cockroach control Archives

Should I Use a Cockroach Bomb?

Residential Pest Control / February 02, 2024

Dealing with a cockroach infestation is a daunting task for most homeowners. When you find a cockroach in your space you’ll rightly want to deal with the situation immediately and effectively. Unfortunately, this adrenaline also leads many homeowners to make rash decisions such as using cockroach bombs. Below we’ll explore the pros and cons of using cockroach bombs and the discuss reasons they are not the right choice for every cockroach infestation.

What is a cockroach bomb?

A cockroach bomb, also known as a cockroach fogger, bug bomb or total release aerosol is a pest control product designed to eliminate cockroaches in a home. When activated cockroach bombs release a fine mist of insecticide into the air. As the mist settles it coats all the surfaces in the room in a toxic film that is deadly to cockroaches.

While these bombs are marketed as a convenient and cost-effective solution for homeowners dealing with cockroach infestations, the use of cockroach bombs comes with serious health risks and limited effectiveness. It is essential that homeowners who decide to use cockroach bombs follow proper safety precautions and are realistic about the results they can achieve with a bomb.

Is using a cockroach bomb safe?

Put simply, no cockroach bombs are not safe. Just because they are easily accessible at hardware stores does not mean they are safe to use in your home. The insecticide that is sprayed from cockroach bombs is extremely toxic not just to insects but also to humans and pets. If you are going to use a cockroach bomb in your home make sure to closely follow the safety protocols outlined on the label. Make sure the area is evacuated during the treatment, properly air out the area after the treatment and thoroughly clean all surfaces before allowing children and pets back into the area.

When should you use a cockroach bomb?

A cockroach bomb is best used as the first step in eliminating a heavy cockroach infestation. This is because cockroach bombs are best at eliminating a large number of cockroaches out in the open. When cockroaches hide in tiny crooks and crannies (as they often do in the early stages of an infestation) it is difficult for the toxic spray of a bomb to reach them. For this reason, they are not the right choice for the vast majority of Canadian homeowners. If you have spotted only one or two cockroaches in your home, unfortunately, a cockroach bomb has a very low chance of resolving your issue. – Learn more about how to get rid of cockroaches

Pros

Convenience: Cockroach bombs are readily available at most hardware stores and supermarkets. They provide a quick and seemingly easy solution for homeowners looking to address a cockroach problem.

Cost-Effective: Cockroach bombs are relatively inexpensive.

Cons

Incomplete Extermination: Cockroach bombs often do not eliminate all cockroaches in a home. Cockroaches often hide in areas inaccessible to the insecticide.

Health Risks: The insecticides used in cockroach bombs can cause health issues in humans and pets. Exposure to these chemicals may result in respiratory issues, skin irritation and more.

Risk of Fire Hazards: Cockroach bombs are flammable, and improper use can cause fires.

Required Training: Without a proper understanding of cockroach behaviour and biology, homeowners often do not deploy the bomb in an effective position.

Alternatives to cockroach bombs

While cockroach bombs claim to offer a quick fix to a stressful issue, in reality, they are not a good option for most infestations. Instead, it’s best to leave cockroach extermination to the professionals. Cockroaches are notoriously resilient, frequently surviving mutilation, starvation and even radiation! The fastest and safest approach to dealing with a cockroach infestation is to seek professional pest control services.

Looking for a cockroach exterminator? Rentokil Terminix has you covered! We offer expert pest & wildlife control services for both residential and commercial properties with locations across Canada including BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

All of Rentokil Terminix’s pest control experts are fully licensed, certified, and held to the highest professional standards possible. We are part of the National Pest Management Association, Canadian Pest Management Association, QualityPro, and the Structural Pest Management Association of Ontario, among other provinces. We are proud to have provided Canadian homeowners with quality pest control services for over 90 years!

How to Prevent and Get Rid of Cockroaches in Canada

Cockroaches / January 30, 2023

Cockroaches are common pests that are incredibly hard to get rid of. They are famous for their intense survival skills, so it’s no surprise that there are over 3,500 species of roaches worldwide. Here in Canada however, we have 3 major species that homeowners have to contend with: the German cockroach, the brown-banded cockroach, and the American cockroach.

Below we share the best ways the get rid of roaches for good and all the key information you’ll need to make intelligent decisions about your cockroach problem.

