A mouse trap.

Remove Food Sources

There are two basic pest control techniques that can be used to get rid of mice, either putting out baited traps or poisoned bait. Either way then you are relying on the mice taking bait, which is a bit of a problem because mice tend not to go for new sources of food unless they can help it. Probably because mice that are suspicious of new food sources survive for longer, so it makes sense in terms of evolution.

What is going to speed up the process though is if there is nothing else available for them to eat apart from the bait that you have left out. You might think that they would be more suspicious if all the other food disappears and they are just left with these new sources, but that requires quite high level thought which they are not capable of. So before you put out traps or poison the first thing to do is to make sure your house is completely clean.

As well as cleaning though, it’s also a good idea to make sure all of your food is in a solid container. A lot of dry food, cereal for example, comes in plastic bags and cardboard boxes, but mice would easily be able to chew through those. And they may well have access to your cupboards. So you should transfer any food like that in to solid plastic containers, making sure that the food has not yet been contaminated of course.

Getting Rid of Mice

Once you have prepared the area properly it will be time to put out the traps, poison or both. If it’s only a small infestation though it’s best to stay away from the poison and just use traps. That’s because if you use poison you’re not going to know where the mice will end up dying and it could well be somewhere inaccessible. If that happens then you will have dead mice decomposing on your property, and in addition to the smell you might get further pest control problems, for example from flies.

If you use mouse traps instead though then you will know exactly where you’re going to be able to collect the bodies from. You’ll also be able to tell straight away just how successful your attempts at mouse control have been. The only issue with using traps is that if there’s a large infestation it might take a long time to get all of the mice, which is why poison is sometimes used instead as a way to get a lot at the same time.

Pest Control UK

For professional mouse control, get in touch with Pest Control UK and get a free quote.

A common access points for wasps in the roof.

Finding a Wasps’ Nest

The reason that you are asked to discover the location of a wasps’ nest before calling a pest control company such as Pest Control UK is because even though there might be a lot of wasps around, it’s possible that the nest is actually on a neighbour’s property. If that’s the case then the wasp removal experts might not be able to get access to it in order to kill the wasps. So you are asked to find the location of the nest first to ensure it is actually on your property.

That doesn’t mean that you have to lay eyes on it however, you just have to know its general location. So if you are having trouble finding the actual nest, and it might be somewhere that is not accessible, then you will just have to find where the wasps are gaining access to it.

For example, sometimes wasps will nest underground. They can’t dig so they have to use an already existing hole, for example made by rabbits or moles. It is somewhere that provides them with shelter and warmth so it is a popular place for them to nest. You should be wary of this when you are looking for the nest in case you get too close to it.

If you do end up tripping up over the nest when you are looking for it, or getting too close, then the wasps are going to attack. At this point you should trust what your instincts are probably going to be telling you, which will be to run away. A lot of the time the advice on what to do if you have a wasp buzzing around you is to stay still so that they don’t think that you are attacking them. However if you have already disturbed or are too close to the nest they will consider you a threat already so you just have to run.

Other places they will commonly nest are in roof spaces, in sheds, in the hollows of trees or hanging from a branch, in a bush or anywhere else where they are unlikely to be disturbed and they will get a bit of shelter.

If you think that the nest is somewhere in the house but you’re not sure where, the best thing to do is to go outside and look from there. If they are in your house somewhere there will have to be somewhere that they are getting in and out from, maybe between tiles in the roof or a small hole in a wall. If you can find that place, that will be enough information to be able to get pest control experts in for wasp control.

Pest Control UK

For wasp removal services, contact Pest Control UK on our free phone number and get a free quote.

Rats can cause a lot of damage in a loft or attic.

Rat Infestation

The way that you will probably first become aware of a rat infestation in your loft is by the scurrying sound that they make, which you will probably hear at night mostly as they are nocturnal animals. However it’s hard to distinguish between rats, mice and even squirrels. Whatever pest it is though it’s going to be important to employ pest control procedures to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

The teeth of rodents never stop growing meaning that they have to be gnawing on something pretty much all the time to keep them at the proper length. If they are in your loft for long then, they are bound to cause quite a bit of damage to your wood, cardboard boxes, and anything that you store in there. They will also be urinating a lot and leaving faeces all around so it is unhygienic to have them up there as well.

