Termites, Workers, Soliders, Swarmers, Mud Tubes, Termite Damage, Ants vs Termites
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At the first site of a home invasion of bugs, don’t run for the spray gun. First, learn a little about the insect and how much of an invasion has really occurred. There just may be an easy way for you to get rid of the pest without putting yourself, your family, or your pets at risk. However, if a showdown is what it takes, there are some steps you should take to keep your home environment safe and healthy for your family.

The behavior of certain pests can help you eliminate them. For example, if your problem is cockroaches in your kitchen, you can set out baits in the corners of cabinets or hide them behind appliances against the wall.  This is because cockroaches tend to follow along walls when they scout for food and water. No matter what insect has invaded your home, knowing your opponent will help you choose an effective and economical way to eliminate your infestation.

The pest may decide to avoid a showdown. Run them out of town by removing sources of food, water, and shelter. Most insects come into your home for these reasons. If the necessities for life are not there, they will go elsewhere. You may need to have a leaky faucet repaired and store food in sealed containers. You may also need to seal cracks under doors, next to windows, and around drainpipes to keep the insects from entering your home. Throwing out unnecessary paper boxes and paper bags can also eliminate places for insects to hide.

Use baits first because they are usually clean and have little or no odor. However, you must place them away from kids and pets. A child or pet may be attracted to bright colors or mistake the bait for a toy or treat. 

You may also want to try an organic solution that is less harmful to the environment and often has fewer odors. However, organic does not mean it will be completely harmless to you, your family, or pets. You still need to follow the manufactures safety precautions when using organic pesticides.

To get ready for the showdown, read the label first. And read all of it, so you will know how to apply the pesticide, how much pesticide you need, where and where not to apply it, and most importantly, what to do in case of an emergency. The special warnings not only tell you to keep it out of your eyes, for example, but what to do if you spray and it’s carried to your eyes.

If sprays are necessary, only use what is approved for home or indoor use and use only the recommended amount. Inside your home a chemical can be toxic, especially those designed for the outdoors. Chemicals designed for the outdoors often remain toxic longer inside than they would outdoors, because outdoors the chemical will breakup and disperse to some degree, but inside the wind and elements are not there to help this happen. When spraying indoors, you may want to air out the house before you close it up for the night. 

Don’t over do it. More is not better when it comes to chemicals in and around your home. Use the amount recommended on the label. The manufacturer of the product makes recommendations with the expectation that you will use it properly for the right insect, in the right volume, and in the right environment.

Don’t forget to dispose of unused pesticides properly. You will find the disposal instructions on the label. And don’t transfer the pesticide to another container or use the pesticide container for something else. Of course, keep stored pesticides away from children and pets. In the United States, every 15 seconds a poison control center takes a call. Most of the calls are concerning a child and a substance the child found in the home.

If your home has been invaded with pests, don’t be fast on the trigger. Take a little time to learn about your opponents and then run them out of town. But if a showdown is the only way to rid your home of the pest, be the quickest on the draw by selecting a product designed for the pest and one that is suited for use in your home.  For more information on products or pest, please go to www.naturalpestcontrolsolutions.com

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Fleas: The unwanted guests in your home.

Fleas are a common cause of irritation and infestation in your home. These unwanted guests can be found in your home and in large quantities. Out of the total flea population found in your home, about 80% of the fleas are still at the egg or larvae stage. These fleas can be found attached to your furniture, carpet, mats and anywhere in your home. The adult flea contributes to just 2% percent of the total flea population in your house. The remaining 18% of the flea population thrives in pupae stage. During this stage fleas are not harmed by any of the pest control products. Pest control products only affect fleas once they get out of the pupae stage. Wonder how many fleas you have at home!

Pest control against indoor flea influx
Fleas are a notorious cause of irritation and disease in your home. They also affect your pets. Fleas are the menace that you would like to get rid of forever. For this purpose there are various pest control products which are available for prevention as well as elimination of indoor infestation by fleas. Though there are numerous flea control products available, all are not safe. One must choose a product that is safe for children and pets. Moreover a good pest control is also water safe for fabrics.

