Are we ever more than 6 feet away from a rat?
Are we ever more than 6 feet away from a rat?
This is a common question that I am asked. This article gives some good insight
Rat Calls In Essex Gone Through The Roof….Why ?
Rat Calls In Essex Gone Through The Roof….Why ?
Rats on the increase in Essex or not ? What have you found running around the garden recently then…probably a brown rat, that has decided to make a home under the shed or in the compost heap maybe.
Or it could be worse than any of those places and the rat could be invading your home. Yes, brown rats will chew their way into your home if they decide that there is much reward in doing so.
A very common theme that we come across at Pest Control Essex is that rats are now everywhere….We see them all the time, admittedly, we have a trained eye, but let me ask you this. Have you recently popped out for a fast burger and jumped in the queue at a drive through? Have you see rodents running around the bins or even running near the walls across doorways?
These bait stations are usually visable.
Or what about when you are in the garden and you spot a hole….you ignore the hole not understanding why it is there !
This is a rat hole
See my blogs on the perfect storm and you can understand my theory on large amount rodents in the UK. Please also read DIY pest control and this also gives advice on why you SHOULD NOT deal with rats.
In my professional opinion we are all facing the prospect of coming into contact with rats. The perfect storm from an earlier blog is nearly here and we need to face up to this head on. We currently work to legislation that controls all pest controllers to work to a baiting program of 35 days.
This legislation is geared up to reducing bait in the environment if no re-take of bait is taken upon 35 days. We agree with this policy and CRRU guidelines totally.
We offer Service Agreements to stop pests from entering properties before its too late. The words ‘the stable door is closed after the horse has bolted come to mind’ !
Service Agreements can be flexible to a degree, yet remember, the less visits the more damage can be caused. Always find a company that can offer you a Service Agreement that fits in with your needs. Pest control diaries should be maintained as this helps the pest controller in his work. If a mouse was spotted in the warehouse at 7.45am , this should all be recorded. Minute details help too, for example, where did the rodent run back to?
Out of hours inspections should not be ruled out either, this in most cases can help to resolve problems that a busy daytime warehouse will not allow, due to vibration and sounds.
We noted rats at a recent building site found it much better to wreck the on site portakabin in the evenings when nobody was around. Chewing through floors, telephone wires, and even chewing through a plastic toilet pipe that flooded the whole place out.
Do not be caught out by rats call somebody in and help stop the rise in rat infestation in Essex. We all need to play a part in this every increasing problem
Wasps Nests In Some Funny Locations In Essex
Wasps Nests In Some Funny Locations In Essex
Now I would not normally be writing blogs about wasps nest in Essex in November, but after the year we have had with wasps nest nothing surprises me anymore! It’s been terrible for wasps nests and when I met up with another pest controller all he says is “what a bad year for wasp control”. And I have to agree 100 percent.
Yet, this week I have dealt with two very active nests. The first photo was shot on my IPhone and zoomed in so the photo quality is not the best.
So you can see the nest is very busy and what makes this story even more funny is the fact, that this nest was active at 5 degrees on a very windy day. Wasps are very hardy and can live through what seems very cold conditions. This photo though, is a good pointer for those of you that come across a nest next season. This nest is just below a fascia board in the soffit and is set at a nice height for the wasps to fly in and out.
The next photo is unusual to say the least, but it does show how easy wasps can make a nest
Not the biggest I have treated but still as active. This photo was taken 5 hours later as the wasps would not let me near the bin to take a photo ! Please don’t try and deal with these nests yourselves as the wasps will sting you and attack until you back off to a certain distance. Always call in a pest control company who can deal with this safely for you.
Pest Control Essex We Wear the Badge With Pride
Pest Control Essex We Wear the Badge With Pride
Here at Pest Control Essex we are a genuine truly Essex based pest control company with deep links to not only Pest Control but to the Essex Area. With Offices based in Brentwood and Colchester we can offer great response times & we have even been known to make an emergency visit in around 15 minutes. Now that’s a record Pest Control Essex are very proud Of.
