Some pests however might appear to be dormant because you can’t see them, but they are actually up to their sneaky ways and attacking New Jersey homes in massive quantities.  Termites are a year-round pest that is found throughout the United States report NJ Pest Control professionals.  The eastern subterranean termite causes the most damage to homes in the United States each year.

Eastern subterranean termite colonies can range from 60,000 to over a million termites.  More than 600,000 homes in the United States will suffer significant structural damage each year because of these pests.  Over $5 billion will be spent on the property damage caused by subterranean termites, of which, not a penny will be reimbursed by any insurance company!

The subterranean termite is the only termite that you will find in New Jersey.  As the warmer days return to New Jersey, termite activity becomes more noticeable.  Termites will typically be found swarming in New Jersey on a warm day just after a rain fall.  Termites are not good flyers.  Once they reach the surface, the winged reproductives take flight and drift with the wind.  After finding a mate, they land, drop their wings and begin their trek underground to develop a new termite colony.  Termite swarms can number into the thousands.  Thankfully, some termites fall victim to birds and other prey during the swarming process.

Termites are not a do-it-yourself type of pest.  They will attack your home quietly causing extensive and expensive structural damage.  Allison Pest Control offers expert termite pest control services in New Jersey.  Call us today for service in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex Counties.

Bed bugs are patient bloodsuckers that will abstain from a blood meal for over a year if need be.  Their tiny stature allows them to hide in a variety of locations, not only the bedding material.  Bed bug fecal matter, blood stains, shed skins, and live or dead bed bugs are a sign of a bed bug infestation.

Once a bed bug infestation is established, people often discover that it can take a great deal of time to rid their home of the infestation, depending on the severity of the problem.  Bed bug infestations often require a combination of efforts to stop the bloodsuckers in their tracks.  Successful elimination of the pests often includes special pesticides, monitors, vacuuming, heat treatment, and freezing treatment.  Covering the mattress and box spring with a special bed bug bite-proof mattress encasement will trap any live bed bugs and their eggs.  The lack of seams and crevices prohibits any existing bed bugs in the home from being able to make a nest on the mattress that is covered in these special mattress encasements.

New Jersey residents, and those throughout the United States, should be mindful of picking up bed bugs at all times.  It is recommended by New Jersey pest control professionals that you contact a licensed pest control professional at the first sign of any bed bugs instead of trying to treat the bloodsuckers on your own.

The Timesunion.com reported on February 2, 2012 that the director of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority in New York cancelled the pest control contract in the summer of 2009 for the Stonequist Apartments.  The exterminator claims that the contract was previously in place for 25 years during which time he provided monthly pest control protection for cockroaches, ants, bed bugs and other types of insects.  The contract was cancelled by the director of the Housing Authority because he thought that the monthly fee could be better spent elsewhere.  The residents of the 176 unit apartment building have leases that include monthly pest control services.  Many tenants are upset because bed bugs are raging out-of-control in their building, yet until the media began to investigate this issue at Stonequist, nothing was done to eradicate the little vampires.  You may read the article here.

Without a doubt, if a bed bug infestation is found in the early stages of development and nipped in the bud, than the cost of eradication is lessened.  Allowing bed bugs to spread, either by ignoring the problem, or by not knowing the bugs are present will cause the infestation to grow out-of-control in a very short period of time.

It is critical that any home or business owner engage in hiring a licensed pest control professional at the first sign of a bed bug infestation so that treatment can commence quickly.  Allison Pest Control provides expert bed bug removal services in Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey.

Some ant species are attracted to sugary substances and others are attracted to protein substances.  All ant species need a good source of moisture to survive as well.  You will often find invading ants in the kitchen area because of the ample supply of food tidbits that are available.

Most do-it-yourself type ant baits that you will find will leave you wishing for a better treatment option.  Spraying the trails of invading ants may seem like victory, but in the temporary remedy of killing those surface ants often times makes the ant infestation worsen when the rest of the invaders split up to set up many satellite colonies.  So instead of one nest that you are dealing with, you now have many nests to deal with.