Majority of people and even professionals use flea spray for flea prevention and elimination. The reason behind flea spray is its safety factors. The safest flea or pest spray is labeled as "indoor flea".

A flea spray solution contains two types of substances: an adulticide, it is an insecticide which kills fleas; the other substance is the insect growth regulator (IGR). An average insecticide would not help you in getting rid of the fleas. An IGR inhibits the maturity stage of the fleas by not allowing them to grow.

Pest control measures also include treating your carpets with Nylar. Nylar is an effective pest control measure against roaches and fleas. It inhibits the growth of fleas and leaves residual for up to 3-6 months. Nylar is available in aerosol formulations and liquid concentrate.

Nylar is among the best flea prevention methods. It rids your home of visible adult fleas.

An effective pest control measure for fleas can be buying electronic flea traps. These are an effective alternative to pesticides. A flea trapper kills adult fleas prowling for a pet. The trap emits attractive heat, light and infrared from the light bulb. The fleas get attracted to it and are killed as soon as they touch the screen. It is one of the permanent and safest pest control measures for your home, especially against fleas.

You should use a vacuum cleaner at home. It is the worst enemy of fleas. When used regularly it ensures that your furniture, carpets and sofas remain flea free.

Flea Stoppers is an effective pest control measure against fleas. It is a formulated mini granular orthoboric acid specially made for fleas. Just sprinkle this flea stopper freely on your carpet and to kill fleas and their larvae in the carpet. Flea stoppers are effective even when the carpet is washed or soaped.

Pest control for pets
Fleas mainly breed on mammals. Pets in your home provide as a haven for them. You should check and clean your pets for fleas too.

You should flea comb your pets regularly. Dip the comb in an enzyme cleaner and then comb your pet. You should restrict the entry of the pet in your bedrooms. Wash all pet beddings and rugs to ensure good pet hygiene as well as preventing the fleas spreading. You should bathe your pet too, to prevent fleas from settling on it.

Pest control measure act as an effective flea prevention measures. You should always check your home for fleas and take immediate steps to eliminate them.

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Perhaps man discovered agriculture and pest control methods nearly simultaneously, and since then, the fight is on. Now, as if agricultural pests were not enough, there is a big menace of domestic pests, too. Of which termites, or white ants as they are generally called, are most dreaded as they feed on just about anything organic. Surprisingly enough, they can bore through six feet thick concrete and live for ages without food.

Pest Control Methods

Pest control methods largely differ for domestic and agriculture applications. Traditional methods of pest control in agriculture mainly included crop rotation, selective breeding and companion planting. Low flying airplanes are made use of in sprinkling chemical pesticides over large fields.

Chemical pest control methods are quite old and are said to be in practice since 4000 or 4500 years. But closer to date, pyrethrum and derris were introduced which were followed by better synthetic pesticides like DDT and other herbicides.

The Domestic Scenario

But domestic pest problem is almost entirely different. The major pests that bother us are termites, rodents, mosquitoes and bed bugs. You can almost call termites as terror-mites. These soft looking, unassuming ant like insects, belong to two types: subterranean and dry wood termites, belonging to over 2000 species. Both of them subsist on cellulose.

How Do You Know?

A thorough inspection of critical areas (without dismantling) by professionals reveals whether your home is infested by termites or is vulnerable for attacks. Inspection may require instruments sometimes.

Pest Control Agencies

Living beagles can sniff out the termites. Protimeter for mold detection, scanning and acoustic infrared sensors, resistographs and fractometers are other instruments generally used by the agencies.

What Do They Do

Fumigation, spot treatment and removal of infested wood are some immediate options. While fumigation exterminates dry wood termites, a certified applicator’s presence is necessary before during and after fumigating and aeration to allow occupancy. But dry wood termites need wood penetrating fumigants. For subterranean types, following manufacturer’s instructions is essential which include pouring pesticides into holes drilled at regular intervals around the infested area.

