Terminator

Did you know…. that TERMITES inflict more than $ 5 BILLION worth of damage to more than 600,000 U.S.  homes annually? This is more than the damaged caused by all natural disasters combined!!!

As many as 2 million U.S. homes require a termite treatment each year and homeowners’ insurance does not include termite damage in the coverage.

Since they are typically not visible and can’t be heard, only the trained eye of a Pest Management Professional can detect signs of activity.

For the effective control of termites specialised equipment and training is a must so treatment by the homeowner is virtually impossible.

If you see insects swarming in or around your home, contact our offices for a fast and efficient solution. Do not ignore them. In New Jersey termites activly feed most of the year.

Cluster flies are, by far, the most common fly is found in homes during the colder winter months.  They can sometimes be serious nuisance problems, particularly in taller buildings where they tend to concentrate on upper stories on the southwest sunny sides.  Cluster flies are large and dark gray and will spend winter in attics and voids.  On warm sunny winter days they will come out and fly toward lights, where you often will find them in windowsills.

Cluster flies are actually a type of blow fly, but have very different habits.  They develop as parasites of earthworms and are not associated with garbage, animal waste, or unsanitary conditions.  Instead, this fly requires a shelter during winter to keep warm, and your home provides the perfect place.  Cluster Flies in NJthat are present in late summer/early fall seek winter shelter and they survive winters as a semi-dormant adult fly.  Cluster flies do not feed nor reproduce within buildings, but on those warmer sunny days you will see them in great numbers, and this can cause alarm and be quite a nuisance for most homeowners.   Call our cluster fly exterminators in New Jersey to help you with your cluster fly issues.  We can identify areas where they may be coming inside of your home and make suggestions for getting rid of them especially before they multiply in great numbers.

The house mouse in NJ is the most common rodent pest in most parts of the world.  It can breed rapidly and adapt quickly to changing conditions.  Mice can squeeze through spaces as small as a nickel.  To keep mice and other rodents out, call the pros @ TERMINATOR  to inspect your home and to make sure all holes in your home of larger diameter than a pencil are sealed.

What’s that noise in the attic?  It sounds like somethings racing around up there!  If you’re losing sleep listening to scratching and running noises in your attic, it’s most likely because tree squirrels have moved in.  In urban and suburban areas, tree squirrels in NJ are difficult to control because of their great mobility and because people often encourage their presence by feeding them or providing nest boxes.  It is relatively easy to keep squirrels out of buildings, but keeping them out of a yard, garden or home can be challenging.

The detection of tree squirrels is fairly easy.  They are active during daylight hours and are highly visible.  They are acrobatic climbers and have excellent jumping abilities.  Anything you can do to make your garden less attractive to squirrels is helpful.  Trees that overhang roofs or that are close to telephone lines should be cut back to slow their movement around your yard.  If you have bird feeders in your yard, there are devices available to physically keep squirrels our of them.

Because they often travel on overhead telephone lines, power lines, and fence tops, they frequently find entrances at these heights.  Even a small opening in the rafters can work, as squirrels can enlarge the holes by gnawing.  In the absence of an obvious entrance, they will gnaw a hole to get into an attic.

Call on our squirrel exterminators in New Jersey to close those entry routes, because you never want to screen an animal inside a home or building, or separate a mom from her young.  Sheet metal or 1/4-inch wire hardware cloth is suitable material for closing entrances.  We can use screening to block all potential entrance sites such as small gaps under the eaves, overlapping roof sections, and knotholes, can prevent tree squirrel access to buildings.  One way to test whether any squirrels are left in the attic is to plug the entrance with a loose wad of newspaper; if any squirrels remain inside, they will remove the plug to get out.

No summer picnic would be complete without hamburgers, hot dogs and… blow flies in NJ.   They are regular (unwanted) guests at warm weather cookouts, especially when meat is on the menu.

Blow flies are a diverse group of flies ranging in size from 1/4-1/2 inch in length, and generally have a metallic sheen to their bodies.  They may be black, blue, coppery green, olive green, or bronze in color.  All adult blow flies have blunt mouth-parts and do not bite.

