Pest Cemetery

There are times when you need to treat for pest control around some out of the ordinary pets. Snakes, birds, lizards, ferrets and fish tanks all need a little special care before you spray but it can be done in a safe manner while still being effective.

With cats and dogs the usual precaution is to remove them from the home or area being treated but with a 8 foot Boa constrictor you may have trouble keeping him in the back yard even on a leash. Exotic pets are most often confined to cages or tanks that are not always easy to move. Their environment may only be a few square feet and great care should be taken to keep the balance. Wayward pesticides can disrupt this and with the limited space it’s highly likely for the pet to come in prolonged contact with the spray and that’s when bad things can happen.

What not to do

To treat areas with exotic pets let’s rule out one thing you should never do unless you first remove the pets and that is fog. I’m not a huge fan of fogging for the most part but it does have its place. Since it fills the air with almost microscopic particles and is at the mercy of the air currents in the room, it indiscriminately goes anywhere and everywhere which means it could seep into your pets cage or tank. Aerosols such as Raid in these areas should only be used in voids of walls which means they have to have treatment straws so it can be injected. If your spray can does not have the straw it is essentially a fogger so refer to the warning above. If we must spray in these areas let’s at least do it with something can control.

Simple preparation

Before treating take a few minutes to prepare your pets home. A damp towel over your pets cage or fish tank will help ensure that insecticides stay out. The damp towel will grab any airborne spray but a dripping wet one might actually grab the bug spray which then can be dripped in with the water so don’t use a soaking wet towel. Unplug any fish filters as they pump outside air into the water the fish live in and turn heat lamps or lights off as well because of possible electric hazards. (don’t forget to turn them back on after your treatment) An open window is good for fresh air and fans on low and pointed away from cages or tanks can help as well.

Things you can use

Liquid sprays can be used efficiently and we can direct the insecticide to only cracks and crevices but be careful not to pump up your sprayer too much. Low pressure will keep the misting to a minimum.

Baits are an excellent choice but outside the cage only. Gels, tablets, bait stations and even liquid baits can target specific insects and even draw them out and away from the living space of your pets and lessen any chance of contamination.

Sticky traps with pheromones or attractants can give you some of the same results as baits but I wouldn’t rely on them solely.

If you do spray go lightly at first and monitor your pets reactions. Never treat inside the tank or cage even with baits or sticky traps. Use common sense and don’t be afraid to seek a professionals help if you are ever unsure of the insect you are after or how to treat. Your local bug man has been doing this for years and is most capable to rid you of your bug problem while keeping your exotic pets safe.

I did not coin this phrase or idea but I agree with it whole heartedly. Actually I believe it was Dr. Austin Frishman, a pioneer and respected leader in the pest control industry who said this or something pretty close. With any severe German roach infestation this truth is confirmed time and again regardless if the treatment is done by a professional or home owner but for our example will explore the typical experience of the DIY pest controller.

Armed with a gallon sprayer and perhaps an aerosol can it’s actually easy to get hundreds of roaches scurrying up and out of their hiding spots and trying to escape your liquid death assault. German roaches hide in some pretty obvious spots when populations get out of control and even break some ‘nocturnal’ rules for scavenging because of the competition for food. Even a sloppy spray job will hit a lot of them and within minutes just about anyone can have the roaches doing the ‘twitchy dance of death’ and falling from the ceiling. Results seem great and you’re amazed at how many are coming out, this pest control thing is a breeze.

Fast forward 10 days or so and let’s see what we have. 10 days is a good barometer because during that time our rookie will still be seeing dying roaches and so he may not be done yet patting himself on the back. Also many products will take longer once dried to enter into the roaches system and instead of the twitchy dance the roach might just do the half back flip and shake his legs for a few hours. Now maybe the roaches aren’t so obvious on the cabinet doors and you may not see them as much when you reach for a plate or open a drawer. You realize however that they are still there because you catch a few of them in the dish strainer late at night when you come down for a glass of milk. Also you notice some fecal matter build up in the microwave clock window and the number of dead ones although dwindling, is still steady. You determine that this weekend you’ll load up the sprayer and hit them again.

The weekend comes and we’re at day 15 or so and you once again blast the kitchen but not nearly as many scurry and for all the work the results are less than satisfying. You give it a few days and the evidence of fresh and alive roaches is frustrating. The microwave window is getting dimmer and you can actually see some live ones in the digital display like looking into a fish tank. You also notice roaches in places that you might not have seen before and it’s like deja vu all over again because you’re no better off than at the end of your first 10 day period.

This is a crossroads point for many people and the road goes 2 ways. You can continue trying with what got you to this point or as most do, try a new chemical. Many people erroneously believe that roaches become immune to chemicals quickly and that is the reason their spray work is failing. Others blame it on the product itself and as far as they are concerned it is branded a bad chemical from then on. So off to the store where you load up on new roach sprays, baits, gels, it doesn’t matter, just as long as it has a different sounding name.

Day 20 and you’ve arranged for the house to be empty and you are now armed with new chemicals, advice from the guy who came over from the plumbing dept. and all your vast knowledge picked up from the world wide web. With new resolve you bait, spray, fumble with a bottle duster and place sticky traps on every level surface. You get some satisfaction because you’ve found a new nest of 50 or 60 behind a seldom moved box and indeed the effect seems to get them going like when you first sprayed. The results are still not stellar considering the money you spent and it’s now time to spend the next hour or two putting everything back in place so this is getting more and more tiresome.

