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Whether you have a retail space or restaurant, having pests is terrible for business. Even if you don't see pests with your own eyes, it's important to have your commercial space checked and treat for pests regularly. Solutions Pest Management LLC provides dependable commercial pest control services in the Friendswood, Pearland and League City, TX areas.
If you are having difficulties with any of these ants, give Solutions Pest Management a call and we will advise you on the best course of action to eradicate the problem.
Spiders
Spiders can be distinguished easily from insects. All spiders have two major body regions and four pair of legs; insects have three body regions and three pair of legs. Spiders vary widely in color, shape, size, and habits. All produce venom that is poisonous to their normal prey. Few spiders are considered dangerous to humans, however. These animals are predaceous by nature and use their venom, which is injected through hollow fangs or chelicerae, to immobilize their prey.
Termites
Termites feed on wood and serve an important function in nature by converting dead trees into organic matter. Unfortunately, the wood in buildings is equally appetizing to termites and they cause serious damage to residential and commercial buildings. One in every four houses has a termite infestation. Termites cause over $5.4 billion in damage each year.
Fleas
Fleas can also be intermediate hosts of several species of tapeworm including species which parasitize humans, dogs, and cats. Adults can live for several years and go without feeding for months at a time under extreme conditions. Fleas can remain in a structure long after the host mammals have been removed. Outdoors, fleas are most abundant during humid, rainy summers and are more common outside in the southern United States than in the north. Indoors, warmth and high relative humidities are conducive to large populations. The sudden appearance of large numbers of adult fleas in mid-summer and fall ("flea seasons") is due in large part to the onset of higher humidities and temperatures which permit larval development to accelerate. Larvae may undergo arrested development in less than favorable conditions.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are dark in color and have oval, flat bodies, three pairs of legs and usually two pairs of wings. All roaches have three stages in their life cycle-egg, nymph (young) and adult. Females carry a bean-shaped egg capsule (ootheca) which is full of eggs. The newly emerged nymphs are identical to their parents except for their smaller size and lack of wings. The nymphs grow into adults by periodically shedding their skins, and may appear white for a few hours until their new skin darkens.
Silverfish
Silverfish may be found almost anywhere in the house, but are most commonly located in moist, warm locations such as around sinks and other plumbing fixtures. They are covered with shiny silver scales that give the body a metallic sheen. They are frequently found in sinks or bathtubs because they fall in seeking moisture and can't climb out. Silverfish are most active at night and run very swiftly with a wiggling motion that resembles the swimming action of a fish.
Bees
Honey bees are social insects found all over the world, are active pollinators and produce honey which feeds their young in colder months. The honey bee is the only social insect whose colony can survive many years.
Wasps
Occasionally these wasps build aerial nests in garages, crawl spaces or other enclosed areas. Nests are built of paper made by stripping wood fibers from trees, fences, garden stakes and other wooden structures. The combs are built in tiers and are surrounded by an outer paper covering.
Ticks
Ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, encephalitis, tularemia, tick paralysis, and Lyme disease, so it is important to prevent tick infestations in domestic dogs.
Crickets
In late summer when temperatures begin to fall, crickets often enter homes and become a nuisance by damaging stored food or clothing, or by making noise. Single crickets may be captured by hand and released outdoors or killed with a fly swatter, broom or insecticides. If crickets are numerous, residual insecticides are usually the best answer. Solutions Pest Management recommends setting up a chemical cricket barrier by spraying outside the house, around the foundation and about 5 feet out into flower beds or the lawn.
Earwigs
Earwigs can cause alarm to homeowners when discovered indoors. They have a frightful appearance, move rapidly around baseboards at the ground level and may emit a foul smelling, yellowish-brown liquid from their scent glands. These creatures, which are active at night and hide during the day, normally live outdoors. They are harmless to humans and animals, although if handled carelessly the earwig can give a slight pinch with the forceps. Serious feeding damage may occur on flowers, vegetables, fruits and other plants, giving the leaves a ragged appearance with the numerous, small, irregular holes. Also, decomposing organic matter is consumed. They are considered temporary pests in spite of the fact that they sometimes occur in large populations.
