Pest Control – Common Pests
TEL : 01902 475121
Freephone : 0800 953 0093
Mobile : 07913 355290
Greenlab Pestcontrol Ltd cover a large area in the Heart of England , our Pest Control Service Technicians deal with a myriad of pests and vermin in Business Premises and Residential Properties on a daily basis .
The following is a short list of some of the more common pests that Greenlab Pestcontrol frequently deal with.
If you have a wasps nest that needs removing or clearing , please call us for a free instant quote . Our wasps nest removal / wasps clearance / bees in the roof / wasp control service is fast and guaranteed .
Please contact us if you wish to discuss treatment or simply to discuss any pest matters which may be a concern to you
RATS
Rats need food , water and shelter. If rats are getting into your building then there is a good chance that there is a building defect, although rats have been known to use the catflap!
There are various reasons why you may have rats in your garden,bird feeding being one of them.
Another reason maybe a water source close by or even compost heaps.
Remember rats can carry diseases such as :
- Weils Disease
- Salmonella
- Cryptosporidosis
- E. Coli
- Foot and mouth disease.
The common brown rat is usually around 20 to 27cm long and its weight is around 100 to 500g. The common rat is usually a brownish grey on the back and grey underneath, but colour varies. Rats have a single pair of upper and lower incisor teeth, which are continuously growing, which explains why they cause so much damage as they have to gnaw to prevent these incisors from growing too long which prevents them from eating.
Habits
Rats generally stay within 50m of its home, but can range up to 300m. They may move every 2 weeks or so depending on the food source they are feeding on and may travel several kilometres to find more food.
Rats are mainly active at night and can be found in fields, gardens and sewers. Rats are sexually mature at around 3 to 4 months old and can produce 6 to 11 young.
How to prevent rats
Compost bins should be placed on solid bases to prevent rats from burrowing underneath them.
Over hanging branches from trees that are touching the roof should be cut back to prevent rats getting access to the loft space .
Greenlab offer Wolverhampton Rat Removal , Rat Control , Rats in The Roof Removal .
Check sheds for holes in the floor and the back panels where rats may have gnawed through over the winter. These should be sealed to prevent further access.
Check for holes around the outside of the house especially around waste pipes, remember rats can get through holes as small as 25mm ( 1” ).
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL CAN SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY REMOVE RATS FROM YOUR PROPERTY
MICE
The house mouse is the number one household rodent pest in all parts of the country, urban and rural areas as well. The meaning of the word “rodent” is “to gnaw” and rodents are well equipped to carry out this activity.
Mice are notorious nibblers, eating many types of food, but preferring seeds and grain. A single mouse eats only about 3 grams of food per day (8 pounds per year), but because of their habit of nibbling on many foods and discarding partially eaten items, the amount of food contaminated is about ten times greater.
Mice can get by with little or no free water, obtaining their water needs from the food they eat.
House mice are mainly nocturnal although daytime activity may be seen. Nests are constructed of fibrous materials and generally have the appearance of a “ball” of material loosely woven together. Nests are usually 4 to 6 inches in diameter and can be found in any sheltered location.
Mice are sexually mature as early as 6 to 10 weeks old and may breed year-round. In perfect conditions, a nest of mice can deposit 18,000 droppings and produce 2,500 heirs in a six-month period.
A mouse rarely travels more than 10 to 30 feet from it’s nest to obtain food and water. They travel around perimeters rather than across empty spaces and are not afraid of new objects in their environment and are curious to “check things out”.
CALL GREENLAB PESTCONTROL for advice and treatment.
ANTS
Many ants wander into our homes searching for food and water. Scouter ants will find what they think is a good source of food or water and mark a trail for other ants in the colony to follow back to the source. Don’t roll out the welcome mat by leaving food and water out for them to find.
The commonest species that invades UK houses is the Black Garden Ant, which is actually very dark brown. The worker ants, which are likely to enter properties when foraging for food, are 3 to 5mm in length.
