Author: webmaster

How to Get Rid of Mice in the Kitchen

webmaster

Mice are very common in kitchens across Ontario. They crawl under doors and squeeze through openings merely 6mm wide to reach the pantry and the crumbs on the floor. Kitchens are full of food and hiding spots, making them the perfect room for mice to invade. If you suspect that there are mice in your kitchen, you should act quickly. Mice breed at an alarmingly fast rate. The problem you have now may quickly get out of control, putting you and your loved ones at risk of illness.

Mice are drawn to kitchens for their warmth and abundance of food. They can smell what is stored inside and come in through the tiniest of openings. Once in the kitchen, they usually nest in walls voids, floor voids, cabinets, and appliances. If you spotted a mouse in the kitchen, there are probably several more nearby. As a nocturnal species, they are most active at night. You may have seen them scurry across the kitchen floor or heard scratching and squealing in the walls after sundown. Mice also leave droppings behind them, which look like dark grains of rice.

To get rid of mice in the kitchen, you must first remove what is attracting them in the first place. Empty out your cupboards and do a deep clean. Wipe all surfaces down, then store your pantry goods in sealed containers. Pull out your appliances and clean the surfaces beneath them as well. Fix leaky faucets and get in the habit of vacuuming and mopping on a regular basis. You can then set traps along the backs of your cupboards, where you won’t step on them accidentally. Bait the traps with a pea-sized amount of peanut butter, cheese, or gum drops. Check these every day.

Once you have cleaned up the kitchen and set your traps, you will need to block out entry points. This will stop any more mice from coming. Using a silicone caulking, seal any gaps you found in the kitchen cupboards, walls, or baseboards. Check your window frames for cracks and seal those as well. Fix or replace your torn window screens and make sure they fit well. Attach a floor sweep to the front door and check if the weatherstripping on the garage door needs replacing. Move firewood and foliage away from the walls of the home and consider blocking out weep vents with stainless steel covers.

Getting rid of mice requires patience and a lot of hard work. You will need to keep the kitchen as clean as possible and trap as many mice as you can. For results you can count on, hire a professional pest removal company. A technician can determine where the mice are coming from and block entry points for you. He or she will also set professional-grade traps and place them in the most strategic locations. Many pest removal companies also provide warranties with their services, so if the mice come back, so will they.

Does One Cockroach Mean an Infestation?

webmaster

If you found a cockroach in your home or place of work, you can assume that there are several more nearby. Cockroaches usually come in large numbers, and they reproduce very quickly. These are nocturnal insects that also hide very well, so you may not have noticed them right away. Cockroaches are sneaky, hardy pests that are notoriously difficult to get rid of. If you are currently dealing with a cockroach problem, start pest-proofing your space and reach out to a professional pest remover for help. The longer you wait, the worse the problem will get.

Cockroaches are omnivorous scavengers that feed on all kinds of things. They like sweets, meats, and starches, but also consume things like glue, leather, waste, and decaying matter. They’ll even feed on each other. The most common species in Ontario is the German cockroach, which appears shiny and brown, with two parallel black stripes on its back. German cockroaches measure up to 16mm in length and are usually found in humid areas, such as kitchens, basements, and bathrooms. The average cockroach lives for 7 months. Females reach sexual maturity at roughly 50 days of age and can produce as many as 350 eggs in their lifetime.

If you want to get rid of cockroaches, start by cleaning up the infested room. Reduce as much clutter as you can and clean thoroughly. Cockroaches love having places to hide. Clean the insides of your cupboards and appliances. Get in the habit of vacuuming on a regular basis and take out the garbage every night. Store food in sealed containers and avoid leaving any dirty dishes out. If you can, stop leaving pet food out overnight. Fix leaky faucets to reduce the amount of moisture in the air. Check that your bathroom fan is working properly.

Once you have tidied up and implemented a thorough cleaning regimen, seal up every crack and crevice you find. Get an expanding foam or silicone caulking from the hardware store, then examine the infested area thoroughly. Seal the gaps you find in and around the walls, baseboards, cupboards, power outlets, and window frames. Close the gaps surrounding your plumbing. This will eliminate hiding spots and help stop the movement of cockroaches from one room to the next.

The final step is to hire a cockroach remover. Cockroaches unfortunately require professional intervention because they resist store-bought pesticides. Professionals use high quality, powerful insecticides that are regularly updated to meet cockroach resistances. They can inspect your property, find where the insects are coming from, then get rid of them for good. Professional pesticides reach deep in cockroach hiding spots, drawing them out and eliminating them on the spot. Cockroach problems will quickly get out of hand. Do everything you can now to get rid of them, then call a professional for help.

