Insect Control - Ants

Garden Ant

• The common garden ant is 3-5mm in length, with the queen much larger at 10mm.
• Brown/black in colour with elbowed antennae and biting mouth parts.
• Ants are highly organised social insects; the worker ant is the forager that invades buildings in search of food.
• Flying ants are the reproductive males and females who will swarm and mate for a few days only in July or August. The female (queen) then seeks a nest site where she remains for the winter laying eggs the following spring in order to start up a new colony.

Garden Ant	Queen ant with wings	Foraging worker ants

Evidence

• Foraging worker ants, usually trailing around wall/floor junctions and around the outside/perimeter of buildings.
• Excavation of fine sand/gravel in areas where cavities are being enlarged to expand the nest.
• Flying ants, usually of a hot and humid afternoon/evening.

Treatment

• Application of a residual insecticide to wall/ floor junctions where ants are foraging and to areas where gravel is being excavated. Underneath door frames, window frames where ants may be nesting. Spray to immediate perimeter of building to prevent ants migrating in from outside.

Pharaoh's Ant

• The Pharaoh’s ant is small, off white/yellowish in colour and 2mm in length, with the queen larger at 5mm.
• Preferring dark warm areas they can be found in the structures of large centrally heated buildings, especially hospitals, prisons and blocks of flats.
• They live in colonies containing several queens, sterile workers, males, eggs, larvae and pupae growing rapidly in a short space of time.
• Pharaoh’s ants are a health hazard in hospitals because they can carry germs from dirty places to clean food areas and operating theatres.

Pharaoh's Ant	Pharaoh's Ants Carrying Bait	Yellowish Colouring

Evidence

• Foraging ants, very difficult to see and usually trails of ants following a distinct route.

Treatment

• All work carried out would require a thorough survey.
• Only by baiting using a stomach poison or juvenile hormone based product. This is slow acting and it may take several months for the colony to die out.
• Never use residual insecticides as this may cause a panic reaction in the nest resulting in the queens forming satellite colonies, thus spreading the problem.

Insect Control - Cockroaches

The German Cockroach

• 12-17mm long. Brown to dark brown in colour with two distinctive stripes and long wings overlapping its body in both male and female.
• The German Cockroach carries its egg case (known as a ootheca), until the nymphs are ready to hatch. The ootheca can contain up to 35 eggs.
• From nymph to maturity in 6 to 12 weeks.

The Oriental Cockroach

• 20-25mm long. Dark brown almost black with wings that cover two-thirds of its abdomen (male), the wings are undeveloped on the female.
• The Oriental Cockroach deposits its egg case on packaging, sacking or in a suitable dark crevice before the nymphs hatch out. Each ootheca contains 16 to 18 eggs which will hatch after about 2 months.
• From nymph to maturity in 6 to 12 months.

German Cockroach	Oriental Cockroach	Cockroach Infestation
Both species become active after dark. Cockroaches are the hardiest of insects thriving indoors in the heat, around heated ducts, boiler rooms and centrally heated buildings. Common sites are hospitals, blocks of flats, bakeries, restaurant kitchens and laundries. Both species become active after dark. They can be found behind stoves, sinks, pipes and humid areas. They need to be near a water source for regular drinking and will scavenge for any sort of food. Cockroaches are carriers of many diseases.

Evidence

• Small black droppings and smear marks around harbourages.
• Live cockroaches, egg cases, cast skins from nymphs and in heavy infestations there could be a smell.

Treatment

• A residual insecticide is applied into kitchen cupboards, under kitchen units, behind fridges and freezers and other kitchen equipment.
• Insecticidal gel bait would also be applied into other harbourages, such as gaps in tiles and around pipes and above suspended ceilings. Two or more treatments may be necessary, as no insecticide can kill the egg stage of the life cycle.
• For very heavy infestations or large premises, such as blocks of flats, hospitals and prisons etc, we would recommend a pest prevention service for regular treatments over a twelve month period. To provide this service we can offer a free survey and quotation. For smaller properties or houses, we can quote over the telephone.

Insect Control - Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs

• Bed bugs are blood sucking parasites; the adults are reddish-brown, with oval flattened bodies, approximately 4 to 5mm in length and 1.5 to 3mm in width before feeding.
• Although humans are the preferred host, bed bugs also feed on many warm- blooded animals.
• They are wingless but have well developed legs allowing them to crawl up most vertical surfaces e.g. bed legs.
• Their eggs, white, oval and 1mm in length have a sticky film allowing them to adhere to surfaces and crevices close to the hosts (humans).
• Bed bugs hide in mattresses or cracks during the day and emerge at night to feed.
• Each female lays 200 to 500 eggs that hatch in 6 to 17 days.
• Bedbugs can live for a year without feeding, although they typically seek blood every five to ten days.
• Their bite can cause severe itching and irritation.

