pest Control Services

Insects like ants, roaches, flies, Beatles and even small animals like rats and mice can create havoc in your house and can make your life a nightmare. Pests usually multiply at a very fast rate and many of them live in your food and cause serious contamination leading to the spread of infections and diseases. In order to eliminate these pests before they become a serious threat to your health and the environment, controlling them should be considered immediately.

Pest control services are offered by many professional companies who send out experts to deal with your pest problems. These experts are very experienced and have a vast knowledge about pests and their measures. Once they are able to find out the kind of pests residing in your home, they will find a proper solution to deal with the particular insect.

Pest control companies use the most modern and innovative techniques to provide effective services. They use high powered sprayers and most advanced fumigation techniques to exterminate them completely. The pest control products used by these professionals are special products which help to get rid of larger infestations which are usually not available to homeowners.

Controlling pests effectively also requires proper training and certification in the required field. Most of the companies hire workers who are professionally trained and certified to provide their services. Not only the workers but the selected company should also be registered with one of the Pest Management Associations or the State's Health Department. If pest controllers are properly trained and certified, they will be able to deal with the specific kind of pest by applying the most appropriate measure for its effective extermination.

An effective pest control service from will give a lot of importance to safety. They will perform all the tasks in accordance to the health and safety requirement as set out by the current legislation.If they use any pesticides or insecticides which are harsh and used to terminate large infestations, they should make sure that these will have minimum or no impact on the health of people as well as on the environment.


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