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Oh, Christmas Tree

The song goes, “Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree! How lovely are your branches”. What the carol fails to mention, however, are the potential pests lurking on those branches. We expect to have our homes filled with guests as loved ones. However, there are less than desirable guests that you’ll need to be on the lookout for and stop before they spoil all the holiday cheer. A vigilant combination of prevention and eradication will help to keep your home free this holiday season!

Christmas Tree Pests

You have to expect that when you bring a live tree into your home, there is a potential for pests to be living in its branches that will be brought inside as well. Examples include spiders, mites, and aphids. 

It’s imperative to carefully inspect your Christmas tree before making a purchase. However, if some bugs manage their way into your home, it’s best to use a vacuum cleaner to pick up any spiders or aphids.

You will also want to avoid hanging edible decorations, which are popular holiday staples but will obviously attract pests. Dough ornaments and popcorn garlands are tempting food choices that may attract more bugs inside of your home.

Ticks

Ticks can live in pine trees, landing on humans and animals. Since ticks are vectors for disease, you must thoroughly inspect yourself and immediately remove any ticks you may find. You can prevent ticks from hitching a ride on your body by wearing long sleeves/pants, and tucking legs into socks when outdoors. Keeping animals on an anti-tick medication also helps to prevent any passengers. 

Peridomestic Roaches

Peridomestic is a scientific term for “around the house,” We use it to refer to cockroaches that have taken up residence inside the home.

Again, prevention is the best defense. Prevent cockroaches by keeping your home free of food debris (such as leaving a rogue snack plate in a bedroom or on the coffee table). When facing an infestation, you will want to consult experienced technicians as cockroaches can become a very large problem.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs transfer from an infested house to other houses on furniture, and in baggage, boxes, suitcases, packed clothing, and bedding— especially when people travel frequently or change residences. During this holiday season, protect your home from a potential infestation by protecting your mattresses with bed bug covers, and be sure to dry all bedding on high heat before washing. Bed bugs can be prevented!

To get the most joy from your holidays this year, it pays to be vigilant against incoming pests. You don’t want any of your houseguests bothered by anything other than one another. For more information on dealing with tree pests, silverfish, ticks, and other annoyances or to get started on pest control and eradication program, please contact the licensed and professionally trained experts at Hogarth’s Pest Control today.

3 Pests That Can Ruin Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday that family and friends gather together to share a meal and relax without worrying about the world. This year, it is exponentially more important for those who do get to spend time with family and friends to stay healthy, safe, and of course— well fed. Unfortunately, the increased amount of food and foot traffic in your home won’t just attract more humans, but pests as well. Here are a few critters that will make you wish you socially distanced this year.

Mice

Mice are always searching for food and shelter, especially when the cold weather arrives. Ensure that your house is free of any visible holes or cracks that grant entrance to these animals. Remember, mice only require holes the size of dimes to squeeze through! The scents emitting from your home during this week will attract mice, which is why you should also make sure that you adequately dispose of all food scraps. Use scented garbage bags and place all trash outside in sealed containers.

Bed Bugs

Spending time with those you love is what makes Thanksgiving such a special day. However, if you’re staying over at someone’s house for the holiday, make sure you inspect your room for bed bugs. Check the mattress, bed frame, carpeting, linens, et cetera., and make sure you place your bag on a desk or nightstand. Since bed bugs don’t discriminate whom they infest — no matter how clean they might be.

Ants

Bringing plates of food to and from the kitchen to the dining room will obviously result in a spill or two. Even just a rogue piece of stuffing in the corner of the kitchen can be an ant magnet. All it takes is for a single ant to discover a food source— from there, the colony will be quickly alerted thanks to pheromones. To avoid this, make sure your post-meal cleaning is swift and thorough.

When Thanksgiving arrives this week, your only worry should be spending quality time with those you love, not executive orders or a virus, and especially not about pests. If you fear your home may have a problem with pests (does not pertain to family members), contact Hogarth’s Pest Control.

 

Sleep Tight

You’ve all heard the saying, “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”! There are multiple origin theories around the rhyme, specifically the “sleep tight” portion and its relation to bed bugs. One theory in particular suggests that it is referring to the way beds were made during the 16th and 17th centuries. Before the introduction of spring mattresses, mattresses where stuffed with coarse materials such as straw or feathers and sat on a latticework of ropes. Since it was necessary to tighten the ropes regularly to prevent the bed from sagging, many have suggested this is where the phrase “sleep tight” originates. Tightening the ropes would both allow for a good night’s sleep and keep the mattress off the ground to potentially avoid bedbugs. However, humans have been combating bed bugs even earlier than the 16th century!

Fossils and ancient texts have shown us that bedbugs have existed as far back as ancient Egypt and Rome. The colonization and industrialization of North America lead to their worldwide dominance, until extremely harmful pesticides like DDT wiped out most of them in the mid-20th century.

