Wait, What? I can do it myself?!

Winter; The month we all dread! The sun disappears at 5pm, its cold, people get sick more often, and rodents make an appearance!

The reason why mice and rats start becoming more noticeable is because they are cold too. They find your roof cavity and internal of the home a nice cosy place for them to call home. Here we are warming up the house for ourselves and our family, when we are also making it a warm spot for rodents to come and enjoy the warmth with us!

Rats/mice can produce 10 babies in 1 litter. This can happen every 8 weeks if the conditions are ideal.  So you could image how many extra little tenants you could have in your home if you let them be.

They also can cause terrible damage to insulation, ducting in the roof, electrical wiring and even plumbing pipes!  

Great, so I’ve told you all the cons about rodents, what are the pros?

They can be evicted!

Let’s not lie to ourselves; money makes the world go around. Bug King has a solution for low cost rodent control... DO IT YOURSELF! Having the right products is only 20% of the solution. The other 80% is knowing how to use them effectively. And this is where we come in...

Below is a link to all of our DIY rodent packages. The packages include baits, bait stations, full instructions on how to effectively kill the current rodent nests, and more importantly, to keep them from getting re-established. Not only that, you will receive help where needed from Bug Kings professional help line.

Bug Kings DIY Pest Control Link: https://diypestcontrol.net.nz/

DIY not for you? Or you don’t have the time? Call us on 0800 54 64 54 or email on service@bugking.co.nz to discuss getting a professional pest control technician to you.

What's That Biting Me?

Here at Bug King, we get many calls from customers who aren’t sure what’s biting them,
especially in the night. Now, there could be a multitude of things biting, but the most common
biters here in Auckland, are fleas, mosquitoes and bed bugs.

But how do I know what it is?

Mosquitoes are an obvious one; they’ll be buzzing around, especially in the warm summer months
and annoying you with that high pitch of theirs. We can help reduce the number of mosquitoes in
your home by conducting a fly treatment. Call us to find out more about that!

It gets a bit trickier to work out when the culprits are tiny!

We often get phone calls from customers who are convinced that they have bed bugs because
they only seem to be bitten in their beds at night. Well, the truth is, fleas also love your bed and
quite quickly make it their home. So how can you tell the difference?

There are a few points of difference between flea and bed bug infestations:

• Flea bites will often be on the lower part of your body (especially feet and ankles), or  scattered throughout your body if the fleas are in your bed, whereas bed bugs most often only target the top half of your body. Places like shoulders, neck, arms, chest and stomach are bed bug territory!

• Bed bugs don’t jump, and they can be seen with the naked eye. If there are tiny jumping things on your sheets, you’re dealing with fleas.

• Bed bugs are more commonly found in apartments, or where dwellings are close together, whereas we find more flea infestations in suburban homes, where there are more pets present.

• Bed bugs hideaway during the day, and can be found on the bed frame, headboard, mattress, box spring, skirting boards and in crevices and seams of furniture and curtaining. They come out when they sense an increase in carbon dioxide, a sign that we are sleeping!

I’ve searched for Bedbugs but can’t find any; does this mean I have fleas??

Not necessarily! Bed bugs can be tricky to find, especially in earlier infestations. Before assuming
that there are none, give us a call and we can talk you through a few things to diagnose further. The
best solution is to book us in for an inspection. Our technicians are specially trained on all the signs
of bed bugs and they will hunt them down! Only once they say there are no signs, do we then look
at doing a flea treatment.

The technicians can often see signs of a flea infestation and can get a good idea whether they think
it's fleas by chatting with you.

Our flea treatments are applied to the floor, fabric couches, pet areas and stripped beds.
This ensures that we get every last one in the house. We don’t just treat your bedroom for fleas,
as the little buggers can move throughout your house very quickly!

With Bug King, you can be rest assured that whether its fleas or bedbugs keeping you up at night,
we will get it sorted for you. Our flea treatments come with a 6 month warranty, and our bed bug
treatments with a 9 month one.

Call us on 0800 54 64 54 today so that we can get you bug free!

White Footed House Ants

White-Footed House Ants

What are white footed ants?

White-Footed house ants have become quite well in established in the Auckland region. They are one of the most common invaders of ants in homes and businesses in NZ. They got their name from the yellowish lower legs. Despite their small size of 3.0mm to 3.5mm long, they are a huge nuisance, especially when they are found throughout the kitchen pantry in large numbers!

Nesting

White-Footed house ants are found both indoors and outdoors. They enjoy nesting within walls, ceiling cavities and sub-floors. Here they are safe from the environmental factors like the rain and wind. One ant nest can have many queen ants and up to 2 million individuals!

A lot of our customers notice piles of dead ants, bits of wood and dust right under light fittings or window sills. Ants like to have a clean nest, so they will clear out any scraps and dead ants from their nest.