If the rats get to your kitchen then your food is going to be at risk as well. You should therefore make sure that everywhere is clean and that there are no crumbs or scraps of food around that they will be able to get hold of. They’ll also be able to chew through plastic bags and cardboard containers so you should make sure you store any dry food in a solid plastic container to protect it from that possibility. Also your refuse should be kept in a plastic bin with the lid closed.

Getting Rid of Rats

When it comes to getting rid of rats in the loft, as stated the best thing to do is to call in the pest control professionals to do it for you. They’ll know the best strategies to entirely eradicate the infestation in the shortest amount of time. This will be done either with traps, poison or a combination of the two.

If you only have a small infestation of rats, so less than 3 or 4, the best way to get rid of them is with traps. That’s because with traps you’re going to know where to collect the dead bodies from. However if it’s a larger infestation than that then using poison might be more appropriate because that way you’ll be able to get more of them at the same time.

The problem with using rat poison, however, is that you’re not going to know where the rats will die. If they are somewhere inaccessible when they die then you are going to end up with dead rats decomposing on your property, leading to bad smells and also other pest control problems such as a fly infestation.

Pest Control UK

For professional rat control services, contact Pest Control UK on our freephone number.

If you have a problem with damp in your home, you may have woodworm as well.

What Causes Damp?

There are two main ways that damp can be caused. Either you will have a leaking pipe somewhere, or else the air in your home is just too humid. If you are going to solve the problem then you are going to have to find out which of these issues it is.

If it’s a leaking pipe then the fix, of course, is going to be to mend the pipe so that it no longer leaks. If the problem is that the air is too humid then you can get a dehumidifier to remove the excess moisture in the air.

Woodworm Treatments

While getting rid of the damp is the only long term solution to woodworm, it is not a good short term solution. That’s because it is going to take a long time for the wood to dry out, and in that time the woodworm will continue to eat through your wood.

The best treatment is going to depend on how big the woodworm infestation is and how much damage has been done so far. If it’s not a big infestation and not much damage has been done as yet then spraying the wood with an insecticide will be sufficient. Eventually the liquid will seep through the wood and the woodworm will be killed.

If it’s a more serious pest control problem than that though you are going to have to get the area fumigated. That’s because the gas will be able to get in to the wood much faster, killing the woodworm quickly. This will prevent them from doing any more damage, which is sometimes essential to be able to save the wood.

Finding out how serious the infestation is though, and therefore what woodworm treatments are going to be necessary, is not very easy. In fact it is practically impossible to do simply from looking at the wood, which is why pest control operatives use a borescope to be able to look inside the wood and see how much damage has been done.

If you suspect that you have an active woodworm infestation it’s important that you get in pest control experts to come and have a look. As well as telling how much damage has been done to the affected wood that you have found they are also going to be able to tell how far the infestation has spread.

Pest Control UK

To get professional woodworm treatments, contact Pest Control UK and get a free quote.

Bed bugs have been on the increase since DDT was banned.

Why are Bed Bug Infestations Increasing?

There are a number of reasons why the number of bed bugs infestations are on the increase again all over the world, one of the major ones being that people are travelling so much more. It’s not possible for bedbugs to travel very much on their own, which is a good thing because otherwise they would probably be everywhere. They don’t require any external conditions to be present, such as an unclean home, the way that most other pests do because they get everything that they need from our blood.

The way they do spread then is through proximity. If you sleep in a bed where someone with an infestation has just slept then you will probably pick up the infestation. That’s why the increased travel is thought to have led to the increase in bed bug infestations. Because it means that it is easier for the infestations to spread more widely. That is also why the time to be most cautious about trying to avoid picking up an infestation is when you go to stay in a hotel or somewhere like that.

Remember, since these are creatures which do not require any specific external conditions it doesn’t matter how clean the room may look, there might still be an infestation. To check, one of the main places you should look is around the seams of a mattress as that is where they will most commonly hide. Don’t worry, you will be able to see them without a microscope, they’re about the size of an apple pip, brown and flat.

Actually it used to be that the way hotel rooms were cleaned meant that it would be very unlikely to find an infestation in a clean room, and the change in the way in which they are cleaned is another reason behind why the number of infestations is on the increase. When hotels were cleaned with DDT, that was something which would kill bed bugs, so you hardly found any in hotels. Since that pest control substance has been banned though, the number of infestations has been on the increase again.