Flys, mosquitoes and bugs are controlled by chemicals prallethrin, and the normally available rat poisons. But don’t use them without expert advice.

Choosing an Expert

You need an expert when buying real estate at far off places or when pest controlling the entire home. Keep these points in your mind when choosing one.

1. Take neighbors’ recommendations based on their satisfaction level.

2. Taking hasty decisions won’t help as you need professional expertise; look for one by checking with their past clients.

3. Check their authenticity, whether they are registered by the local authorities or are they members of National Pest Management Association etc.

4.Check what the guarantees cover and get things in writing.

5. Check for legal restrictions on commercial applicators; call Environmental Protection Agency for confirmation.

6. Beware of those who offer huge discounts. After all you want value, not price.

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Everyone has pests in their home at one time or another in their lives. Some are easier to get rid of than others. Calling in a specialist pest control company generally means you are more likely to find a long-term solution than just spraying a bit of insecticide yourself.

Ants are a plague in many homes. Finding the nest and pouring boiling water onto it may be very satisfying, but it won't get rid of more than a few thousands of the millions of ants in the nest.

Wasps nests can be dealt with easily if they are in the ground. It is simple enough to watch where the wasps are going into the soil. Then you just buy a puffer bottle of powder from the hardware store, squirt it around the nest entrance and the wasps carry it in. What if the nest is up a tree, or under the roof of the house. Do you really want to be up a ladder being stung by thousands of angry wasps? Forget it and call in the professionals.

Mice often come indoors in the fall, when it gets cold outside. The first sign that you have mice may be rustlings under the furniture as the mice build their nest from scraps of paper you drop. If you wait, matters will only become worse, packets gnawed and small black mouse droppings in your kitchen. Mouse-traps may work, but are you expert enough with a mousetrap that you are not going to set it off and break your finger. Do you really want to remove a mouse with a bloody broken neck from a trap before breakfast?

Rats are a fact of life if you live in the country. You can sit outside at night with a rifle, or you can find someone who will rid you of the infestation by putting down poison on a regular basis. If you shoot one rat, another one will move in to take its place, so while shooting them may be satisfying and good target practice it does not get rid of the problem permanently.

Pest control companies are very discreet and can be hired over the Internet, so your neighbours needn't know you have unwelcome visitors. After all it's not the kind of thing anyone likes to advertise. They will even lead away any stray unicorns.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Remove tree stumps and roots.

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

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

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

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/all-about-carpenter-ants-what-they-do-and-how-to-avoid-them-403291.html

Author: Stephanie Larkin

About the Author:

Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about large businesses for home owners such as Orkin and Terminix

Technorati Tags: Carpenter Ants, Exterminator, Home Maintenance, Home Values, House Maintenance, Infestations, pest control, Pests, Termite Services, Termites

Humane mouse traps are increasingly becoming the traps of choice in dealing with unwanted mice or Rats in the home. There are many reasons for this. This article will explain why other solutions to rodent control are less than desireable, and are even dangerous to use. Also included is a brief overview of the humane traps that are available.

The conventional methods for catching mice are spring loaded traps, glue pads, and poison.

Spring loaded traps

Spring loaded traps have been used for a very long time. You think of it as baited with cheese (peanut butter and grains work better)ready to lethally slam its metal bar on the unsuspecting mouse.

But on closer inspection it has major drawbaacks.  For example, mice are very quick and sneaky.  They don't always trigger the spring, but instead simply steal the bait.  

Secondly, think about what the mouse trap is supposed to do.  If it actually does catch the mouse, the mouse may still be partially alive, squealing in agony but unable to get away.  Or the mouse may bleed to death, possibly spreading infection on the flooring surface, both from the blood and from evaacuating its urine and feces.

