Pest Control Health Concerns

Mice and Rats:

Furry rodents may look cute, but the creatures live wild dirty lives and are responsible for spreading many dangerous and even deadly infections. The most common rodent infection transmission routes is urine and feces, so take special precautions to avoid inhaling or ingesting these potentially contaminated substances when cleaning a rodent infested area. Therefore, you should always wear a mask and plastic gloves when cleaning rodent infested areas. Thoroughly clean and disinfect, with hot water and detergent, all sheets, pillow cases, blankets, and towels that have come in contact with rodent waste. Don't use a vacuum cleaner. The resulting air currents may kick up pathogen containing dust that mixes with the air and is easily inhaled. Contact your physician immediately if you develop fever or flu symptoms after cleaning a rodent infested room or house.

Use precautions whenputting out rodent poison. Put the poisons in areas where they will not be ingested by pets or children. One or more of four compounds are usually found in rat poison; they include Bradificoum, Difacinone, Warfarin, and Bromadiolone. All four compounds deactivate vitamin K dependent clotting factors. If someone deliberately or accidently ingests one of these compounds, he may subsequently suffer from ecchymosis (bleeding in the skin), epistaxis (nose bleeds), gum bleeds, flank pain (due to internal bleeding), hematuria (blood in the urine), retinal hemorrhages, or frank internal bleeding (large doses). If someone in the household ingests rat poison, they should immediately be taken to the emergency room. Treatment for rat poison ingestion is long term administration of vitamin K.

Mosquito Borne Illnesses:

Mosquitoes are a vector for many dangerous viral illnesses including Zika fever, chikungunya, dengue fever, West Nile virus fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Dengue fever causes painful joint pain (breakbone fever). Malaria is a febrile illness that can cause death if not properly medically treated. While Zika normally causes a mild flu like illness, it can lead to birth defects when contracted by a woman who is pregnant. The health risks behoove all members of the public to protect themselves against mosquito bites. If you discover mosquitoes in your backyard, call a pest control specialist immediately. He can eradicate local mosquitoes and clean up potential mosquito breeding areas. If you find yourself in an area where mosquitoes are endemic, protect yourself by wearing clothes that cover your body, use mosquito repellant, and sleep in mosquito netting.

A recent article in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) listed reliable mosquito repellants: Deet - 7% pump spray, 15% and 25% aerosol spray, and 30% lotion; Picardin - sprays or wipes; IR3535 - lotion or spray; Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (30% pump spray). All of these repellants are available in local stores at reasonable prices. When using the repellants, be sure to note how long they are effective, and reapply the material before the protection lapses.

Pest Spray Health Precautions

While all pest sprays on the market have FDA approval, that doesn't mean they can't cause cancer when used improperly. FDA approval implies that the benefits of the substance significantly outweigh the harms. To protect yourself from any pesticide side effects, be sure to use the substances as directed on the product labels.

How to Correctly Choose and Use Rodenticides

Rat Hole Under a Stove

Chemicals that are effective in killing rodents are appellated rodenticides ("rodent" comes from the Latin rōdēns, rōdēnt- ‎(“gnawer; one who gnaws”) and "cide," a suffix meaning "killer"}). When applied properly these chemicals are valuable pesticides, but when misused they can harm pets, children, and the environment. Determine the exact nature of your rodent infestation before applying chemical poisons. Make a thorough inspection of your room, basement, whole house, or outdoor area. Look for evidence that rodents are present. Signs of rodents include claw marks and droppings. Search the Internet for pictures of rodent droppings to determine the type of rodent and species infesting your home. Before applying rodenticide, make sure the infesting rodents are rats and not mice.

Now that you have determined the type of invader, look for clues that will tell you about his behavior. Search for borrows in the ground,  holes in concrete or in the walls. Determine what activities the creatures are engaged in on your property. Are they nesting on  or merely visiting in search of food?  Rat droppings around your trash cans are a sign they are visiting  in search of food. Rat holes near your stove or refrigerator are a sign the rats are nesting. Sometime they will make a nest by removing your refrigerator's insulation.

 

Sometimes it will make more sense to use mechanical traps rather than chemical bait. Facilities for sick people and homes with pets and children are two types of residences where  using mechanical rat traps might be more appropriate.

Once you make the decision to use rodenticides, you will need to decide which type of rodenticide is appropriate for the specific rodent problem you are facing. Wax bait is moisture resistant and therefore a good choice for exterminating external infestations. Pellets are effective against rats that are raiding the home to eat.  Tracking powder works well against rats in holes and borrows. Introduce the powder into the hole or borrow, then seal up the opening. This will ensure that only rats, but not children or pets, eat the poison.

To ensure the safety of your applications, always put them in areas that are invisible and inaccessible to pets and kids. Keep in mind that if children merely see the poison, they will try to get at it. If the poisons are out of site but accessible,  pets are likely to find them during their foraging around the home.

One last tip. If your infestation is serious, don't try tackling it yourself. Call in a pest exterminator to handle it for you.