We are that proud of the county, we wear the badge on the front of the company polo shirts. We are committed to ongoing training and are part of basis prompt a company who monitor your training schedules year on year. We are part of Npta National Pest technicians association and we pride ourselves on helping them grow.
We are also a follow CRRU as this is vital to our industry in Essex and we try to educate others along the way
We have full level 2 & level 3 Rsph certification and can offer the best possible service to any company or residence in Essex with our highly qualified staff.
We are also now working in line with 3 local councils in the Essex area to provide urgent pest control solutions once called upon. We have some very high profile clients in the retail & hotel sectors and can offer service requirments.
Members of BASC for shooting purposes, you can rely on Pest Control Essex to have all the correct shooting certificates and insurances required.
What areas do we cover in Essex?
Well we cover the whole area and can offer very fast pest control response times
So here we are for when you need us most.
Mice In The Roof In Essex
Mice In The Roof In Essex
Right, so you have heard the scratching or you have seen the rapid little fellow running across the floor ! Yes, you have seen the common house mouse or a field mouse invading your home. Recently we were called to deal with a mouse job in Brentwood, Essex. Nothing new there but the customer was complaing of hearing the mice running across the conservatory roof towards the first low level roof. ( this was a bungalow with annex).
The customer was pretty upset, they have called out two other companies in the past four months and they had still heard mice & in fact, they were now at the rear of the property. So MR Customer called Pest Control Essex in to survey the situation and try to resolve this situation. As you can imagine Mr Customer was not happy because (A) at still having mice and (B) not very confident when it came to pest control companies after the money he had all ready spent…about £600 with other pest controllers.
Anyway, we quoted for 6 visits to resolve this issue and got straight to work, we placed tracking dust ‘ultra violet’ along the roof area. I had already noted climbing plants that mice could use but I thought ‘best I let the tracking dust do the work for me.'( see this video for how we use UV tracking dust) Not the same job but a good example of the way we use it.
We also placed some bait in the property and let nature take its course, two days later we returned, the tracking dust had done it’s job and we traced the problem to the next door neighbours climbing plant. We also found the location of where the mice had been gaining access to the property (see photo). We asked the neighbour to move the climber to another area as it was only in a pot.
We took the tiles off to find dropping, lots of them, plus in the photo you can see bait that a previous company left behind. (see my blog on CRRU)
We baited and the customer wanted the job proofed to stop further access by mice. We did all the work and left the job as a water test for for 8 days with no further mice activity in the house or outside.
Not only was the customer very happy with our service, he only had to pay half the bill, as we completed all the work in half the quoted visits. We removed all bait & moved onto the next job.
Another happy ending from Pest Control Essex
The mouse caught in the box
The mouse caught in the box
We were recently called to a job as a customer had seen a mouse running across her kitchen area and into a utility cupboard. Nothing new there, for us as a Pest Control company in Essex but what we came across was quite funny. We caught this short video for you to see.
This was a very simple mouse job to resolve, sometimes the problem can be so close to without us even knowing about it. This mouse was deadly still until I took the box outside.
The mouse was living inside a hoover accessory and had made a home there. It was only really luck that the customer did not pick this hoover accessory up, as she was already scared when she called us out to the property on Hutton Mount in Brentwood.
We also noted that in the photo below you can see the damage it caused to a wire so the customer did the right thing and called out Pest Control Essex.
This could have been a shocker for both the customer and the rodent !
Anyway, the mouse was removed un-harmed at this job and taken far away and released out of harms way to anyone.
Rat & Mice Control In Essex.
Rat & Mice Control In Essex.
Last week was without doubt a busy week for us here at Pest Control Essex. We have seen mice and rat phone calls fly through the roof. We are in the midst of what I think is a perfect Storm here in the Essex County.
Let me explain more of what I mean by the perfect storm situation.
To create a perfect storm, there are a number of factors that have to happen or come together at a certain time for this to go ahead.
There is less baiting by local councils now, after the cut backs that have been forced on to them, secondly, there was a wet summer than has seen sewers flood and overflow. This allows rodents to begin living above ground, thirdly, a jump into to colder temperatures that will force rodents into homes and businesses.
Yet, there is a fourth factor.