All ants have the main divisions of the body (head, thorax and abdomen) distinctly separated by very narrow waists. They also have a sharp elbow joint in their antennae
Ants are highly organised social insects, with each nest being centred around one reproductive female, the queen, and her sterile daughters, the workers. It is the foraging workers that invade buildings in search of sweet foodstuffs, which they take back to the nest to feed the larvae and queen.
“Flying ants” are the reproductive males and females – the potential queens. They have a nuptial swarming flight during a few days in July and August, typically just after stormy weather. The males die shortly after mating and the females seek out nesting sites to build new colonies in the following spring.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL can advise and treat against any ant infestation.
FLIES
Flies Key Features
Flies are serious nuisances and transmit diseases through their foul feeding and breeding habits. They walk over food sources and rotting matter indiscriminately, carrying bacteria.
Apart from the biting flies, all species feed by vomiting saliva on to the food surface, treading it in and sucking up the resulting liquid. In the course of doing so, the fly contaminates the food with bacteria from its gut and its feet. Thus, it may transmit food poisoning, dysentery, typhoid or cholera. The eggs of parasitic worms may also be carried by flies.
Electric fly traps are very effective for a wide range of fly species, and there are various chemical treatments that can also be effective as part of a treatment course.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL can advise and treat your fly problem , whether it be Electric fly units or insecticide treatment. CALL US NOW !
COCKROACHES
Key Features
Cockroaches are distinguished by their very long whip like antennae, flat oval bodies and rapid, jerky gait, the adult German cockroach is 10 to 15mm long. The adult Oriental cockroach is 20 to 24mm long.
They are rarely able to survive out of doors in the British climate, but thrive around the heating ducts and boiler rooms of large centrally heated buildings e.g. hospital, bakeries, hotels and restaurants.
They often cluster around pipes, stoves and sinks, especially in humid areas. The German cockroach carries its egg case, a small brown purse-like capsule, until 30 or more nymphs hatch from it. The Oriental cockroach deposits its 13mm long egg capsule on packaging, sacking or in suitable dark crevices before the 16 or 18 nymphs hatch out. Cockroaches grow by stages from “mini cockroach” nymphs to maturity in six to 12 months for the Oriental, but in the case of the German cockroach in only 6-12 weeks.
Both German and Oriental versions eat any sort of food and emerge from their inaccessible harbourages to forage; contaminating food, utensils and food preparation surfaces as they go. They taint food with an obnoxious smell and may be carriers of various diseases.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL can advise and treat any cockroach infestation!
WASPS (Vespula vulgaris)
Wasps Key Features
Wasps nests are very common . These conspicuous buzzing insects have yellow and black striped, wasp-waisted bodies, approximately 10-15mm long. They have a sweet tooth at one end and a painful sting at the other.
Biology
The queen wasp is approximately 20mm in length.
She hibernates over winter, making a nest in the spring in which to lay her eggs. She feeds the grubs on insects until they develop into worker wasps, three to four weeks later.
Workers, all sterile females, forage for over a mile in search of food. One nest may produce 30,000 wasps in a year. At their peak in August and September, with the youngsters reared, the workers turn to the sweet food they prefer and become a nuisance wherever this is available.
Wasp nests can be found in The roof , air bricks , sheds , trees and in the ground !
Wolverhampton Wasps Nest Removal Guaranteed .
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL can treat any nest safely and professionally, and for only a small cost. Our Wolverhampton Wasps Nest Removal Service is Fully Guaranteed.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TREAT YOURSELF !
BED BUGS
The adult bed bug resembles a small brown disc, about 3.5mm long the size of a match head. It is wingless but the legs are well developed and it can crawl up most vertical surfaces.
Bed bugs are an increasing problem nowadays, They are often found in multi-occupancy buildings with rapid resident turnover, such as hostels, holiday camps and blocks of flats.
Bedbugs also produce a characteristic unpleasant smell.
Biology
The females produce 2 to 3 eggs every day throughout their lifespan, which can be several months. The elongated eggs are cemented in cracks or crevices close to the hosts. There is no larval stage. The young hatch as nymphs; mini versions of the adults.
There are 5 nymphal stages before the bugs reach adulthood and each requires a full meal of blood.