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A # 1 Pest Control of Baltimore (Local Rat Control Experts); 7236 Park Heights Avenue; Apt. A. ,Baltimore, MD. 21208; 410-764-7500; Baltimore, Md. Pest Control Baltimore, Md. Pest Control

Bed Bug Awareness

Bed Bug Crawling on a Sleepers Skin

Bed bugs continue to spread around the world and are increasingly resistance to current pesticides, but tenants and municipalities are fighting back with greater bed bug awareness backed up by court actions. As public awareness of the epidemic grows, homeowners and tenants are becoming more savvy about recognizing and reporting bed bugs at an earlier stage, thereby avoiding more serious and more costly infestations. When bed bugs are not discovered and exterminated early on they can cause a serious invasion which results in property damage, psychological damage to tenants ranging from anxiety to full blown post-traumatic stress disorder, to the need for vacating the premises.

 Positive strides are definitely being made in the public awareness sectors; tenants are increasingly pressuring landlords to be responsible in carrying out bug eradication  on the premises, and some have taken landlords to court via class action suits. One recent development coming out of Perelman School of Medicine is the discovery that bed bugs may be capable of transmitting the potentially fatal Chagas disease. According to a Harvard University bed bug expert, the evidence while compelling is not conclusive. The Harvard professor added that homeowners should not overreact to the news, and should discuss any bed bug concerns with their local exterminator.A parallel rise in the American incidence of both Chagas diseases and bed bugs is suggestive of a connection; however increased migration from Latin America to the United States may also explain at least part of the rise in Chagas disease.

Conclusions that can be drawn from current bed bug trends are that a greater focus on public awareness leading to quicker reporting of bed bug sightings, and efforts to prevent bed bugs from entering the home, will help offset the growing bed bug resistance to pesticides.

The staff of A # 1 Pest Control of Baltimore are expert bed bug exterminators with more than 2 decades of service to the Baltimore community. Call 410-764-PEST for immediate service.

Thoughts About Bed Bug Treatments

No two pest control concerns have the same reasoning when it comes to getting rid of bed bugs. Dovid Davis, an entomologist and owner of A # 1 Pest Control, a Baltimore pest control company is a particularly opinionated and outspoken individual and describes his bed bug eradication principles in a very pleasing way.

Dovid makes the point in numerous ways that his company focuses on treating with pesticides that have effects that continue for months after the treatment. This means the first bed bug treatment will keep working for up to 90 days or more when combined with high temperature washing and drying of clothing and bedding plus diligent household cleaning.

A # 1 Pest Control does not dispute the effectiveness of foggers and heat treatments. The company doesn't use them only because they are temporary kills, and Dovid is partial to treating with long lasting pesticides. However, when they are hired to treat a small area such as a single room or small dwelling unit, they will exterminate in the whole area and save the expense of using a bed bug sniffing dog.

The initial bed bug treatment often clears up the problem completely, but if not the company does offer follow up treatments as needed. If you live in the Baltimore area and need bed bug treatment, be sure to call the company office at 410-764-7500.

I think you can tell already, that director Dovid Davis understands every type of bed bug treatment. The company's decision to not use foggers and heat treatments is clearly based on a well thought out consideration of their uses and limitations. The company also employs bed bug sniffing dogs, but rightfully concludes that the dog's greatest contribution to pest eradication l is locating the bugs when the area infested is large.  The company director likes to use the strongest available pesticides, and to treat with residuals so that his treatment will retain their effectiveness for as long as possible. In short, by selecting A # 1 Pest Control for your personal pest eradication needs, you will be assured of getting a treatment based on sound intellectual principles.

Bed Bug Control Baltimore; 410-764-PEST

Dovid has a unique gift and offers insights about the various types of bed bug treatments that you won't hear anywhere else.

Generous Holiday Offer Nearly Bankrupts Baltimore Pest Control Company

How Exterminators Block up Mice And Rat Entryways

If you hire someone to get rid of the rodents in your dwelling, be sure he also checks for and blocks mice and rat entry points. While rodents mostly dwell outdoors, by nature, they are also drawn to human dwellings, warm winter houses with a ready supply of food.

Rats and especially mice are dexterous critters that can squeeze into tiny cracks and holes. Rats and mice enter homes beneath doors, through open windows, by crawling along pipes that pierce walls, by way of thin chewable material such as walls, and via burrowing through subterranean passageways.

Because rodents have teeth that can chew through flimsy wall material such as cardboard, wallboard, plaster, and thin wood, their entry points must be clogged with steel wool, metal, or concrete. Examine the following original photos from A # 1 Pest Control to see how pest exterminators use concrete to block rodent entry points.


Boarding up a pipe hole






Notice the picture to the left. Plumbing pipes come in the dwelling through the wall and are completely enclosed by concrete. The concrete is packed around the pipe and stops up the hole that the pipe exits from. This protection totally blocks this former rodent access point. If a homeowner had enclosed the pipe with plaster, it might block rodent entrance for a while, but eventually they would gnaw though the dried plaster and open the entrance point once again. The concrete, on the other hand, will stand up against any attempt by the rodents to chew through it with their sharp teeth.



Outside rat burrow that has been filled with cement





Notice that the big hole in the grass has been filled up with concrete. That was once a rat entrance hole that an industrious rodent dug through the earth and extended underground until it got to pipes or other types of entryway into the dwelling. If A # 1 Pest Control - Harrisburg had not blocked up that hole, rats would have continued coursing into the nearby house through their improvised tunnel.


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A # 1 Pest Control of Baltimore; 7236 Park Heights Avenue; Apt. A. ,Baltimore, MD. 21208; 410-764-7500; Baltimore, Md. Pest Control Baltimore, Md. Pest Control

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