Summary

What type of cockroach is in my Canadian home?
How to prevent cockroaches
Are cockroaches dangerous?
How to get rid of cockroaches

What Type of Cockroach Is in My Canadian Home?

German Cockroach

Possibly the most common household pest globally, German cockroaches are what most people think of when they think of roaches. They are most easily identified by their patterning, sporting two dark parallel bands on the back of their heads and can grow to around 16 mm long. They typically infest kitchens and bathrooms or anywhere with access to water and food, and their favourite snacks include meats, sweets and starches.

Can cockroaches fly?
Though all cockroaches have wings, most species, including German cockroaches, can only use them to glide for a short period of time. However, some less prevalent species are adept at flying.

Brown-Banded Cockroach

Brown-banded cockroaches are smaller than the other residential Canadian species (only up to 13 mm long) and like to hide anywhere they can wedge their slim bodies, such as under wallpaper, in walls or in electrical appliances such as fridges or TVs. You can identify the adults by the distinct tan or light yellow banding across their wings and their small oval bodies.

American Cockroach

The American cockroach is the largest roach we have in Canada measuring up to 40 mm in length. They are reddish-brown in colour and have a yellow band across the back of their head. American cockroaches are notorious for infesting North American sewer systems but can also sometimes be found in the basements of homes. Unlike the other species on this list, they mainly eat decaying matter including plants or small insects, instead of food from your pantry.

Are cockroaches dangerous?
While cockroach bites are rare these creepy crawlies pose other risks to those living in close proximity to them – such as triggering asthma attacks or allergies, transmitting disease, spoiling food and generally creating an unsanitary environment.

How to prevent cockroaches:

All cockroaches need food, water and shelter to thrive – by removing access to these resources you make your home inhospitable to them.

Clean up spilled food immediately and wipe down countertops after each meal
Store food in sealed containers
Don’t leave pet food out for longer than necessary
Take out the trash regularly
Don’t leave dirty dishes out overnight
Fix leaky faucets, toilets and roofs
Reduce humidity in bathrooms, kitchens and basements by using fans or a dehumidifier

Do cockroaches reproduce quickly?
Yes! The female German cockroach only lives for 100-200 days but in that time will lay between 120 and 320 eggs.

How to get rid of cockroaches

Cockroaches are incredibly hard to get rid of because they don’t die easily and they reproduce incredibly quickly. There are many products available designed to eliminate cockroaches however, they are not all created equal! Below we outline the effectiveness of the most common cockroach removal products.

Bombs or Foggers – Not recommended! These “bombs” spray pesticides into the air so that they cover every surface in the room. However, they have not been shown to be very effective against cockroaches, as they miss a lot of the nooks and crannies in which roaches live. Pesticides can also be hazardous to humans if mishandled and should be applied by professionals when possible.

Glue Traps – These traps cause cockroaches to get stuck in them and are a useful tool when it comes to identifying if you have a cockroach problem or where the roaches are coming from. However, it isn’t very effective as a control tactic because they simply can’t catch enough roaches to make a dent in the population.

Gel Baits – Gel baits are one of the most effective means of cockroach control, but are more complicated to use than they may seem. Different cockroaches are attracted to different baits, the baits must be placed in all the correct places to properly target the population and they must be reapplied regularly. Once again, this is why they are significantly more effective in the hands of pest control professionals.

Vacuum- While not a total control method on its own, regularly vacuuming an infested area, especially in little nooks where these bugs may hide can help get rid of eggs and make elimination faster.

Ultimately, the best and fastest way to get rid of cockroaches is by calling on pest control professionals, cockroaches are simply too resilient for the average Canadian homeowner to overcome alone. Professionals will be able to identify your problem correctly and address the issue from the source.

Terminix Canada offers expert pest control services for both residential and commercial properties. We have local pest control experts at locations across Canada including BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Call us today to learn how we can help.

The Added Benefits Of Environmental Pest Control

Residential Pest Control / April 22, 2022

April is Earth Month, with Earth Day happening on April 22. So, this month, Terminix Canada wanted to focus on the importance of environmental pest control, as some pest control practices can be very harmful to people, pets, and the planet.

True to its name, environmental pest control is all about getting rid of pests with minimum impact on the environment. That means finding pest control solutions that go beyond simply spraying and praying with dangerous pesticides.