They don’t cause damage, however if they were to be nesting along power boxes it may cause short circuiting.

Diet/Do it yourself baiting

White-Footed house ants have a sweet-tooth. They enjoy a good meal of honey dew and nectar. They also love a good feast on ant bait you buy from the supermarket, or your local hardware store, as it is full of sugary goodness for them.

Do it yourself baiting can make the problem you have a whole lot worse! The ants that you see out and about are worker ants. This type of bait will usually only kill the ants that have taken the bait, not the colony. The ants unaffected by the bait realize something is going on and they may decide to relocate to avoid extermination. Or they may start laying more eggs to repopulate!

Treatment:

The best way to attack a nest is to do it slowly. Applying a treatment that is invisible to ants is the most effective way to wipe those little suckers out once and for all. The ants will walk through the treatment and tread it back to the nest to pass it on to the other workers and the queen. Slowly but surely this will exterminate the nest.

When you’re away, the fleas WON’T play!

Warm, summer days often bring a surge of flea infestations to many of our customers. Often people who didn’t even realise that they had fleas are greeted by hundreds of fleas as they return from their holiday.

We also have lots of customers who book in a treatment as they are leaving for holiday. It may seem like a good plan to get a flea treatment as you’re about to go on holiday and you’ll surely come home to a lovely, flea-free home...

But, as you walk in the door, what are you greeted by?

Yup, you guessed it, FLEAS! And lots of them, no less.

But why is this the case? And how can we prevent it?

Unfortunately, the holiday plan doesn’t often work as well as everyone would like. When you go on holiday, so do the fleas. When our houses have no activity in them, those pesky little fleas go dormant and on your return they are starving!

Adult fleas feast on warm blood and if they do not have a host they can go into a dormant  state which can last up to two years. Normally, flea eggs hatch in one to twelve days and the larva eats debris from animal hairs or vegetable matter. It generally takes about 3 weeks for the larvae to reach adulthood.

When no one is around, however, the adults in their pupal stage will just stay and wait until a host is present. If there is no movement in the house, they’ll go dormant, and won’t be hopping on the carpet and coming into contact with our treatment.

You open the front door after your amazing time away, and the fleas detect you by picking up vibrations. This triggers them to come out of dormancy and look for food. This is why, when you get home from your relaxing summer holiday, you get swarmed by fleas even though you may have had a treatment done.

Even a milder flea infestation, that you may not have even noticed, will appear severe as they jump on your legs looking for lunch!

So what can you do to prevent this from happening?

• If you didn’t realise that you had fleas, and they are all of a sudden everywhere once returning home, call us to book in a treatment, on 0800 54 64 54.
• If the property is empty or you’re planning a trip away, its important that someone goes around each day and has a good stomp in every room so that the fleas don’t go into the dormant state. The more active they are, the faster they will come into contact with the treatment.
• Rather get your house treated when you return from holiday or just a day before. This means that there is no chance of the fleas entering the dormant state and we’ll be able to eradicate them at a much quicker rate.  

If you’ve got a flea problem, call us on 0800 54 64 54 and we can discuss a solution with you.

Borer; it’s that time of year again!

Borer; it’s that time of year again!

October and November is the time of year when Borer beetles start emerging from the wood. This is when most homeowners start to notice the first signs of Borer.

Borer is scary; well that’s how it comes across until you know all the facts and that we can do something about it!

Borer in the roof cavity and under the floor are usually picked up on if you have insulation installed, or if you have an electrician or builder do some maintenance.  Borer throughout the house is usually picked up on between October and February. This is when the borer throughout the home emerges from little holes in the wood causing piles of fine sawdust.  However if you are noticing borer holes this doesn’t mean you have active borer. It could be an old infestation that has already been treated.

Borer damage can also leave a line pattern as
shown above. This is usually inactive
and was present when the timber was milled.

Active borer will leave little circular 

holes on surface of the wood as seen here

Borer in the roof or subfloor can be treated at any time of the year. This is because the wood in these areas is usually unpainted; meaning the treatment we apply will penetrate the wood and kill the borer.

Borer internally, also known as borer on the wing must be treated between September and October before the borer flight season. This is because throughout the internal of the home the wood is usually vanished or painted and products cannot penetrate into the wood. Internal borer must be treated every year for 4 years continuously which will kill the lifecycle of the borer. You will also be happy to know it will help reduce flies over summer too, as it is also effective on flies that come in contact with the treatment.

At Bug King we offer a pre inspection before treatment. This is so we can examine the borer activity and provide you with an accurate quote, as it may only be a small portion of the home affected, or an old infestation that doesn’t require treatment at all.  If you are worried and would like to book an inspection or just chat to someone about any borer concerns, call the team at Bug King on 0800 54 64 54.

