Antipest Blog

Fleas –Pesky bloodsuckers

Fleas are extremely pesky and external parasites.  This is because fleas have mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood.  They live off the blood from mammals which include us humans, bats and also birds.

These nasty bloodsuckers are one of the best jumpers of all known insects as they can leap 200 times their own body length which is an amazing feat, second only to froghoppers.

It is well known that fleas are tough to kill as they can jump so fast from one place to another that they seem to disappear and appear a few feet away.  Furthermore, the body of a flea is hard, polished and covered with many hairs and short spines.  The tough and tiny body is able to withstand great pressure, likely an adaptation to survive through attempts by humans to eliminate them by mashing or scratching.  This can be disconcerting as even hard squeezing between the fingers is normally insufficient to kill a flea unless you have long nails which can be used to crush the pest.

Eliminating Fleas

Step 1

Having a pet at home has a high likelihood that you would be getting flea attacks.  If your cat or dog is infested with fleas, well, it definitely has to be shampooed.  There should be no problem washing dogs, but, for felines is an entirely different matter as water is like heaven and hell to them.  Anyhow, flea shampoos are readily available in many hypermarkets and pet stores.

You can simply run a bathtub full of warm or cool water, gently place your squirming pet in the water and use a cup to prerinse it.  Apply soap thoroughly, focusing especially on the areas where the fleas may be.  The biggest mistake you can make is rinsing the soap off right away.  If your dog is whining, just let it whine as it is for the better.  When you see fleas leaping out of your dog’s fur and into the water to be drowned, your dog is flea free and you can proceed to rinse the soap off your pet.

Step 2

The yard is a place where fleas roam freely.  The easiest solution at this stage is to use a flea pesticide which usually comes in a spray bottle that you can spray in your yard.  The best way is to start from the edges of your house and slowly work your way to the middle.  This will keep new fleas from coming into your home.

Step 3

The biggest challenge is to vacuum your house thoroughly as this will suck up any fleas, living or dead.  Other than vacuuming, you could use a flea bomb which will fog your house.  The only drawback of this method is that you have to get out of your house for a few hours for the fogging mist to dissipate.

Bed bug is one of the most difficult pests to control. To completely get rid of them is an almost impossible task largely because of their vast numbers and insanely fast reproduction cycle, plus, they are everywhere! The worst part is, when they are in larval form, they are immune to numerous kinds of treatment. To effectively control them will require a number of endeavors and it can take weeks and even months to see the result, depending on the extent of the infestation; ergo, a one-time treatment job will not do them justice.

For better control of bed bugs, we must first identify and inspect the infestation area. Necessary treatment will be carried out upon detection of the infested area (What sort of treatment are we talking about here? We’ll come to that later below). Items that are infested with bed bugs but cannot be treated must be isolated and placed in a sealed plastic bag until the bed bugs in it are dead (well, the period of time it takes for such isolation and the demise of the bugs varies and can take up to a year!). An alternative is to dispose of the infested things (if they are not so valuable to you), seal them up and place them in the trash can.

There are few methods to treat bed bugs:

(i) Non-chemical treatment – “Expose” the bed bugs to high degree of heat or extreme cold temperature at 0o F. Seal the items infested with bed bugs in a black plastic bag and place the bag under direct sunlight or place it in a fridge for 4 days; if the temperature of your refrigerator is not set to 0o F, it will have no effect in killing the bed bugs. Such methods won’t be able to help you to totally eliminate the bed bugs but their numbers can be reduced.

(ii) Chemical treatment – Engage a pest control professional who will use different kinds of chemical to properly control the bed bug infestation. However, treating bed bugs is a long-term monitoring process which will require cooperation between both parties, i.e. the customer and the pest controller, and each must do his or her part in properly controlling the infestation of bed bugs.

(iii) Gadget – Place bed bug interceptors under the legs of furniture for catching bed bugs and preventing them from climbing up to the furniture as well.

Feel free to contact AntiPest at 03-8023 1888 should you have any bed bug problem.

References:
http://www2.epa.gov/bedbugs/do-it-yourself-bed-bug-control#identify
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/picture-of-bedbugs (image source only)
http://www2.epa.gov/bedbugs/bed-bugs-appearance-and-life-cycle (image source only)

(iii) Getting rid of gnats on plants

If you see your beloved houseplant pestered by gnats, do not water your plant until the top two inches of the soil have dried out and subsequently killed the gnat larvae in the soil (this is because gnats like to lay eggs in damp soil).

Another method is to spray the plant using a homemade solution by mixing water with a few drops of lemon-scented dish soap; this should get rid of the gnats.  To avoid damaging the plant as a result of the “chemical water”, after an hour or two, spray the plant again with clear water; this is to rinse off the soap content left on the plant.

Gnat infestation can also be prevented by migrating your plant to a new pot with fresh, new soil.

(iv) Keeping your home gnat free

An effective way to ensure a gnat-free environment is to cut off their food supply.

Always clean your kitchen and dining room regularly.  Store your food in airtight containers or cabinet and keep all the fruits in the refrigerator.  Dispose of the leftover food properly and leave no dirty dishes with scraps on them in the sink.  Most importantly, keep your dining room and kitchen as dry as possible in that gnats are attracted to moist areas.