The most common ant species that you will find in New Jersey are carpenter ants, the Pharaoh ants, odorous house ants, and pavement ants.  Each of these types of ant species can be found nesting outdoors in the soil, tree stumps, bushes, leaf litter, mulch, and other moist locations.  It is not uncommon for them to enter a structure when they discover a new food source that suits their fancy.

Hiring a New Jersey pest control professional is the fastest way to get rid of all types of ant home and business invaders.  Experienced pest management technicians are trained to thoroughly inspect and then provide chemical methods to control any ants that have made their way into your living space.

In Ohio, many cities, both large and small, have been plagued with bed bug infestations.  In 2011, both Terminix and Orkin, which provide nationwide pest control services to homes and business, listed 3 Ohio cities on their Top 10 Most Bed Bug Infested Cities.

Cincinnati.com reported on January 29, 2012 that two men were having an argument on Saturday night over bed bugs in Hamilton County, Ohio.  The verbal altercation escalated and ended when one man used a kitchen knife to stab the other in his stomach and back area!  This unbelievable act of violence is an indication of how stressful dealing with these particular pests can be.   You may read the article here.

This report of excessive violence is an extreme example of a frustrated person dealing with a bed bug infestation.  Many people choose to hire a pest control professional to eradicate the pests because they are extremely difficult to get rid of on their own. 

Knowing how to recognize the signs of a bed bug infestation in the early stages will help you combat the bugs quickly.  Hiring a New Jersey pest control professional that has experience with bed bug removal services is the key to successfully eliminating bed bugs from your home or business.

All levels and types of schools are quite susceptible to having a bed bug infestation, despite what some people may think.  Bed bugs are master hitchhikers that will easily hitch a ride into a school via a coat, hat, gloves, textbooks, notebooks, backpacks, or even the very clothing that a person is wearing to school.

WYMT TV reported on January 26, 2012 that a teacher first found a bed bug last month at the Hunter Hills Elementary School in Kentucky.  Since the discovery of the first bloodsucker at the school, “other bugs have been found in isolated areas which prompted school officials to take precaution and alert parents.”  There was no mention of the school in question utilizing the services of a licensed pest control company to eradicate the “isolated areas” where the bed bugs had been found.  You may read the article here.

School administrators often state incorrectly that schools are not a hospitable environment for bed bug infestations to continue to thrive.  Schools are hospitable for a number of reasons…

• Bed bugs are able to abstain from eating for over a year so they are not affected by long summer, winter, or spring break sessions.

• Bed bugs thrive in cluttered filled environments. Classrooms and administrative offices with stacks of paperwork provide the perfect hiding places for bed bugs to lurk.

• Bed bugs can survive in school lockers which are often shared by students in elementary school grades.  It is not uncommon for students to unexpectedly bring bed bugs home with them because of the shared space.

• Just like in the home environment, bed bugs will live inside school walls and pass from classroom to classroom via electrical wires, plumbing, or cable wires.

• Bed bugs feed solely on blood, which is vastly available when students and schools staff members occupy a school.

• In a college environment, students often visit different dorm rooms, off-campus apartments, make frequent trips back and forth home, and spend time in the student lounge.  Because of the transient nature of college life, students are likely to encounter bed bugs at some point in time.

Any child or adult can bring bed bugs home from school at any time.  Educating yourself about what bed bugs look like, how to find bed bugs, and what their habits are is the first step in avoiding being a victim to bloodsucking bed bugs.  If you are battling bed bugs in New Jersey, contact Allison Pest Control. Our technicians are experts at bed bug eradication services.

Who wouldn’t get the heebie-jeebies’ when they think about these bugs?  Each of these types of insects and many others cause some people to have some level of anxiety, but bed bugs in particular tend to be the worst offender to the psyche.

According to a report published by MedPage Today on May 15, 2011, a small study was conducted on ten people who either had bed bugs in their home or believed that they had bed bugs in their home.  The results of the study were presented at the American Psychiatric Association meeting and are considered to be “preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal”.

The study revealed that bed bugs did indeed cause heightened levels of “anxiety, depression, and relapse of controlled bipolar disorder.”  Other people in the study were “diagnosed with monosymptomatic delusional disorder — imagining that one is crawling with pests, even though no infestation exists.”  Doctors should be on the lookout for “acute anxiety and mood disorders” when patients complain of bed bugs (either real or imagined).  Pest control professionals refer to the problem as “bed bugs psychosis”.  You may read the article here.

One particular hot-spot for bed bug activity is college dorms and off-site student housing.  Because of the transient nature of college life, many college students unwittingly bring bed bugs back to their rooms when the critters hitch a ride in their belongings or clothing.  It has also been common practice for college students to pick up used furniture for their dorm rooms or apartments.  Unfortunately, bringing used furniture into your home is one of the easiest ways of introducing bed bugs.

Even with careful inspection, it can be extremely difficult to see bed bug eggs as they are translucent in color and extremely tiny.  Adult bed bugs are the size of an apple seed, are reddish-brown in color, and are visible to the naked eye.  Nymphs are smaller than adults, are tan in color until they receive a blood meal.  Once they feed, they are bright red.

There is often a stigma associated with having bed bugs in your home.  Unlike cockroaches which thrive on filth, bed bugs are a pest that is difficult for most people to avoid.  If you are a renter, it’s critical to advise your landlord immediately upon the discovery of bed bugs.  Landlords, home and business owners should immediately contact a licensed NJ Pest Control professional that is trained in bed bug removal services for help with bed bugs!

That’s the question the New Jersey Pest Management Association sought to answer when it held a Doggone Bed Bug Contest at its 65th Annual Pest Control Clinic in August. The contest pitted licensed NJ pest control pros with experience rooting out and eliminating bed bug infestations against Scout, a retired police dog trained to sniff out bed bugs.

Bed bug dogs are advertised as being faster than humans at finding bed bugs and, due to their superior olfactory equipment, better than humans at detecting small numbers of bed bugs. Early detection is critical in battling bed bugs because it allows bed bug infestations to be treated before they spread. Bed bugs emit a distinctive scent that dogs can be trained to detect, just like training to detect bombs or drugs. A dog has 200 to 250 million scent receptors in its nose; we humans get by with a paltry 5 million. Biology makes a dog’s sense of smell 10 to 100 times more powerful than man’s. The odds seemed to be in Scout’s favor.

Many people were surprised when the contest finished in a tie. NJ pest control pros were just as fast and accurate as Scout at finding a small hidden cache of bed bugs. NJ pest control techs actually had the edge over Scout because they could immediately follow-up their discovery by initiating bed bug-control treatment. Scout was ready for a treat and nap.

A Utah pest control company and their technician were both charged with misapplying a deadly amount of vole-killing poison that killed two little girls, age 4 and 15 months on February 5, 2010 when gas leaked into their home.  Criminal charges were initially filed against the pair, but were later dropped by police after the Environmental Protection Agency became involved in the investigation and filed charges.  The company and the employee initially denied any wrongdoing.

According to an article written by the Kramer Law Group on February 10, 2010, the investigation revealed that investigators found that many mistakes were made in the pesticide application and correct protocol was not followed by the technician which resulted in the death of the two little Utah girls.  You may read the article here.

According to a report from Fox 13 on January 6, 2012, despite the evidence, the pest control company has continued to deny that the pesticides were misapplied or any other wrongdoing.  The pest control technician has now had a change of heart and has “admitted he placed the pesticide too close to the house, exceeded dosage requirements and did not provide the family with the Material Safety Data Sheet and other information as required by labeling” instructions.  Both the technician and the pest control company are guilty of negligence, are required to pay $3,000 in fines, and must spend the next 36 months on probation.  You may read the article here.

As this story shows, hiring a licensed pest control company should never be taken lightly.  It is important to know that the company you have entrusted to apply pesticides inside and outside of your home is educated about the chemicals they are using and dedicated to specifically following the manufacturer’s instructions at all times.  Failure to comply could result in serious, if not fatal injuries to your family.

Allison Pest Control has been a trusted and established pest control professional in New Jersey since 1917.  You can rely on the exceptional and safe services that we provide to our customers in Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex Counties.