Entries by Randy

What You Should Know About Indoor Insects

  Indoor insects can do many things to you, including nasty bites to contaminating your food. Read on and discover what lurks under your bed. -Spiders are in and under your furniture, appliances, the attic and craw space. When a spider bites, it can cause allergic reaction – to necrotic wounds to… -Silverfish can ruin […]

Delta’s mild Winters usually need Spring Pest Control

Although winter weather is heading our way we only usually only get a few really cold freezing days and the rest of the season is just wet and miserable. Mild winters allow insects and rodents breeding season to be longer and more successful. And, over the last couple years a lot of pests have been […]

Is your Pet bringing Pest Indoors

  Everyone deserves to be pest free and it’s easy if you know what to do. When pests get out of control and all the retail products you try from Rona and Dunbar lumber don’t sort out the problems, it just might be your pet’s food that’s enticing them into your house. If you have […]

Protective Cold Weather Pest Control

Now that its getting closer to freezing at night, you know who is looking to keep warm in your house? insects, spiders, squirrels, rats and mice ! Here are a few DYI fixes to keep them out. Look for cracks, crevices and holes on the outside of your house. Areas that most people miss are […]

Do It Yourself and Dr. Google

  I heard a line the other day that relates to Dr. Google and pest control “ reading what you like to believe is not research”.  Many if not most suggestions for DIY pest control on google don’t actually work or they are one-offs. If you do try a google fix make sure it is […]

Oh No – Bedbugs  

  You wake up in the morning with a itchy back and immediately google what has happened and oh NO….. bedbugs.  Like most people you freak-out and as soon as humanly possible head to Canadian Tire to buy any can of insecticide that shows a bed bug on the label. You have read on Dr. […]

Rat vs Mouse – Who’s who

So was it a rat or mouse – look at the feces, mice produce rice sized feces and rats have ½” – ¾” feces. Mice and rats are very different in terms of their behavior, eating habits and obviously their size. Rats like to gorge on available food and cause more damage by chewing bigger […]

DIY Pest Control – Here are the risks

So it’s windy and raining, you hear creaks in the attic, leaking roof? something being banged around by the wind ? or what you are afraid of the most – rodents. If the creaking-scratching noise persists at night and there is no wind or rain then it’s time to call a professional pest control company. […]

Know your Rats and Mice

Okay, rats and mice are nasty common urban and suburban vermin, yet they are a relatively smart animal. They seem to prosper regardless of all our attempts to eliminate them. Two things you can do if you have them in your house: contact Go Green Pest Control and a read the rest of this blog. […]

Tips Tips Tips to no more Rats and Mice

  Rat and Mice prevention, and control some times involves extreme measures around your house. Firewood stacks and shrubs next to your base of your home outside are an invitation to rodents, especially if the wood has been left there for years. By moving firewood several meters away from the perimeter of your house will […]

Rodents DIY Myths  

If you google “getting rid of rodents, mice, rats and squirrels” you will find thousands of 100% fool proof formulas and instructions. The way these are presented, most will sound like common-sense methods, but do they work? 95% won’t. So myth, mix water and ammonia spray where rats are and it will kill rodents. Myth, […]

Pest Control Done Right

While most people like to try their own pest control first before contacting a pro, I have compiled a few reasons why you should start with the pros and leave the DIY on the shelf. Typically, you will save money in the long term getting a pro in first before spending money on a quick […]

Why, why are these centipedes in your house.

These little insects have a unnerving presence and are reputed to cause nasty bites which makes them seem threatening. Before we figure out how to eliminate them we should try to answer why they are there in the first part. Similar to silverfish, the moisture content in the house attractions them into the house, so […]

 Common Health Threats from Rodents

Are you having problems with rodents in your home, they are more than just spine-chilling little vermin scampering about, they pose a risk to both your health and property. Having rodent control service in Delta can prevent a budding problem. Vermin, such as mice and rats, leave feces and urine that can spread bacteria, infect […]

Why hire a Rodent Control Professional

  Rodent control professionals do two things: get rid of your rodents and teach you on how to prevent rodents. Besides the cosmetic damage (when rats or mice are actually seen) a rodent infestation can be hazardous to your health – as mice and rats carry bacteria and diseases that can make you sick. An […]

What you can do after the Exterminator leaves

So far we have not found a home owner that likes spiders, silverfish, ants, roaches or the nasty trio – mice, rats or squirrels. So calling Go Green Pest Control 9778-886-4111) in Delta might be necessary if they pay an unforeseen visit. Prevention is always the first critical approach, keeping them out by carefully pest-proofing […]

Winter Pest Prevention  

  Winter is coming, and pests are ready to become holiday houseguests so pest prevention should also be on your list of priorities to keep your home and family safe. As temperatures drop and the furnace is run more frequently, outdoor air is sucked into the house and along with that can be bugs, moving […]

DIY Pest Control

Do it yourself pest control can be done – but also can be devastating and extremely risky, putting yourself, your family and your surroundings at risk. Even if you want to do it yourself,  it’s always recommended that you contact a professional at Go Green pest control  (778) 886-4111 for more information. DYI homeowners concentrate […]

Roaches- Just Say ”No” to most pesticides  

When you discover a revolting cockroach in your home, an instantaneous response would be to either start spraying bug killer all over or call Go Green Pest Control. Cockroaches are fiddly little pests and its most likely that you spraying them will have no effect. Why you ask, well here is why: they have become […]

Bedbug Infestation, maybe??

Bed bugs are an awful problem to have and hard to find, the bites are often confused with fleas and carpet moth larvae. Bed bugs leave lines of red itchy welts on the skin usually on the upper back and arms. They are most active at night drawn to our breath and heat while we […]

Preventative Pest Control

What is better, pay a smaller sum on a monthly or yearly basis to reduce the tide of pests or pay a substantially larger amount to eliminate the insects and rodents that have invaded your house, and any repairs for damage they created? The wise move, in my opinion, would be routine preventative pest control, […]

To fumigate or not to fumigate

I get asked this question often ”why don’t we fumigate” Well, not all pest control options are designed equally. As seen on tv shows like breaking bad, homes are tented for fumigation, but when is this actually required? Tenting or fumigating is a treatment for the whole house and every pest in it. It really […]

Do It Yourself Pest Control

For all your pest control problems all you have to do is head down to your local hardware store and pick-up almost any answer to your issue, right? NO! The government does not allow the products that professionals use to be sold to the general public. All be it, there are a couple viable options […]

Post Infestation Treatment

  So, after your house has been treated with pesticides, what do you do next? Yes you want to get back in and clean the floor, vacuum etc but.. first heed the warning about when you can return to your home and anything you were supposed to do, like opening window etc. You can keep […]

Home Pest Treatments  

  Multiple factors affect the population of pests in your home, and monitoring and stopping the pests can be a tricky business. Not only do you need to identify the pests but other factors effect when and where any controls are required, other factors include climate, previous pest encounters, time of year, hygiene, sanitation. The […]

Pest Control Phraseology

  Ever wonder what all those terms a pest control tech says before and after a treatment, well here are the answers: Bait boxes: black boxes that contain bait or snap traps for rats and mice. Exclusion: work required to keep pests from entering a building. Pellets: A dry concentrate pesticide that is ready to […]

Your House – Your Rules – No Rodents

The weather is cooling down and that means it will be the time for rodents to get out of the wet and cold and find shelter, so here are some simple preventive measures for potential mouse and rat problems. Keep all food in sealed containers. Do not leave pet food out overnight. If you have […]

When Do You Call In the Pest Control Professionals?

If there is one thing about insects and rodents, they always start multiplying exponentially after you first notice them. Insect and rodents not only make your life problematic with health risks but many can destroy your house and everything in it. So is it worth doing it yourself, as there are many rodent control products […]

Lower mainland Rats  

  There are two common rats in the southwest area of B.C., both sociable animal and found around food sources. First there is the Norway rat that burrows in the ground and is generally around crawl spaces, attics, clutter, woodpiles, garbage, and piles of debris. Then there’s the roof rat that likes to climb and […]

Mosquito Season Is Over, Right?

Everyone recognizes that distinctive buzz and the sting of a mosquito. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale and components of our perspiration. When considering mosquito season, you need to consider the weather zone we live in and therefore, Delta is particularly vulnerable to mosquito season in summer and into the fall. So […]

Rodent Control in Delta

Delta homes are overrun by rodents like rats, mice, and squirrels every year. Various types and species are common in Delta, especially rats often called the rats of Delta. Rodents cause great damage, spread diseases and disease-causing parasites, and create havoc to homes because we have the perfect subtropical climate making it a ideal environment […]

Green Pest Control Results that Actually Work

  Regrettably, when pests are detected in our houses, apartments, or office buildings, their existence can lead to grave problems for the people who live or work there.  Non-toxic extermination has become more readily available to retail customers but it really dependents on the type of pest you’re dealing with. Here are a few things […]

Cool Facts about Bees, Wasps and Flies

  While gathering food, a bee may fly up to 100 km per day. A honeybee colony can produce around 100 kg of honey each year. Honeybees make around  9 million trips to gather enough nectar for production of ½ a kg of honey. Hornets and wasps feeding on fermenting juice have been known to […]

Third Murder Hornet nest of 2021 found near Delta

A third murder hornet nest was eradicated after a hornet was tracked to a tree neither the Canadian US border. They discovered as many as 1,400 hornets in nine layers of comb, where hornets were found in various developmental stages. Murder hornets considered to be invasive species and are the largest hornets in the world, […]

How to Get Rid of Wasps and Hornets in September

As temperatures consistently exceed of 23 degrees, you may be seeing an increased presence of wasps and hornets in Delta during the late summer and early fall. Here are a few basic steps to get rid of those insects. While there’s not a specific silver bullet to altogether remove wasps and hornets on your property, […]

Attention, Hornets and Wasps coming!

Spring and summer is stinging season, as the temperature increases, so does aggressive and territorial stinging insects. Here is what you need to know about them. First, hornets are social wasps that build their nests anywhere and everywhere in all kinds of different shapes. They are very aggressive if they feel that their nest is […]

Chafer beetle, Grubs and Your Yard

  Delta lawns are about to be decimated by birds and animals desperately digging for chafer beetle grubs. Damage is done during the grub, or larvae, stage. The grubs feed on the fibrous roots of grass, which crows, raccoons and skunks quickly rip up each spring and fall in search of the tasty pests. Water […]

Pesticides and Pollinators

A. Avoid applying pesticides to blooming plants, or when conditions favor drift into areas with plants in bloom. B. If you must spray plants in bloom, select a pesticide that is less toxic to bees (e.g. Bt, insecticidal soap, summer spray oil). Spot spray when possible to limit pesticide exposure risks C. Apply pesticides only […]

Pest Exclusion

Preventative work keeps pests out and exclusion work is the key to keeping pest like raccoons to ants out of your home. Exclusionary work seals up all the areas of your home that pests get inside. Mice, rats, and squirrels are the common pests that require exclusionary work. Mice can enter through holes as narrow […]

Carpenter Ant, Again !

Carpenter ants destroy the wood in your house. A colony in your yard can have multiple satellite nests in your house, causing significant structural damage to the integrity of your house. Carpenter ants create nest in wet and moldy wood. This is why repairing any water damaged wood will help to keep the ants out. […]

Spring – Finally the mice will leave my home, right?

