RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

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I have to admit that Wheat Thins are pretty addictive! It would however take quite a bit for me to polish off a whole box though! In defense of the mice this was more than one mouse that did this.

Mice are called little thieves for good reason. They will visit a food source 200-300 times per night stealing little bits of food and creating a cache in a safe place so they can enjoy the food when they want, away from predators. It is not uncommon to find a pile of stolen food in a wall void or some other remote location.

If you think mice are a little problem in your home or business then think again! This picture proves how they can contaminate food sources with their urine and feces. The solution to protect your home and business is to call EHS!

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

What you are seeing here is something very unusual. Termites eating rotten fruit and vegetables in a compost bin!

We know that termites eat anything that is organic matter so there is a reason for them to love the dark, moist, rich soil inside a compost bin. However to see them actually eating rotten tomatoes and other food items is something I have never seen in my 25 year career! Termites absolutely AMAZE me and they are one insect that I will never underestimate!

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

In professional pest control we must train our eyes to see what others overlook! That is not me, it is Sherlock Holmes that said this. I use it all the time in pest control. Investigation for pests is a true science and it takes an expert. In this case a tenant in an apartment building was complaining of a massive fruit fly infestation. She said she is spotlessly clean. I told her there must be a source somewhere.

Something rolled under an appliance? Dirty trash receptacle? Recycling container? Rotten fruit or vegetables? Spilled liquid? NO was the answer to all these questions. THEN she gave me her fruit fly trap she bought at a hardware store. SOLVED!!! Looking inside the trap I saw exactly why she has so many fruit flies. The picture tells the whole story! When it comes to pest control you need the CSI talents of EHS!

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George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

A picture is worth a thousand words! Indian Meal Moths are certainly an annoying pest for residential and commercial businesses but the solution can be relatively easy. Get rid of the source and you get rid of the pest. Treatment means suppression not elimination because if the source remains then new moths are constantly being produced. It takes some time but inspect all dry goods and throw away outdated and unused items. Store everything in Tupperware type containers. Vacuum and clean all areas and be sure to discard vacuum bag. Being an expert like EHS always helps!

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Pat Hagan
Commercial Business Development Manager
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

U.S. Marshals Seize Products of Rodent-Infested Fremont Food Company

The U.S. Marshals Service, acting on the order of a federal court, seized food products Tuesday made by a Fremont food company infested with rodents, federal prosecutors said.

The product seizure at the San Francisco Herb & Natural Food Company warehouse occurred after prosecutors filed a complaint in a San Francisco court, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said.

From July 3-16, federal and state officials inspected the warehouse at 47444 Kato Road and discovered a widespread pest infestation, including live and dead rodents and insects on and around food; rodent nesting materials in food; urine-stained packages of food; and rodent excrement pellets on and in food, prosecutors said.

The company has been closed since July 11.

The U.S. Marshals Service will destroy the seized food products if no one tries to claim them after 30 days, authorities said.

The joint investigation is being conducted by the Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health, Food and Drug Branch.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bus Drivers Battling Bed Bugs

City bus drivers' union reports problem of infestation on city buses, while the Detroit Department of Transportation says the problem is not widespread.

The union representing Detroit's bus drivers has asked the City Council to put pressure on the transit agency to help stop the spread of bedbugs on buses.

About 50 Detroit Department of Transportation drivers have reported seeing the bugs on buses, and some have been bitten within the past year, said Henry Gaffney, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26.

After receiving a letter from Gaffney in May, DDOT chief executive Ron Freeland said Thursday he asked a maintenance crew to investigate and sent a letter to the union later in the month saying any infested bus would be cleaned.

Freeland said the amount of bedbugs the crew has found so far in the cleaning process isn't unusual for a service with an average of 100,000 riders each day.

"I, personally, am not aware of any widespread problem," he said. "Where we do have problems, we are in fact dealing with it."

Any buses reported to have bedbugs will be cleaned and fumigated, Freeland said. If that doesn't kill them, the maintenance crew can put the vehicle in a paint booth and kill the bugs with heat.