Blow fly larva, called maggots, feed on dead and decaying organic matter and help to break it down.  In addition to meats and flesh, they often infest wounds of sheep, deer, cattle, and other animals.  But, NJ flies can also be attracted to nectar, carrion, garbage, and other refuse.  Blow flies deposit eggs in wounds or on dead carcasses.  The fly larvae which soon hatch feed on decaying flesh or matted hair.  As a rule, blow fly larvae never attack healthy tissues.

As disgusting as all of this may sound, blow flies in New Jersey actually serve several useful purposes.  In nature, they help to facilitate decomposition, and are often the first to arrive at a crime scene.  If you’ve watched a prime time police drama in the last 10 years, you probably already know that blow flies have been successfully used by law enforcement to solve crimes.  By using the fly’s development along with climatologic data, police can determine the time-line of a crime.  Blow fly maggots have also been used successfully in medicine to clean out necrotic tissues of patients.

However useful, most  people do not want to see blow flies in their homes!  If you see blow flies in your home, it usually means that there is an animal carcass nearby.  Most likely, a mouse, rat, squirrel, bird or some other type of urban wildlife has died within your structure.  Perhaps, underneath your home in a crawl space, behind a wall void or in an attic space, blow flies are traveling to the carcass to break it down.

We are experts at eliminating blow flies and the urban wildlife and rodent pests which can attract them.  Be sure to call our fly exterminators at the first sign of flies in your home!

Fungus gnats in New Jersey occasionally become a nuisance indoors when adults emerge in large numbers from potted plants or flower boxes containing damp soil.  Adults are attracted to lights and are often mistaken for mosquitoes since adults look very similar to an untrained eye.  They are 1/8th to 1/10th inch long, black, slender, and delicate with long legs, antennae and one pair of wings.  They also have a prominent pointed abdomen.

Fungus Gnats reproduce in moist, shaded areas in decaying organic matter such as leaf litter.  The entire life cycle requires only four weeks at a room temperatures of approximately 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  It does not necessarily have to be an over-watered plant from which the Fungus Gnats emanate, they may appear in any area of high moisture that can signify a plumbing leak, a backed up gutter situation, or a standing water flat roof issue after a series of rains.  They feed on the molds and fungi growing in soils and soiled materials.  In a commercial business setting, the most common occurrence of Fungus Gnats is in a potted plant or plant bed that has been recently over-watered.  Too much water allows the molds and fungi to grow and secondarily encourages the growth of Fungus Gnats.

Larvae, which feed in soil high in organic matter, can injure the roots of bedding plants, African violets, cyclamens, poinsettias and foliage plants.  Larvae not only feed on fungi and decaying organic matter, but on living plant tissue, particularly the root hairs and small feeder roots.  Plant symptoms may appear as sudden wilting, loss of vigor, poor growth, yellowing and foliage loss.  NJ fungus gnats are harmless to humans and animals.

To prevent Fungus Gnat occurrence, always inspect plants carefully before purchasing them for any signs of insect infestations.  Over-watering, water leaks and poor drainage may result in a buildup of Fungus Gnats.  If you allow the soil to dry as much as possible between watering, this will kill most larvae effectively.  Houseplants taken outside during warm weather may become infested with insects before being brought back indoors.  Remove all old plant material and debris in and around your home.  Practice good sanitation.  If Fungus Gnats persist, call a gnat exterminator in NJ at TERMINATOR  for help.

Don’t be alarmed if you go into your basement looking for a rake this fall and, instead, find long, brown bugs climbing up your wall or on the floor.  You may be experiencing a millipede migration.  NJ millipedes often migrate in the fall especially after heavy rains or a sudden temperature drop.  And, if you live in a newly-developed neighborhood where they used to find refuge in old leaf litter and fallen logs, they many now seek out your home instead.

Millipedes in New Jersey are mostly a nuisance pest.  They do not damage or bite humans, but they can be annoying.  To get rid of millipedes indoors, you can simply vacuum them up.  But if they continue to find their way indoors you should contact a professional.

First, our millipede exterminators in NJ will identify all points of entry that millipedes can use to enter your home.  This means that door sweeps and screens need to be checked.  Exterior gaps, cracks and crevices should be inspected and sealed with caulk.   There should also be a three foot area around your home that is free of trees, shrubs or plants.  Anything you can do to reduce moisture near the home will help, so consider switching from wood mulch that holds moisture and attracts millipedes (and other pests) to pea-sized gravel instead.  Soil and mulch should be graded so that water drains away from your home’s foundation.  (This is a good piece of general anti-pest advice, as most pests are drawn to standing water and moisture!). For  a detailed inspection and solution to the this and other pest concerns, contact the professionals at TERMINATOR.