And it’s at this point that you are probably looking for a pest control company to help you resolve the rodent issue that you are facing.
But for now, back to the perfect storm situation, a fourth factor, this is one that so many people really don’t understand, it is the use of DIY bait that is bought from shops & from over the Internet.
Let me explain in more detail the damage that this bait can do, imagine that you buy 2 kilos of brodifacoum pellets. Firstly read my blog on DIY pest control, but anyway, you place the bait down in the area of trouble, you have noticed the bait is eaten but the problem is not going away?
Well, imagine that the bait is outside…at this point you should stop, go back to your bait and pick it up, notice its says this bait is only for “indoor” use only. You are breaking the law, secondly and this is my point regarding the perfect storm, rats and mice will eventually become resistant to the these products.
We are already seeing these issues in other parts of the UK. Oxford is the latest area to be hit by this problem. If this issue is not brought under control then we could be sitting in the eye of the storm in Essex in the near future.
Pest Control Essex is part of the campaign for rodenocide use and we proactively remove any bait from sites after treatments have finished. We follow to the letter the 35 day rule on bait monitoring and keep detailed reports as part of the legislation we work under.
We cover the whole of essex and have found large amounts of activity for both mice and rat call outs. Always use a trusted company you can trust to complete the job right, but also to remove any bait.
Mole Catching -Gassing Or Trapping In Essex
Mole Catching -Gassing Or Trapping In Essex?
You may have read my blogs on mole control to date and you will have hopefully read some handy information about mole control so far. Yet, when we are called to a new job customers say “why gas instead of trapping or why trap instead of gassing”?
Well it depends on a number of factors, whether we use gas or traps for mole catching in the Essex county. A good mole catcher will never shy away from using traps when required. I, myself was taught by one of the best mole catchers in England, John Lill. He taught me everything he knew.
I prefer to catch moles by traps, for two reasons, firstly, safer way to catch moles. Secondly, if being paid per mole (bounty moling) it is a good way of showing how many have been caught! Yet, trapping moles is something of a time consuming exercise so not best if working on big areas.
This brings me on to gassing moles quite nicely. This is where gassing comes into it’s own really….BIG areas can be covered with talunex gas quite promptly and safely (if used correctly). New talunex labels have updates that should be followed to the letter.
Gassing can only be used in areas that are no less than 15 meters from any building or stream/ brook or water supply/ river. The gas is injected into the run by a highly trained pest controller and then the hole is sealed. The gas then begins to seep out of the casing and holds in the chamber for the mole to pass through.
So then you should go from this mole hills like these
To a nice flat lawn like this
So call in a pest control Company you can trust, that can deal with moles the correct way and know how to resolve the problem that sits under the lawn waiting to come out and ruin your pride and joy.
Bird Control What can We do To Help You in Essex?
We know only too well the problems birds can cause to buildings, the mess they leave behind. As a trusted Pest Control Company we have dealt with many high rise jobs that require skilled workmanship to help remove the the problem of pigeons and birds alike.
In this fight to resolve these problems we have now been using a great product that came into the UK last year. This product is designed to be harmless to the bird, yet, affective in keeping the problem bird away from your property.
The product is called “Optical Gel”….the wording gives much away, the bird see’s the gel as a form of fire and is drawn away from the location that the Optical Gel is applied at/on.
Not only that, but in 99.9 percent of all treatments the Gel is invisable, it cannot be seen on your property. The Gel is glued down in a clear holder. Whereas, spiking systems or bird wire systems can been seen on the property and in some cases ruin the visual flow of the property.
Here are some photographs before the treatments at a commercial property.
Pigeons are clearly seen on the roof of this property
Below photograph is the application of the Optical Gel Treatment.
Gel is applied to the areas where pigeons had landed and perched.
Now see the final results from the first photograph taken.
In the above image no bird issues and the Optical Gel cannot be seen, when looking upwards.
There are different parameters to each job, the job shown above a real large infestation of pigeons, so the bird control measures taken here were extreme. In other jobs Pest Control Essex has completed we have found that less Gel may be required.
This small job below shows that it can be applied anywhere.
So you can see that there is no job too large or too small when it comes to Pest Control Essex.