However, more than just being environmentally friendly, natural pest control can be more effective than traditional pest control solutions, offering longer-lasting results with less impact on your day-to-day life.

Long-Term Pest Control With Integrated Pest Management

Health Canada and the Pest Control Products Act regulate the sale, use, and handling of pesticides across the country. They promote an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to pest removal. Integrated Pest Management is an ecological approach to pest management that focuses on techniques to eliminate pests effectively, economically, and with environmental consciousness.

IPM is an environmental pest control method that seeks to remedy pest infestations by getting rid of the root causes of the infestation. While insect applications can temporarily get rid of pests, if it doesn’t address those root causes, you can be sure the critters will return as soon as the smoke clears.

Ultimately, IPM is about creating a holistic pest management plan that will get rid of pests without having to resort to chemical pesticides, except in extreme cases. Examples of Integrated Pest Management include exclusion and getting rid of conditions that could create pest habitats, such as removing standing water in your backyard.

By striking directly at the heart of your pest infestation, you’re ensuring years of pest-free living, instead of buying a few months of peace as the surviving pests breed and repopulate.

Eco-Friendly Pest Control Is Safe Pest Control

In addition to keeping the environment safe, eco-friendly pest control reduces the amount of chemicals inside your home. While you can be sure a reputable pest control company will take every precaution to use pesticides safely, weekend warriors attempting to use store-bought pesticides can easily put themselves and their loved ones at risk!

In addition to being safer than spray treatments, natural pest control is also a great way to save energy. This is because it avoids multi-day treatments or applications. Instead of having to pack away all your things and spend days in an expensive hotel while other exterminators spray away bed bugs, all-natural bed bug heat treatments can get rid of the pests in a matter of hours without disrupting the comfort of your home.

Whether you need to get rid of bed bugs or remove raccoons, Terminix Canada offers natural pest control solutions for all kinds of infestations. For Canada’s top eco-friendly pest control, call us today.

How Terminix Stands Out From The Competition

Terminix Canada lives and works in the same neighbourhoods as our customers, who trust us with their homes and businesses. Each day, Terminix teammates and our partners serve more than 50,000 customers around the world. These customers have come to trust us because our frontline cares deeply about the quality of their work and the relationships they have built.

But this trust depends on our commitment to protect the health and safety of our teammates, customers, and communities. As well as creating a healthy and sustainable environment. We value that trust, and it’s our responsibility to live up to these commitments.

QualityPro Mark

Terminix Canada takes great pride in ensuring our products meet the highest standards. That’s why you’ll see the QualityPro mark on our website. This mark designates that our technicians ascribe to professional pest removal standards. These standards far exceed the requirements of provincial and federal regulations. QualityPro is considered “the mark of excellence in pest management”. This is because it is designed to increase professionalism in the pest removal industry. As a QualityPro employer, Terminix Canada undergoes extensive background checks including driving and criminal history. Additionally, we strive to maintain a drug-free workplace to ensure a healthy, safe, and secure work environment.

At Terminix Canada, We:

Comply with all laws and regulations.
Empower all teammates at every level within the organization to:
Take personal responsibility for their safety and the safety of others.
Stop work immediately to avoid the risk of injury or environmental harm.
Actively share ideas to continuously create a safer place to work.
Design products and services to provide maximum benefit with minimal environmental, health and safety impacts.
Hold ourselves and our stakeholders accountable for the quality and safety of the products and services they provide to us and to our customers.
Strive to continually improve the safety of our processes, tools, and technology with the goal of being incident-free.

When You Need Safe And Effective Environmental Pest Control, Call The Experts At Terminix Canada

Terminix Canada is one of the most respected providers of pest control services nationwide. We offer 24/7 services coast-to-coast with over 90 years of experience.

Our government-licensed technicians use tried-and-tested techniques to get rid of pests and stop them from returning. We 100% guarantee results with our pest control services. If not, we’ll give you your money back. We safeguard residential homes and commercial businesses throughout Canada with effective pest control. That means offering effective protection against ants, birds, cockroaches, and other pests threatening human health and safety.

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How To Identify Signs Of Pests In Your Home

Residential Pest Control / April 04, 2022

It might sound like a no-brainer but identifying signs of pests in your home means getting rid of them quicker. While Terminix Canada has many more years of experience than your average homeowner in dealing with pest infestations, learning the common signs of pests living in your property is always beneficial.