Always cover your garbage cans to prevent exposure of food waste.  You can also apply some bleach to the lid and surface of your trash can, rendering it inaccessible by the gnats as bleach is fatal to them.

Having pest problem?  Contact AntiPest (03-8023 1888) now for your pest control solution.

References:

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Gnats

http://www.underwoodgardens.com/slide-gardening-tips-and-tricks/controlling-fungus-gnats-seedlings/ (image source)

We all know that gnat is one of the most vexatious pests among other pesky insects.  Gnats are everywhere around us.  You can see them hanging around your house, workplace, office desk, and even your meals.  All in all, their presence is pretty annoying even though they are harmless and minute in size. Fortunately, getting rid of them is quite easy.  Here are a few ways to rid your surroundings of gnat infestation.

(i) Gnat Traps

You can make such a trap easily using an empty can or a jar (Mason jar is preferable).  Fill the can or jar with apple cider vinegar and then close the lid or seal the opening of the jar.  Make some tiny holes in the lid by poking through it with a sharp object such as a nail.  After that, place the jar in a place where there are gnats around, for example, a kitchen.  Gnats are attracted to the scent of vinegar and they will subsequently fly through the holes into the jar, bathing themselves in their favorite vinegar and eventually become trapped inside, incapable of escaping.  Once the jar is filled with gnats and you no longer see any more gnats in the kitchen, dispose of the jar. 

Other alternatives to using apple cider vinegar: (a) white vinegar mixed with a couple of drops of lemon-scented dish soap and (b) pieces of banana or the rind of a banana.

Another kind of homemade gnat trap would be to use a shot glass filled with three quarters full of red wine with addition of a drop of dish soap into the wine.  Stir the mixed content gently.  Afterwards, thousands of gnats will storm to the wine, sitting themselves on the surface of the liquid; the hidden dish soap will rupture the surface tension of the red wine and, consequently, the gnats will fall beneath the wine and drown.

(ii) Use a professional insecticide to spray directly onto the gnats and their habitat.

To be continued ……

 References:

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Gnats

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Gnats-Fungus_vq253.htm (image source)

Sparrows are one of the most overpopulating bird species on our planet.  House sparrows, in particular, like to inhabit in urban and agricultural areas; in fact, they are the only bird species willing to dwell with human beings, thereby giving rise to various problems posed by such coexistence.

House sparrows basically love to feast on what we feast.  They love to eat human discarded edibles other than seeds and grains.  Hence, such eating preference has brought upon them antipathy from humans as a result of their annoying behavior of picking up leftover food waste from the garbage dumps outside of restaurants, residential houses, and the like.   Many times we can even see these oscine finches hanging around the streets or collecting dead insects, moths and crumbs on the road that can only bring about inconveniencies on the drivers, plus, they always leave a mess on tar roads and around dumpsters.  Notwithstanding their craving for insects and other pests which is advantageous to us households, the sparrows have, on the other hand, been categorized by us as pests themselves!

House sparrows can be the source of noise pollution too.  These songbirds have the habit of chirping and singing their award-losing songs  in the wee hours of morning when most of us are still sound asleep.  Believe me, the chirping tune is vexatious to the extent that it can cause long-term migraine!  All in all, the melody of a sparrow does nothing good except as a cost- and energy-saving natural alarm clock.

References:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/sparrows/tips/solving_problems_sparrows.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/conservation/3484213/Leylandii-and-ornamental-shrubs-contribute-to-decline-in-birds.html  (image source)

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/house-sparrow-passer-domesticus/two-males-moulting-non-breeding-plumage-female-bird-rear-water (image source)

http://10000birds.com/fighting-over-crumbs.htm (image source)

Botfly (of family Oestridae)

A stout-bodied, dipteran fly that is highly variegated and is often found in Central and South America.  Botfly comes in different species and each species is adapted to attack a specific living being.  Different species are given different but funny names such as Sheep Nose Botfly, Horse Stomach Botfly, Human Botfly, etc.  Seems like they are named after their prey and the organs which they target.  Does Horse Stomach Botfly like to attack the stomach of a horse?  Beats me but that is somehow a fact!

What is so scary about botflies, if you ask?  Well, their larvae, in the form of half-inch and bulky maggots, love to dwell in and feed on the living flesh and organs of other living beings.  For example, Horse Stomach botflies lay their eggs in the grass only to be consumed by a horse later.  With the eggs hatched in the horse’s mouth as a result of the bodily heat, the larvae of botflies chew through the tongue of the horse and burrow their way into its stomach and begin to grow.  Once they are fully grown, they will come out from the anus of the horse … I mean … they will hide themselves in the excrement to be discharged by the horse.

The Human Botflies can attack basically any part of a human body in an indirect and later direct manner (what am I saying?).  Well, a Human Botfly first lays its eggs on a mosquito or horsefly, which later lands on a human and subsequently drops the eggs onto the human skin.  The human’s body heat will hatch the eggs and the larvae will then screw themselves into the human flesh and begin to live under the skin!  There are few movies with the same title “Under the Skin” but none of them have happy endings.  The Human Botflies can attack any part of the human body, depending on where the eggs land on the human!  They can crawl into your brain, eating your thoughts, and they can even come out from your tear ducts. 

Reference: http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-world.html