Rats, Rats, Rats!

The beginning of the New Year has kept me busy with a common problem thread; rats entering properties through the drainage system.
Drains can fail in a number of ways: the interceptors; the point between the home waste outlet meeting the main sewer, can fail enabling rats to cross from the main sewer in the road outside your home and enter your drainage system. From here they can find weaknesses in the drain system, using their teeth to burrow out of the drains and pass into the wall cavity and from there they can pass essentially anywhere within the property.
I've used drain plugs to fit into the rodding eyes, where these bungs have been removed and not replaced, the last time, presumably, there was a blockage. This enable the rats to bypass the "p" trap within the interceptor and go over the top, where it is dry, and pass into the house waste drain system.

This is a common theme: if the drain plug is removed, from these stoneware interceptors, I believe these were pre-1960's. These older drain systems had these ceramic components fitted with an integral rodding eye to provide access for drainage rods to be used, through the rodding eye, to remove a stubborn blockage. However, it does not need saying, but I will, these systems will only work if the drain plugs are replaced after the maintenance of the drains is carried out. This could be the home owner carrying out some home DIY maintenance or it could be a professional contractor, name no names, carrying out a commissioned job, and not finishing diligently??
This image very clearly shows this interceptor, as described above. You can see that there is a waste gully with a drain "eye" above it. This the rodding eye, and it has no plug or bung in it. This means now or at some point later rats will discover this, whilst running along the main drain in the road, and will enter the through here and ultimately in to your home.
The image on the right shows a replacement drain plug installed to deny rats any further entry. The image on the right was a customer who had a large infestation of rats in her utility room's ceiling and kitchen areas. The plug was installed and the infestation was removed, after a systematic program against rats.

Friendly Pest Control....so to speak!?

I have been growing a couple of chilli plants on my office window sill; a torpedo and a Lemon Drop variety.

Have a look at: www.chilli-shop.co.uk

I've noticed that the plants have been attracting Green Fly / aphids, and not wanting to use chemicals on my precious chilli plants, decided to employ a more natural and equally effective solution to these nuisance pests: Ladybirds, or should I say one Ladybird, transferred from the tree in the back garden....

Later the same day, the Ladybird laid eggs!

Complimenting this good fortune, I found a few Ladybird larvae and also put them onto the plants. They appear to be quite happy trundling over the plant in search of their quarry: aphids.

I think they may be helping to pollenate the plant, as they crawl over the flowers? Not a chemical in sight.

Bed Bugs - What to do?

First thing first: You will need to visit the following website:

http://londonpestgroup.com/

The pdf documents can be printed off and will detail the whole process of preparing a place for treatment through to the end of the treatment by a pest control professional.

There is no underestimating the value of this website to those unfortunate enough to have to deal with this nuisance insect pests.

 This is the inside of a bed base.

The wooden battens reveal dark/black "felt tip pen" like marks. What are these, you may ask? Well, those black dots are bed bug "poo" - blood fecal marks. When bed bugs squeeze into tiny gaps, they may have to secrete some of the human blood stored in their abdomen. Or it will be where they have harboured to digest their blood feed, until the next feed.

There will be six blood feeds from the initial feed to full adult maturity; they must take a blood meal to finish each moult, the whole life cycle, under ideal conditions, can take as little as 2 months.

Summer Time Blues: Biting Insects - Fleas

Fleas are a perennial problem in our homes.
My method in dealing with these irritating and "disturbing - to some" pests is to stick to a mode of operation:
The pets, require to be put on a program from the Vet; Advocate or similar. The bedding needs to be destroyed or put on a hot wash, as the flea eggs, larvae and adults will be found here, in addition to other areas around the home where they sleep or rest during the day.
My role begins by initially vacuuming thoroughly with my "numatic" Vacuum cleaner; this removes eggs, larvae, pupae and adult fleas.
I then treat all accessible floor areas with a insecticide preparation and an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR); so I knock them down quickly and disrupt their developmental stages.
I emphasize to the client that they MUST NOT vacuum until after the second and final treatment is carried out in a fortnights time, or all that benefit / preparation, working against the fleas, will be sucked up!
Finally, I carry out the same insecticidal and IGR treatment in 14 days time. This finally breaks the life cycle and tops up the benefit of the initial treatment, increasing the likelihood of success against these robust pests.
Tip: if you are getting bites, primarily around the ankles, this may indicate that you are being bitten by fleas, as they can only jump 6" (inches) and this normally is the first point of contact with us, from the ground areas.

Killgerm Training Course at Bisley

I attended a Killgerm Training Course at Bisley on 6th March, to show my proficiency in "The Safe Use of Air Weapons".
This helps me to accrue CPD points (Continued Professional Development) for my Prompt-Basis membership (The Professional Pest Controllers Register).
I met some good guys there, including an old colleague from Rentokil - Mark Heywood.
The Technical Manager - Duncan Bosomworth, was excellent and I felt compelled to trade my Webley Longbow rifle in and upgrade it to an Air Arms TDR 410. Wow! and what an upgrade it is!!

Queen Wasp!

I discovered my first Queen wasp (x3 in fact) at an address in Reigate yesterday. the location was an attic space in a cottage in a leafy olde worlde village. I hope that there isn't any frosts from now onwards. I need the wasp nest season to be bzzzy!

Bird Netting Installation

Picture this....me and colleague Tom, had made all the plans necessary to carry out a bird netting installation in Brighton. We even attended the site a day early to ensure that the scaffolders provided the safe access for our specific needs; in the knowledge that we would be using it the next day (weekend).

They promised, no problem...what a relief!

We turned up early the next day to find the scaffolding was partially completed?!! Ok. They didn't have enough boards and poles. Of course, you may think, they contacted me, as I am the customer, to tell me of this important situation....nope, nada, nothing! Not a peep! I communicate with my customers; when I will be on site, when I'll be back and so on. 

The boss guy told us, when we phoned from site, that his blokes phoned him at 5.30 on the Friday with this news. So why not let me know too? It just grinds your gears. Communication is key with your customers.