Ever found yourself playing detective as you hold up a magnifying glass to pieces of dust? Chances are you were trying to determine whether you just encountered rodent droppings or not.

We understand that it’s easy to get paranoid about signs of pests in your home when you don’t know what to look for. However, once you know the real signs of common household bugs and rodents, you’ll be better equipped to quickly identify any infestation before calling your local pest exterminator. Ultimately, the faster you call for pest removal, the more effective it’ll be.

Signs Of Pests – This Blog Covers:

1. Bed Bugs
2. Cockroaches
3. Rodents
4. Silverfish

Signs Of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are one of the tiniest pests around, but this doesn’t mean you can’t successfully identify them. Firstly, you should inspect your skin for red, itchy bites. Bed bugs don’t spread disease to humans, but their bites can be rather irritating. If these bites develop after a (bad) night’s sleep, chances are you have bed bugs. These thirsty bloodsuckers like feeding on exposed skin with arms and shoulders commonly under siege.

Besides your own body, bed bugs leave behind blood stains on beds. As you inspect your bed, look out for small rusty coloured spots, often found near the edges of your mattress. Bed bugs molt (shed their skin) too, so you may also find disgusting oval-shaped exoskeletons in your discoveries.

Did you know that you can also smell bed bugs? Bed bug infestations leave behind a strong and musty odour from the release of pheromones. It’s just like that wet towel smell – nasty! Lastly, you should also inspect the clothes in your closet. Bed bugs have mastered the art of travel and will have no problem clinging to your clothing. Grab a magnifying glass and brush any invading insects away.

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Signs of Cockroaches

The insidious thing about a cockroach infestation is that it’s easy not to notice you have one. This is until their numbers explode! These tenacious pests can take refuge in the deepest nooks and crannies, beneath floorboards, and behind cupboards. Reproducing rapidly, a single cockroach egg capsule contains between 30-40 eggs!

However, the good news is that roaches tend to congregate in areas near water. The areas worth paying attention to are your kitchen and bathroom. If you start to notice reddish-brown smear marks on your tiles, then you can be sure you have a cockroach infestation.

Other signs of cockroaches in your home include finding shed skins and egg sacs, as well as an increasingly musty odour in your kitchen and/or bathroom.

You should remove food from countertops, ensure dirty dishes aren’t in the sink, and remove crumbs from your floor to dissuade cockroaches from getting comfortable. As a nocturnal pest, roaches are notoriously evasive and require persistent vigilance to remove them.

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Signs Of Mice And Signs Of Rats

Fall might seem like a long way away but it’s never too early to learn about rodent vigilance. As Canada cools down, armies of mice and rats seek shelter from the freezing cold temperatures of winter. Dozens of them could have already spent time living in your walls and foundations rent-free. Makes you shudder, right?

Luckily, the signs of a rodent infestation are relatively obvious. The first thing you might notice are mouse or rat droppings in cupboards and underneath cabinets. You should also look out for bite marks on cables, insulation, and food containers, like bags of pet food.

If you wake up in the night to the sounds of scratching inside your walls, don’t dismiss it as a nightmare. Mice and rats are most active at night, and the more intense the scratching, the larger your rodent infestation is.

The biggest problem with rodents is that they can cleverly sneak through the smallest spaces, holes, or cracks. If you have a crack or space in your structure that’s any bigger than 1.75 cm wide, you may be susceptible to a rodent infestation.

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Signs Of Silverfish

Don’t be fooled. Silverfish aren’t fish-like but take their name from the pest’s silvery scales that are metallic in appearance.

Silverfish constantly search homes for moisture and food sources high in sugars and starch. Nevertheless, these pests can survive for weeks without food or water. Entering homes through door gaps and foundation cracks, silverfish infestations can start from simply leaving dirty dishes out too long.

Common signs that you have a silverfish infestation include holes in wallpaper, books, or cardboard storage boxes. Additionally, fecal matter resembling small peppercorns suggests silverfish have breached the perimeter. Elsewhere, yellow stains on clothing, wallpaper, books, and papers are sure-fire signs of silverfish.

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Remove Pests Professionally With A Little Help From Terminix Canada

Have you found these or other signs of pests in your home? Call Terminix Canada for rapid, effective pest removal near you. Backed by over 90 years of professional pest control experience, our teams can identify and rid you of all common household bugs plaguing your property. Visit our Branch Locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch, and give them a call today.