Nowadays, however, these parasitic bugs are increasingly becoming a problem within residences of all kinds,  not just including homes. Apartments, hotels/motels, cruise ships, dormitories and shelters can all suffer from an infestation. The bugs transfer from an infested house to other houses on furniture, baggage, boxes, in suitcases, packed clothing, and bedding— especially when people travel frequently or change residences.

Physical Traits

They are small, reddish-brown, wingless insects that feed solely on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bedbugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites. Hatchlings are the size of poppy seed, and adults are about ¼ of an inch in length. From above, they are oval in shape, but are flat from top to bottom. A pest control treatment is the only way to get rid of this infestation, and it usually takes 2-4 treatments.

Detecting an Infestation

Contrary to popular belief, bedbugs are not associated with filth or social class. Bedbugs will infest anywhere that blood meals are plentiful. There are a few different ways to detect whether your home has an active infestation. In heavily infested home or apartments, there will be an overpowering sweet smell, similar to the smell of ripe raspberries. Early on, bed bugs are found most commonly in the bed and bedroom area—hence their name. They hide in the folds and creases of the mattress. However, they can leave blood stains or smears on bedding, walls, and curtains. Later on in an infestation, they will seek to hide behind loose wallpaper, behind pictures, window/door casings, baseboards, and cracks in plaster.

The lifecycle of these bugs includes five stages, called instars, as they develop from nymph to adult. In order to transition to the next instar, the bug must have a blood meal. Because of this, bedbugs do bite which typically happens at night. They leave a flea-sized mark; which can become a large, red, inflamed oval or oblong accompanied by severe itching caused by an allergic reaction to their saliva. Depending on which instar they are in, bedbugs can survive anywhere from three months to one year without a meal. Once a host is found, the bugs will feed for only a few minutes. They become engorged,  and then return to their hiding place for several days in order to completely digest the meal.

How To Prevent Bed Bugs

You can prevent the spread of bed bug infestations by taking some precautionary steps when traveling, moving, or staying away from home.

  • Be sure when traveling to inspect mattresses of the room(s) you are staying in.
  • In hotels, be sure to keep clothes off the floor.
  • When returning from a trip, be sure to dry, not wash, all clothing on the hottest setting upon unpacking.

In order to provide you with the most effective service possible, we ask you review all the necessary steps listed prior to our arrival. Bedbugs take multiple treatments to properly eradicate, and all efforts will be lost if the proper protocol is not followed. If you believe to be experiencing problems associated with bedbugs, do not hesitate to give us a call. We have experience eradicating infestations in private homes, community centers, dormitories, and apartment buildings for over 25 years, and no job is too big or too small! Give us a call today.

 

Sources

Cohen, Jennie. “They’re Back: A Bed Bug History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 31 Aug. 2010, www.history.com/news/theyre-back-a-bed-bug-history.

Potter, Michael F. “The History of Bed Bug Management—With Lessons From The Past.” American Entomologist, Vol. 57, no. 1, Spring 2011, pp. 14–25.

Important Tips on Bed Bugs

bedbugsmattressBed bugs have rapidly been on the rise in recent years. As bed bugs become more relevant in areas of Northern Michigan, especially Traverse City, Manistee, Benzie, Lake Leelanau, Cadillac, Charlevoix and Petoskey, it’s important to know what signs to look for if you think you may have an infestation of bed bugs in your home and what to do in order to prevent them. Hogarth’s Pest Control is a local, trusted expert on both prevention and eradication of your home or commercial property. Hogarth’s has been on the forefront of learning the newest techniques for bed bug treatments and prevention tactics. Our technicians recently attended the National Pest Management Association meeting and listened to a very educational talk by Dini Miller, Ph.D., from the Virginia Polytechnic and State University in Blacksburg, VA. Here are our top takeaways and some great tips for prevention from Dr. Miller’s talk.

When traveling:

1. Always inspect the hotel rooms you are staying in, whether it be a 1-star or 5-star hotel. Bring a flashlight to check behind the headboard (if possible), along with the boxspring and mattress. If there are indeed bed bugs, you will notice small black stains (fecal matter), or bed bugs themselves. Bed bugs will always be within two feet of their host, and are round, reddish bugs about the size of an apple seed. If you see signs of bed bugs, be sure to gather your belongings and ask for another room. Be sure to inspect other rooms as well, even though the chances of other rooms being infested is usually low.

2. Never leave clothes and suitcases on hotel room floors or in dresser drawers. Bed bugs do not discriminate; as long as they have a food source and are not properly treated, bed bugs can travel from hotels to your home in your luggage and on your clothing. Bring garbage bags to secure clothes if needed.