Kicking the mice out of your house can be challenging mission. After living indoors in the winter where its warm with plenty of food or water, why would they want to leave.  Mice like to hide in attics, walls, crawl spaces, behind cabinets, air vents, and insulation. Check these locations for any signs of mouse […]

Essential Service

To whom it may concern, This letter confirms that Go Green Pest Control and its employees are deemed essential services under the Government of Canada – Public Safety – National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure. The services delivered through our organizations are considered essential to the health and basic societal functioning. Employees delivering these essential services […]

Delta Termites

Termite can be eating up your home whether you know about it or not. Termite nests are most active in the late spring and summertime, consuming a large amount of wood, feeding off trees and dead plants. To identify termites, examine their wings, droppings, and dead termites : termites have straight antennae and ants have […]

Ants True or False

  Ants are social insects and communicate using their olfactory receptors – smell. Here are some of myths you can find on the internet. Cinnamon slays ants. No it doesn’t slay or repel them. Vinegar slay ants. No, vinegar just removes the smell/trace of ants. Boiling water repels ants. No, it only hurts them. A […]

Stop Hornet and Wasps from Nesting on your Property

  There are a lot of places around your home that wasps and hornets would like to nest. They are beneficial to the environment by cutting down on unnecessary bug populations, such as caterpillars, flies and beetle larvae, and many more insects around your home. If you’re worried about them disturbing your outdoor activities here […]

Rat Myths – We hear every day

Baking Soda Can Kill Rats cause they cant burp. Apparently rats aren’t able to burp but they can pass gas and caffeine is harmful so give them your coffee. Rats are very aggressive, well not true – only to other rats. Rats cause diseases, well they carry fleas etc. that actually are the transmitter of […]

Cluster Flies – Snow-birding it your home

Have you been noticing more flies than usual during this winter? Flies usually travel to sun-exposed sides of buildings in the late summer and enter your home through any available crack or opening. They survive winter in the adult stage by taking shelter indoor and are in a suspended state of development known as diapause […]

Which Rodent is Infesting Your Property

How can you tell what kind of rodent is infesting your Delta property? With so many different kinds of mice and rats out there, sometimes it is hard to know – so here is the break down for the order of the four most common rodents in Delta. #1 Norway rats are very surreptitious and […]

Sugar Ants and Can You get rid of them?

If you have these pests nesting in your home, it’s really no surprise, we are living on their silty soil here in Delta. When it comes to food preferences, these ants are often sweet-seekers or everything-eaters. Of course, these ants are attracted to sugar – be it white, brown, and powdered sugars; honey; corn, maple […]

Do you need pest control services in the winter?

  You might think that cold weather scares most pests away, but actually where is away, the reverse is true! There are numerous pests that relish a warm and dry area to go during winter time, and it is important to get rid of them as soon as possible before they cause headaches and potential […]

Cockroaches- What a Pain

Cockroaches can live through almost anything including headless. They breed quickly, one female cockroach can give birth over 650 baby roaches in a year. Cockroaches aren’t picky about what they eat as they will eat almost everything. Cockroaches can live as long as 10 years and are the fastest-running insects in the world. Cockroaches can […]

Stink Bugs

  While the stink bug can’t hurt you, they’re considered to be a pest because of what they use for defense, the very unpleasant odor they release when they are startled, disturbed or squashed. The stink bugs produce that smelly chemical in a gland on their abdomen. Some species can actually spray the chemical several […]

Bed Bugs – Ugh

Bedbugs in a home are a nasty nuisance and the best defense is to call a bed bug exterminator to completely eradicate the infestation. Bed bugs can be difficult to detect because they are so small, only 6 mm or less in size. Females are very productive laying over 600 eggs in a lifetime. It […]

Cockroaches Again?

Here are some scary cockroach facts that probably won’t make you feel any better about ever seeing one. They can easily make you sick from germs and bacteria and trigger allergies and asthma. Cockroaches can fit through crevices as thin as a dime. They can live headless, yes, headless for two weeks as they breathe […]

Fireflies

Fireflies are soft-bodied beetles that are also called glow worms, or lightning bugs for their visible use of bioluminescence during twilight to attract mates or prey. This chemically produced cold light can be yellow, green, pale red, or ghost blue. First, air rushes into the abdomen and reacts with the luciferin, that gives off the […]

Prevent Pest From Getting Indoors

  A dirty, cluttered house is an invitation to bugs to join your dwelling. Cleanliness plays a major role in enticing or discouraging pest invasions. So here are some suggestions to ensure that pests don’t feel welcome in your home. Wipe down your countertops and other kitchen surfaces with cleaners to remove food particles and […]

Cooler weather Ticks love it – Lyme Disease

Ticks live well in both warm and cold weather. Ticks carry Lyme disease that is 10 times higher then reported because the signs and symptoms are not always easy to identify. The disease can affect more than one organ including the nervous system, the brain, gastrointestinal system, the heart, muscles and the joints. Mice and […]

Pests ! ? Who Is Responsible – Landlord Or Tenant

So who is responsible for pest control, the tenant, the landlord, or the property management company? The answer is usually or should be found within your rental agreement and the cost of these services are most likely included in the cost of the rental. Some times, a landlord or property manager may pay for the […]

How To Get Rid of Cockroaches  

  Cockroaches are destructive, disease-ridden, messy, stress producing, and really hard to get rid of. You don’t even know you have them until it’s a full blown infestation. They hang around dark and damp areas like under the refrigerator, under the sink, behind the stove, bathroom and kitchen cabinets, closets and shelves. They can live […]

Rat Infestation On Your Block in Delta?

  The serious rat problem we have in Delta isn’t going away. Rats destroy property, equipment, and contaminate food and spread disease. Without good housekeeping practices on your block, the rats will never go away. Here are some guidelines on how to handle the rat problem. Organize a meeting on your block regarding the rat […]

Mouse – Mice and how to get rid of them

Mice are very cunning and rather difficult to catch, and there is normally not just one but several. Even baited snap traps don’t always work as often the following day the bait is gone and there’s no mouse in the trap. Other then snap tarps and sticky pads, there are other ways of catching mice, […]

Get Rid of Ants – Naturally

Ants may be small, but they can cause a wide range of major problems that can range from infuriating bites to structural damage to your property, all insect infestation brings with it the potential for costly problems. Here are some tips for how to get rid of ants naturally in your house. Before you treat […]

Just Get Rid of these Flies

Locating and eliminating the food and breeding source is the key to a long-term solution for flies that can impact our health. Here are some interesting facts: -They can taste with their feet. -They defecate a lot and spread a range of diseases. – House flies can walk upside down. – Flies are able to […]

Winter Bugs

So where are all those bugs go in winter, being cold-blooded insects are particularly vulnerable to cold temperatures. They have several different ways of surviving through the year’s coldest months: migration, hibernation and overwintering. A lot of crop pests migrate to warmer temperatures in the winter and return in the spring. Many insects hibernate through […]

Termites – Yikes

When looking for termites you should look for termite wings, straight antennae, dead termites and worm-like mud tunnels that are visible on the surface of walls. They are commonly found by doors, window frames, walls, and baseboards. To eliminate termites, create a barrier around your house using a liquid termiticide and termite bait that will […]

Covid Vacation – Bed Bug Guide

  If Covid isn’t at the top of your concerns while traveling, bed bugs sure should be when staying at a hotel or a rented room. Bed bugs live off blood as their only source of food. Female bed bugs need blood to produce eggs and to mature through several stages in their life. Beds […]

House Fly – Free

  Flies can carry billions of harmful microorganisms spreading over 60 diseases like conjunctivitis, dysentery, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever. And, all they have to do is land on surface like your dinner, cooking utensils or cutlery to do this. House flies like to feed on rotting liquid substances, where they pick-up other bacteria and viruses. […]

Pantry Pests and your Kitchen

The kitchen and pantry can be a breeding ground for common pests (weevils, beetles, ants and moths) because there not always the cleanest place in the house. Sugar, flour, oats and other dried foods are often spilled and these things attract bugs. The first thing to do is remove all dried food stuffs from the […]

Yuck! Rats and Mice

Now that the weather is cooler, rodents a.k.a. pesky little creatures become even more problematic as they try to find warmth, food and shelter. Here are some tips to keep your home rodent free starting with examining your house inside and out. Look for entry points including cracks in the foundation, gaps around pipes or […]

December 21 – Winter Pests

Winters coming and well it’s true that the number of pests and rodents you see might be a lot less in the winter months, they are not gone. The cooler weather drives even more pests and rodents inside because they’re looking for a way to protect themselves from the rain and cold. The simple fact […]

Christmas Tree – B U G S !

There are thousands of bugs living in a single Christmas tree that continue to breed and multiply, even after the tree has been removed from your house. These bugs include flies (many different ones) spiders and mites, aphids, bark beetles and sawflies – all carrying germs. Eggs maybe hatching and bugs multiplying right now – […]

Pest-Control Myths

  Myths are folklore consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in tales. It the same thing in pest control, dealing with bugs, rodents, and other unwanted critters. I still hear people saying that they saw a rat the size of a cat…Here are a few debunked pest control myths. I’m not too worried […]

Carpet Beetles and their Larvae

The carpet beetle has the unique ability to break down keratin protein, so they can feed on upholstery, furniture, clothing, and of course carpets. The presence of carpet beetles in our homes can lead to allergic reactions like asthma because of the molted skin that larvae shed. If you have seen a few small ladybug […]

Ah Rats – Prevention Tips:

  As it cools off, masses of vermin begin their search for warmer spaces where they can hunker down for winter. So rodent season is in full bloom now so here are some tips to try and prevent them from getting into your home. One of the chief issues we find in attracting these pests […]

Integrated Pest Management or IPM – as the techies like to say

IPM is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on the prevention of pests or their damage through the techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. IPM is a process we use to solve pest problems while minimizing risk. Using IPM around your home and property creates conditions […]

The Bold Zebra Jumping Spiders – That’s a Thing?

  Jumping spiders are the largest family of spiders, more than 5,000 species. Here in Delta we have the Bold and Zebra jumping spiders. These spiders’ behaviors are different from those of your average spider as they stalk and pounce on their prey, usually at night. They do build spider several webs but there used […]

Rat and Mouse Prevention Tips

Rat and Mouse Prevention Tips Rodent season is here in full bloom so here are some tips to try and prevent them from coming in your home. Rats & mice are attracted to sources of water, food & shelter. Outside conditions that attract rodents are your garbage, outdoor grills and cooking areas, and the big […]

Asian Murder Hornets

    These terrifyingly huge Asian giant hornets have recently raise their notorious twitter profile. They can grow up to five centimeters in length and emit a loud noise that is impossible to ignore. They will attack anything nearby if they perceive it as a threat to their nest. They aren’t a threat to most […]

So no to an Ant Invasion

  Ants are bothersome because they can make us uncomfortable in so many ways. It’s in your best interests as a homeowner to keep ants as far away from your home as possible. Listed below are some tips that should help with that. Seal any potential entry points the ants may be getting in, this […]

Carpenter Ants – the House killer

  Carpenter ants are talented at destroying your home from the inside out. They dig through the wood inside your walls in order to create a network of tunnels and establish satellite nests. Ninety percent of the time, carpenter ants build nests in areas where the wood is moist or rotting. Because of that, you […]

Spiders and Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia is an intense and irrational fear of spiders, we all have it.  Spiders commonly found in Delta homes include house spiders, wolf spiders, cellar spiders, fishing spiders, and black widow spiders. They are usually found in corners of rooms, closets, boxes, dark crevices and basements.  Spiders are common in homes in the fall during […]

Mice – Shy Parents mean shy offspring?