The young man from plumbing told you to wait 10 days and do it again but you’re not about to pull all the food and dishes out again and besides, your sticky traps have only caught 30 or 40 so you tell yourself it is getting better. So following the advice from a man in a smock you re-spray and it seems hopeless because hardly anything is chased out. The ones you do see are alive and well and don’t seem any worse for all you’ve done. Before day 30 comes to a close you head to the kitchen for your nightly glass of milk. There on the counter near the still wet wash cloth you see what seems an impossibility. 20 maybe 30 baby roaches just as happy as can be getting their nightly drink as well. On the refrigerator door another roach seeks shelter in a door hinge and you recognize her as a mama roach because of the huge egg capsule attached to her hind end. Ootheca means egg capsule and it seemed liked a nice word to learn from that web site but it hardly matters now. Two more scurry under the stove and you look to check the time but the microwave clock reads like a hieroglyphic.

With time the roaches still get worse and perhaps you invest in some foggers but at some point you decide you’ve sunk enough money into this losing effort. No matter how thorough and what you try you still can’t get over that hump. The light at the end of the tunnel is something you can see but can never get to. You’ve called 2 or 3 pest control companies and were shocked at the price and hold off hoping against hope that your last 1/4 gallon of spray will get them. In this endeavor the homeowner will almost always relent and allow a professional in to get rid of the roaches once and for all. In a perfect world all bug men would be able to do this but sadly there are even some with a license that do not have what it takes to exterminate the last 5% but I believe it is just a few.

Either way don’t feel to bad as you tried your best and got to the same point as millions of others have before you. German roaches are successful for many reasons and just one escapee can re-infest your home in a short amount of time. You are not alone in the failings of German roach control but just another person in a very long line with many more to come after you. Some have gone to greater lengths than you have and spent 10 times the amount of money but that last 5% still eluded them too. The line has been growing for about 350,000,000 years and I suspect there is always room for one more.

Some of the worst flea cases you’ll ever have to deal with are those found in empty homes. You can do all the right things, treat as thoroughly as a professional and still have fleas weeks or months later.

The most common scenarios for the empty house flea syndrome is when people go on vacation. You lock up the home take Teddy to the kennel and it’s off to Disney for a well deserved respite. When you left you had no idea that you had fleas and it’s the last thing on your mind. Arriving home you put down your luggage and begin to unpack when you begin to notice a few fleas hopping on your pant legs. Brushing them off you make a quick call to the kennel to have Teddy flea dipped before you pick him up tomorrow. The fleas continue and may even get worse until you decide it’s time for action. You may call a company or do it yourself but you are none the less surprised to find your home has fleas. When Teddy comes home the fleas settle down quickly and you’re convinced your spray has solved the problem.

If you called a professional and the dog was treated with more than just a flea bath you may have solved the situation. What happens more over is that the fleas who were inactive while you were gone got busy looking for a blood meal the minute you stepped back in the house and finally when Teddy came home their lives could return to normal. Teddy scratches a bit but as long as they don’t jump on you everything is fine.

The other scenario is a home that is left vacant on a more long term basis. Vacation homes or rental properties can be empty for quite some time so it is very surprising to have fleas jump on you like this when you haven’t been in the home for months on end. I do a lot of bank repo homes and they can be the worst infestations to treat as people come in infrequently looking for a good buy or to do some service. The fleas will hop on them in a almost desperate way and the people will run out as fast as they came in.

The Problem

Adult fleas only eat one thing and that is warm blood and if they do not have a host they can go into a dormant like state which can last up to two years. Eggs under normal conditions hatch in one to twelve days and the larva eats debris from animal hairs or vegetable matter. In about two weeks the larva pupates and that stage lasts for seven days. The adult will emerge and immediately seek a blood meal. When no one is present however the adults in their pupal stage will just stay and wait until a host is present. This emergence is triggered by vibrations and some research also suggests c02. If no one is home walking about and Teddy is not sniffing around (exhaling c02) there they sit. This is why an empty house can be so infested and nobody is the wiser. Of course the flea is mighty hungry after this so it stands to reason that people report getting swarmed on at times entering an empty home.

Treating empty homes

In scenario one the job is not so difficult because the constant activity has the fleas hopping around and coming into contact with your residual insecticides. Teddy is treated as well so the fleas are doomed wherever they go. It still may require some time to have things run there course but relief comes quickly for the home in this case.

Scenario two can be a on going nightmare and many do it yourself pest controllers will spend a lot of money on foggers and sprays only to get jumped on each time they come back. Without activity the adult fleas will settle in and not be so apt to contact the products laid out for them and the pupal stage won’t complete itself until you walk back through that door. I tell my clients to picture their flea treatment like a mine field and the fleas are in it. You can have a thousand mines in the carpet but if the flea does not move he won’t make contact. Unlike a mine the flea won’t die from first contact. The pesticide needs to get on the flea, work it’s way in and then eventually kill it. This is why there are very few over night success stories in flea control under even perfect circumstances.

Ways to get the fleas moving

To get your fleas on the move and speed up the extermination process you can really only do a couple of things. You could go to the house once or twice a week and create activity by vacuuming or just walk around. Of course this means getting jumped on so put a rubber band around your pant legs or wear some rubber boots. The other way is to put in several flea traps and let them attract the fleas. Remember ‘green’ lights seem to work the best and I would put one in every room or area and shut the doors so that’s all the flea has to look at. In my repo homes there usually isn’t electricity and batteries won’t last very long. In this situation I am often called to retreat but rather than respray we’ll stop by and just walk around the home or instruct the management company to have the carpets cleaned first and then retreat.

In any event ‘activity’ is the key and without it you’ll have a long two years to wait for a flea free home. Follow the blue links above for detailed information and if it seems to much give a call to your local professional. They’ll be happy to help.