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.

This Staph infection can cause the inflamed sores that many associate with spider and other insect bites. Most of the time, your immune system can handle these sores. But they can also land you in the hospital.

So, do not ignore any skin lesions that turn red and turn into an open sore.

And remember, your pets can pas this infection to you, and you can pass it to them.

Nature First is your natural choice when looking for organic green residential and commercial extermination of 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

The house mouse is well-adapted for living year-round in homes, food establishments and other structures. Homeowners are especially likely to notice mice during winter, following their fall migration indoors in search of warmth, food and shelter. Once mice become established inside a home, they can be extremely difficult to control.

The House Mouse originated in Asia and spread through Europe many centuries ago. In the 1500s, mice arrived on the ships of the explorers in what is now Florida and Latin America. They quickly spread to the northern shores of North America along with the English and French explorers, traders and colonists.

Although most people consider mice less objectionable than rats, mice are more common and cause significantly more damage. Mice are prolific breeders, producing six to ten litters continuously throughout the year. The greatest economic loss from mice is not due to how much they eat, but what must be thrown out because of damage or contamination. Food, clothing, furniture, books and many other household items are contaminated by their droppings and urine, or damaged by their gnawing. House mice gnaw through electrical wiring causing fires and failure of freezers, clothes dryers and other appliances. Mice also can transmit diseases, most notably salmonellosis (bacterial food poisoning) when food is contaminated with infected rodent feces. Other diseases include rickettsialpox, lymphocytic choriomenigitis, leptospirisis, ratbite fever, tularemia, Lyme disease and dermatitis caused by the bites of mites from the mice. Hantavirus (pulmonary syndrome) is another danger becoming more common.

Mice are nocturnal creatures and are rarely seen by the homeowner. The most obvious indicators of their presence are droppings (1/8 to 1.2 inches long, dark and pointed at both ends), sounds of them running, gnawing or squeaking, or damage to stored food or materials for nesting. Highly curious, mice explore their territory daily, paying special attention to new items or physical changes in their home range. Unlike rats, mice show no aversion to new objects.

Compared to rats, mice forage only short distances from their nest, usually not more than 10 to 25 feet. When food and shelter are adequate, their foraging range may be only a few feet. For this reason, traps and other control devices must be placed in areas where mouse activity is most apparent. Mice prefer to travel adjacent to walls and other edges- another critical point to remember when positioning control devices. Mice seem to prefer cereal grains and seeds in their feeding. They are sporadic in their feeding, particularly when there are many food sources available. In these situations, mice may make 20 to 30 visits to different food sites each night, taking as little as 0.15 gram of food at each site. Sites may vary from night to night, but certain sites where the mouse feels safe are nightly favorites. When food sources are limited, mice may visit the source 200 or more times per night, but only 20 milligrams may be taken during each visit. In all, the average mouse will consume only 3 to 4 grams or about 1/10th of an ounce, of food per night.

Nature First Pest Control uses no baits for mouse control. Nature First Pest Control finds and blocks the entry points. We then use traps to eliminate the remaining mice. Our Green methods are safe, non toxic, and effective, guaranteed.

If you live in Tualatin, Tigard, Beaverton, or the greater Portland Oregon area, give us a call.

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

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

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

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.

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.

At Nature First Pest Control we work hard to avoid exterminating the good insects that help pollinate our food plants.

See this video in our Video Library.

Nature First Pest Control can help you with all your bee, and other pest control needs with Natural, Safe  pest control methods in Portland Oregon and the surrounding areas.

Nature First Pest Control recently had a call about carpenter ants appearing in a Beaverton homeowners bathroom and else where. So we decided to take along the video camera and get some footage for you all to see as we went about a Green ant control service call.

We have the knowledge and the skills to provide you the best natural ant & other pest control and extermination in Portland Oregon and the surrounding areas.