The success of eliminating mice may depend on the personality of specific animals within a species. Braver, more lively, destructive or social mice are more likely to use baits, traps or new objects and foods. As a result, they can be eradiated quickly. But, shyer or less energetic mice can take longer to be caught. […]

Robo Cockroach

  Cockroaches are insects that have flat oval-shaped, spiny legs, wings (but they don’t fly) with a pair of long antennae and six long. They thrive in filthy kitchens and left unchecked, they multiple and turn everything into a nightmare. But what if they can be controlled and turned into house maids. Hence the robo […]

Ants

The Ant has become the number one pest problem in B.C. Ants can come in through even the smallest cracks, seeking water and food in the kitchen pantry or storeroom areas. Ants leave an invisible chemical path which contains pheromones for others to follow once they detect the food source. They can nest about anywhere […]

Roaches

Cockroaches are the most contemptable bug – getting into your house through crevices and cracks, or carried inside in boxes, bags and second hand store items. They like warm temperatures where food and water are easily available (kitchens). These beasts are nocturnal and breed quickly when they get set-up. If you see one during the […]

How To Keep Spiders Out

How To Keep Spiders Out Spider numbers typically peak during late summer and fall, during their mating season. The best solution to spider control is prevention. Most spiders will be found outside your home in cob webs around your house, wood piles, or in darker places like inside the garage or under your deck. Indoors, […]

Integrated Pest Management

  When it comes to the health and safety of your home, keeping it pest free is a crucial step. That’s where Integrated Pest Management (IPM) can help because it’s a safe, environmentally conscious way to keep it free of costly pest infestations. Infestations of pests like rodents, ants, silverfish, and dust mites can be […]

Rodents -RATS and MICE

Rodents, rats and mice, invade homes in search of food, water, and shelter (protection). Rodents are for the most part nocturnal, and/or crepuscular (active at twilight), and they can chew through soffits, fascia, siding and other areas to get up into the attic, crawlspace and any where in the house. Rodents are known for chewing […]

Acrobat ants

  Acrobat ants are a nuisance ant with the unique ability to hold their heart-shaped abdomens up over the rest of their bodies. This gymnastic exhibition happens when the individual or nest is disturbed, they then release a foul-smelling odor. Acrobat ants contaminate food and can strip insulation from around wires, potentially causing short-circuits. Power […]

The Roly-Polies

Pill bugs, a.k.a. roly-polies, get their nickname from a defensive habit of rolling into a ball when distressed. Although they are called bugs, they are actually land-dwelling crustaceans, yes like shrimp or lobsters. Pill bugs prosper in humid and wet climates like wet wood, mulch, water pipes and damp basements. These insects can infest homes […]

Fleas

  Fleas are external parasites that feed on the blood of their hosts as their sole source of food, using specialized mouthparts to pierce the skin. The most common flea living throughout the lower mainland is the cat flea. Cat fleas feed on a variety of animal hosts – including people! Many people are allergic […]

Moles 101

Our local moles have large paddle-like front feet used for digging tunnels as long as one kilometer a day. Although they may be virtually blind, they have amazingly sophisticated senses of touch and smell. These insect eating machines can cause considerable damage to lawns with dirt mounds and tunnels that damaged plant roots and create […]

Raccoon Live Trapping

Raccoons invade your property in search of food, water and shelter. Trapping a raccoon in a live trap is a humane way to remove one of these damaging animals from your property. The best live traps for raccoons are large to extra-large in size. Most traps come in either 1 or 2-door models from which […]

Pantry Moths

Pantry moths (and caterpillars) are small insects found indoors in locations where dried food packages are stored. They are known to cause unpleasant damage to food, spoiling it as it becomes invaded by pantry moths’ larvae. Signs of pantry moth infestations include webbing along the corners of packages or on the product inside, flour or […]

Rat Rage and COVID-19  

The perfect rodent infestation storm is now upon us, with restaurant at half capacity, heading into the colder months, and an abundance of panic bulk buying food supplies, spike in pet ownership and pet food, and pandemic gardens. Surges in rodent sightings, infestations and populations act as unique effects of COVID-19’s new normal. Rodents, who […]

Carpenter Ants – In the Fall and Winter

  Carpenter ant infestations usually occur during the months of April and May, then at the beginning of fall, as these ants look for warm and humid homes during the cold winter months. These wood destroying insects have no problem expanding and extending their satellite colonies. Rotting or wet wood is an utter treat for […]

Rat Pandemic

Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, there has been a change in where rodents are being seen. As a result of the lack of restaurant garbage and overall business waste due to the corona virus, rodents have moved to residential neighbourhoods with greater than usual waste from ¾ of the population now working […]

De-Skunking Your Pet

  Skunks are not armed with long claws and nasty teeth like raccoons but their defence mechanism is equally potent. They have a pair of dedicated sacs located in their anus. The sacs are merely pouches that store an extremely foul smelling yellow oil secretion produced by glands that line the sacs. When you or […]

Asian Giant Hornet – It’s Here For Good

  The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest hornet and it has been here for over a year, they prefer to live in low mountains and forests, areas that have not too hot summers and mild winters as well as high precipitation. They feed primarily on larger insects, colonies of other cooperative brood care […]

Weevil – In Your Home?

  Sometimes plant-feeding weevils invade homes for shelter in the fall, gaining access through cracks or openings around the windows, vents and doors. If weevils have been living in the attic or the crawl space and migrate to the living space of a home(that is usually warmer) than this may can confuse weevils and they […]

Dragonflies a.k.a. Mosquito Hawks

Dragonflies are large flying insects that are considered beneficial. Dragonflies thrive around ponds, pools, streams, and waterfront properties. Dragonflies are not harmful to people as they don’t bite or sting.  Dragonflies are actual beneficial, since the diet of immature dragonflies includes nuisance pests. They eat, mosquito larvae (immature dragonflies called naiads, live in the water), […]

Amphipods – Yard Shrimp

  These individuals are not insects, but are crustaceans similar to shrimp, using a mechanism called tail flip, propelling themselves away from a predator. They can be both herbivores and carnivores feeding on bacteria and dead plants and animals . They enter homes after heavy rainfall and require an exact amount of moisture to live […]

House Spiders – What to do?

Do you squish spiders when they see them indoors or trap the eight-legged insects and release them outside? Is this outdoor relocation an act of kindness, or a death sentence for the spider? If the spider is native to the area then it will likely be able to survive outside, but if the spider is […]

Squirrel Baby Season -Again

In mating season, females will build several nests called dreys, so they always have a back-up nest if one is damaged and for insect control and predator evasion. Female squirrels typically give birth to two to eight offspring. Mothers may have several litters in a year, so most squirrel populations are robust. After she is […]

Skunks Exclusion

Fall is the perfect time of year for addressing skunk worries around your house. Skunks like to seek refuge under decks, garages or tool sheds, or digging holes in your yard. These guys like to feed on grubs that live just below the root zone of your turf grass. The best way to lessen the […]

Western Hemlock and Phantom Looper Moths  

These Looper moths that we are currently seeing are native species to our region and they feed on trees, which is part of a normal cycle and they are harmless to us as they don’t sting or bite . The western loopers outbreak is every 11 to 15 years and the phantoms are every 12 […]

New Ant Queens attracted to Soil Microbes

Soil-dwelling ants are at risk of pathogen infection so when choosing nesting sites, so new ant queens reduce this risk by avoiding contact with certain pathogens. They select safe nesting sites by detecting odors formed by dirt bacteria that prevent the growth of ant-infecting fungi, this is the first time that this been found to […]

The Season of the Spiders  

It’s that season again where spiders start coming inside looking for mates, warmth and food – other insects. If you’re afraid of spiders, and most people are, here are some tips to keep them outside where they belong. We have 64 common spiders in B.C. but here are the main ones: Wolf Spiders, Brown Recluse, […]

Rats living in Sewers

Rats can make their homes in the most filthy parts of any city, the sewers. Here are some things that you may not know about these rats. We are vaccinating rats by feeding them rat poison that doesn’t kill them but actually helps them mutate to be poison resistant. A female rat gives birth to […]

Wasp Season – going- going

As we end another summer wasps are on their last push for anything sugar, be it ripe fruit in trees to pop cans on the deck. As the queen ends her reign, she produces more queen that fly off to find an acceptable location to hibernate and start a new nest the following year. Old […]

Summers out – Mice and Rats come in

  As summer fades, why do rodents want to get into our homes, well there are several reasons. As the weather starts getting wetter and colder, rodents begin to look for shelter and there is nothing better than a well-insulated heated home. Rodents also need a benign place to produce off spring in the cold […]

Rodent Awareness Week

  The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) works to educate consumers about the dangers and health threats of rodents a.k.a. rats and mice during Rodent Awareness Week: Oct. 18-24, 2020, they encourage public vigilance against mice and rats. Because we have been altering our regular life styles in response to Covid, rodents are not able […]

Delta’s Creepy Crawlies

The top creepy crawlies that are often spotted loitering in homes in Delta throughout the year are now revealed. As summer starts to turn into fall and we begin to start spending more time indoors, a number of insects often come with us. Many of the pests search for shelter in our warm homes. While […]

Bamboo rat

The bamboo rats are four species of rodents of the subfamily Rhizomyinae usually found in South, Southeast and East Asia. Bamboo rats vary in size, from the greater bamboo rat, which is typically 25 cm long and weighs from 1 ½ lbs to over 9 lbs. They are all large slow-moving rodents that live and […]

Oh, just another Squirrel Splooting

  If you see a squirrel sprawled spread-eagle on the ground, either it is dead or its splooting a.k.a. pancaking. Splooting happens when an animal is overheated, it will lay flat on its belly and spreads its paws out to cool down. Splooting allows the animal to cool themselves by pressing their belly into the […]

Ants – Some Interesting Facts

Ants play a vital role in our environment and eco-system, in fact the total mass of ants on earth is equivalent to the mass of humans (over one million ants for every human) and in some places ants can account for ¼ of the animal bio-mass in the area. There are over 22,000 species of […]

Trap-Shy Rats and Mice

  When a mouse or rat is trap-shy, it means that it are going to shy away from getting close to a trap and take the bait. This can happen for several reasons, including the fear new objects in their environment. They suspect anything new that enters into their environment because they have pheromone markers […]

Termites – Home Destroyers

  Termites’ diet consists mainly of wood, termite damage in your home can compromise the strength and safety of the structure. Termites are infamous for living under your home without any signs. Since they are so small, termites are specialists at staying hidden, almost showing no signs of them slowly eating away at your home. […]

Cucumber Beetles – Garden Insect Pests – Series

There are two main types of cucumber beetles, the spotted and striped. In both cases, the adults grow to about 6-7 mm in length. They feed on cucumber plants, but will also eat squash, gourds and pumpkins. As the adults feed, they leave ragged holes in the leaves and they can transmit diseases such as […]

Rabbits – Garden Pests – Series

They may look charming and furry, but rabbits will eat all of your lettuces, beans and other plants. The best way to stop rabbit damage is with a fence, such as chicken wire. To prevent tunneling or burrowing, the wire should be one meter tall and buried 40+ cm below the soil surface. If you […]

Cabbage Worms – Garden Insect Pests – Series

  The larvae of cabbage worms can rapidly destroy a cabbage, broccoli, kale or cauliflower patch. Although slugs are often blamed, after a closer look, you’ll see these pale green larvae that grow up to an 2-3 cm and tend to blend in with the leaves or plant stems. White moths with black spots – […]

Aphids – Garden Insect Pests – Series

  Aphids are small sap-sucking insects, common names include greenfly and blackfly. Aphids cluster under leaves and on the tips of flower buds and early shoots. They’re small insects with pear-shaped bodies that can be green, brown, gray or black. These pests damage plants by drawing the juices from the leaves, flower buds and flowers. […]

Garden Insect Pests – Series

  The key to success against garden pests  is to identify the pest and take action. First, plant plenty of annual flowers and flowering herbs in your garden, these will attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs, hover flies, and lacewings, which can help control pest populations. Most insects your gardens are either beneficial or neutral, […]

Mud Daubers

  Mud daubers or wasps are altogether different, most resemble long, slender wasps about 2 ½ cm in length. They are solitary (lone) wasps, so instead of big colonial nests, they build single-family nests. They also use a different construction materials, instead of wood, they mix their saliva with soil to make mud, exactly the […]

Paper Wasps

  Paper wasp nests don’t have a protective envelope. They build open-air cells that hang from a stalk. It looks like an open parasol or umbrella from the side but from underneath, you can actually see the honeycomb-like cell structure. They build their nests in protected areas such as under roof overhangs, eves, bush and […]

Yellowjacket Nests – Nesting Series

    Yellowjackets are aggressive pests that possess a painful sting and bite. Most yellowjacket workers forage for food within 300 meters of their nest. Their nests are usually built underground, although some species will construct their nests in hollow logs, trees, attics, between walls, or under eaves of houses. They often build massive nests […]

Hornet and Wasp Series

    Hornets and Wasps are a immense part of outdoor life this time of year in Delta, and not always so delightful. The long dry and wets summer days are ideal for nest success, but which insects are responsible for what nest? In this series, I will summarize what they look like and what […]

Darth Varroa Destructor have Bees shaking in their Hives

Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees and the disease caused by the mites is called varroosis. The Varroa mite can reproduce only in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies. The Varroa mite […]

Protect Wood From Water, Rot and Carpenter Ants

  Insects, especially Carpenter ants need to draw life-sustaining moisture from their surroundings, so they usual avoid dry places and are attracted to moist and rotting wood. If the soil around your house, the foundation and the walls is dry, it’ll be less attractive to insects. Rake moisture-wicking soil, sand, small pebbles and mulch away […]

How The Pests Get In

Outdoor and indoor walls appear to be solid but many can be full of minute pest passages. Puny bugs can get through the smallest holes, so making  your home completely bug-proof is difficult, even new homes with bug mesh at the base of the exterior walls still get ants. The larger gaps are the ones […]

A new Mouse Trap

Okay, there isn’t a new mouse trap, but the old style snap traps can be an good way to start to rid your house of mice. Snap traps are the greenest, more humane way alternative to the potential slow death from a glue trap or poisoned bait. The common do it yourself mistakes when dealing […]

Raccoons – Send them Packing

  Raccoons are omnivores so they will eat virtually anything (including plastic) and are always looking for a new den, so our houses are always appealing. Although water sprayers and chemical repellents may work briefly, raccoons will ignore them if the reward is greater, so you have to make your house and garden unapproachable. Cut […]

Moles -Tearing up Your Yard?