Mouse Cube The Gentle Mouse Trap Mouse Cube is for those pesky mice who simply refuse to leave no matter what you do. These great little traps do no harm to mice. Just bait with a little peanut butter and crackers and they walk right in through the one way door for a little taste. Once they're trapped just pick up the trap you don't have to touch the mouse jump in your car and drive the little mouse to it's new home. Note be sure to check the traps twice a day so Mickey or Minnie don't get too upset . You'll receive four humane reusable mouse traps and full directions for use.

Thirdly the trap may catch the mouse, kill it, wet the home owner has no clue that the mouse was caught. So the mouse may lie dead for days, decomposing.  And the bait may also begin to rot, possibly attracting insects.  So for these reasons the traditional spring loaded trap poses health risks.

Glue Pads

Glue pads are rectangular items that lie flat on the floor.  You place them where you think mice travel, along baseboards,around furniture.   It's guesswork.  It is possible to bait them, but you have to devise your own way to do it.

If a mouse does travel over the pad its legs will stick to the pad. So the mouse will be trapped there alive.  And afraid.  And squealing and angry.  When you find the mouse it will most likely be alive.  Picking up the little critter - withot getting bitten - is a dicey affair.  And if it's still alive do you kill it? This is far from the best solutin.

Poisons

Poisons are not a great solution either. Yes they will kill mice. They eat the horrid stuff then go somewhere to die a painful death by internal bleeding.  If their carcass is hard or impossible to get to, they will decompose over time emitting a horrible stench.  And of course poison not only kills mice, it also kills pets.  Andlittle children who poke around and find it.

Humane Mouse Traps

So the modern solution is humane mouse traps.  These come in various shapes and sizes.  Some are made of transparent plastic.  Others are metal, with trating to allow you to see what's inside and to permit air to flow into the chamber.

You bait them with a peanut butter and grain mixture and when the mouse enters the main chamber a flap shuts to capture it. But without harming the mouse.  Some models cantrap 2 or more mice at a time.  They present no problems like contamination from infected blood,urine and feces.  

You simply pick up the trap, take the mouse to a remote location, set it free into the wild, and go home.  The traps can be reused. And they are very affordable.

People who use them say really good things about them.  So if you have a mouse problem I suggest you try humane mouse traps to solve that plroblem.

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Carpenter ants are one of the most destructive pests in the U.S and like Termites destroy wood. Carpenter ants are black and red in colour and have a curved "thoracic dorsum" that is located at the rear of the insect. These ants are often found crawling along in lines around trees, fences and firewood.

Carpenter ants damage houses by establishing nests in the timber which leads to structural damage. They cause this by burrowing out tunnels in the wood expand their nest. A Carpenter ant infestation in a home is usually a satellite colony, with the main colony located within a hundred yards, usually in a stump or other decayed wood.

 

There are several ways to prevent Carpenter ants entering your home. They involve the following:

*Store firewood correctly as this is a favorite nesting place for Carpenter ants. To store wood correctly always keep wood off the ground and protect it from rain. As damp firewood piled up on the ground is an ideal nesting location. Old Stumps are common locations for nests.

*Always make sure that plants are not in contact with the house. As trees and plants provide paths for Carpenter ants as well as foraging sites.

* Like we mentioned earlier never allow wood to be in contact with soil. Wood should be stored on concrete. The only time that wood can be in direct contact with the ground is when it is pressure treated timber.

* Ventilation is necessary in attics to keep the moisture level of the room low as biogrowth (mold, mildew or fungus) thrive in rooms with lots of moisture and creates conditions that encourage Carpenter ant infestations.

*Always check for holes in the exterior of the house, especially doors, windows, foundation cracks, siding doors and pipes.

In conclusion, Carpenter ants are a huge wood destroying pest in the U.S. However, there are ways to prevent them from entering your house. Such as: storing firewood and timber on concrete, keeping plants and trees away from your house, ventilating rooms and checking doors, windows and holes in the wall.

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