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Pest Control For Restaurants: Cockroaches

Cockroaches / February 28, 2022

Pest control for restaurants is important. These services are a necessity for any establishment looking to safeguard their reputation and public image. Customers fleeing your restaurant in a heebie-jeebie induced panic should prove enough inspiration to contact a restaurant exterminator right away. If not, then health inspections ought to offer plenty of motivation.

In short, commercial kitchen pest control for restaurants eliminate invading pests, most infamously cockroaches. Roaches in restaurants are bad news all round. Besides frightening diners, causing them to panic, and leaving a barrage of one-star reviews, cockroaches contaminate food with bacteria. When diners spot roaches, it immediately raises questions regarding the cleanliness of your restaurant premises.

Ultimately, pest control for restaurants helps business owners negate failed restaurant inspections, subsequent shutdowns, and a tarnished reputation to boot. Rest assured, a Terminix Canada restaurant exterminator will get to the root of any pest issues on your premises, fast. This way, your diners can say “yum” rather than “yuck”!

Avoid Serving Cockroach A La Carte

Put yourself in your diners’ shoes. After a long day at the office or working from home, all they crave are the pleasant aromas of a freshly barbecued steak, not a double serving of a musty, roachified stench!

Did you know that cockroach emissions produce pathogens that irritate asthma and sinus symptoms? Needless to say, patrons won’t be sending their compliments to the chef.

Take it from us. The first distinct, musty whiff of roach problems will lead to the authorities being notified. Health inspectors are not sympathetic to the plights of a roach-ridden restaurant either. Therefore, the onus is on you to seek pest control for restaurants at the very first sign of an infestation.

How To Remove Cockroach From Your Menu

Restaurants offer food, shelter, water, and humidity for cretinous cockroaches. So, if a roach finds your kitchen, it’s like their own Hakuna Matata-esque haven and they’ll have no worries for the rest of their days!

If you fear you have roaches, contacting a restaurant exterminator is always the way to go. However, these six cockroach prevention tips will help reduce the chance of roaches in restaurants.

Cleaning out clutter
Keeping everything dry
Emptying trash daily
Using trash cans with tightly sealed lids
Immediately cleaning food crumbs from any surface
Storing food in closed containers

Additional cockroach precautions you can take include sealing the molding surrounding doors and windows. Don’t forget inside cabinets and storage closets, around baseboards, and around backsplashes near sinks too. These are the most common entry passageways for cockroaches to infiltrate restaurants and kitchens. You can install protective mesh screens on drains too to barricade this additional entry point.

Kitchen Nightmares: Cockroach Edition

Did you know that back in June 2016, there was a report of a cockroach falling on a health inspector’s iPad in a South Florida restaurant? You can’t make that up!

With several repeat violations, both live and dead roaches were found throughout the less-than-hygienic restaurant’s kitchen. Okay, even we’re getting a bit queasy!

They discovered three cockroach egg casings in the kitchen hand wash sink, one live roach crawling on the dish rack of the drain tray and many, many more roaches contaminating kitchen pans and equipment.

While these are gross-you-out facts, they prove that a tiny roach problem can quickly escalate into a full-blown cockroach infestation if ignored.

blogTO’s Initiative

As an FYI to restaurant owners and customers alike, over in Toronto, blogTO, a source for local news and culture, provides weekly updates of local health inspections, provided by DineSafe.

Garnering recognition on this list would be a restaurant’s worst nightmare. Just like finding a roach in a burger is your customer’s worst nightmare.

The only way cockroaches could be any worse for your restaurant is if they blogged a bad review on Yelp!

Need Pest Control For Restaurants? Contact Terminix Canada Today.

Contacting Terminix Canada should be your priority number one at the first inkling of a cockroach in your restaurant. Our mains include tried-and-tested cockroach control and cockroach removal tactics, with generous sides including pest prevention services.

Backed by over 90 years of professional pest control experience, our team knows how to get rid of cockroaches for good. After all, we hear they’re lousy tippers! Visit our Branch Locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch, and give them a call today.