Moles can eat their weight in worms and grubs every day, so if you have a lawn that is envied by all your neighbors -healthy, well-watered lawns which are full of worms and grubs, then you are a sitting duck for moles. Tunneling as fast as a 25 cm per minute under the grass roots, […]

Squirrels

There are more than 200 squirrel species worldwide, ranging in size from the five-inch African pygmy to the behemoth Indian giant squirrel. They have four front teeth that grow continuously, at a rate of about six inches per year so electrical lines are no match for squirrel teeth, which have been blamed for hundreds of […]

Coronavirus Myth Busters  

With Coronavirus slowing down across Canada, I thought I’d address some of the inaccurate information that is spread on the internet. Believe it or not, 75 plus percent of information on social media is not rooted in fact. So here are some of the coronavirus myths to ignore. 1) wearing rubber gloves will prevent the […]

Muskrats

  Muskrats are rodents, much smaller than beavers (a vegetarian) and have laterally flattened tails for propulsion and cooling themselves. Muskrats produce musk, a greasy secretion with a powerful odor produced in a glandular sac located on the lower abdomen. They have two pairs of gnawing teeth, one pair on each jaw, which grows continuously […]

Skunk Issues!!!

  Skunks are typically wary, shy animals, but given their inclination to live in our settings, they can sometimes come into skirmish with humans. Skunks can prosper in backyards, coming out in the evenings to dig for grubs and hunt for rodents. Like raccoons, skunks are attracted to yards garbage, fallen birdseed, windfall fruit and […]

OMG – The Sting of a Wasp

Wasps and hornets, are equipped with a stinger for self-defense and protecting their nest. A wasp’s stinger contains a poisonous substance that’s transmitted during a sting. By burying their stinger, they inject an acidic compound called melittin, which switches on the victim’s pain receptors, and traces of acetylcholine, another chemical that stimulates pain receptors. The […]

Asian Giant Hornet Part 3

There are other wasp species that look like the Asian giant hornet, including the bald faced hornet and cicada killers but it is the world’s largest vespid (large, diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps) wasp. The hornet has a body length of 5 cm, a wingspan around 75 mm, and a stinger 6 mm long, which […]

Sugar Ants vs Pavement Ants Debacle

  The debate rages on about which is which and are they coming in from outside or visa versa, because they do look very similar in appearance. If you are reading this then you probably have an issue with those small ants, they look very much alike but roll one between your fingers and the […]

How bad can Carpenter ants possible be?

  So, carpenter ants aren’t as bad as termites but how bad are they, well – left untreated, carpenter ants (that work non stop 24/7) can do a significant amount of damage to a home. Since carpenter ants don’t consume wood, they chew through the wood waste and produce a fine sawdust. Once the sawdust […]

Asian giant hornets Part II

These insects are large and distinctive, they will defend their nest but are not otherwise aggressive toward people. A single, fertile queen hornet entered Canada via shipping packaging and created the colony that was discovered on Vancouver Island in 2019. They usually nest inside dead logs and forage around 700 meters from their nest. They […]

Carpenter Ant Issues?

  These insects usually build their nests in damp, decaying and dry solid wood, although 95% of the time – homes with moisture issues caused by leaks are prime targets for carpenter ants. These ants will use foundation concrete, tree and shrub branches, electrical lines and fences to find a way inside. When carpenter ants […]

Rats and Mice are adapting to Covid 19 lock-down

Rats and mice are nocturnal animals but the Corona Virus have them scurry in daylight looking for their next meal, spreading disease and breeding quickly. The lock-down has not put off rodents in urban areas from trying their luck. Here at Go Green Pest Control, we have seen a 50% increase in rat and mouse […]

Giant Asian Murder Hornets

There back, murder hornets, with a sting that can knock down a horse, are coming out of hibernation. The world’s largest hornet, 5 cm long, has quite the appetite for honey bees, wasps and large insects, and has been found in Cloverdale and on the Island. The venom is touted to be 10 worse then […]

 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Garden Insects

  Your garden is a home for both plants and insects. Some bugs are beneficial -the good, other are damaging, the bad and others are detrimental, the ugly. The slow moving insects are usually the ones feeding on plants, and the fast ones are the predators, feeding on other unwanted insects. Although minor damage by […]

Fleas test positive for Yersinia Pestis plague  

    Health officials report that fleas collected have tested positive for Yersinia Pestis plague in the parts of the US. Risk of exposure to this serious disease which can be present in fleas, rodents, rabbits and predators that feed upon these animals. The disease can be spread to humans and other animals by the […]

Fire Ants Season is back!

  Fire ants can inflict painful stings and create unattractive mounds in your landscapes and there is no know treatment that will eliminate them from a yard forever rather you will have to control them as required. A variety of products and methods can be used against fire ants including baits, dusts, granular applications and […]

Does the Virus come from a Raccoon?

  Virologists believe other animal species other than bats can be intermediate hosts of the new coronavirus Covid 19. The newer suspect is a raccoon dog or a crawl cat (breeding of raccoon dogs is a huge industry in China). The first transmissions from animals to humans are said to have taken place at an […]

COVID-19 Pandemic make Pest Control Essential

Many businesses and organisations are supplying a wide range of products and services that are needed to keep all sectors of society running during this pandemic, but many non essential businesses have shut down operation, leaving the proverbial door open to infestations of pests . Many common pests (rodents, flies, cockroaches, birds, stored product insects, […]

Bed Bugs? Fleas? Or Carpet beetle Larvae!!

  Carpet beetles can be an annoyance in your home. Only the larvae feed on fabric eating their way through rugs, clothes and furniture. They can also sometimes cause an allergic reaction. Their larvae, the young carpet beetles, are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, and are a tan brownish. They’re covered with bristles and shed […]

The Scorpion Fly

These flies are called scorpion flies because their enlarged abdomen resemble a scorpion’s tail and stinger. They lives near but not in water and needs moist, cool habitats to breed and develop. They spend most of their lives hanging on leaves and branches, looking for insect prey. In spite of its alarming looks, they don’t […]

Rodent populations to grow during COVID-19 lock-down

  Restaurants shut down and the lack of food and garbage- what is a rat to do?? They are stressed!!! With businesses closing and cancelling their pest control – rats are having a field day. Composts are now becoming buffets for rats. So far, there are no reported cases of rats or mice spreading the […]

Covid 19 Transmitted by Bat, Rodents and Primates

  Coronaviruses generally have a varied range of host animals but bats, rodents and primates have the greatest risk of transmitting pathogens to humans. Just being in contact with one of these creatures can cause a virus to spread. Its us humans that drive these virus outbreaks causing are own problems and we enable the […]

Neophobic Rats are coming to Town

As Delta’s rats face a growing food shortage, with the closure of restaurants and the lack of foot traffic in popular areas, this will have a severe impact on rats. Rats can be neophobic, ( having an extreme or irrational dislike of anything new or unfamiliar) meaning that those traps you set and that poison […]

Getting Rid of House Mice  

Mice aren’t just annoying, they are disease carrying rodents. A single mice can produce over a hundred offspring in a year and just think off the multiplier when the babies begin breeding. If you are using snap traps, stick pads and poison, all these are not enough to getting rid of those cute adorable mice. […]

Mason Bee Season

Mason bees are a little smaller than a honeybee and blue-black in color, they actually look like a extremely well fed fly. They are very effective pollinators. Solitary bees, the females are the only ones with the ability to sting, with extreme prejudice. In the wild, they lay their eggs in small cavities but are […]

COVID-19 and Resurgence of Cannibalistic Rats

With Covid 19 in full swing, all restaurants are virtually shut down except for take-out, there is a definitely a lack of scraps for rodents, or more specifically rats. What we are seeing now is rats going into alarm mode and beginning to run every where to look for food. Call out for rat issues […]

Slugs and Snails

  Slugs and snails are soft-bodied animals but snails can withdraw inside their shell and stay alive for several years. Moisture is a key requirement for the two and they both eat plant leaves, flowers, and fruits, particularly those at ground level, causing considerable damage to plants in gardens and flowerbeds. Destructive to flowerbeds and […]

The BC Provincial Government just updated their list of essential services and Pest Control is included as an essential service.

The BC Provincial Government just updated their list of essential services and Pest Control is included as an essential service. Province takes unprecedented steps to support COVID-19 response. Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, is using extraordinary powers under a state of provincial emergency to keep British Columbians safe, maintain essential goods […]

Asian Long Horned Bush Ticks

  These tick adults look like most other ticks found in our wooded habitats. Unlike most other tick species, the Long Horn adult females can produce viable eggs without mating with a male tick and can produce 1,000 to 2,000 eggs at a time. So if you do the science, a host (a person or […]

Hantavirus is back – Just avoid Rodents

  Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is spread by contact with rodents and their urine, feces or saliva, and rarely from person-to-person. Lately the news started panic that another viral pandemic is ready to make the rounds. Hantavirus has actually been around for centuries and is most prevalent in China with as many as 100,000 cases a […]

New Orleans is sinking – with Rats

  New Orleans rodent control teams are putting poisoned rat bait into sewers and bait boxes on streets throughout the French Quarter because rat food has become scarce due to the coronavirus response. With so many restaurants closed, rats accustomed to getting food out of Smithrite garbage’s are having to forage more widely, and empty streets lined […]

Cotton Rats

  Cotton rats are farming pests that are not usually structural pests, but they can invade buildings, especially if they find food. The cotton rat is a host for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), the plague and murine typhus. These disease can become airborne when rat droppings are disturbed and people who inhale the airborne virus […]

Spring Gardens and Rodents

  In Delta, none of our more problematic rodents hibernate. Some are less active through the colder parts of winter, but most never really stop digging up what they want from your garden. Now is the time all rodents become more active with warming weather. Cleanliness and vegetation organisation discourages some rodents by depriving them […]

Your Pet and COVID-19

  So did this coronavirus spread from animals to humans? Well maybe, coronaviruses can be transmitted from animals to humans but it’s the bats that are the reservoir hosts for viruses which can cross species barriers to infect humans and other pets. Currently there is no indication to suggest that our pets can become ill […]

Uptick in rats and mice invading Delta homes

Colder winters usually mean fewer rodents, but milder weather is allowing more mice and rats to live, and long hot summers are making textbook conditions for young mice and rats to leave the nest and breed rapidly. The summer of 2019 was the hottest on record for the North America, and the surge in mice […]

This virus making you feel more antsy?

Ants usually come indoors in search of food or nesting. Even small amounts of food, like a crumb or two on the floor, can attract masses of hardworking ants. They are nature’s clean up crew as they proficiently find and remove food left around your kitchen and pantry. Spring and summer are the months that […]

New Rat and Mouse Control

  The first rodenticides were short-acting anticoagulants like warfarin , which caused death from internal bleeding but rodents became resistance, so companies developed longer-acting, more toxic anticoagulants such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum and difethialone. These products are still available yet their use is restricted. Now even more effective rodenticides have been developed such as bromethalin, […]

Rat Coronavirus  

  The group of the newly recognized group of viruses, the coronaviruses, include avian virus, the mouse hepatitis virus, and a number of virus strains of man. A naturally occurring virus, it is isolated to the lungs of rats and is rampant in colony of wild rats, resulting in fatal pneumonia in baby rats. Infection […]

Keeping the Stink out of the Skunk

  We have two skunks in BC the most common is the striped skunk and then western spotted skunk. Skunks can be beneficial to our ecosystems, but whether you love them or hate them we’ve all run into them at one point or another be it their smell. Skunks have two glands, one on each […]

As We evolve – so do Rats.

