Archive for the ‘Other Pests’ Category

The Yellow Jackets you may see in your house in the middle of the winter are the Queens that were hatched out last fall. The entire nest that this wasp came from died shortly after the dispersal of the new Queens. This is the life pattern of most of the yellow jacket species.

Queens winter over and begin new nests by themselves each spring. These Queens almost never build a new nest near an old nest.

From time to time in the winter, they wake up and wander around. These wasps are very sluggish. If you leave them alone they will try to find a new place to go back to sleep. Sometimes that place could be in your bed or clothes.

The best way to deal with these pests is to suck them up with a vacuum. The vac kills them nicely. Don’t bother to do expensive treatments, organic or otherwise. There are not very many and the vac is your best green solution.

 

 

 

Your natural choice when looking for organic green residential and commercial Pest Controls for Ants, Rodents, Wasps, Hornets, Spiders, Grain Beetles, Bats, and more. We need no ‘long term contracts’ to be the elimination experts. Serving Portland, Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Oregon City, Forrest Grove, Portland, and all of Washington and Multnomah Counties.

House or English sparrows

House sparrows were introduced from England into the United States in 1850. There are many naturally occurring species of sparrows also in the U.S. but they are not considered pests.

House sparrows have been implicated in the transmission of more than 25 diseases to humans and domestic animals including psittacosis, salmonellosis and several forms of encephalitis.

The house sparrow is a small but stocky bird 5.5 to 6.5 inches in length. The male can be distinguished from all common native sparrows by its black throat and upper breast and ash gray crown as well as a chestnut colored cape extending from the eyes along the side and back of the neck.

House sparrows are a social bird, nesting closely to one another and flying and feeding in small flocks. Nests of almost any easily obtained material are built on almost any conceivable elevated place.

Sparrows raise at least two and up to five broods per year. Three to eight eggs are laid per clutch taking an average of two weeks to hatch. The annual mortality rate of mature house sparrows has been calculated at 54%.

Sparrows feed on a wide variety of cereals and seeds and their diet includes young seedlings, buds and flowers and small soft fruits. The house sparrow has become almost dependent on humans for both food sources and nesting sites.

In addition to messy nests and the contamination and defacement caused by droppings, sparrows damage soft insulation in warehouses and in livestock raising facilities. Their nests have been known to cause short circuits and fires.

House Sparrows also carry bird lice which can bite humans.

Nature First Pest Control does not do Sparrow Control,. However, we can recommend several good companies.

 

Your natural choice when looking for organic green residential and commercial Pest Controls for Ants, Rodents, Wasps, Hornets, Spiders, Grain Beetles, Bats, and more. We need no ‘long term contracts’ to be the elimination experts. Serving Portland, Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Oregon City, Forrest Grove, Portland, and all of Washington and Multnomah counties

When asked about Bed Bug Prevention, and I give these suggestions.

Greet your traveling family member in your garage with a bath robe. Tell them to strip and put their clothing immediately in the washing machine. or bag it up for the dry cleaners.

Set the luggage outside and take everything out. Get a can of pest spray and spray the inside of the luggage or get some pest strips, put them in the luggage, and leave it outside for 24 hours.

Put electronics, toiletry cases and alarm clocks and wool clothing in a garbage bag with a few mothballs or pest strips. Most professionals use Nuvan Pro Strips. Leave them in the tightly sealed bag or the luggage for several days.

Some folks put pest strips in their luggage to use when they travel.

Many  of my clients do not care how ‘Natural” a treatment is when It comes to Bed Bugs.

 

 

Your natural choice when looking for organic green residential and commercial Pest Controls for Ants, Rodents, Wasps, Hornets, Spiders, Grain Beetles, Bats, and more. We need no ‘long term contracts’ to be the elimination experts. Serving Portland, Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Oregon City, Forrest Grove, Portland, and all of Washington and Multnomah counties

I took these notes at a recent Bed Bug seminar held in Tualatin Or. The following is a list of ‘facts’

Bed bugs bite between Midnight and 5 a.m.

They will travel many yards.

Bed bugs feed every three to seven days.

Bed bugs are stimulated to search for hosts by the rise in CO/2 in a room.

Bed bugs must be inches away to sense body heat.

The exact method they use to find a host is unknown.

Bed bugs do not feed in lines and they do not bite in threes.

Bed bugs feed for five to ten minutes, then leave quickly.

A  Bed bug can live for seventy days at room temperature.

In optimal conditions, the population doubles every sixteen days.

It takes two to three days to have bites show up.

Typically, there is no blood left on the bedding.

