Good Night Sleep Tight...Don't let the BED BUGS bite!

Bed bugs are increasingly becoming a problem within residences of all kinds, including homes, apartments, hotels, cruise ships, dormitories and shelters.



What is a bed bug?
Bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bed bugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites. Certain kinds inhabit bird nests and bat roosts and await the return of their hosts; others have adapted well to living in the homes of people.


Hatchling bed bugs are about the size of a poppy seed, and adults are about 1/4 of an inch in length. From above they are oval in shape, but are flattened from top to bottom.

Their color ranges from nearly white (just after molting) or a light tan to a deep brown or burnt orange. The host’s blood may appear as a dark red or black mass within the bug’s body. Because they never develop wings, bed bugs cannot fly.

When disturbed, bed bugs actively seek shelter in dark cracks and crevices. Cast skins of bed bugs are sometimes discovered. Although such a finding confirms that bed bugs had been present previously, it does not confirm that any continue to infest the residence. Thus, inspect carefully for live crawling bed bugs. Because many other kinds of small brown bugs may be discovered, it is critical to ensure that the bugs are correctly identified.


Where bed bugs occur....
They are most abundant in rooms where people sleep, and they generally hide nearest the bed or other furniture used for sleeping. Bed bugs are most active in the middle of the night, but when hungry, they will venture out during the day to seek a host. Their flattened bodies allow them to conceal themselves in cracks and crevices around the room and within furniture. Favored hiding sites include the bed frame, mattress and box spring. Clutter around the room offers additional sites for these bugs to hide, and increases the difficulty in eliminating bed bugs once they have become established.


How bed bugs invade a home...
Because bed bugs readily hide in small crevices, they may accompany (as stowaways) luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, boxes, and other such objects when these are moved between apartments, homes and hotels. Used furniture, particularly bed frames and mattresses, are of greatest risk of harboring bed bugs and their eggs. Thus, one should carefully scrutinize and consider the history of any used furniture, particularly ‘street’ items so plentiful at the beginning and end of each academic year. Because they readily survive for many months without feeding, bed bugs may already be present in apparently ‘vacant’ and ‘clean’ apartments. Bed bugs can wander between adjoining apartments through voids in walls and holes though which wires and pipes pass.


Once you have confirmed the presence of bed bugs, call a professional. They will be able to help you devise the best and most effective plan to rid your home of bed bugs. If you would like more information on bed bugs, please call Swat Pest Management at 812-476-9708.

The Deadly Brown Recluse

This spider lives in dark corners and places inside the houses, and also under the furniture, boxes and books. It has a rather shy and nonaggressive behavior, although occasionally the Brown Recluse Spider bites human because they share the same habitat.

Bites do occur, but only when the spider is disturbed, accidentally touched, and when putting on seldom used clothing and shoes where the Brown Recluse Spider has decided to live on.

Its web is loose and irregular, yet made of a very sticky thread. It is only built as a daytime retreat, and as an egg holder.

This arachnid prefers undisturbed places, so the Brown Recluse Spider usually bites the human when it is found caught between a body part and another surface; for example, when the children are playing under house furniture such as beds, tables or in the garage. Also bites happen while a sleeping human rolls in their bed where the Brown Recluse Spider has climbed, or when dressing with clothes or shoes where the spider has hid itself.

The brown recluse spider lives inside the home and also at the house surroundings. Inside the home, the arachnid lives in dark places, such as cracks, corners, seldom used clothes, curtains and inside the furniture. Yet it is very common that a spider gets trapped in the shower or bathtub because of the smooth surface. There have been lots of cases of legs that were bitten while the victim was having a bath. Outdoors, the brown recluse spider is usually located underneath rocks or within hollow wood.

Warning: If you live in zones where the brown recluse spider lives, you must take care when manipulating objects belonging to the garden, such as boxes, piles of wood, pots, etc. The use of gloves is always recommended.

For mor information on the Brown Recluse, pleas call Swat Pest Management at 812-476-9708 - We look forward to serving you!

Back to the Earth - Mold, Fungus, and Rot

Mold has become a big issue is recent years. It is the subject of lawsuits, a terror to builders, the subject of newspaper articles, the reason for school closings, and the growth of a "new" industry - MOLD TESTING and REMEDIATION. With all the recent talk about mold, you may think it's a new complex issue. Mold is not complex, but rather a very simple issue.

Mold has a purpose. It's purpose is to breakdown organic matter. Without mold, dead plant and animal material would just pile up all over the place. If it's dead, organic, and wet, mold knows how to eat it. Mold sends out its spores which may lay dormant for years. When something dead, organic, and wet comes along mold grows on it and eats it.