Fully grown bedbugs can endure starvation for several months in infested rooms. Bed bugs may be found under wallpaper or in crevices in the furniture and joinery. These bed bugs emerge at night to feed. Bedbugs have well defined resting sites in which many individuals from all the different life stages are found, along with blood.
Bedbugs are a significant pest to humans because they feed on blood. They emerge to feed mostly at night while their “hosts” are sleeping. Their bite can cause severe local irritation and itching and there is also a possibility of secondary infection.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL can advise and treat Bedbugs, however severe the infestation.
GREY SQUIRRELS
Grey squirrels need a safe and secure place to build their nest (called a drey) where they can escape predators and take shelter from the bad weather. In most cases they choose a tree as their drey site but if they gain access to the roof spaces of houses they may cause problems. They can cause great damage to electrical installations and loft insulation.
GREENLAB can treat for squirrels if you suspect they are in your roof.
Up to 4 visits is usually enough to remove the unwanted visitors.
PIGEONS
Pigeons appear to be everywhere these days,which is fine until they start nesting in your roof and their fouling starts to eat away at your property.
They usually build flimsy nests using sticks and twigs they collect from their environment.
The average clutch consists of two white eggs, which are incubated for about 18 to 19 days by both parents.
They are excellent breeders and may produce up to 8 clutches each year under optimal conditions. The frequency of breeding is dictated by the abundance of food.
They produce “crop milk”, which is secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining of the crop. Both parents produce this nutritious ‘pigeon milk’ which is regurgitated and fed to the young.
A chick can double its birth weight in one day. The eyes open when the chicks are about four days old.
At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to leave the nest.
Pigeon droppings appear to be the most important source of the disease fungus Cryptococcus neoformans in the environment. The fungus is typically found in accumulations of droppings around roosting and nesting sites, for example, attics, cupolas, ledges and water towers. It has been found in as many as 84 percent of samples taken from old roosts. Even when old and dry, bird droppings can be a significant source of infection.
Persons with weakened immune systems, however, are more susceptible to infection. The disease is acquired by inhaling the yeast-like cells of the organism. Two forms of cryptococcosis occur in humans. The generalized form begins with a lung infection and spreads to other areas of the body, particularly the central nervous system, and is usually fatal unless treated. The cutaneous (skin) form is characterized by acne-like skin eruptions or ulcers with nodules just under the skin. The cutaneous form is very rare, however, without generalized (systemic) disease. Outbreaks (multiple cases at a location) of cryptococcosis have not been documented.
Other diseases carried or transmitted by birds affect man to a lesser degree. Psittacosis and toxoplasmosis are normally mild in man; however, serious illness or death does occur rarely. Pigeons and sparrows also have been implicated (along with many other species of birds) as sources of encephalitis viruses carried by mosquitoes.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL is the first company you should call to deal with these pests.
FLEAS
Fleas have specially adapted mouths to pierce the skin of mammals. They require blood meals to be able to reproduce. Without iron and protein found in blood, females cannot create eggs. Both male and female fleas also need blood meals for food.Fleas go through four stages of life. They start as small white eggs, then hatch in to worm like larvae, then they go into a cocoon, and eventually they emerge as the fully matured adult. Fleas in homes typically lay their eggs in carpets, so 3 out of 4 stages are in carpets.
GREENLAB PESTCONTROL CAN SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY REMOVE FLEAS FROM YOUR PROPERTY …………….. HOWEVER ADVANCED THE INFESTATION !
MOTHS
Most of the moth pests that invade human habitations belong to the families Tineidae and Pyralidae. Some species damage clothing, carpets and other household furnishings. Others are common pest of stored food products and often occur in houses, bakeries, grain stores and warehouses – anywhere that food is stored, especially dried food stuffs such as grain, cereals, flour, nuts, etc. The majority of species are small, rather drab-coloured moths with little that is distinctive about them, and their larvae (or caterpillars) are likewise quite ordinary and generally pale-yellow or whitish in colour. Nearly all the common household moth pest have been spread worldwide through commercial trading.
A THOROUGH SURVEY IS REQUIRED BY GREENLAB PESTCONTROL TO LOCATE THE SOURCE AND DECIDE THE APPROPRIATE TREATMENT.