Researchers have found that humans and rats are now susceptible to comparable health threats relating to contamination and sugary foods. Rats and humans have changed in their genetic make-up in response to city life. Rats genes have had key changes in DNA over hundreds of years as the species moved across Asia and eventually to […]

Baby Silverfish

It is estimated that 25% of all houses in the lower mainland have silverfish and these nocturnal devils are hard to spot. Female silverfish lay their eggs in hidden places and they hatch in about 40 days, mature in three months and become fully development into adults within two years. Baby silverfish are about 2 […]

Yellow Jackets

  So you ask, how did I get yellow jackets? Yellow jackets usually enter yards because they smell food or other attractant such as meats, sweets, open waste cans and outdoor picnics. They don’t cause structural damage to homes but they build nests in attics or walls and can chew through drywall to enter living […]

Norway Rats and Seoul virus

  A type of hantavirus called Seoul virus is carried by Norway rats (85% of rats in Delta are Norway rats). Humans become infected through contact with virus carried in rat urine or droppings, or inhalation of virus particles in dust from filthy eiderdown. Infected rats do not develop disease, but humans can feel symptoms […]

Signs of a rodent infestation

Rats and mice are nimble rodents and can easily climb pipes, cables, inside ducting, stucco and even brick walls in their endless hunt for food and living quarters. They can climb on any slightly bumpy surface to discover new places and increase entree to concealed spaces around a house looking for shelter, food and water. […]

Skunks – the smell of Spring

  The rotten smell of skunks is returning to the lower mainland as mating season is underway. Both skunks and raccoons, along with other small mammals, are beginning to move around more frequently as winter turns into spring. Area residents may not often see these critters for themselves as they generally don’t see a lot […]

Ant acid used for defense and cleaning food

  Many ant species produce acid in a poison gland in their abdomen to spray at enemies as a defense mechanism . They also drink the acid to kill pathogens in their food. Because ants often regurgitate food to feed their co-workers, this helps prevent diseases spreading in colonies. Drinking acid plays a key role […]

Cleaning rodent-infested areas.

  We have all run into a situation where rats or mice have been present and have left their ugly calling cards. Here are a few approaches to getting rid of those rodent memories. Use cross-ventilation when entering a previously unventilated enclosed room or dwelling prior to cleanup and you certainly should use a good […]

Norway Rats – the crepuscular creatures

  The Norway rat is a large, robust-bodied rodent -the most important pest rat across B.C. Norway rats have small ears but have outstanding sense of hearing, tasting, touch and smell, and although their eyes are prominent, Norway rats have a poor sense of sight, seeing up to 10 feet. They are crepuscular creatures, which […]

Temprid SC

Temprid SC -suspension concentrate insecticide has a double action by joining real residual insecticides: beta-cyfluthrin and imidacloprid. Temprid, provides quick knockdown (not as quick as permethrin) and long residual control of over  51 pests, including ants, spiders, cockroaches and other key perimeter pests. The double action works extremely well on insects like ants, one of […]

Biological Pest Control for your garden

Biological pest controls include predatory or parasitic insects, bacteria or fungi, and biopesticides. Here are four biological controls that will be readily available to the home gardener. A – Fungus that kill insects: soil-dwelling fungus that controls grasshoppers, bed bugs, other insects and plant diseases. Used in agriculture, there is incredible development potential in the […]

Rat Lungworm Disease

The rat lungworm, is a parasite of rodents that can infect humans after ingestion of larvae within uncooked slugs, snails or other invertebrates. Infected rodents can pass larvae of the worm in their feces. The infection travels to the brain, causing meningitis: inflammation of the membranes surrounding your brain and spinal cord. Treatment is uncertain, […]

Sugar Ants and How do I get Rid of Them

  Ever leave behind the tiniest crumb a counter top or floor, only to come back to find a group of tiny ants feasting on it? Sugar ants have exceptional odor sensing abilities and sugar, in just about any form, are highly attractive to these guys. To prevent sugar ants from entering your house, clean […]

Rat whiskers use the Euler spiral

  Rats have up to 70 whiskers – that vary in size, length and shape. Rat whiskers are called whisker specialists, as they have super-sensitive, movable hairs that are used to explore and sense their surroundings. Rat whiskers can be described by a unassuming mathematical equation known as the Euler spiral – spiral patterns are […]

Rats – A Formidable Opponent

Rats have a variability of qualities that make them challenging enemies. To start with, they are exceptionally destructive, any buildings, infrastructure or electronics are just a challenge for rats’ potent incisors. Next rats are agile -they can jump, climb, swim and scurry to get where they want or escape danger. Rats are also very sensitive […]

Ambidextrous Squirrels are Smarter

  Squirrels that favour one side of their body are slower learners compared with those who use both paws. A study found that squirrels that favour one side of their body performed worse at tasks that required learning. Many animals have a preferred side of the body for carrying out certain actions, though the strength […]

The Opossum -top notch in pest Control

  Like spiders and ladybugs, the opossum is your friend. They are a kind of natural pest control animal, with their jaw of 50 sharp teeth they are omnivores eating everything from overripe fruits and vegetables to snails, slugs, insects, snakes, worms, rats, mice and other small animals, as well as nuts, seeds, grasses and […]

Rats play tit-for-tat

Rats play quid pro quo with each other, a form of tit-for-tat when looking for help from others and rats are happy to help each other out but only if another rat helps them out first, according to a new study. The study determined that rats figuratively play quid pro quo (a favor or advantage granted […]

The House Mouse

Active all year round, mice are one of the most common pest species. They spread nasty diseases such as Salmonella and Listeria to humans through their urine, droppings and bedding. As they scamper around, they carry dirt and bacteria with them, moving it to your counter tops, cabinets and pantry. House mice are known as […]

Nutria -the Invasive Swamp Rat

Nutrias have been in North America for over 70 years and are now considered one of the most ecologically destructive invasive species on the planet. Nutria are about the same size as a raccoon weighting up to 10 kilograms and they look like a cross between a small beaver and a Norway rat. They also […]

Book Lice a.k.a. Psocids

What is a psocid you ask, well they are also called book lice or barklice and although they are not truly lice, they live in warm, moist places. They feed on mold or fungi and grains, insects, and starches like book binding glue. They are found in humid and poorly ventilated areas in homes and […]

Firebrats

The firebrat is a small hexapod (six legs) that are grayish-brown and have a body that is tapered from front to back and is somewhat carrot-shaped. They prefer high temperatures and require some humidity so they are often seen near boilers, dryers, ovens, attics, hot water heaters and furnaces. They feed on a wide variety […]

Toys in the Attic – Or is it Pests

Okay, you keep your house clean and uncluttered, you maintain the your yard and nothing is overgrown or touching your house. Repairs are always made to any holes and cracks in walls, windows and screens. So why is it that you still get pest in your attic. Not only can pests keep you up at […]

2020 – Year of the Rat

In the Chinese zodiac calendar, the rat is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals. And it looks like 2020 will really be the year of the rat based on the number of inquires we have had about rats in the attic, crawl space and infesting structures. Chinese legend states that rats are shrewd, […]

Edible Insects – Entomophagy

Insect, those edible ones, are chocked full of protein, vitamins, amino acids and they are Popeye like spinach -loaded with calcium and iron. Insects such as beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets and ants are a nutrient-dense food. There are over 2,000 edible insect species currently available and these insects are eaten around the world. Edible […]

Rabies in Skunks and Raccoons

Any warm-blooded mammal can carry or contract rabies, but the main carriers are raccoons, skunks and bats. While it’s often thought that raccoons and skunks are “carriers” of rabies, they can only transmit the virus to another animal when they are rabid. Because most pets are vaccinated, wildlife account for over 90 percent of all […]

Our Raccoons – Procyon lotor – Dog Like Washer

  Raccoons are typically unsociable creatures except for breeding season which happens now and into February, as they are not true hibernators . Males will travel quite the distance in search of females in heat, mating with several females yet once the mating is done they have no part of the rearing of the offspring. […]

Ants – peeking behind to move forward

Ants use several ways to find their path and recognize familiar scenery even when they’re walking behind, not necessarily seeing something from the front to know a familiar location. When walking forward, ants use a technique called trail or path integration. The ants remember the sensation of the rotations and turns they took and how […]

Mayflies

Mayflies (shadflies and lake flies) are aquatic insects that have two pair of wings, they are not related to house flies or other true flies. They are attracted to light and become a pain when they collect at night near doorways in large numbers. Make the house less attractive to mayflies by changing from white […]

Blog: Head lice bites can cause a tickling sensation

Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist DECEMBER 23, 2019 12:05 PM Photograph By WALTER ANTONIO BOEGER FROM PIXABAY Delta BC Head lice out breaks can be rather random but often transfer between children at schools or daycare facilities and spread to others at home. Lice can cause severe itching that can lead to scratching and sores […]

Empathetic Rats

Rats have been found to sense danger and navigate around it by the empathy they show each other. Empathy, found in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, is used to read the fears of other rats in order to avoid encountering danger. If a rat looks scared, it helps as a cautionary sign to […]

Head Lice – Pediculus humanus capitis

Head lice out breaks can be rather random but often transfer between children at schools or daycare facilities and spread to others at home. Lice can cause severe itching that can lead to scratching and sores and secondary bacterial infections on the skin. The effect of these parasites on humans depends on the species as […]

Blog: Feral cats have rat-killing prowess

Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist DECEMBER 16, 2019 03:35 PM Photograph By DIMITRIS VETSIKAS FROM PIXABAY Delta BC Feral cats are the offspring of house cats, often confused with stray cats, a feral cat has never actually belonged to a person or had any socialization with people. They prefer to live in colonies, ranging from […]

Roaches – Number One Worst Pest

Okay, roaches are the out-and-out worst, they spread germs, bacteria and their filth every where they live. Four of the 4,600 species of roaches are associated with humans and are considered pests. A cockroach can survive being submerged for half an hour and run five kilometers in an hour. If by bad luck you happen […]

Blog: Sugar ants like the sweet stuff Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

DECEMBER 17, 2019 02:05 PM Photograph By CLKER-FREE-VECTOR-IMAGES FROM PIXABAY Delta BC The last couple years, Delta has really seen an up spike in the resurgence of sugar ants. Have you ever left behind a crumb on the floor, only to come back a short while later and find a cluster of tiny ants gobbling […]

Kudzu Bugs – the globular stink bug

Kudzu bugs are a true bug because of their piercing sucking mouth parts. People become concerned about kudzu bugs because of their overwintering habits as they congregate in massive numbers on sun-exposed walls to heat themselves. But it’s when they get inside people’s homes through cracks and crevices to survive the winter that the issues […]

Delta’s Sugar Ant Crisis

  The last couple years, Delta has really seen an up spike in the resurgence of sugar ants. Have you ever left behind a crumb on the floor, only to come back a short while later and find a cluster of tiny ants gobbling on it? If you have these pests nesting in your home, […]

Feral Cats – Apex Rat Predator

Feral cats are the offspring of house cats, often confused with stray cats, a feral cat has never actually belonged to a person or had any socialization with people. They prefer to live in colonies, ranging from a few individuals to several dozen feral cats. Multiple generations of the same family will live together if […]

Super Duper Rats

  In the world of pest control, one of the main pests are rats. Rats survive in both urban and suburban environments and the only time we fight the battle again rats is when someone is fed up with them and requires an eradication. But, efforts to control these rodent populations never results in the […]

Our Skunks and their noxious spray

  Skunks only have one effective way of defending themselves, although they do have a really good set of teeth and claws. Their cloud of noxious spray creates strong burning sensations in eyes, nose and mouth, and makes eyes tear up. Skunks are reluctant to use this weapon, as they carry just enough chemical for […]

Termites – what a life

One astonishing capacity that termites have is that they never sleep, no sleep and they work 24-7. A termite colony can destroy a  home by eating the wooden foundation of a house. Termites are blind but they get around by sensing vibrations in the ground or walls. In a termite colony, there are 4 castes […]

Spot the early signs of Bed Bugs 

  In order to successfully detect the presence of bed bugs you can follow these simple rules to easily identify bed bugs before it becomes an issue. The first thing to do is the simplest, use your nose as bed bug feces and pheromones smell unpleasant and a sickly scent. Next, Bed bugs will hide […]

25,000 bugs live in every Live Christmas Tree  

  Nothing compares to filling your house with the aroma of fresh Christmas tree leading up to Christmas. There are a few steps between buying a real tree and decorating it as you need to make sure that it isn’t full of insects. Since most bugs that are on that tree are dormant in November […]

Delta’s Commensal Rodents

  In Delta, there are three principal commensal (they live in close contact with humans) rodents that cause issues,  the common house mouse, roof or black rat and our #1 rat – the Norway rat (making up 85% of our rats).  These rodents cause damages to homes and they harbor and spread disease-causing pathogens to […]

Your Self-Storage Facility- You need more then a lock!!