Mold spores are everywhere, in our building materials, in our furniture, and even in our clothes, this factor cannot be controlled. The only one we can control in our homes is the moisture. Mold likes processed organic materials best - it will grow on paper and cardboard first. Paper is like candy for mold. Fiberboard, chipboard, and plywood come next and finally framing lumber. Sheetrock has paper on it and mold loves sheet rock as well. One thing's for sure; mold growing in your house is not good. It's not only bad for your health, it's just as bad for your home. By not fixing your dirt crawl space, over the life of the house, you are paying many times more than it costs to fix now.

There are really only 4 steps to totally eliminating the dirt crawl space from having negative effects on the rest of the house.

1- Fix any water leakage (if there is any)

2- Isolate the house from the earth. What better way to do that than the Healthy Spaces crawl space encapsulation system?

3- Seal the vents and other outside air leaks

4- Dehumidify your crawl space air.

For more information on fixing your dirt crawlspace or mold remediation call Healthy Spaces by Swat Pest TODAY at 812-476-9708

Don't confuse NATURAL with GREEN

With everyone talking about going Green, our choices can be very confusing. There are plenty of options on the market today with the label Green, but which one is right for you and your family?

As of right now, there are only a handful of groups that are actually regulating what it means to be Green. As always, we at SWAT PEST MANAGEMENT have taken the initiative to help lead our industry in the right direction. Staying on the cutting edge of technology, we have spent countless hours researching and testing what are the best choices to protect not only your family, but our environment as well.

We have several different treatment options for any and all of your pest control needs.

1. EcoEXEMPT IC2: is an all natural substance made from oils such as rosemary, wintergreen, and peppermint. Unlike chemical pesticides EcoEXEMPT IC2 leaves behind a softer botanical scent.

2. EcoEXEMPT JET: For use on all flying/stinging insects. Its quick knockdown action will drop hornets and wasps in seconds after being treated. Its active ingredients contain 3% Rosemary oil to give it a softer scent than related products on the market.

3. EcoEXEMPT KO: This flushing agent will not only provide a good knock down ratio, but also remove pests from had to reach areas. Its active ingredient, Eugenol is derived from clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bay leaves. Like all of the EcoEXEMPT and EcoPCO products is compliant with the National Organic Program (NOP)

4. EcoPCO AR X: Unscented with a fast knock down / kill. It has a strong flushing action. This product is great for residual protection.

5. EcoPCO ACU: Unscented with a fast knock down. It has a strong flushing action without bait contamination. Ideal alternative for those with reactions to pyrethrins.

For more information on "Going Green" with Swat Pest Management give us a call at (812)476-9708. We look forward to serving you.

Trouble in Paradise...

You can't tell from here that the crawlspace in this home is costing its owners extra money in heating and cooling costs and is rotting the house from the inside out... all because of a dirt crawlspace.

On paper, in theory and in reality, exposed earth contributes a lot of water vapor into crawl space air. The earth is damp, and as that damp soil dries into the house, the water vapor moves upward into the house. In most climates where there are dirt crawl spaces, you can never dry the earth, and this invisible stream of water vapor from the exposed earth in a crawl space goes on forever.

There are several other ways water gets in a house. Groundwater seeps, leaks, and even rushes into many crawl spaces. It enters under the footing and the walls, right through the block walls, and through cracks in poured walls. After it seeps in, it just lays there in puddles, slowly evaporating upward into the house.

Many homeowners know their crawl space is nasty, so they never go down there. They shut it out of their "places often visited in my house" list, and say "Hey if I don't go down there, what do I care? Right?" Well we say "Wrong. Very wrong"

Moisture inside your crawl space is bad for whats in your home.

The following is a list a a few negative effects of a wet or damp crawl space:

1. Dust mites (the #1 indoor allergen)
2. Sticking (swollen) doors and windows
3. Smelly damp carpets
4. Buckling hardwood floors
5. Condensation/rotting/mold in your attic
6. Frost or condensation and mold on the inside of windows in cold weather
7. Increased cooling bills
8. Increased heating bills
9. Mold upstairs
10. Decreased life of roof sheathing and shingles
11. Decreased life of the paint on the outside of your house
12. Aggravated asthma and allergies.

The damage in the crawl space itself is obvious. The above list represents many of the effects that can happen on the main level and upstairs that you may not associate with your wet or damp crawl space.

For more information on damp/wet crawl space, call one of our experts today at Healthy Spaces by Swat Pest...812-476-9708

What Makes Killer Bees Different?