Some non toxic treatment methods are:

Diatomacous earth dust,

Anti climbing device for your bed legs,

Slow Low pressure steam treatment,

A GOOD mattress encasement is mandatory.

 

Nature First Pest Control does not do Bed bug treatments at this time.

We Service all other pests in Tualatin, Tigard,  Beaverton, Greater Portland,

Hillsboro and Gresham

The following tips are based on Randy’s 20 years of experience and are presented here only as a homeowners guide.

Nature First Pest Control does not do mole trapping at this time.

There are five different species of moles in Oregon.

The most common and troublesome species in the Willamette Valley and Beaverton is the Townsend Mole.

Mole Facts:

The Townsend mole is the largest and most common species found in this area.

Moles are very territorial and defend large territories.  You usually do not have as many as you think in the Beaverton and Tigard areas.

Moles follow and eat earthworms. Worms go up and down in the soil based on the moisture supply. When the worms go deep in the late summer due to lack of rain, we see many more mounds than in the spring.  The moles have a much harder time digging in the deeper soil and must move more dirt up to the surface to make their tunnels. You can bring the moles up to the surface (thereby causing them to make fewer mounds) by watering the lawn. This watering will also attract more moles. Trapping moles is much easier when they are working just under the surface.

Moles are not rodents. There are in a separate classification of mammals.

Moles live on earth worms and grubs, they do not eat plants.

If you have a dead lawn with no insect life (no worms), you will not have moles. Many companies offer this toxic solution, however we do not offer chemical lawn treatments.

Moles can run in their tunnels faster than you can walk.

Mole skin is unusual because the hair has no ‘set or grain”. It can be brushed in any direction with equal smoothness. This fur has been used for centuries to cushion injuries caused by rubbing and friction, such as a blister on your foot.

Moles have  ‘Main’  tunnels and ‘feeding’  tunnels, and you need to be able to tell the difference to catch them.

Moles make sounds when courting.

Moles can hear you talking and walking.

Moles have a large amount of hemoglobin in their blood. This makes them very susceptible to bleeding to death from a small injury. On the other hand, they can breath when advancing through the dirt. This ability allows them to avoid most attempts to gas them in their holes.

Moles have good eyesight and will travel above ground at night.

Nature First Pest Control believes that the Organic, ecologically friendly and natural way to control moles is with traps.

Exterminators and Pest Control companies in Beaverton and Tigard Oregon received more flea complaints this year than the last four years combined.

With the new awareness of Bed Bugs, comes increased  concern about bumps, bites, and welts on the skin, especially those found upon arising in the morning.

There are typically two reactions to flea bites. Some folks get no reaction at all to either Fleas or Bed Bugs. And some folks are made miserable with redness and itching.

As a Pest Control Company we suspect that there may be a connection between the increased numbers of coyotes, raccoons and opossums in Beaverton and Tigard and the increased flea problems with our pets this year.

How do you know if you have fleas or bed bugs or something else that needs to be exterminated?

As a Pest Control company, we always take our shoes off to enter a suspected flea infested home.  With white socks on, we slowly walk around the home looking for fleas to jump onto the white socks. If there are even a few fleas present on the floors, you will clearly see them jump onto the white socks. We tell our clients in Beaverton and Tigard to do the same thing and spend extra time near the pet or infants bedding and play areas.

This method of finding the fleas may help you decide if you need to call Nature First Pest Control.

When you call Nature First Pest Control, we  will offer several treatment options. A residual spray or a non residual spray. In either case, we always educate out clients about ways to prevent future infestations.

Throwing the cat or dog out of the house is often the worst thing to do.

Please feel free to call, if only for more tips.

Many people often wonder why they have cockroaches in their brand new home. They know it was just built and that it should really be pest free but this is often not the case.

Cockroaches and other insect infestation are a common problem in new homes because of the development of the land around the community. Workers and their eating habits also contribute to cockroach infestation of new homes. This is because workers often leave open containers of trash and left over food through out the house during the various construction phases.

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The Importance of Cockroach Control

The technicians, researchers and everyone else involved in cockroach control need to care and not be satisfied with anything less than total elimination. (3/3/2008) Austin Frishman

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Grain beetles, Grain wevils, as well as moths and their larvae are frequent pantry pests. You usually get them from the grocery store. They thrive in pet food, and bulk foods. Some of them can chew through some of the plastic wrappings. There are non toxic methods of getting rid of them, including freezing, repackaging and vaccuming and certain traps.

Your natural organic residential and commercial Ant, Rodent, Wasp, Hornet, Grain Beetle, Bats, and more. Pest Control and elimination experts. Serving Portland Oregon and the surrounding areas.

Nature First Pest Control

Telephone
503-579-3680