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Quit Making The Same DIY Pest Control Mistakes & Learn Proper Pest Control

Ants / February 14, 2022

If you’ve encountered a pest control problem in your home, it’s likely you’ll try and control the problem yourself using DIY pest control. Well, after you shake your fist and ask, “how could this happen to me?!” like you’re the main character in your own Shakespearean Tragedy.

We hate the be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes DIY pest control can cause more harm than good. Especially if you’re treating pest control as a one-size-fits-all solution.

To help you avoid falling at the first hurdle, we’ve gathered the most common mistakes. This way, you can learn from other’s errors and become a master of proper pest control.

Mistake #1: Squish And Move On

The litre of orange juice you drank earlier is wreaking havoc on your bladder. So, in a hurry you dash off to the basement bathroom. There, you encounter a handful of cockroaches casually strolling along the bathroom floor. Nature is urgently calling, so you quickly squish them and continue to take care of your own business. Once done, you wipe the roaches’ remains off the floor with a paper towel.

“Goodbye cockroaches!” you say smugly as you toss them in the garbage. However, if you thought that was going to be the last time you encountered roaches, you’re sadly mistaken.

Without finding the original source of cockroaches, spiders, ants, or any other household pest problem, you’re likely to have a new problem pop up in a couple days. Until you discover how those buggers got into your home in the first place, you’ll be dealing with a whole new group of creepy-crawlies on the bathroom floor tomorrow or the next day.

Once you’ve discovered how they entered your home, it’s important to seal any cracks, gaps or holes surrounding your windows, doors, seams, and foundation.

From there, it’s a good idea to spend some time researching the proper pest control methods for your pest. This could mean setting pest-specific traps, utilizing insecticide, or hiring a pest control company like Terminix Canada.

Mistake #2: One Trap Doesn’t Fit All

Just like bigger critters, each pest is unique. As much as you may hate them all equally, wants, needs and desires differ from pest to pest. You wouldn’t use honey to attract horses or a mouse trap to catch a dog, so why are you using the same traps for all pests?

Buying a generic trap for all pests is one of the most common mistakes made by homeowners. In order for your traps to be successful, and not just a waste of money, you’ll have to investigate exactly what kind of penny-sized monster you’re dealing with. This will allow you to successfully buy the necessary traps, insecticides, or other insect deterrents.

If you are unable to decipher what kind of pest is wreaking havoc in your home, now is a good time to put the traps down and pick up the phone. Consult with a local pest control company that can identify the pests that are plaguing you, and help you sort the problem out effectively and efficiently.

Mistake #3: Know Your Enemy

Even once you’ve determined exactly what pest has invaded your home, do you really know the best way to wage war? It’s important to truly understand who and what you’re up against.

Many homeowners place traps where their pest adversaries aren’t hanging out. For instance, you won’t find rodents in the middle of a room. Instead, you should be placing rodent traps along walls, behind the refrigerator, and in other dark corners.

Additionally, you may catch a few adult mice in a couple of days with your traps. However, odds are that there are still young mice lingering around. Therefore, it’s best to leave rodent traps out for a few weeks, so you can catch the remaining runts of the litter.

If you don’t get rid of the entire infestation, then they will simply multiply back to the levels they were at when you first discovered you had a problem. Two mice is all it takes to soon create a mischief of mice.

Mistake #4: Don’t Neglect Your Pet

We know you would never purposely neglect your pet. However, it can be easy to do when trying to remove an unknown infestation from your home. If you think you may have a flea, tick, or parasite infestation, you must also treat your pets for the potential problem.

If you leave your pet untreated, you risk causing them prolonged health problems. Additionally, you’ll never fully be rid of the infestation until your pet is pest-free. Your loveable fur-ball is the perfect vessel to smuggle pests into your home or provide them a safe shelter to continue to procreate in.

Mistake #5: Not Calling The Experts

Sometimes you’ll be tasked with a pest infestation too great to handle on your own. In these circumstances, it’s best to swallow your pride and call in the pros!

If you are looking for tried-and-tested pest control services in your home, contact Terminix Canada today for a free consultation. We can help you get to the root of your pest control problem and implement effective, efficient, and affordable pest control solutions.

Find your local Terminix Canada branch today, so you can stop waging a losing war against pests.

The Importance Of Pest Control In Pharmaceutical Plants

Cockroaches / January 17, 2022

If you are responsible for the operations of a production plant, then it’s crucial that you understand the importance of pest control. Furthermore, you must be on top of your pest control management in order to maintain the quality of your product and save the plant money.