Invasion of the Stinging Kind!

Whether it is cyclic or due to global warming, the winter just gone has been pretty half pie. Fantastic for an early flush in the flower garden, but not so good for us when it comes to those stinging, harassing, pesky wasps!

Let me tell you why...

The life cycle of the wasp involves the need for the next generations’ queens to hibernate during the winter months. With our short winter being borderline to a sham, our hibernating queens have made it through easy enough and are now starting to emerge with intent to start a family. The problem is that they are almost 2 months too early! With the surviving nests already at early summer numbers, this only means one thing; it’s going to be a big summer for wasps.

Food attractions

Wasps do a great job of keeping the insect population down but everything is fair game to them, including the monarch caterpillars on your swan plants. To protect your monarch caterpillars, once you feel there are enough caterpillars on the plant you can cover the plant with an old net curtain, tying it off at the bottom so no wasps can get in. Take off the cover when they are in their chrysalis.

Wasps are on the hunt for the bugs and grubs in your garden, meat in your sandwich or fish bait 1km offshore, yes they harass us fishermen too. They are also after honeydew and will travel over 1km from their nest when searching for food. This also makes it hard when we get called out to a property where there is no nest located.

Prevention

So what can be done to reduce the numbers of wasps in the situation there is no nest in sight?

Wasps are attracted to the honeydew found on our giant aphids. These aphids live on those high sap producing trees, such as the willow tree. As you look into a willow you will see wasps bouncing around the leaves and then flying off in different directions. The solution to this is to eliminate the wasp’s food source, the aphids. Contact your local garden store for safe and effective ways to put an end to the aphids.

When to treat a nest yourself

Now for the inevitable, wasp nests and what to do about them! If the nest is visible, by being under the eaves or on the fence etc, then it is more than likely to be an Asian paper wasp nest. These are usually handled quite easily and can be shoved off and squashed due to their small size. We don’t recommend do it yourself remedies, especially in the situation where you are unsure of the nest size.

                                                           

Nests under the ground or in the roof cavity can be hard to decipher the size. This is when it can get dangerous. Our technicians are fully trained and equipped to deal with worst case scenarios. Nothing is too big or too small for us!

Small paper wasp nest.

Large nest found in ceiling cavity, about the size of a beach ball!!

As a foot note, I would like to remind you that wasps are a dangerous pest when they feel threatened and they will defend the hive aggressively. Attempting to eliminate a wasp nest without gauging its size correctly or not using the proper protection or products could result in serious injury.

If you have any questions about wasps, you can call our team at Bug King on 0800 54 64 54 to discuss it further.

Have a happy and safe summer from your local pesties.

Jonathan – Bug King Pest Control.

Is the cat in the roof? Is it a ghost? The wind? Nope, it’s just those pesky rodents having a party in my roof again!

Not only are you feeling the cold, but so are a lot of the winter pests. Rodents look for warm shelter during this time of year, unfortunately this can mean inside your roof cavity, walls, sub-floor and even throughout the internal of your home!

Mice are a lot smaller then rats, this means it doesn’t take a big gap for them to get into your home. Both mice and rats can use tree branches and power lines to gain access into your home. They are also quite the athlete and can jump over 1 metre.

Fast Facts!

·         Mice and rat tails can grow as long as their body!

·         They can carry diseases, such as Salmonella!

·         Age expectancy is between 6 and 36 months. During their life span they can have up to 6 litters of 6-10 babies!

·         A mouse will eat 15-20 times a day, this means they won’t travel too far from nests.

·         You may even find them having a swim in your swimming pool, as they are excellent swimmers!

 A lot of our customers don’t realise they have cracks or holes around the house, until they notice rodent droppings or see a sneaky mouse running from the TV unit to under the couch! They aren’t the most ideal flat mate either, leaving droppings, urinating on insulation (which causes a horrible stench), gnawing through wiring and pipe work and keeping you awake at night running from one side of the roof cavity to the other at 2am in the morning!

Visit the rodent section on Bug Kings website for more information on where and why mice and rats are found in the home http://www.bugking.co.nz/rodents.html

Most of our customers call to inform us there is a noise in the roof and there is a family of rodents living in there. While most of the time this is the case, it can also be birds on the roof outside too! Birds will also make noises which will seem like its coming from inside the roof cavity. The way to decipher if it is birds or rodents is by the time of day the noises are occurring. If it is early morning as the sun is rising and during the day, there is a chance it could be birds. If it is late at night and early morning while it is still dark, the problem is definitely rodents.

Bug King also offers rodent control for commercial properties. See http://www.bugking.co.nz/commercial.html  for more information.

If you would like proofing advice or help to keep rodents out and away from the home, get in touch with Bug King to help give you some peace of mind. We are always happy to help.