Bedbug after feeding	Eggs, nymphs, adults, smear marks	Bedbug eggs under mattress

Evidence

• Live adults and nymphs on the bed and head board.
• Black smear marks in areas that adults are harbouring, such as bed frame, head board, mattress, behind picture frames, bed side furniture and skirting boards etc.
• Clusters of white eggs on head boards and mattresses.
• Blood spots on sheets, caused by bleeding bites.
• Unpleasant smell, itching and irritation to the host when bitten.

Treatment

• The application of residual insecticide to the complete bed and mattress. Treatment requires the bed to be stripped, bed side furniture and wardrobes emptied and the room cleared as much as possible to allow for a thorough treatment.
• The following items will also need to be sprayed, behind pictures, curtain rails and curtains, skirting boards and complete floor areas.
• This treatment will kill all stages of the life cycle except the eggs. The room should be heated after the treatment to encourage the egg stage of the cycle to hatch and the treatment should be repeated after 2-3 weeks.
• If a room is not prepared for a thorough treatment, it is unlikely to be successful and any time and money spent would be wasted.

Insect Control - Wasps

Wasps

• Yellow and black striped bodies – 10-15mm long.
• The first sighting of a wasp in the early spring will be the Queen. (She is larger at 20mm).
• Waking from hibernation, she will find a nest site in a hole in the ground, loft cavity or in a garden shed and start to build a nest to produce the workers (sterile females) who will take charge of maintaining the nest and eggs whilst the Queen concentrates on laying more.
• Throughout the summer the nest will continue to grow and the eggs and larvae will be nurtured and fed by the workers. The Queen will stay in the nest continuing to lay eggs until the end of the summer, where she will produce a last batch of eggs which will become fertile males and females (Queens).
• These wasps will mate and leave the nest, the males will die off at the end of autumn along with the founder queen and the young fertilised queens will go into hibernation to start the cycle again the following spring.
• One nest may produce 30,000 wasps in a year.

A Wasp	Tree Wasp Nest on Building Exterior	Typical Wasp Nest in Loft
Wasps are attracted to anything sweet, and they will only sting if antagonised. Individuals react differently to the stings, some are hardly affected, others may suffer redness and swelling and in rare cases, serious allergic reactions can occur resulting in death caused by anaphylactic shock. Male wasps are unable to sting.

• Wasps continually entering through air vents, under tiles and eaves.
• Wasps will also nest in the ground in banks, ditches and gardens.

• To establish if you have an active wasp nest, we would recommend that you have a full inspection of the outside of your property (July, August). If you can see wasps entering through air vents, under tiles, under eaves etc, then you have a nest.
• The nest would need to be treated as soon as possible as wasps can chew through plaster board ceilings and their nests can block air vents. If left untreated, there is a very high risk of dopey wasps migrating down into the property when the nest is dying at the end of the summer season. If the dying nest cannot be removed, this problem could last for several weeks.
• We treat wasp nests with an insecticide spray, removing the nest if accessible and safe to do so. If the nest is not accessible a dust would be pumped into the opening where the wasps are gaining entry. The returning wasps walk through the dust into the nest which becomes contaminated and will die off within a few hours
• Due to the aggressive nature of wasps, we recommend that you call ourselves or a pest control company to have it treated or removed professionally.

Insect Control - Fleas

Fleas

• Adult fleas are shiny brown in colour, 2-3mm in length with a thin laterally flattened body and large hind legs which allow them to jump onto passing hosts, jumping vertically up to 15cms.
• A female flea will lay up to 50 eggs a day, about 2,000 in her lifetime, which are white, oval and about 0.5mm in length.
• Larvae thrive in dark humid places such as animal bedding, carpet fluff and skirting boards and feed on cast skin and the blood-rich faeces of the adult flea.
• Whilst growing the larvae will spin a silken cocoon before forming into pupae. When fully grown, the adult will wait and only emerge when it detects vibrations caused by a potential host. Once the flea hops onto the host, the adults mate and begin the life-cycle all over again.
• The complete metamorphosis from egg to adult can take up to 2 years depending on the temperature and food sources available.
• A flea bite can cause intense irritation centred around a bright red spot.

Adult Flea	Flea on a Pet	Typical raised spot caused by a flea bite

Evidence

• Red bites on legs usually below knee level.
• Cats and dogs continually scratching.
• Cats avoiding infested carpeted areas.
• Live fleas crawling on hosts and dead fleas evident on laminate/tiled floors.
• Flea dirt on pet bedding and furnishings.

Treatment

• Application of residual insecticide to all floor areas. This will kill the egg, the larvae and the adult stages of the life cycle. No insecticide can penetrate the pupae stage. The pupae will usually hatch out within 2 weeks and then be killed off by the residual insecticide.
• We will re-retreat any infestation that is still active 2 weeks after the initial treatment, spraying before this period will not speed up the process of elimination.
• Treating adult fleas on pets only, means the egg, larvae and pupae stages are left unaffected and will develop into new adult fleas thus continuing the cycle. A greater percentage of the problem lies within the carpets.

Insect Control - Others