An infestation could cost you a fortune in contaminated materials and impending pest control services. Additionally, it will also damage your brand’s reputation, as well as lead to a loss of orders, customer revenues, and trust. It is far more expensive to fix your reputation or your customer’s trust in your product than it is to keep your plant pest-free.

Why A Pest Infestation Is Detrimental For Your Company

Pests can affect your company in a plethora of ways. They can damage buildings, cause cross-contamination, infect your products, and more. The potential impacts include:

Losing trust from your customers, industry leaders or suppliers
Damage to your reputation and brand
Expensive batch recalls or damage to products
Production lines needing to be shut down, which leads to financial loss
You could be held legally liable for compensation if harm should come from your products due to pest infestation
Fines or legal action from regulatory bodies or public health authorities

The Importance Of Flying Insect Pest Control

While there is a huge variation in different flying insect pests, as well as what attracts them to infest your building in the first place or how they breed, they do still share many similar traits.

The biggest issue with flying insects is how they operate. They carry pathogenic microorganisms and move between contaminated food sources and clean areas. This means they can easily spread bacteria or filth on their bodies.

Flying insects actually present the greatest pest risk to production facilities. They capitalize on the various materials, environment, and potential breeding conditions within your facility.

Flying insects are attracted to:

Fermenting sugars
Oils
Carbohydrates
Decaying proteins
Vegetable matter

The above ingredients are frequently used in digestible medicines.

Flies that you need to watch out for in your production plant include:

The Importance Of Cockroach Pest Control

Different cockroaches prefer different environmental conditions to thrive.

The German cockroach prefers the wetter humid conditions usually found in equipment-dense production areas.

Whereas the larger American cockroach likes the warmer conditions. These conditions are found in drains, sewers, and waste storage areas.

Lastly, the tinier, brown-banded cockroach can only survive in heated buildings. They burrow around electric motors, light switches, and electrical appliances. They enjoy feeding on materials with high starch content.

Here is why you need to worry about a cockroach infestation at your production plant:

Cockroaches can carry disease-causing microorganisms such as Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli
Cockroaches eat mold, fecal matter in sewers, and animal carcasses. This can then be transmitted to your production area.
Cast skins and egg cases contaminate products and packaging
Droppings and shed skins contain allergens, which can trigger asthma attacks in densely populated areas in a production plant

The Importance Of Stored Product Insect Pest Control

Production plants often handle starches, sugars, or other natural herbal products used in food products. Unfortunately, beetles, weevils, moths, and mites often infest these ingredients.

They can easily enter paper, cardboard, plastic, cellophane, or foil packaging. The insects infiltrate through minuscule holes smaller than the human eye can even see.

If you notice any small beetles, moths, larvae, pupae, or silken webbing on your storage bins, you have an infestation. It’s also important that you are constantly on the lookout for holes, larvae, or webbing on the outside of packets or bags. You should also be inspecting beams and windowsills for the same signs.

The Importance Of Rodent Control

Mice and rats can easily enter buildings and other facilities through holes the width of a pencil. Even the most modern, tightly secured facilities can fall victim to rats and mice. Rodents breed extremely quickly, causing a wide range of damage to both products, materials and the building itself.

With 13 species of mice and four species of rats found in Canada, rodents cause property damage, spread disease, and constantly seek shelter in businesses.

The house mouse prefers to nest in dark, secluded areas where there is little chance of disturbance. Elsewhere, Norway rats prefer to burrow in the soil. Rodents are strong climbers, but did you know that rats are also strong swimmers?

Boasting a thirst for destruction, rodents use their continuously growing incisors to bite through cables and wiring in homes and businesses, and their claws to feed and dig with relative ease.

The Importance Of Pest Control To Protect Your Reputation

It is crucial that production facilities maintain extremely high standards of pest control and pest prevention. Contamination will not just spoil your products, but it will cost your business big time in the short and long-term.

Don’t wait until a pest infestation ruins your product. Implement consistent pest control measures instead. The importance of pest control in your production facility cannot be overstated. It’s important that your entire team working on the floor know what to look out for and how to react if they spot an infestation.

Terminix Canada offers commercial pest control services to protect your production plant. We offer both one-time services, as well as annual memberships, so we can quickly react and help you solve your pest problem as soon as it arises.