Seasonal Updates
Each new season brings opportunities for pests to invade your home. With our help and guidance, there are simple things you, as a homeowner, can do to protect your home, safeguard your property and solve your problem. We want to provide you with helpful information and treatment strategies for a few pests common to our service area. If you should need additional advice or service, your call is always welcome.
If you are having difficulty identifying a particular pest in or around your home or are looking for information or confirmation of a pest you have already identified, simply click on the link below and we’ll introduce you to a great resource for more information through the National Pest Management Association’s pest identification center. If for some reason you are unable to find the information you need, we’re always available to assist you at 617-332-3344. Pest specimens may be mailed to us in a crushproof container and sent to Pestex, Inc. at 259 Walnut Street, Suite 7, Newtonville, MA 02460. Please allow 2-3 days for proper identification and our response.
http://www.pestworld.org/consumer/pest.asp
If you have children, the National Pest Management Association’s “PestWorld For Kids” is an excellent resource for introducing children to the amazing world of insects and how to avoid contact with those which may pose risks to our health and well being.
http://www.pestworldforkids.org/home.asp
CARPENTER ANTS
Carpenter ants usually nest in moist wood including rotting trees, roots, stumps, and logs or boards lying on or buried in the ground. They can also nest in moist or decayed wood inside buildings. Wood decay may be caused by exposure to leaks, condensation, or poor air circulation. Nests have been found around windowsills, behind bathroom tiles, around tubs, sinks, showers, and dishwashers, under roofing, in attic beams, and under sub-floor insulation, in hollow spaces such as doors, curtain rods, and wall voids. Carpenter ants may also nest in foam insulation.
The damage to wood structures is variable. The longer a colony is present in a structure, the greater the damage that can be done. If structural wood is weakened, carpenter ant damage can be severe. It is not uncommon to find carpenter ants in homes during spring. The challenge is to try to determine whether the ants are coming from an outdoor or an indoor nest. This can be difficult. Their mere presence is not sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a nest in your home. You may be able to make a more accurate determination based on when you first see carpenter ants. If you find carpenter ants in your home during late winter or early spring, that suggests the ants are coming from a nest in the building. However, if you see activity later in the year, it is less clear if the nest is in the building.
An important method for preventing carpenter ant problems indoors is to eliminate high moisture conditions that are attractive to them. Also, replace any moisture-damaged wood. Be careful that wood or lumber that is stored in a garage or near the house is kept dry and, if possible, elevated to allow air circulation. Store firewood as far away from buildings as possible. Remove tree and shrub stumps and roots. Trim branches that overhang or touch the home.
Eliminating a carpenter ant nest can be a difficult and challenging task. In most cases, control should be performed by an experienced pest control applicator. At Pestex, we have the experience and a wide array of products to more effectively control a carpenter ant problem. Home dwellers can still play a crucial role in control programs by providing information to a pest control provider, such as when, where, and how many ants were seen.
Carpenter Ant baits work by combining an attractive food source with a slow-acting toxicant. A delayed toxicant is critical because it allows the ants to forage normally for days or even weeks. During that time, ants consume the bait and return to the nest to share the bait with the rest of the colony, in a process known as trophallaxis. This food sharing behavior enables the bait to be spread throughout the colony before the toxicant takes effect and the colony is subsequently eliminated.
SPRINGTAILS
At less than 1/5 inch, these small, pale brown to grey, soft-bodied insects leap using an appendage on the tail (furcula). They prefer moist environments and can escalate to high numbers.
Commonly found in moist or damp places Springtails are usually in contact with soil. Homeowners encounter them in damp basements and on the surface of the soil of household plants. Populations are often high, up to 100,000 per cubic meter of surface soil, or many millions per acre. Although Springtails have chewing mouthparts, they rarely, if ever, damage houseplants and their roots or leaves. Typically, they feed on the thin layer of microscopic mold that grows on soil surfaces. Indoors, springtails are associated with plumbing leaks under sinks or roof leaks, condensation around windows or other conditions that create high humidity. They may also be pests in new construction when damp building materials are used and before “green lumber” dries out. Springtails can gradually build up to high numbers in these areas.
Fortunately, springtails rarely require control with pesticides. Managing them is as simple as drying out the site. A simple house fan properly directed in a moist bathroom may eliminate an entire population. If a leak is allowing an area to remain moist, repair the leak and dry or replace the wet wood or any other moldy material and install a portable de-humidifier.
For a small, infested site, such as under a sink, remove all items, vacuum up the springtails, wipe down the surfaces with a mild bleach solution and ventilate and dry the area with fans, a small heater or a hand held blow dryer.
BOX ELDER BUGS
Flat-backed, elongated and narrow box elder bugs are ½ inch long brownish black insects with three red stripes behind their head. Box elder bugs may invade buildings, especially during the warm days of autumn, to seek shelter sites for over-wintering. They are attracted to lights and will readily fly in open doors and windows. Indoors, these bugs are a nuisance, produce a foul odor when crushed and may stain curtains with fecal matter. Outdoors, they can be found clustering in large numbers on the sides of trees, buildings and other structures. Large populations are often correlated with long, hot, dry summers. During warm winter and spring days, they may become active, moving from their hiding places into living spaces. These bugs hide in cracks and crevices in walls, in door and window casings, around foundations, in stone piles, in tree holes and in other protected places. Although they do not cause damage to buildings, clothing, food or humans, populations are annoying.
Since box elder bugs feed and reproduce primarily on female box elder trees, removal of these trees, especially around the house, would eliminate nuisance populations. However, adults are capable of flying two or more miles for suitable hibernation quarters. You should eliminate potential hiding places such as piles of boards, rocks, leaves, grass and other debris close to the house. Rake leaves and grass away from the foundation in a six- to ten foot wide strip, especially on the south and west sides of the structure. Be sure to caulk and close openings where box elder bugs can enter the house such as around light fixtures, doors and windows, unscreened vents, holes in walls around utility pipes or conduits, air conditioners, heat pump lines and through the foundation. They are also attracted to lights and can fly in open doors or windows. Screen all windows, doors, crawl spaces, exhaust and roof vents and louvers.