Mosquitoes
Authorities say health-related pest problems are on the rise for many reasons. Dr. Phil Koehler, entomology professor, University of Florida, says many of the pests American consumers contend with today are species or exposures imported from other countries, largely from air travel. Goddard agrees, "Dengue fever, for example, can be traced back to American tourists bitten by mosquitoes during Caribbean vacations."
Flies
Everyone is familiar with house flies (order Diptera). They aren't the cleanest of insects--they visit dumps, sewers, and garbage heaps. They feed on fecal matter, discharges from wounds and sores, sputum, and all sorts of moist, decaying matter like spoiled fish, eggs, and meat. Flies regurgitate and excrete wherever they come to rest and thereby are ideally suited to mechanically transmit disease organisms. House flies are suspected of transmitting at least 100 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, yaws, anthrax, tularemia, leprosy, and tuberculosis.
Beetles
Pest problems are not limited to diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks. Consumers must also contend with insects that bite or sting, including ants, bees, poisonous spiders, flies, hornets and wasps. Other insects, such as fleas, lice, mites, cockroaches and beetles, can aggravate skin disorders or allergies and infest food supplies. Dr. Bobby Corrigan, RMC Pest Management Consulting, Richmond, Ind., says rodents not only are linked to disease transmission, food contamination but also to electrical problems in city buildings, where they can gnaw through insulation for electrical wires, affecting critical computers and other equipment.
Scorpions
Brick constructed homes contain weep holes which are the most common method for mice and rats (roaches, snakes, spiders, scorpions and lizards etc. as well) to enter the home is through the brick weep holes.
Hornets
Yellow Jackets
When yellow jackets are disturbed, give them plenty of room since they are capable of inflicting multiple painful stings. If yellow jackets become excited and are about to attack, do not panic. Make no sudden movements and retreat slowly and calmly from the area.
Stinging Insects
In spite of their many benefits, it may become necessary to control stinging insects if they pose a hazard. Fortunately, recovery from most stings is rapid and occurs within a couple of days. Only the females are capable of stinging because the stinger is actually a modified ovipositor or egg-laying tube. Originally, the stinger served to deposit eggs in protected areas or into the bodies of insect prey. Later, venom glands evolved and the stinger became a weapon to paralyze prey and defend the nest.
Mites
"While not all insects, ticks or mites are harmful to humans, some carry life-threatening diseases," says Dr. Jerome Goddard, clinical assistant professor of preventive medicine, University of Mississippi Medical School. "We are seeing several new vector-borne (carried by insects) diseases emerge, such as Lyme disease, and consumers need to learn how to protect themselves and remove such risks from their environment."
Aphids
The name earwig is derived from a European superstition that these insects enter the ears of a sleeping person and bore into the brain. This belief is totally unfounded. Earwigs develop from egg to adult through gradual metamorphosis with four to five nymphal stages. During the spring or autumn, females lay 20 to 50 smooth, oval, pearly-white or cream-colored eggs in an underground chamber. The female moves, cleans and provides maternal care by protecting the eggs and new young until the first molt. Young then leave the nest, fend for themselves and mature in one season. Earwigs may dig as deep as 6 feet below ground to escape the cold temperatures. During the day, they hide in moist, shady places beneath stones, boards, sidewalks and debris. They are rapid runners and feed on mosses, lichens, algae, fungi, insects, spiders and mites, both dead and alive. Some earwigs are predators, feeding on aphids and others feed on living plants, becoming pests in greenhouses and on certain crops such as vegetables, fruits, ornamentals, forages and field plants.
Gnats
Large mating swarms of adults often appear about dusk and may occur for several days, especially after a prolonged wet period. Many gnats are attracted to light and may be a nuisance, landing on people or entering homes or businesses. These tiny flies do not feed. They only live long enough to mate, lay eggs, and die. Eggs are laid in masses in the water or on aquatic vegetation. The life cycle usually takes about 4 to 5 weeks. There may be several generations during the summer but these insects usually disappear with the onset of dry weather. Fortunately, problems are usually temporary and intermittent.