Africanized or Killer Bees:
1- Tend to swarm more frequently.
2- Are more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply.
3- Are more likely to "abscond"—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to stress.
4- Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm.
5- Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types.
6- Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive.
7- Has a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive.
8- Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive.
9- Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing introduction into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers.

Africanized Honey Bees and European Honey Bees may be similar in appearance, but not in behavior. Africanized Honey Bees will attack when unprovoked, and they respond rapidly and in large numbers to disturbances that European Honey Bees would ignore. Like European Honey Bees, Africanized Honey Bees can sting only once; they deliver a venom identical to that of European Honey Bees. Both types of bee die shortly after leaving their stings and ends of their abdomen in their victim.

Current Distribution: The Africanized Honey Bee has spread over South and Central America through Mexico and into the United States. Africanized Honey Bees continue the northward expansion of their territories by swarming, the process by which bee colonies replicate. The spread rate has been about 200 miles a year.


-frequent swarming to establish new nests
-minimal hoarding of honey
-the ability to survive on sparse supplies of pollen and nectar
-moving their entire colony readily (abscond) if food is scarce
-exploiting new habitats very quickly and is not particular about its nesting site.
-a highly defensive nature
-responding more quickly and more bees sting
-sensing a threat from people or animals 50 feet or more from their nest
-sensing vibrations from power equipment 100 feet or more from nest
-pursuing a perceived enemy 1/4 mile or more


For more information on this pest and many other pests - Call Swat Pest Management today at 812-476-9708

Powderpost Beetles

The powder post beetles include wood boring beetles of at least three families, the Lyctidae or true powder post beetles, the Anobiidae or deathwatch beetles, and the Bostrichidae or branch and twig borers (sometimes called false powder post beetles).

The larvae of these beetles feed on cellulose in wood, and they can cause extensive damage to wood in structures and homes if conditions are suitable to them. Moisture plays a key role in attack from these insects. Losses are often heaviest in warm humid climates, but some species occur throughout the United States. In their feeding they reduce the wood to a fine powder, not unlike talcum powder in consistency. Holes left by emerging beetles are about 1/8 inch in diameter and round. They are sometimes called "shot holes."
A tool such as an awl can be helpful in determining the extent of damage. If the awl pokes in easily and deeply, the wood may be severely damaged.

Life Cycle

Eggs are deposited in cracks, crevices, pores or old emergence holes in wood, or in tunnels made by the females. A tiny larva hatches from an egg and burrows into the wood. It continues feeding and growing to maturity, when it burrows toward the surface and pupates. The adult emerges from the pupa and continues the tunnel to the surface. Adults leave the wood, mate, and then the females return to lay eggs. Exit holes and sawdust from beetles burrowing out are often the first symptom noticed.
Depending on the type of powder post beetle and the species, the life cycle may range from 3 months to 2 or more years. Some species are specific as to the types of wood they infest, while others are general feeders. However, they usually are either hardwood feeders, or softwood (conifer) feeders.

Management

The first step to management is determining if there is an active infestation, or if you are seeing old damage. In an active infestation, look for borings accumulating in piles near holes or on the floor below, beetles crawling on the wood, or you may hear a ticking sound that is made by some larvae. If there is no active infestation, treatment is not needed.
For small infestations, removal of the infested item or replacement of infested wood may be all that is needed. In moist areas, pressure treated wood should be used.

If you have a severe infestation, professional control may be necessary. It may also be necessary when the infestation is very widespread, or is hidden behind paneled or plaster walls, or in other hard to reach places. If wood is badly damaged and its structural strength is impaired, it should be replaced. Fumigation may be necessary in some cases, either for individual pieces of furniture or an entire structure. Many pest control firms have fumigation facilities for items such as furniture.
Where excess moisture is a problem, all efforts to correct the cause should be undertaken. It does, however, take wood a long time to dry out, and reducing moisture may not be enough to completely control powder post beetle infestations.
Some powder post beetles lay their eggs in the pores of unfinished hardwood. Hardwood items are often finished with paint, shellac, varnish, sealer or wax and are therefore safe unless some bare wood is left exposed. If you find beetles emerging from finished hardwood, the infestation was most likely there before the wood was finished. Applying finish to wood can help deter infestations because the beetles are not able to deposit eggs on finished surfaces. However, if beetles are emerging from a piece of finished furniture or wood, the exit holes provide spaces for females to lay eggs again.
For small items, freezing or heating may offer a possible solution. CAUTION: Heating or freezing may have detrimental effects on some finishes. Placing small items in a deep freeze for 4 days or longer should kill larvae and eggs. A refrigerator freezer does not get the temperature low enough to give control. Heating in an oven until the internal temperature reach 120° F and keeping them at this temperature for 30 minutes also will control eggs and larvae.
Exposed wood under crawl spaces may be infested by beetles flying into the area and ovipositing on the wood. Where damage is severe, replace with pressure treated wood.
Species attacking softwoods or hardwoods indoors are usually brought into the house in wood or furniture which contains eggs or larvae. Remember the beetles attack either hardwoods or softwoods, but not both.