That wasn't enough for Gaffney, though. He said DDOT should be taking preventive measures by treating all of the agency's terminals and coaches.

"If this continues to get bad, you can't force anybody to work in those types of conditions," he said. "It's not fair to the citizens either. Somebody's got to care somewhere in this city."

Bedbugs are flat, parasitic insects that feed on blood of people or animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are about a quarter-inch long and spread by latching on to people's clothes or luggage. Once in a home, the bugs hide in beds or other furniture, feed while people are sedentary and reproduce.

Their bites affect people similarly to that of a mosquito, said Erik Foster, medical entomologist for the state Department of Community Health.

"Bedbugs have been found in public transit, school buses, public buses, airplanes," Foster said.

It's unlikely that a bus would have a large infestation of bedbugs, however, because there isn't a great place for them to hide, Foster said.

For the past two months, Rainey Henley, a 17-year DDOT driver, has taken his clothes off immediately when he returns home from his shift. He then throws them in a clothes dryer with hopes the heat will kill any bed bugs.

Henley said he was bitten about two months ago and has seen at least three other bedbugs on different buses.

"It's terrifying, man," Henley said. "I bring 91-percent alcohol and spray my seat and around my driver area before I start."

Gaffney's letter — dated June 19 — was on the agenda Monday for the City Council's Public Health and Safety Committee, but Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, chairman of that committee, said Wednesday he hadn't heard anything about the issue.

"There are no bedbugs on DDOT buses," Brown said. "They can't live on a bus. People can bring them on, but they can't live on plastic chairs."

DDOT's customer service line hasn't received any calls within the past year from customers reporting bedbug sightings, Freeland said. He said he planned to have the operations' staff talk to drivers for more details, but he believes cleaning all buses and facilities is unnecessary.

"I think most transit agencies, not just DDOT, would tell you (they) tackle these problems as they occur," he said. "I think if we had a major problem we would know it."

Bedbugs started turning up in Michigan in 2006, and they began spreading rapidly at the start of 2008. The state Department of Community Health receives 15 to 20 calls a week reporting bedbugs, with most coming from southeast Michigan and many from Detroit, Foster said.

The department received funds to provide Detroiters with information about bedbugs, and will begin its outreach in the next couple of months, Foster said.

"When you have a high density of people and you have a high density of people living in multiunit housing, their ability to spread is great," he said, adding "the chance of them spreading is high unless … the infestations are being treated."

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Man Found Dead After Trying to Clear Insect Hive

After apparently trying to clear an insect hive outside his Roselle home, Bruce Madiar was found a short time later lying on his front step, a friend and authorities said Tuesday.

"He just collapsed within five minutes," said Ray Dean, a friend and business manager for an ironworkers local where Madiar had served as president.

Madiar, 62, died Monday evening at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village. It wasn't clear Tuesday what caused his death or whether he might have been bitten by insects as initial reports suggested, officials said.

His face was swollen, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

When police arrived, Madiar's wife told them her husband had been trying to remove an insect hive lodged under their home's overhang, Roselle police said.

Outside Madiar's split-level house a can of wasp spray remained on a window ledge Tuesday afternoon as insects that appeared to be wasps flew around a window.

Madiar had worked as a master locksmith for Cook County since 1993. He served as the president of Local Union 63 International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers for nine years, Dean said. Madiar retired from his post last year, but still was involved with the union.

Among Madiar's accomplishments as president is a loan program he helped implement for union members struggling to keep their homes during the tough economy, Dean said.

Madiar, a father of three and grandfather of five, also loved music. He is the father of Illinois Senate President John Cullerton's chief lawyer, Eric Madiar.

Madiar frequently vacationed in New Buffalo, Mich., where he planned to build a home and retire, Dean said.

Known for his casual attire, Madiar was famous for wearing shorts everywhere, Dean said, smiling.

"He wasn't the rough and tumble ironworker," he said. "He was the articulate, intelligent … guy."

Madiar's family issued a brief statement Tuesday noting his "extraordinary strength, character and generosity."

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

High School Football Game Postponed by Fire Ants on Field

Football games have been postponed by heavy rains, lightning, power outages: and now, fire ants.