Firebrats
Firebrats are similar to silverfish in overall appearance but lack the silvery sheen. The body color is gray or brown, usually with numerous dark markings that give a mottled appearance. Unlike the silverfish that may be found in any part of a house, firebrats prefer areas of high temperature (90° F and above) and high humidity. Therefore, firebrats are more common in attics and around furnaces, ovens and water heaters.
Midges
Midges and Gnats are common names for a large number of small, non-biting flies. Many species look like mosquitoes and may form annoying swarms or clouds in the air but they do not bite. The immature stages develop in water in pools, containers, ponds, clogged rain gutters, or in some cases, wet soil or seepage areas. Most feed on living or decaying plant matter and are an important part of aquatic food chains. Many species can survive in very stagnant or polluted water.
Brick constructed homes contain weep holes which are the most common method for mice, rats, roaches, snakes, spiders, scorpions and lizards etc. to enter the home is through the brick weep holes. Weep holes are best described as welcome stations or tons of tiny doors for unwanted guests to just come on in.
Corrigan agrees. He suggests controlling rodents using an integrated pest management (IPM) plan that includes sanitation, pest-proofing buildings, trapping programs and rodenticides. "IPM is critical if you have a severe problem with these small mammals, even more than with insects," he says.
Mice
Although house mice usually feed on cereal grains, they will eat many kinds of food. They are sporadic feeders, nibbling bits of food here and there. Mice have keen senses of taste, hearing, smell, and touch. They are excellent climbers and can run up any rough vertical surface. They will run horizontally along wire cables or ropes and can jump up 13 inches from the floor onto a flat surface. Mice can squeeze through openings slightly larger than 1/4 inch in diameter.
Rats
Rats are excellent climbers and often enter a home in the fall when outside food sources become scarce.
Squirrels
Fleas are parasites that feed on the blood of any warm-blooded body. The most common species is the cat flea, which often feasts on cats, dogs and humans. They are flat, dark reddish-brown, and 1/12 to 1/6-inch long. Fleas transport themselves on rodents and other mammals and infest both household pets and wild animals. Fleas use their powerful legs to jump as high as 8-inch vertically and 16-inch horizontally. Fleas usually remain on their warm-blooded hosts at all times. They can also be found on shoes, pant legs, or blankets, which can transfer the fleas to new environments. They are often found infesting squirrels, rats, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. Flea bites vary in effect from short-lived itching welts to an overall rash to symptoms which may last over a year, depending on the sensitivity of the victim. Young children are more sensitive than older persons. Commonly, a small red spot appears where the skin has been pierced. Little swelling ensues, but the spot is accompanied by a red halo of irritated skin which usually lasts for several hours to a day. Fleas are vectors of several diseases to human health including plague, Nearly all known cases of plague in humans in the United States since 1925 have been associated with wild and their fleas. Murine typhus is a mild form of epidemic typhus that is usually spread by the human louse. The Norway rat population is the main reservoir of the disease. The disease is most common in the southwestern and Gulf states. The disease is commonly spread from rat to rat, and from rat to human by the oriental and northern rat fleas. It has also been transmitted by cat fleas from infected feral cats. Fleas are also vectors of tularemia, a disease related to plague. The natural reservoirs of tularemia are cottontail rabbits in the East, and jack rabbits in the West. Most cases reported are by hunters. Fleas can also be intermediate hosts of several species of tapeworm including species which parasitize humans, dogs, and cats. Adults can live for several years and go without feeding for months at a time under extreme conditions. Fleas can remain in a structure long after the host mammals have been removed. Outdoors, fleas are most abundant during humid, rainy summers and are more common outside in the southern United States than in the north. Indoors, warmth and high relative humidities are conducive to large populations. The sudden appearance of large numbers of adult fleas in mid-summer and fall ("flea seasons") is due in large part to the onset of higher humidities and temperatures which permit larval development to accelerate. Larvae may undergo arrested development in less than favorable conditions.