  If you have been storing family valuables in a self-storage facility, there are a few things you should know, a pest infestation can damage your stored valuables in more ways than one. Rats, mice , cockroaches, bed bugs and ants are all on the list of offending pests. These type of storage facilities are […]

Bats – Dispelling the myths

Our evening skies are filled with these tender, enigmatic, flying mammals coming in all sizes, from the 2 gram Bumblebee bat to the 1.4 kg. Flying Fox. These highly sociable animals are nocturnal, they have fur, bear live young and the mothers suckle their pups. Each bat colony has its own language to communicate with. […]

The Danger of Moths

So are moths dangerous to humans and pets, and the answer is yes. Their feces and cocoons can taint food causing illness and touching infested food or fabrics can trigger an allergic reaction. Moths usually damage clothes, fabrics or carpets but it’s actually their larvae that do all the damage. A moth infestation can grow […]

Squirrels – fussy tailed rats ready to invade your home  

  It starts with a clatter in the attic and then it sounds like there is a cat doing cart wheels, yes these are the sounds of a squirrel invasion. At least these rodents are active during the day and quiet in the night, unlike rats. With temperatures dropping in the lower mainland, the squirrels […]

House flies and why you should be concerned

House flies are responsible for transmitting at least 65 harmful diseases and many skin and eye infections through indirect paths. They also transmit food-borne pathogens and their related toxin and resistance. House flies are known to carry and spread: cholera, conjunctivitis, dysentery, gastroenteritis, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and many more due to their feeding and […]

Mice – and What They Leave Behind

  Now that we are in the colder wet months, mice will have been taking up shelter in homes to find food and warmth. If something seems out of place or there are small dark brown pieces of rice scattered around your kitchen, you’ll need to identify a budding problem and eliminate it before it […]

Silverfish – how did it get in there?

Silverfish have been around for over 400 million years, making them one of the oldest species of insects to crawl the earth. Its name derives from the animal’s silvery light grey colour, combined with the fish-like appearance of its movements.  Silverfish are night-time creatures and are extremely sensitive to light. They prefer damp, high humidity […]

Odorous Ants – A smelly situation

  The most obvious characteristic of these ants is the smell of rotten lemony coconut that is released when they are crushed. These insects create nests in wall or floor voids and you will see foraging worker ants and or winged mating ants. They enter homes looking for food, preferring confections and dried products, and […]

More Facts about Mice

As the fall is ending, mice have been looking for accommodations and food for their existence in the following chilly wets months. Mice are pretty fascinating individuals (although I don’t like them- at all) and here are some fascinating realities about the cousin to the rat. Mice can breed year-round with one female able to […]

Winters Coming- Clean up time

  It’s that time again to do some preventative action to the outside of your house to help prevent rodents and other pests from wanting to get into your house this winter. You should not be surprised how much the outdoors can impact your life inside as landscaping techniques can ward off rodents and insects […]

Blog: Vole population seems to be peaking Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

Blog: Vole population seems to be peaking Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist NOVEMBER 7, 2019 02:05 PM VOLES Voles live underground forming connected tunnels from which they can consume plant roots, depriving plants of water and nutrients. Photograph By ROLF TISCHER FROM PIXABAY Delta BC Homeowners and local farmers hope that populations of voles regress […]

Meet Your New Neighbors – the Raccoons

  It’s the time of year when reports of raccoons wreaking havoc is on the rise. Raccoons are nocturnal mammals common throughout the lower mainland. These clever creatures have nimble hands and are intelligent problem solvers capable of opening latches, turning doorknobs, climbing, swimming, running at speeds of over 16 kilometers per hour and will […]

October set a new record for Vole issues

  Home owners and local farmers hope that populations of voles regress after reaching record levels the last couple years. Voles live underground forming connected tunnels from which they can consume plant roots, depriving plants of water and nutrients. The population of voles seem to be peaking and hope is the destructive rodent’s numbers will […]

Cannibal Ant Colony

  A cannibal wood ant colony was discovered in abandoned post-Soviet nuclear bunker in Poland. A colony of ants had survived for years after falling into a abandoned bunker with no means of escape, and had stayed alive by deliberately eating the dead members of their own kind. The colony was made up of only […]

Body Lice and what you should know!

  Randy Bilesky President at Go Green 909 articles So how serious is it having lice? Having lice on your head leads to intense itching, then to scratching and can cause sores and secondary bacterial infections on the skin. These pests also pose a psychological problem, as their bites cause a tickling sensation and may […]

Halloween Costumes and Creepy Crawlers

  Real-life creepy critters can give homeowners a scare this Halloween. While it’s normal to see vampires, ghosts and other creepy crawlers walking up to your front door on Halloween in the form of trick-or-treaters, you don’t want a whole new infestation of bugs inside your house. Parents should be on the lookout for real-life […]

Halloween’s Creepiest Pests

  Happy Halloween! – Ladner and Tsawwassen are gearing up for Halloween in the usual manner. Spreading fake spider webs, digging grave plots in front yards, carving elaborate shapes into pumpkins -Halloween season is here. To celebrate this spooky time, Go Green Pest Control and Exterminators gives you the top five creepiest bugs you can […]

Blog: Rodent-borne diseases spread easily

Blog: Rodent-borne diseases spread easily Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist OCTOBER 28, 2019 10:45 PM Photograph By PIXABAY Tsawwassen Rats and mice are far from being harmless creatures as they can cause infectious diseases & serious health complications. Rodent borne diseases include bacteria-based illnesses such as salmonella to viruses such as hantavirus. Once they have […]

Scary Rat Mauling

  Rats are generally pretty shy -they don’t like light and they don’t like people so its kind of a terrifying when you hear a story about rats attacking people. In a senior apartment complex when a resident attempted to use the garbage chute, that very thing happened. A women opened the garbage chute and […]

Scary Pests Halloween Pests – Rats, Spiders and Bats

  The Joker, Pennywise, Trump, witches and other scary fictional characters are favorite Halloween creatures, but pests are still pretty high on the list. Bats, spiders and their webs, share holiday honors. A lot of pest-related Halloween items have to do with the historic role they have played in spreading plagues or Black Death that […]

Rodent-Borne Diseases

  Rats and mice are far from being harmless creatures as they can cause infectious diseases & serious health complications. Rodent borne diseases include bacteria-based illnesses such as salmonella to viruses such as hantavirus. Once they have entered and infested your homes, then they can potentially spread several diseases. When you have an infestation of […]

Introducing the Antlion a.k.a. the Doodlebug

  Antlion or the doodlebug are named for the rapacious ways of the larva, which trap small insects in a pit that it has dug into the ground. The Doodlebug larva digs a cone shaped pit from 2 to 5 cm deep and 3 to 8 cm wide at the edge, by using its abdomen […]

Stink Bugs and How to Get Them Gone

  Every year when the weather starts to turn chilly, the smelly brown marmorated stink bug looks to get into a nice cozy home. As clearly stated in their name, anyone with a keen sense of smell will smell one of these guys long before you see it. To make matters worse, they like to […]

Which rats do you have?

As temperatures drop, rats move indoors in search of food and warmth. Rats are vectors of many dangerous diseases such as typhus, plague, jaundice, rat-bite fever, cowpox virus, trichinosis and salmonella. They also cause significant property damage by chewing through wires, drywall, plastic and lead pipes, insulation barriers and almost anything in their way. These […]

Real Creepy Halloween Creatures

They’re creepy, scary and spooky – They’re spiders, rats and bats – the original Halloween creatures! Just the thought of a spider building a web in the kitchen, a bat flying around in the attic, or rats nesting in the crawlspace is all you need to deem your home a “haunted Halloween house”. The fall […]

Insects in Your House

  Common bugs we find here in our Delta homes are flies, ants, spiders, silverfish, sow bugs, clothe moths, carpet beetles and more – but there are a few ways to eradicate and keep them out. Inspect your windows and doors, and seal any holes or cracks. Before leaving the kitchen at night, don’t forget […]

Super sized rats to invade Delta Homes just in time for Halloween

Act now, as it is time to prepare for a real Halloween invasion as rats begin to take up residence in attics, walls and crawl spaces. Hundreds of super-sized (38 cm) disease-ridden rodents are scurrying for protection and nesting spots as the autumn rain takes hold and temperatures drop. Rodents are responsible for millions of […]

How to get rid of Sugar Ants

  There are a number of home “google” mixtures and retail products that promise to kill sugar ants. However, many of these products are not effective and some can be down right unsafe to handle. Deciding how to get rid of sugar ants in the kitchen, or how to get rid of sugar ants in […]

SUGAR ANTS – Tsawwassen & Ladner  

  Ever leave behind the smallest crumb or drip of sugary syrup on a counter-top or floor, only to come back to find a cluster of minute ants indulging on it? You may even have a name for those ants, sugar ants. If you have these ants in your home, it’s really no surprise as […]

A Squirrels Pantry – your car!   

  It’s autumn, when leaves turn orange, red, browned and gold, Canadian geese begin their long journey south, and squirrels gather nuts like we stock up at a Canadian Tire sale. Squirrels sometimes hide their pantry in the engine compartments of cars, a blog I’ve written about before. While at first seemingly innocuous and innocent, […]

Insects – Pest or Dinner

  Entomophagy describes the exercise of eating insects by humans, the eggs, larvae, and adults of certain insects have been consumed by humans for thousands of years. In fact, 3,000+ ethnic groups practice entomophagy (Greek -entomon, meaning insect, and Latin phagus, as in feeding on). A quarter of the global population currently eat bugs as […]

Electric Ants

The electric ant a.k.a the little fire ant has been called one of the worst invasive and aggressive pests in the world by the Conservation of Nature Invasive Species Specialist Group. Little fire ants can deliver a painful, long-lasting sting that can permanently blind cats and dogs. These ants can also create huge colonies of […]

Carpet Beetle Larvae Dermatitis

  So you think you may have bed bugs, so you ask google and you learn about their bites and how to locate them, but after checking around the bed and floor there are still no signs. Bed bugs can be moderately difficult to find but they always leave some sort of trail. Next culprit […]

Honeybees no match for the Asian Mite

  Facing the plague of a parasitic Asian mite, beekeepers are hoping a new breed of mite resistant strain for honey bees can be developed, but even more other threats are coming. Beekeepers lost 45 percent of their colonies last winter, the highest winter loss in 13 years. The biggest threat facing honeybees is the […]

The insatiable River Rat

  The swamp rodents, called nutria (coypu or river rat) weigh about 10 kilograms each and resembles a rat but body length is up to 60 cm. They can eat the equivalent of about a fourth of their weight each day by burrowing into riverbanks and chomping into plants that emerge from the water. They […]

How to manage Rodents yourself

  To stop or control rodents effectively, you must take away everything that they need for survival. This would includes food, water, shelter and their means of getting around. Some of the key ways to control mice and rats is to take away the places they like to hide, sleep, and nest include: Remove untidiness […]

Mosquito Neuroinvasive Diseases

  There are several diseases that can be transmitted by a mosquito’s bite and the cases of mosquito-borne disease are a growing public health threat. Warming climates lead to more outbreaks of mosquito-borne illness. Mosquito-borne illness often causes only mild symptoms but they can lead to more serious symptoms called neuroinvasive diseases -that can be […]

The Voles are back!

