Articles are a great way to show your expertise and enlighten your audience. They can inspire interactions, drive traffic, and convert customers.

This will help you determine what control methods to use. Options include prevention, suppression, and eradication. Preventing pests reduces damage and prevents disease in people, pets, livestock, plants, crops and buildings. Contact Pest Control Basking Ridge NJ now!

Insects are the most abundant animals on Earth, comprising more than 1.5 million species. They are a crucial part of the biosphere’s natural ecosystems, shaping and maintaining their complexity and beauty, driving plant reproduction and dispersal of seeds, decomposing organic matter and maintaining soil structure and fertility.

In addition, insects are one of the most important food sources for other animal groups, especially mammals and birds. There is growing interest in the use of insects as a source of protein for human consumption, largely driven by environmental concerns and social pressures.

However, the production of insect-based foods is a challenging area for public health professionals because of differences in rearing conditions, dimensions and poikilothermy (the ability of animals to live both on land and water). Despite this, there is little evidence of zoonotic disease transmission from insect products to humans when they are cultivated under adequate sanitary conditions.

Insect pests damage vegetables, crops and forestry trees by eating or burrowing into leaves, stems, roots and fruit. They also cause indirect losses by delivering pathogens to wounded sites in plants where they can spread disease. Insecticides can be used to control damaging populations of pests, but only when the amount of plant injury incurred by the treatment is justified by the cost of labor and chemicals compared to the value of the treated crop. An example is using the gall midge, Aphidoletes aphidimyza, to naturally reduce aphids in vegetable gardens and thus avoiding the use of chemical insecticides.

Rodents

Rodents are a part of many ecosystems, but they are pests when they interfere with people and their property. They destroy crops and gardens, contaminate food and water supplies, carry fleas, ticks, and mites that spread disease, and damage wildlife habitat. They can also carry and transmit diseases to humans through contact with their droppings, urine, saliva, or feces, and through eating or breathing in contaminated dust.

Rodents are found nearly everywhere on the planet, from tropical forests and grasslands to deserts, tundra, and swamps, and some, like house mice, have adapted to live in human homes. They are important to the environment, but they cost billions in agricultural losses each year and are carriers of diseases including bubonic plague, typhus, and hantavirus.

In addition to destroying plants and crops, rodents chew on wires and other valuable items in our homes and businesses, creating fire hazards. They also create odors and unsanitary conditions. Some rodents are invasive species that cause serious problems. Others, such as the pack rat and woodrat, are a natural part of our Sonoran desert and can be beneficial in some situations.

Rodents enter our buildings through holes, cracks, or gaps around pipes, vents, or utility lines. Sealing these areas with caulking, steel wool, or other materials is an effective preventive measure. Regularly inspecting the inside and outside of your home, business, and grounds for signs of rodents is essential to detecting them before they become an infestation.

Rodent Control

Rodents raid food supplies, contaminate more food than they consume and play host to ticks, fleas and mites that spread diseases. In residential settings rodents damage buildings, chew on electrical wires and can create fire hazards. In business environments, the presence of rodents can result in health code violations and a loss of reputation.

Keeping rodents away from structures requires sanitation and exclusion efforts in addition to lethal control. Inspecting buildings regularly for rodent activity (e.g., droppings, urine, rub marks) can help determine the level of infestation. It is important to inspect frequently and to look behind walls, inside cupboards, in cluttered spaces and in the attic.

In addition to observing physical evidence, it is important to listen for scratching and gnawing sounds and smell a rancid odor emanating from urine. Also, watch for scat, footprints and tail marks. It should be remembered that rats are suspicious of new objects, including bait stations and traps, and it may take some time before they accept these controls.

The most effective way to prevent rodents from entering a building is to reduce their availability of food and shelter. This is accomplished by sweeping up food scraps, keeping areas neat and tidy and removing debris that could serve as nesting or hiding places for rodents. Natural repellents, such as peppermint oil or ultrasonic devices that emit sound frequencies that are irritating to rodents, can be used to supplement a control program.

Bed Bugs

As their name suggests, bed bugs thrive in crevices where they can hide during the day and pounce at night for a blood meal. Their flat bodies allow them to fit into tight spots, such as behind headboards and in the corners of upholstered furniture. They can also ride on people and their belongings, moving from room to room or floor to floor via cracks in walls, floors and ceilings. Unlike fleas, which live on feces and other filth, bed bugs do not require cleanliness to survive. Although they feed exclusively on human blood, they can be found in pristine dwellings as well as in places of squalor.

When a home or business suffers from a bed bug infestation, all infested areas must be treated. Generally, items that cannot be washed or dried must be sealed in plastic and left for a year to kill all the bugs and eggs. This might include stuffed animals, shoes and other clothing. The items should be marked with a “bedbugs” label to discourage others from taking them home.

Over-the-counter pesticide sprays and bug foggers are usually ineffective for controlling bed bugs because they do not penetrate the outer layer of the pests. However, dessicants, such as silica aerogel (Tri-Die) or diatomaceous earth, are effective. The chemicals work by removing the protective outer layer of the pest, causing them to dry out and die.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are a nuisance pest that cause itchy, irritating bites. They also transmit some diseases, including West Nile virus (WNV), Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), and Zika virus. These insects can cause loss of income for farmers who depend on mosquitoes to pollinate their crops, and can rob people of leisure time by interfering with outdoor activities.

Adult mosquitoes live in ponds, wetlands, and other moist areas. They emerge as adults after rain or flooding, and can become abundant. Mosquito larvae feed on plant nectar and other sugars. Females need blood meals to produce viable eggs. Using their proboscises, mosquitoes stab two tubes into the skin, one to inject an enzyme that inhibits blood clotting, and the other to suck blood from the host. Blood provides the protein needed to develop eggs.

The mosquito family contains two subfamilies, Anophelelinae and Culicinae, that differ in the ability to transmit disease. Depending on the species, Anopheleline mosquitoes can carry malaria and dengue fever, while Culicine mosquitoes transmit yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Both Anopheleline and Culicine mosquitoes detect their victims by observing the frequency of their wing beats.

Homeowners can limit mosquito populations by practicing effective yard care, keeping grass mowed and removing debris from the landscape, and by eliminating standing water. They can also purchase and use products that target mosquitoes, such as pyrethrins and their synthetic versions, called pyrethroids, which are typically applied in ultra-low volume (ULV) sprays, which dispense tiny droplets. These droplets are smaller than a pinhead and stay airborne for longer periods of time to maximize their efficacy.

Termites

Termites are social insects that live in colonies with organized caste systems. Like ants, termites can be both a beneficial and a problematic pest depending on the species and where the colony is located. Termites get their nutrition from cellulose (wood) and a variety of other substances found in the wood that they eat, including sugars and starches.

Unlike ants, termites do not live on the surface of the soil but tunnel into wood or other materials. They can also travel through small “mud tubes” that they build from soil, wood particles and other material. These tubes may be visible on foundation walls or floor joists.

The most destructive species of termite in California is Heterotermes aureus, which swarms at dusk and is attracted to light. The other important species is Coptotermes formosanus, which has light-brown winged forms that fly at dusk and are also attracted to lights.

The most effective treatment for subterranean termites is a liquid application of an active ingredient to the soil. Until recently, most termite control products contained repellent chemicals; these were repelled by the termites but did not kill them. However, these repellents were abused by some pest control companies who applied them in a manner that did not meet state regulations.