3. Upon returning home, put clothes in the dryer on high heat. Bed bugs and their eggs will die at a temperature of 120 degrees. Freezing will not work because it’s unlikely the clothes will become cold enough to kill the bugs. If you have any indication bed bugs may have traveled home with you, vacuum out suitcase, treat with an over-the-counter bed bug treatment, and place suitcase in a plastic garbage bag and tie with a double knot.

When already infested with bed bugs:

1. DO NOT move beds and boxsprings away from their current location, ie. do not move to other rooms of the house or into a garage or basement! This can cause the bed bugs to spread to different areas of the home, making eradication that much more difficult. Throwing away beds and boxsprings will not get rid of the problem, either. We highly recommend keeping all furniture and having it properly treated by a professional to properly eradicate the problem.

2. Dry any clothing in the room on high heat. When finished, put clothes in a plastic garbage bag tied with a double knot.

3. Avoid using any over-the-counter bed bug treatments. We find that customers who’ve attempted to treat for bed bugs themselves only drive bed bugs deeper into the walls and under carpeting, making it that much harder to properly eradicate them. Vacuuming can be a good practice as long as the vacuum is cleaned and the bag is discarded after use.

4. Call Hogarth’s Pest Control to eradicate the bed bugs. Eradication cannot be done without professional treatment, and bed bugs will only continue to multiply the longer they are left untreated. Treatments must be performed a minimum of 3 times. It is crucial for the homeowner to follow all guidelines set forth by the technician in order to properly treat the issue at hand.

Bed Bug Treatment

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According to the National Pest Management Association’s 2011 Bed Bug’s in America Survey, 1 out of every 5 American’s has either had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs in their home or at a hotel. It’s no surprise that bed bug infestations have become a nation-wide epidemic! Most Americans have become aware that infestations are on the rise. There are reports of bed bugs by pest management professionals in all 50 states, with percentages being fairly equal among each of the country’s regions.

As bed bug awareness increases, more than 80% of American’s have reported being most concerned about encountering bed bugs in hotels. 95% of bed bug infestations reports are in apartments/condominiums, 93% in single-family homes, and 75% in hotels/motels. We find bed bugs in college dorms, nursing homes, offices, schools, day care centers, hospitals, and other various locations in seemingly high numbers.

Our New Tool

Hogarth’s Pest Control has  a new tool for the tool box. That tool is a heat tent. We saw the need for it to assist us in the war on bed bugs. Moreover, it allows us to reduce our chemicals used in the process by placing infested pieces into the tent.   The tent is then turned on and heated to 120 degrees, at which point kills all the bed bugs and their eggs. Heat is not the only tool we utilize, but it can help on reducing chemicals on bed bug treatment.

Hogarth’s Pest Control is seeing an increase in the bed bug infestations in Northern Michigan.  We are currently servicing bed bug infestations in Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Kalkaska and Wexford counties.  If you Google bed bugs, you may be surprised at what you read about your own town!  People stay hotels with infestations and post it on the internet in great detail! While an infestation does not equal filth or bad housekeeping, it can become a serious problem if not treated properly.

Call Hogarth’s Pest Control for all your bed bug needs in Northern Michigan.  Hogarth’s is serving over 25 counties in the Northern Michigan area, including Beaver Island! If you have questions or concerns, please call us at Hogarth’s Pest Control for all your bed bug needs!

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are small, flat, reddish-brown insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals while they are sleeping. They infest homes, apartments, hotels, cruise ships, dorms and shelters, and have become an epidemic throughout Michigan. Bed bugs live within 8 feet of where people sleep; in mattress seams, headboards, box springs, bed frames, or any cracks and crevices near the bed. They hide during the day but can travel up to 100 feet at night.

One of the easiest ways to tell if you have a bed bug infestation is the presence of bites. This are commonly found on the face, neck, arms,  after sleeping. The bite marks are similar to those of flea or mosquito bites – small, itchy, red areas on the skin. The intense itching sensation is a result of an allergic reaction to the insect’s saliva. Bed bugs move to non-infested homes on furniture, bedding, in luggage or packed clothing, and especially when individuals travel often or move homes frequently.

Identifying an Infestation

Bed bugs are hard to identify on your own since their bites look so similar to those of other insects. To identify a bed bug infestation, we recommend checking around the bed frame and mattress for physical signs of the pests. You may see live bed bugs, rusty or reddish stains on sheets or pillow cases, skins that nymphs shed as the grow larger, or dark spots that are actually bug excrement.

Bed bugs are not known to transmit or spread diseases, however they can cause other health problems. It’s extremely important to have these pests exterminated by a professional to prevent any further issues. Hogarth’s Pest Control specializes in Bed Bug removal and can take care of any pest issues you may be dealing with. If you think you may have bed bugs, or any other pest for that matter, give us a call at (231) 264-6060 or (800) 264-6161 and we can get it taken care of for you!