  Voles can be serious problems in lawns and gardens, tunneling under the lawn and eating the grass, bulbs, tubers and roots. Voles are small rodents that are similar in size to mice and moles. Voles live outdoors in shallow burrows in the soil. They are sometimes found in sheds but do not usually shelter […]

Sowbugs aka Woodlouse aka Yuck

  I know its not just me because this year ever house that I’ve been to has sowbugs around their house. Despite their name, sowbugs are land-living crustaceans not really bugs – they are a kind of shrimp crawling around your house. They can’t retain water in their bodies so they need to spend most […]

Mouse-pocolypse – the year of the Mouse

  If you’re seeing more mice around your home, you’re not alone. Mice are not a new problem, but this year some people in Delta are reporting more sightings of the pesky rodents than usual. There have been reports of mice seen in the middle of the day, just running around the back yard. Any […]

Go Green Pest Control

https://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/go-green-pest-control/ ‎ gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/go-green-pest-control-insect-rodent-exterminators-randy-bilesky/?published=t  

Good deeds lead to rat infestation

  In the pest control business we often run into people with good intentions that cause rat infestation in a neighborhood because of their efforts to feed the area’s wildlife. These rat infestations are often a result of well-intention people who only want to feed birds, squirrels or raccoons on their property, but often this […]

Is it a beach-ball or a Paper Wasp Nest?

  So you just discovered a beachball sized paper wasp nest in a tree near your house. Now you think that it was not there last week and most definitely for the last couple months. The reality is that its been there since the spring and will continue to function into October. So do you […]

Fruit Flies Invasion

  Late summer every year, fruit flies invade homes that have ripe, rotting, or decayed fruit (liquor and liquor/beer bottles) and many times the flies are actually coming from the store you purchased them from. They also breed in drains and kitchen garbage’s. Here is the scary part about fruit flies, females are able to […]

Squirrels use bird chatter as early warning signal

Published on September 13, 2019 Randy Bilesky President at Go Green 880 articles Squirrels continuously look around their surroundings for predators such as eagles, owls, hawks, crows, cats and coyotes,  as well as, listen to bird chatter to hear if there is trouble brewing in the skies. Because squirrels are not nocturnal, they are in […]

When squirrels attack your trees

  Squirrels will attack trees that are in stress because the trees concentrate sugars for self-healing purposes attract squirrels that can detect concentrated sugar. Squirrels usually like to eat fruits and nuts but will attack trees that are stressed by chewing the bark and girdling stems, limbs and trunks. The theory that squirrels chew on […]

Why Rodents Love Your Car Wires and What You Can Do to Prevent it.

  If you park your car outdoors at night, be wary, mice and rats are drawn to warmth of car’s engine and the soy bean insulation buffet – you maybe looking at hundreds of dollars for rodent damage. They will eat through entire main wiring harness throughout the engine bay. In recent years, car manufacturers […]

Autumn -the time of the year for Pumpkin Spice and Mice

You know that fall is almost here when every coffee shop in the area is offering pumpkin spice special coffees and treats. So as temperatures drop, those mice that have been pretty much unseen for the last 4 months are now drawn to sources of heat and food. Unquestionably, they will find very inventive ways […]

How do you get rid of ants.

  Over the last year, I have collected a list of all the remedies that people have used to ward off ants, before they call me to take over. So here are some of the homemade solutions that that didn’t work. Clothing stain remover used to spray on the ants and on their trails, yes […]

Carpenter Ant Damage

  Carpenter ants are capable of damaging any wood, yes – solid dry wood as well. Carpenter ant invasion can become devastating when left unchecked as several colonies of carpenter ants can develop multiple satellite nests. Indoor infestations can be tracked by points of entry such as concrete foundations, cracks, electric and telephone wires and […]

Ants in the nature – Myrmecochory

  Ants aren’t your enemy or at least not in gardens and forests. They are tiny rototillers, tunneling ants turn over as much soil as earthworms do, aerating the soil and redistributing nutrients. Ants also play a major role in recycling as they are scavengers, collecting dead insects and turning them into fertilizer for your […]

Mosquito season is Upon Us

  Mosquitoes thrive in warm, damp areas and only need a couple of centimeters of water to breed, turning pools, buckets, wheelbarrows and bird baths into likely breeding grounds. To lessen the probability of mosquitoes in your yard, have a look around your property to see if you can remove any standing water. Mosquitoes are […]

Wasp Nests in Delta, like never before

  Wasps play many ecological roles as predator and/or pollinators, whether to forage for themselves or to provision their nests. The solitary wasps parasitize nearly all pest insects, making them the biological pest control of many insects. But as far as we are concerned, only a couple different types of wasps actually target food (meat […]

Hantavirus, its back!

Hantavirus, its back! Hantavirus is a type of virus that is carried by infected rodents and is spread through the vectors’ (rats, squirrels, mice, raccoons and skunks) urine, feces, and saliva. Two cases have recently occurred, although hantavirus is extremely rare, yet when it does occur it can be fatal – there is a 40 […]

Eating insects can protect against Cancer

Eating ants and other insects could soon be recommended to protect against cancer, and it is believed that us westerners will be eating them very soon. Experiments have shown that many insects including grasshoppers and crickets – contain high concentrations of antioxidants, found in orange juice or olive oil. Extracts of grasshoppers, silkworm and crickets […]

Raccoons, how to keep them away!

Are you looking for a guaranteed way to get rid of raccoons? Raccoons are pretty smart creatures. Sometimes a personal face-off is often a quick solution that scares raccoons ( a single encounter will not discourage a raccoon forever) but there are pros and cons. More than likely the raccoon will usually disappear, on the […]

Bed Bugs – Weird and Wacky but True

  Yes, they feed on us while they sleep (like vampires), they cause itchy, red bumps and they are really hard to get rid of! Here are a few weird and wacky but true facts! 1)They lay a lot of eggs, a single female bed bug can lay 500 eggs in her lifetime! But here […]

How to avoid the business end of a hornet or wasp.

  Mid August onward, wasps are particularly troublesome as they are switching over from carbohydrates to a protein diet and therefore they are more attracted to human foods. So how do you avoid being stung by the nasty cousin of the bumble bee. First, be aware of your environment, especially if you are drinking from […]

Crickets

Crickets are insects related to grasshoppers. They occur in wide-ranging environments from grassland and forests to marshes and beaches. Crickets are mainly nocturnal, and are best known for the loud, persistent, chirping song of males trying to attract females. The singing species have good hearing and have different chirping “songs” for: attracting mates ( male […]

House flies: carry and spread diseases

  House flies and filth flies spread over 65 harmful diseases including diarrhoeal diseases, skin and eye infections. But there is more, these flies can transmit food-borne pathogens, toxins and resistance.  In fact, they are known to carry and spread; cholera, conjunctivitis, dysentery, gastroenteritis, salmonellosis, tuberculosis and typhoid fever. House flies feed by regurgitating their […]

Skunk spray can now be neutralized

  Skunk spray is the nasal equivalent to stepping on a hornets nest or staring at the sun. Skunk spray contains a mixture of sulfur-containing chemicals called thiols or mercaptans, but the Tolypocladium fungus has a compound in it called pericosine that neutralize the stink – that can linger for months. The pericosine reacts with […]

Delta’s three main Rodent

  Rodents are cagy, vigilant, in-obtrusive and nocturnal animals. To outsmart these Delta residents and protect your home, you need to know what you’re dealing with and here are some helpful hints to help you recognize them. House mouse nest in walls, attics, crawl spaces, woodpiles,  garages, basements, storage places but they really like to […]

Delta’s three main Rodent

  Rodents are cagy, vigilant, in-obtrusive and nocturnal animals. To outsmart these Delta residents and protect your home, you need to know what you’re dealing with and here are some helpful hints to help you recognize them. House mouse nest in walls, attics, crawl spaces, woodpiles,  garages, basements, storage places but they really like to […]

Perennial Super Wasp Nests

  A typical wasp and hornet nest can contain as many as 6000 insects and build a nest the size of a beach ball. But now, these super nests (16,000 wasps) are cropping up this summer, as a side effect of a warming climate, can potentially grow to the size of a Smart car, and […]

Delta Squirrels

  Squirrels feed on seeds, nuts, acorns, tree buds, berries, leaves and twigs but believe it or not will eat meat. But if they have become an issue around or in your house then choosing the right kind of squirrel trap might help rid your property of squirrels. These rodents can bring viruses and health […]

I just got stung by a what!?

As the days continue to get hotter, wasps and hornets continue to prosper. Wasps that live in colonies and yes you guessed it; attack in swarms and sting repeatedly. To avoid this perilous encounter, have the wasp hives removed long before they look like a beach ball on steroids. Most species of wasp and hornets […]

What makes a good squirrel proof bird feeder? 

  When it comes to selecting between the best squirrel proof bird feeder brands, money in research and creating designs with better technology, finishes and makes is very important. No matter whether you are looking for a traditional or contemporary look , you will find one that suits your budget and needs.  Squirrel proof bird […]

The Ticks are here

  Disease-carrying ticks have increased their topographical range in the past 20 years, now showing up in different places every year and they reproduce rapidly. The rate of tick-borne disease will continue to increase as we experience environmental changes that led to rising populations of mice and deer which carry the ticks that feed on […]

Fire Ants

  So where did these nasty ants come from because they surely didn’t come from here. It is believed that they came to North America on a shipment of cargo back in the 1930s. So, how did they get in your lawn, well most likely from an infested nursery plant, fertilizer or grass sod being […]

Rodent droppings and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Virus

  Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Virus (HPS) is a severe, respiratory disease that can be lethal and is spread through infected rodent droppings, urine or drool. A person can contract the virus by breathing in air particles, such as stirring up dust in areas where rodents have been causing the virus to get into the air. […]

Non-toxic pest control -go green

Recently, numerous serious issues have motivated the pest control industry towards non-toxic solutions. Businesses are reacting to consumer concerns about adverse effects of the overuse of pesticides. The pest control industry is continuously researching and developing solutions that are more effective, sustainable and are better for our environment. Innovations are evolving non-toxic solutions that are […]

Honeybees – largest winter die-off in 50 years.

  A recent survey on honey bees reveals that the 2018/2019 winter resulted in a extremely large die-off – as upwards of 40 percent of their population was lost over the winter. Fewer honeybees is an ecological and economic problem, as there has been a major decline for the last 50 years. There are a […]

Six interesting things about our ants

Six interesting things about our ants The ants of Delta are the most successful of all existing insects. There are approximately 8,800 described species of ants in the world of which approximately 570 species are found in North America. Ants perform numerous important ecological and ecosystem functions. Their occurrence is staple food for birds to […]

Blog: Flying squirrels? Just the facts Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

Blog: Flying squirrels? Just the facts Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist JUNE 19, 2019 11:35 AM #DeltaBC The flying squirrel is a type of squirrel known for its ability to glide through the air. Usually found in deciduous, coniferous or mixed type of forest they are thankfully not endangered. Males and females look alike and their […]

Moles, Voles, Shrews and Pocket Gophers vs Your Lawn

What really is going on down-under. If you are one of those people that like your lawn to look like a golf course, then here is a collection of rodents that try very hard to make your putting green style lawn vanish.  So down under the ground we have moles, voles, shrews and pocket gophers […]

Flying Squirrels? Just the Facts

  The flying squirrel is a type of squirrel known for its ability to glide through the air. Usually found in deciduous, coniferous or mixed type of forest and thankfully they are not endangered. Males and females look alike and their tail is flattened and large used as a rudder when they glide through the […]

Oh – those summer time ANTS

  Small black pavement ants, thatching ants and the large black carpenter ants seem to be everywhere this year and some of the mating ants with wings have already been out. They are flourishing in the usual sunny locations — cracks in driveways, under patio pavers, and of course in wood mulch (their number one […]

Declining insects change our ecosystem

Insect numbers are declining at an extraordinary rate and this is not a result of all the pests Go Green pest control deals with daily. Most insects are undeniably vital for the existence of many plants and animal species. Insects are vital to our planet’s ecological well-being, which many animals and plants relying on. As […]

Ticks, Why so many!