A game in South Carolina was postponed Friday after the referee decided the field was unplayable because of fire ants. Referee Steve Hook says he found 15 to 20 large active fire ant mounds shortly before the game.

Hook says he was worried about players, coaches and officials. Bruce Hulion with the South Carolina High School League says officials properly handled the safety issue.

The home team, Hunter-Kinard-Tyler, tried digging up the ant piles and pouring salt on them before the game was postponed. One fan offered to bring fire-ant poison.

The field was deemed ready Monday night. Calhoun County beat the home team 19-8.

Source = Associated Press

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Beer Goggles Affect Insects, Too

It was a case of beer, sex and mistaken identity.

A University of Toronto professor's research about the copulation patterns of male Australian jewel beetles with "stubby" beer bottles won him an Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the prestigious award given to researchers whose findings will first make people laugh and then think.

The 2011 winners were presented the award at Harvard University on Thursday by actual Nobel Prize winners.

Darryl Gwynne of the U of T's Mississauga campus' ecology and evolutionary biology department was heralded for his 1983 paper "Beetles on the Bottle: Male Buprestids Mistake Stubbies for Females."

"I'm honoured, I think," Gwynne said in a statement.

"The awards make people think, and they're a bit of a laugh. Really, we've been sitting here by the phone for the past 20-plus years waiting for the call. Why did it take them so long?" he asks.

Gwynne and Australian colleague David Rentz were conducting field work in Western Australia 23 years ago when they noticed something unusual along the side of the road.

"We were walking along a dirt road with the usual scattering of beer cans and bottles when we saw about six bottles with beetles on top or crawling up the side. It was clear the beetles were trying to mate with the bottles," he said.

The bottles — known as "stubbies" in Australia — resembled a "super female" jewel beetle that are big and orangey brown in colour, with a slightly dimpled surface near the bottom that reflects light in much the same way as female wings do.

Ignoring the actual female beetles, the males began mounting the beer bottles and attempted to mate with them to a perilous death — they fried under the hot sun and some were eaten by hungry ants.

Despite the humorous circumstances, Gwynne said the research had a serious message.

In this case, female beetles were ignored by the males which could impact the natural world.

"Improperly disposed of beer bottles not only present a physical and 'visual' hazard in the environment, but also could potentially cause great interference with the mating system of a beetle species," the paper said.

Gwynne also points out that the research supports the theory of sexual selection: that males, in their eagerness to mate, are the ones that make mating mistakes.

Gwynne conducted his research as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Western Australia in Nedlands. He joined U of T Mississauga in 1987.

The research was published in the journal of the Entomological Society of Australia and the U.K.-based journal, Antenna.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Stabbing Follows Spraying for Bedbugs and Attack with 2 Vacuums and a Stool

A Lafayette man stabbed his roommate Saturday evening after an argument escalated into a physical fight while they were spraying for bedbugs, court documents allege.

Jeffrey Hale Ringen, 50, was charged Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court with battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Class C felony; criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class D felony; and misdemeanor battery.

He was being held Monday afternoon in the Tippecanoe County Jail on a $10,000 surety bond, jail staff confirmed.

The victim, Timothy Murry, suffered stab wounds to his left hand and forearm, along with minor injuries to his lip and elbows.

He was treated at St. Elizabeth Central hospital and released, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.

The incident took place about 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the 1400 block of Elizabeth Street.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Murry told officers that he and Ringen were spraying pesticides to kill bedbugs in their home.

But Murry refused to continue after Ringen cut himself and got blood on the sprayer while trying to remove a plastic piece from it.

This led to a fight in which Murry claimed that Ringen attacked him with two vacuums and a stool, then retrieved a hunting knife. Murry said the knife was aimed at his abdomen, but he managed to block the knife with his arm.

Ringen, however, claimed it was Murry who “jumped” on him, so he reciprocated. He admitted to grabbing a baseball bat to chase Murry from the home but denied stabbing him.

Officers found a knife, with what appeared to be spots of blood on the blade and handle, in a drawer. Ringen said he “might have” put the knife there.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA