RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

What mice want they get! This homeowner had a mouse infestation and upon examining her closet this is what I found. The mice gnawed a hole through the cove base molding then were nesting inside some boxes stored inside the closet. As you can see they created a perfect hole and the rub marks (oils on mice fur) show this hole was a perfect runway for food and/or escape. Mice are a very formidable foe but nothing that EHS can’t handle!

Justin McDavid
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

HUD issued guidelines on preventing and controlling bed bugs in HUD-insured and HUD-assisted properties, including those that take Section 8 vouchers. In addition to identifying best practices regarding integrated pest management (IPM), it also details the rights and responsibilities of HUD, owners/managers and residents with regard to bed bug treatments.

To read more about the new guidelines click here

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Why Cockroaches Need their Friends

The much maligned cockroach is more sophisticated, and social, than we thought, according to new research.

They hide away, unseen, lurking in dark corners and crevices.

When they emerge, they aimlessly scurry and swarm, often around our houses, kitchens and supposedly dirty hotels and restaurants.

We end up despising them for their natural behaviour, seeing them as nothing more than pests to be avoided, exterminated even.

But cockroaches have in many ways been given a raw deal.

Scientists are discovering that these supposedly crude, and creepy automatons are much more sophisticated than we thought.

By unveiling the secret lives of these insects, they are finding out that cockroaches are actually highly social creatures; they recognise members of their own families, with different generations of the same families living together.

Cockroaches do not like to be left alone, and suffer ill health when they are.

And they form closely bonded, egalitarian societies, based on social structures and rules. Communities of cockroaches are even capable of making collective decisions for the greater good.

By studying certain species of cockroach, we may even be able to learn some insights into how more advanced animal societies evolved, including our own.

Living Among Us

A small proportion of insect species are renowned for their social skills.

Ants, termites and some bees and wasps, for example, are "eusocial insects", which have highly developed social structures and behaviours.

But while cockroaches were known to be gregarious, based on their tendency to live in groups at various stages in their lives, we understood little about how they actually behave around each other.

Cockroaches that do not hang out with one another suffer "isolation syndromes". For example, young German and American cockroaches left alone take longer to moult into new larger forms and eventually become adults.

Their later behaviour is also severely affected; young isolated cockroaches find it harder to join a community and mate later in life.

Young cockroaches, it seems, need to be around and in constant physical contact with one another to properly develop.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Squirrel Tests Positive For Plague At Campsite

A ground squirrel trapped during routine monitoring at the Cedar Grove Campground on Palomar Mountain tested positive for plague, the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health reported Thursday. No plague-infected rodents were discovered in the county last year, according to the DEH. Plague is a bacterial disease carried by wild rodents that can be transmitted to humans through the bite of infected fleas, according to the DEH.

The agency placed warning signs in the area so visitors could take precautions to avoid flea contact.

"It is not unusual to find plague in our local mountains in the summer months, so campers should always avoid contact with squirrels and their fleas," said DEH Director Jack Miller. "Set up tents away from squirrel burrows, do not feed the squirrels and warn your children not to play with squirrels."

The agency also advises avoiding contact with wild animals, particularly ground squirrels and chipmunks; not touching sick or dead animals; and keeping pets on a leash or leaving them at home.

Someone who becomes ill within one week of visiting an area known to have plague should contact a doctor immediately, according to the DEH.

Symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, chills and tender, swollen lymph nodes.

The agency said there have never been any known human cases of plague contracted here.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Cockroach Found in Banana Pack from Coventry Supermarket

A SHOCKED dad got more than he bargained for in his weekly shop when a tropical cockroach jumped out of a bag of bananas.

Nik Holmes says he ‘‘jumped out of his skin” after spotting the unwelcome visitor in the bag of fruit bought from Asda in Walsgrave, Coventry.

While he was unpacking his shopping at home in Woodroffe Walk, Longford, he opened the sealed bag and the cockroach jumped out and scurried along the kitchen surface.

It took Nik minutes to catch the cockroach which was hiding behind his coffee machine.

His 10-year-old son Charlie had chosen the fruit while during shopping on Thursday.

Nik, a warehouse worker, said: “I did the food shopping as normal. My Charlie picked up the bunch of bananas.