Stink bugs in New Jersey get their name because they smell really bad when they are crushed.  An adult brown marmorated stink bug is about three-quarters of an inch long, with a brown, marble-like exoskeleton covering its body.  The stink bug has become a nuisance pest both indoors and outdoors, especially on warm fall days when it searches for a protected place to spend the winter.  It will occasionally appear during warmer sunny periods throughout the winter and again in the spring months.  NJ stink bugs don’t harm humans and do not reproduce inside houses, but their unpleasant odor makes them a terrible house guest!

Mechanical exclusion is the best method to keep stink bugs from entering homes and buildings.  Typically, stink bugs will emerge from cracks under or behind baseboards, around window and door trim, and around exhaust fans or lights in ceilings.  Homeowners can seal these openings with caulk or other suitable materials to prevent the insects from crawling into the home.  Cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, behind chimneys, and underneath the wood fascia and other openings should be sealed with good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk.  Damaged screens on doors and window should be repaired or replaced.

For a thorough inspection and evaluation of an infestation contact a stinkbug exterminator in NJ at Terminator.

Lyme Disease is the most common thick-borne disease in North America. Most cases of Lyme Disease in the United States are in the eastern half of the country but there is a band of Lyme activity along the West Coast and there are several pockets in the Southwest, making it a nationwide concern.

The reservoir for Lyme is small mammals, specifically rodents. Ticks, primarily the blacklegged or deer tick, feed on deer and mice and the ticks transfer the microbe to humans. Research has shown that ticks must be attached for up to 24 hours before the disease can be transmitted to animals, including humans. Self examination is very important, since many ticks are small.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease in NJ may include a rash with a bulls-eye appearance, lethargy, lesions, and finally symptoms of chronic arthritis, especially in the knee joints. Treatment can be done through a regimen of antibiotics. While deaths do occur due to Lyme, treatment is generally successful.

To reduce the presence of all kinds of tricks in your yard, be sure to keep your grass cut short and your pets on veterinary-monitored tick preventatives. Do not encourage deer and other wildlife to travel in your yard. Ask Terminator to come out to inspect your yard for ticks and evidence of tick-infested urban wildlife. Terminator can help by making suggestions for trapping and removal of urban wildlife, and also for lawn treatments with materials specific for keeping ticks away.

Spring is the time to get the home ready for a season full of color and life. Homeowners everywhere are planting flowers cleaning the yard and enjoying the outdoors after what seemed like a long hibernation.

A simple step that could potentially save you large amounts of money is to be vigilant when you dig, look forinsects in NJ and have them identified by one of our professionals, as that little tiny worm you found may very well be a worker termite ready to begin eating away at your home causing thousands of dollars of structural damage with very little hints of its presence.

April showers bring May flowers and they also bring ravenous New Jersey insects.

Finally, it seems as though winter is all but over, at last. Now the work starts, getting your home ready for spring requires more than setting up the patio furniture. that are a few simple steps to take that will help in making your home less attractive to bugs in NJ. Below are a few.

• Move fire wood away from the foundation walls and elevate form ground.

• repair or replace leaky hose bibs as the ever present moisture will only increase the amount of NJ bugs.

• broken gutters and downspouts to be replaced or repaired.

• Trim vegetation away from foundation.

• identify poor drainage and make changes so that moisture moves away from foundation to help with New Jersey bugs.

Detecting and controlling termites is a job best suited for a professional. The first step is to have a termite specialist inspect the property and advise the best course of action for termite control of the structure as there some choices available when it comes to termite control solutions. A good set of experienced eyes can detect signs that may be overlooked. Below is a few possible signs.

Look for thin small ‘mud tubes ‘ along foundation walls.

Look for bubbled or disrupted painted wood surfaces.

Unexpected sagging of wooden members of support structures.

The best way is have one of our experts help with proper identification and solution.

Welcome all,
Just a quick note to welcome everyone to our new blog. We will try to provide interesting and relevant information on a regular basis. Please check back regularly for news and stories related to Pest Management and how it impacts our lifes.