  This year has seen a surge in tick sightings and its another pest that is indirectly to blame. With rising temperatures and land development we are seeing more rodents like rats, mice and squirrels coming into contact with humans. Because rodents are the number one source of food for ticks – more rodents more […]

Ladybug Bloom

  “Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home” (children’s nursery rhyme). A amazing phenomenon was seen in San Diego last week, a giant rain cloud that turned out to be a swarm of lady beetles that measured 135 km by 135 km. Such a cloud of lady bugs is called a ‘bloom’ but is normally not this […]

Honey Bee Swarms

  Its that time again when new honey bee queens kick the old queens out and there is a swarm on the run. So what do you do if a swarm ends up in your yard? It is more important then ever that honeybees be protected and unless you want to become a bee keeper, […]

Ants 101

  Here in Delta we have roughly 6 distinctly different ants all going about their business in different fashions. As different as they are in their activities – they all are basically ants, adult ants come in a variety of shapes and dimensions but each will be one of three different colony castes; queens, workers […]

Summer and the Stinging Pests

Stinging pests come in a variety of shapes and sizes that span numerous insect species. While the main issue is a stinger – body types, colours, and legs vary usually between insects such as bees, hornets and wasps. These pests make problems for you or your family and monitoring them begins with correct proof of […]

Bed Bug Season – don’t unpack them

  As spring comes to a close and summer travel season begins, you are reminded about Bed Bug Awareness Week begins which serves as an important reminder that bed bugs can wreak havoc if brought home after traveling. Bed bugs are one of the most common pests, a 9 percent increase in people reporting bed […]

Carpenter bees- building a home in your home

  Carpenter bees are large, fuzzy bees that look a lot like their cousin the bumble bee, with its yellow and black coloring. They are pollinators to native plant and crops as they pick up and transfer pollen.  Although these bees are normally not hostile, when it comes to your house they can be destructive. […]

 May Day Parade Ladner B.C.

May Day Parade Ladner B.C. Parade is a highlight of Ladner May Days, a highlight of Ladner Pioneer May Days, the colourful parade made its way through Ladner Village noon on Sunday May 26th. The parade features all kinds of entries, including community and school groups, dance teams, entertainers, local businesses and more. The procession […]

Sowbugs -land living crustaceans

  Okay I know its not just me, is there a billion sowbugs out there now! Of course they go by several other names: woodlouse, woodlice, pill bugs, roly polies, doodle bugs and of course wood bugs. Despite their name they are not really bugs, they are landbound crustaceans. Sowbugs feed on organic material and […]

FIRE Ants FIRE Ants

  Now that summer is almost upon us and ant season is in full swing, nothing starts a conversation faster than the topic of fire ants and how to get rid of them. That’s because these tiny red or black ants are not only a nuisance  but they’re also ferocious and hostile aggressors. If fire […]

Japanese Giant Hornet is Here

  A giant Japanese hornet was discovered here in the lower mainland which is thought to have arrived on a container ship from Asia. It is extremely dangerous to both humans and bees. The Japanese giant hornet is one of the world’s largest hornets, growing longer than 4 centimeters. Japanese giant hornet workers forage for […]

Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

BLOG: Pollen, grass and pests can trigger your allergy symptoms Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist https://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-pollen-grass-and-pests-can-trigger-your-allergy-symptoms-1.23814678

Wasps – real logical invertebrates  

  Insects often learn fairly rapidly, but the levels of performance is not that high. Logical reasoning is complicated activity, and was thought to be only found in animals with multifaceted nervous arrangements. It recently has been determined that non-solitary wasps use logical deduction, the only case in invertebrates. This kind of intellectual reasoning is […]

BLOG: Gypsy Moth and the B.T.K. insecticide Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist MAY 7, 2019 03:05 PM #DeltaBC The Gypsy moth caterpillar consume tremendous amounts of leaf material in the spring, as much as one square foot of leaves per day. A solution to the Gypsy moth problem emerged in Europe in 1938, where they began […]

Delta – The grey long tailed silverfish is here

Lately, a new variation of a regular household pest has been identified, the grey long tailed silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata). Although they are often found in modern buildings they are showing up at many residential homes. Similar to our regular silverfish, they are somewhat larger, bushier and have extended tail filaments. They may be an announce […]

Pollen, Grass and Pests can trigger your Allergy Symptoms

  May is the peak season for allergy sufferers and is the Allergy Awareness Month. About 2.5 million Canadians suffer from allergies, or about 7.5 per cent of the population or 1 in 13. So how do you prevent allergen buildup in their own homes. Many people think allergies are associated to the sensitivity to […]

Gypsy Moth and the B.T.K. insecticide

  The Gypsy moth caterpillar consume tremendous amounts of leaf material in the spring, as much as one square foot of leaves per day. A solution to the Gypsy moth problem emerged in Europe in 1938, where they began to use B.T.K. (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) on forests and agricultural lands as a biological insecticide to […]

Zombification -Wasp turns spider into incubating zombie

  Different parasitoid wasp species are know to lay their eggs on a spider’s back and by inoculating the spider with the a molting hormone, the wasp induces the spider to make a distinct web for the wasp’s cocoon. The parasitic wasp forces the spider to texture a special web to dangle the wasp cocoon […]

Swarming Bees: What is really going on?

The sight of swarming bees can alarm just about anyone but it is a normal life cycle of honey bees. At the end of winter there are fewer bees in the colony than there were during the summer, you have the queen and a lot of workers, that huddled together in a winter cluster to […]

Climate change – Rats are the Winners

Warmer winters allow rats to breed into the previously too-cold months. Climate change is what is making rats tougher, meatier, bigger and more present. Its a losing battle, experts now say climate change might be giving rats the competitive edge they need to thrive. Most rats breed all year, they usually slow down during around […]

And so another Wasp season begins

The most familiar wasps we encounter live in large cooperative nests, like bald-faced hornets, yellowjackets and other wasps yet the majority of wasp species are solitary and focused only on their own offspring. But the majority of wasps we encounter, the spring process begins with a fertilized wasp queen arising from hibernation and begins a […]

The common House Flies

House flies are major carriers of disease transferring ailments, including food poisoning, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera and dysentery that can be harmful to both humans and pets. They breed and feed in filth, including garbage, feces, human food, animal food and carcasses, garbage, excrement and rotting food. House flies pick up bacteria, fungi, and viruses and […]

Suicide Aphids Explode to save their Nests

The colonial aphid fixes its house in a stunningly fatal fashion – they will fix a hole in its nest by exploding and the result is coating its bodily fluids over the openings. These aphids live in hollow spheres called galls in Japanese trees. They divide their labor into adult reproducers, workers and soldiers. If […]

Conditions are ripe for rats in South Delta

Factors include everything from open compost piles and bird feeders to displacement by development Sandor Gyarmati / Delta Optimist APRIL 12, 2019 08:05 AM rats Residents can undertake a number of measures to prevent rats from seeking shelter inside their homes. The sight or sound of them scurrying about, especially inside homes, is enough to […]

Why do we hate Rats

The rats that reside in Delta for the most part are Norway rats, thanks Norway. These rats hitched a ride to the Americas on ships in the 18th century. So why do me loathe them, well it all goes back to the great plague, that killed some 25 million people in the 14th century. But, […]

Delta gets ratted out!!

Now that we are weeks into spring and the rain has forgotten to leave, perhaps we should address Delta’s rat issues – or lack of. A US based pest control, ha-ha, has deemed Delta to be the 11th worst rat infested cities in B.C. Now their statistics, presumable based on the number of calls they […]

Baby animals !! In your Shed!!

  As the season for spring cleaning, gardening, lawn cutting and general maintenance is in full swing there is always a chance that you may find baby wild animals in a shed or garage. Because these places usually are not to active over the winter, females might decide that your shed, garage or attic may […]

Fleas vs Ticks

  No they are not super hero’s or villains but they are both parasitic creatures that live on hosts much larger than themselves. Ticks and fleas feed on the blood of their preferred hosts and spread a variety of diseases. Although neither choose us as their prime hosts, both parasites will bite and feed on […]

The Bottle Fly

Bottle flies or blow flies, are the large flies we see in Delta that are a metallic blue or green in color. The adult fly’s are usually seen flying around their food or odorous areas and are typically found outdoors. If you see quite a few indoors there is a good chance that they have […]

Skunk Season is back again.

  Skunk season is here again and words of wisdom about the polecat is ‘’spray first and ask questions later ‘’. So the question is how do you do a de-funking after a skunking. Skunks are everywhere in Delta and the lower mainland for that matter. If a skunk is spooked or otherwise threatened, they […]

The Raccoons Are Coming

  The raccoon is a native animal to Delta, and is one of the most successful animals in our urban environment (next to rats of course). Raccoons have adapted well to rummaging through human garbage for food. The adults are active throughout the year, where males tend to travel in wide areas and females generally […]

Delta’s most hazardous spine-chilling insects

Spring has sprung and the biting and stinging insects are out. Any one of these poisonous scary crawlies can ruin your day, should they attack you. Wasps: White hot pain – they build small to large nests and defend them forcefully by stinging repeatedly. They eat just about any the moves. Black widow spider: Really […]

Ultrasonic deterrent for rodents  

  A new gadget has been designed to prevent damage in vehicles where rodents chew through electrics and wiring, under the engine hood. It works by releasing an ultra-high-frequency noise that is inaudible to humans but apparently the equivalent of a jackhammer to rodents with the acoustic pressure rated at 85dB (rock concert in your […]

Mason Bees Season Begins

Its officially mason bee season and its time to get last years bee cocoons out or buy a bunch. I hung my mason bee house outside in a covered southerly exposed location and within a couple hours I already had a half a dozen males out and circulation around their bee house. For those of […]

The Malodorous Dual – the Skunk and the Striped Polecat

  Here we have two somewhat similar looking stinky creatures that use foul malodorous spray to fend off things they don’t like. Both striped polecats and skunks have coarse black fur with white spots and stripes. These thick-bodied animals all have long tails, short limbs and long claws used for digging in dirt. Skunks lack […]

Carpenter Ants Damage

  Carpenter ants have become a widespread problem throughout Delta. They make their nests in damp, rotting, dead or perfectly dry wood and create passageways so they can easily circumnavigate through the structure. Carpenter ants are small but the damage a colony can cause is not. Carpenter ants cause the most damage of all ants […]

Odorous Ants

  These insects create nests in wall or floor voids when indoors and target kitchen pantries and cupboards. They also nest outside and may crawl indoors through cracks and crevices in the foundation or doors and windows. Odorous ants release an unpleasant smell when crushed and like the grease ant they also bite. Next to […]

Rats – the secret sensory world

  Everywhere rats go they leave a steady stream of urine, feces and gland grease. Within their urine and feces and gland grease are strong pheromone scents which helps them retrace their steps and attract other rats.  Pheromones and steroids, such as male testosterone or female progesterone and estradiol let other rats know that there […]

Blog: Big spike in grease ant cases Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

FEBRUARY 23, 2019 03:35 PM #DeltaBC Well I’m calling this year a total epidemic of unseen proportion with regards to grease ants. Never have we seen so many cases of grease ants in peoples homes as we are in 2019. Call outs for these ants are off the charts so far this February. Not only […]

2019 Grease Ant Epidemic in South Delta

  Well I’m calling this year a total epidemic of unseen proportion with regards to Grease ants. Never have we seen so many cases of Grease ants in peoples homes as we are in 2019. Call out for these ants are off the charts so far this February. Not only are they unsightly, they are […]

Silverfish – bite like sharks or sting like eels?

Silverfish are the same length as the carpenter ant, these nocturnal insects prosper in bathrooms, kitchen and damp crawl spaces in almost everyone’s home. These dinosaur like, alligator shaped insects are categorized by a silvery-tan colour and bristles at the end of their body. Once silverfish are brought into your house, they begin laying dozens […]

Insect Extinction maybe coming

Insects are at the bottom of every food chain yet at the top of the ecosystem because they’re are pollinators – therefore they are absolutely critical. Insects also play an important roles in our ecosystems preforming  pest control, decomposition and food for other animals such as birds, reptiles and small mammals. Now reports indicate that […]

Well stocked real estate can be a squirrels jack pot

In the nutty world of squirrels, one squirrel can influence the genetic influence to the population of another squirrel by hoarding food and increasing the chances of survival of the other squirrel that takes over its territory. In the squirrel world, the previous squirrel that had a particular territory can significantly impact how well off […]