How To Develop A Pest Management Program for A Warehouse or Industrial Space

webmaster

Implementing pest control program and relevant activities in warehouses as well as industrial spaces can be a tough challenge. Treating the facilities of commercial spaces, especially warehouses with care is extremely quintessential. The presence of perishables and food stocks add to the difficulty presented to the pest management team. Not only is pest management an important procedure in terms of maintaining optimal hygiene levels, but it is also required to ensure the safety of the stored goods in the commercial space. Assessment forms the initial step in the development of a pest management program. According to exterminators while assessing warehouses and industrial spaces, it is crucial that all entry points, water sources, food sources, areas designated for shelters, employee designated areas and customers corners. Other areas that have food, perishable products, cleaning agents and commodity exchange areas should also be inspected in order to detect the current levels of hygiene and safety.

Following the assessment of the site, the design of the facility should be evaluated to identify approximate values for employee and customer traffic. Key places that are evaluated in this phase include pedestrian and overhead doors, water sources, electrical conduits, and exterior perimeters. This would provide an insight into the possible places where pest control could be implemented. It is crucial that an exhaustive and accurate list of Pest IDs be prepared after consulting with the employees and customers (if needed). This is done in order to ensure that further infestations are prevented and existing infestations are managed in an effective manner.

Each warehouse or industrial space is unique in its operations and overall facility design. Due to this unique presence, it is essential that every facility be provided with a customized pest control and management plan in keeping with its specific requirements. For ensuring the best pest management plan, effective communication and inquiry is required where every minute inch of space is inspected thoroughly. Based on these key indications, an appropriate pest management program can be developed for warehouses and industrial spaces.

 

 

How To Identify Cockroach Entry Points To Your House

webmaster

Cockroaches are very adaptable home intruders and are known for hiding their presence.They use any small crevice or gap to gain entry with the following being the most popular entry points:

Any holes: These should be plugged with copper mesh or steel wool. Doors and windows-Make sure these shut properly and are airtight.In case they are not, weather stripping
can be done.

Large openings: The openings in the house which may be on the wall, should be sealed with cement or plaster. Vents: The vents should be blocked preferably with screens making sure that the ventilation is not affected. Cleanliness: The home should be kept clean all the time.

Pipes and sinks: A leaky pipe or a dripping sink are good water sources for cockroaches so these need to be repaired.

The different types of cockroaches are:

The German cockroaches are located in plumbing fixtures like in the bathroom or kitchen.They like warm and moist areas like in appliances and furnaces and dwell in cracks or under drawers where they multiply. The brown-banded cockroaches are found in areas which are usually warm These nest inside radios,appliances,computers and televisions.

American cockroaches are found in dark,moist places like a furnance or boiler room.These are therefore common in commercial buildings.

Oriental cockroaches like cooler damp places and are common in basements and crawl spaces,under refrigerators,sinks and washing machines.

To prevent cockroach infestation .the food in the home should be sealed and stored properly.The kitchen should be cleaned daily to prevent crumbs.Garbage needs to be disposed off regularly and stored in sealed
containers. Cabinets and shelves should be clean and dry at all times.Cracks and holes in homes should besealed including entry points for utilities and pipes.Basements and crawl spaces should be well ventilated and dry.

 

How to Get Rid of Rats From Homes

webmaster

Rats refer to the furred rodents found in homes, basement, inside the bushes, under rocks and in other dirty and cluttered places. But the most importantly, one should not forget to wear protective masks, and goggles to avoid any kind of contact and eventual infection. Usually the rats have the tendency to live in places where there is sufficient supply of food and an easy access to shelter. They chew things, defecate on things and cause damage to property. They are also found to spread many life risking diseases. Moreover they cause damage to buildings by gnawing through pipes, electric wires and walls. Hence it is a common discussion among the house owners as to how to get rid of rats.

We asked the best pest control company in Toronto for some advice on how to deal with rats. The primary solution of getting rid of rats is to frequently clean the cluttered areas which include the basement, the garage, the attic etc and more importantly sealing the cracks and holes in the houses. The excess dirt and garbage should also be cleaned regularly. On the other hand, for killing the rats one can use baits and snap traps. The toxic baits are usually sprinkled in places where the rats nest which include the
hard to reach places of the house. The rats can be killed with the snap traps immediately by placing the food on the trap so that the rat comes for the food and in the process dies when the metal snaps down on it. One should store the food in strong tightly closed containers. The most important step is first of all to identify the kind of rodent being dealt with. There are root rats which get into the house using the tree branches and hence the branches should be cut back. Instead of using animal product composters, one can use rodent resistant composters.