For more information, please call Swat Pest Management at 812-476-9708

Silverfish

Silverfish are always wingless and are silvery to brown in color because their bodies are covered with fine scales. They are generally soft bodied. Adults are up to 3/4 inch long, flattened from top to bottom, elongated and oval in shape, have three long tail projections and two long antennae.

Silverfish are chewing insects and general feeders but prefer carbohydrates and protein, including flour, dried meat, rolled oats, paper and even glue. They and can survive long periods, sometimes over a year, without food but are sensitive to moisture and require a high humidity (75% to 90%) to survive. They also have a temperature preference between 70 and 80 degrees F. They are fast running and mostly active at night and generally prefer lower levels in homes, but may be found in attics.

Primarily a nuisance pest inside the home or buildings; can contaminate food, damage paper goods and stain clothing; medically harmless. Many of their habits are similar to cockroaches and they appear to be more common as household pests in drier parts of the state. Occasionally damage book bindings, curtains, wallpaper.

For more information on this and other pests, please visit our website at http://www.swatpest.com/ or feel free to give us a call at 812-476-9708

German Cockroaches...The cockroach of CONCERN

The German cockroach is the cockroach of concern, the species that gives all other cockroaches a bad name. It occurs in structures throughout the United States, and is the species that typically plagues multifamily dwellings.

The German cockroach is found throughout the world in association with humans. They are unable to survive in locations away from humans or human activity. The major factor limiting German cockroach survival appears to be cold temperatures. Studies have shown that German cockroaches were unable to colonize inactive ships during cool temperatures and could not survive in homes without central heating in northern climates. The availability of water, food, and harborage also govern the ability of German cockroaches to establish populations, and limit growth.

The German cockroach has three life stages typical of insects with incomplete metamorphosis: the egg, nymph, and adult. The entire life cycle is completed in about 100 days. However, factors such as temperature, nutritional status, and strain differences may influence the time required to complete a life cycle. German cockroaches breed continuously with many overlapping generations present at any one time. Under ideal conditions, population growth has been shown to be exponential. Actively growing field populations are comprised of 80 percent nymphs and 20 percent adults. The German cockroach is omnivorous, eating table scraps, pet food, and even book bindings.

German cockroaches adulterate food or food products with their feces and defensive secretions, physically transport and often harbor pathogenic organisms, may cause severe allergic responses, and in extremely heavy infestations have been reported to bite humans and feed on food residues on the faces of sleeping humans. In addition, some scientists suggest that German cockroach infestations may cause human psychological stress and that the stigma associated with infestations alters human behavior. For example, people with infested houses do less entertaining, and avoid the kitchen at night for fear of encountering a cockroach.

If you would like more information on these and many other pests please visit our website at http://www.swatpest.com/, or give us a call at 812-476-9708...We look forward to serving you.

Emerald Ash Borer Beetle

The Emerald Ash Borer is changing the face of Indiana by destroying it's ash trees. Below you will find information on what to look for to determine if you have an Emerald Ash Borer infestation.

What to look for:

1 - Dieback of leaves that begins in the upper third of the tree and progresses downward over time.

2 - Vertical splits in the tree's bark.

3 - D-shaped exit holes that are only 1/8 inch wide found in the tree’s bark on the limbs and trunk, the result of the emergence of newly formed adults.

4 - S-shaped channels found under the tree’s bark caused by larval feeding.

5 - Heavy woodpecker activity that is especially noticeable during winter months

6 - Water sprouts that appear at the tree's trunk.

7 - Worm-like larvae (immatures) found under the tree’s bark that can grow up to 1-inch long.

The Identification of an Emerald Ash Borer

Adult beetles are bright metallic green in color. Adults are one third inch long and one sixteenth inch wide. They have rounded abdomens and flat backs and are present from mid-May through late July.

Larvae are creamy white and have flattened, segmented bodies. Older larvae grow up to an inch long. They feed under ash tree bark from mid-summer through spring, damaging the ash tree’s vascular tissue.

Please call Swat Pest Management if you have any questions regarding the Emerald Ash Borer or any other pest control issue. We look forward to serving you! Call today - 812-476-9708