Getting Rid of Bed Bugs

What is the pest control method for getting rid of bed bugs now? There are actually a number of different possibilities, but the best is probably to simply clean everywhere thoroughly. As the little creatures are so small they are very good at hiding so you do have to be extremely thorough with the cleaning regime. For instance taking the bed frame apart is an essential way of being able to get in to all of the little gaps there.

There is also a natural product called Diatomaceous Earth which is very good at getting rid of bed bugs. It’s an insecticide in powder form so it is able to get in to all of the little gaps where bedbugs could be hiding.

Pest Control UK

For professional bed bugs treatments, get in touch with Pest Control UK and get a free quote.

The bathroom is one of the most common places to find cockroaches.

Keeping Your Home Clean

The reason that keeping your home clean is a good way to prevent a cockroach infestation (and infestations of other things such as mice and rats) is because that it eliminates sources of food for them. They are looking for food all the time, so if they come across a property where there are crumbs and scraps of food all over the floor, they are going to treat it as a feast and set up camp there. But they’re not going to be attracted to somewhere that doesn’t have what they need to survive readily available in it.

Once you do have an infestation though you have to take even more precautions to keep this pest control problem at bay. It’s no longer going to be enough to make sure that your home is clean, although that is certainly something that you should pay a lot of attention to. You’ll also have to think about how you store food in your cupboards. Certainly nothing should be left open. Also, your dry foods which might only be protected by cardboard or a plastic bag should be put in solid plastic containers to make sure that cockroaches cannot get access to it.

As mentioned though, it is not only a problem with cleanliness that is going to lead to a pest control problem with cockroaches.

Water Problems

The other kind of problem that could lead to a cockroach infestation is a problem with your water. You may have noticed that one of the most common places to find a cockroach infestation is in the bathroom, and the reason for that is they’re looking for water.

While they may be able to get to sinks and bathtubs once they are inside though, they are not going to be what attracted them in the first place. Instead it is going to be something like a blocked drain or a leaking pipe. So your home could be perfectly clean but if you have a problem with your plumbing then you could still be attracting cockroaches.

It’s not just cockroaches that are attracted to water either, the same goes for everything from rats and mice to silverfish and woodlice. Also, if you are going to get woodworm in your home then the wood they infest is going to have to be damp. So keeping your house dry, and the air not too humid, is just as important when it comes to pest control as keeping your home clean.

Pest Control UK

For professional cockroach treatments to be performed on your property, get in touch with Pest Control UK on our freephone number.

They may be a marvel, but don't get too close to a wasps' nest.

Keep Your Distance

The first and most important thing to do is not get too close. They are quite fascinating things, and you might think that the wasps are simply going to ignore you, and if you remain a certain distance away then they will. However if you get within around 10 feet of the nest then they are going to consider you a threat and attack.

Most of the time, when a wasp is buzzing around you, the best advice is to keep still and eventually it is likely to go away. However that’s only because it is unlikely to feel threatened if you stay still. If you just stand still when the wasps already consider you a threat because you are too close to the nest though then that is not going to help. Instead you should just run away. They may well chase you for a little while, but if you can go around 50 metres then that should be enough.

Contact Pest Control

If the wasps’ nest is on your property then you should contact pest control operatives so that they can come and get rid of it straight away. As mentioned, at this time of year the nest is not going to be all that big yet, and all of the wasps are going to be busy doing something so they’re unlikely to bother you all that much. However, the longer you leave it, the more of a problem they are going to become.

For one thing, the number of wasps is going to increase, so they’ll become more of a pest control problem in that way. If the nest is close to your house you’ll probably start getting multiple wasps inside. In fact that is one of the ways that you can tell that there is a nest near by, when you are getting 10 or more wasps in your home on a daily basis. That is clearly something that you are going to want to avoid.

Also, when the season eventually starts to come to an end, the wasp queen is going to produce males and fertile females in order to create more queens. Meaning that you may well end up with more nests in the area the following year. And on top of that, once all of the wasps have been grown, they’re not going to have to look for live insects as good sources of protein for the growing wasps anymore. Instead they are going to go after sweet food, of the kind that we like to eat a lot of, so they will become more of a menace.

In short therefore, if you find a wasps’ nest at this time of year when it is still small, that is the best time to get pest control experts in to get rid of it, before a lot of problems are caused.

Pest Control UK

To get professional wasp removal services, contact Pest Control UK on our freephone number.