“We went home and I opened up the bag to put them on our banana hook and this cockroach came flying out the bag. I’m not usually scared but I jumped out of my skin.

“The cockroach was trying to make a run for it. I tried for a minute or two to catch it. I put it in a glass jar at first but wanted something to seal it in and found a plastic tub.

“When I told my son he freaked out. He was petrified – he didn’t want to see it or go anywhere near it. I don’t think he will be coming shopping with me again after that.

“I’m quite concerned about it – we still don’t know if it could have harmed us. It could have been something poisonous – the cockroach obviously stayed well hidden.

“I’m just glad my son didn’t open the bag. He wanted to help me with the shopping. It would have been even worse – I know it would have had a lasting impact on him. He would usually be in school but it was closed because of the polling.”

There are about 4,000 species of cockroaches, the most common are found in tropical and sub-tropical climates. They can often survive in extreme conditions more that other pests because they are adaptable but prefer warm environments. They can be carriers of bacteria and cause food poisoning in humans by contaminating food.

Some can live up to three months without food or water and air for 45 minutes. They can even tolerate high doses of radiation.

Nik took the bananas back to the supermarket and he was given a £1.35 refund.

A spokeswoman for Asda said: “We will be investigating how the cockroach made its way into the banana pack. It is something we take very seriously.”

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Rocker Gets Rabies Shots After Bat Urinates in His Eye

What is it about bats and heavy-metal musicians? Ozzy Osbourne famously interacted with a bat in another way back in 1982, but now a member of heavy metal band Torche is wishing he never came in contact with one of the winged creatures.

“Ok so... A bat peed in my eye,” guitarist Andrew Elstner wrote onhis Facebook page March 29. “Whether or not you think I'm telling the truth is irrelevant at this point. What I'm worried about now is rabies. A bat. It pissed into my eye. [God] help me.”

The musician was staying at a friend’s house in St. Louis when he discovered a trapped and frightened bat in one of the rooms.

"I switch on the overhead light/ceiling fan combo and what I think at first is a shadow being cast from the spinning fan blades turns out to be a freaking bat,” the musician explained. “It circles the room a few times at light speed, and on one of the turns, dive bombs my head and squirts a little nervous pee into my eye. Holy [expletive]. I'm laughing but run to the sink and attempt to flush my eye out. I'm pretty sure I'm fine but...Not the most common of occurrences.”

Elstner initially brushed it off, but, at the recommendation of both his parents and doctors, the musician went to the hospital to be treated a day later.

He added, “With rabies, you have a short window to get treated, and beyond that, it is incurable and 100% fatal. Having said all that, I feel like I'm getting treated for a unicorn bite. Bunch of nonsense.”

Elstner told msnbc.com that his treatment "wasn't so bad." "I had five (shots) totally and while I'm generally terrified of needles, the nurse was pretty attractive so that helped."

The guitarist, whose Florida-based band is on the road promoting the April 24 release of their new album, “Harmonicraft,” has since swapped his own Facebook profile photo for that of a fang-baring bat, and has continued to find humor in the situation, posting various updates and coverage of his story to fans.

“The bat peeing in my eye story has finally achieved critical mass,” Elstner wrote Wednesday, when his story was picked up by Pitchfork Media. “What a truly strange, though now harmless, event in my life.”

He told msnbc.com, "I had written that post just for my friends because I thought the story was hilarious."

And for Elstner’s fans and followers, the encounter proved equally amusing.

Wrote Annie Zed, “This pretty much cements your status in metal's immortal brotherhood."

Source = MSNBC Entertainment

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Tiff over bed bugs leads to stabbing.

A tiff over bed bugs ended with a man suffering a serious stab wound, police say.

Thurmell Maley, 42, was being held Sunday in the Hamilton County Justice Center on a felonious assault charge after an incident that was reported Saturday at Maley's home in the 2600 block of Burnet Avenue here.

Maley used a kitchen knife to stab Anthony Rice in the left side of his stomach and back area, "following a verbal altercation over (Maley) having bed bugs," police and court records say.

Rice suffered serious physical harm, a court document says, but no further information on his condition was immediately available.

Maley is to appear in Hamilton County Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Monday.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Photographer catches two squirrels fighting. So cool!

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA