Category: News

  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… Continue reading Rodent Awareness Week

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… Continue reading Delta’s Creepy Crawlies

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… Continue reading Bamboo rat

  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… Continue reading Oh, just another Squirrel Splooting

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… Continue reading Ants – Some Interesting Facts

  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… Continue reading Trap-Shy Rats and Mice

Grasshopper

Cuckoo Wasp

  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.… Continue reading Termites – Home Destroyers

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… Continue reading Cucumber Beetles – Garden Insect 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… Continue reading Rabbits – Garden 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 –… Continue reading Cabbage Worms – 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.… Continue reading Aphids – 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,… Continue reading Garden Insect Pests – Series

  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… Continue reading Mud Daubers

  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… Continue reading Paper Wasps

    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… Continue reading Yellowjacket Nests – Nesting 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… Continue reading Hornet and Wasp Series

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… Continue reading Darth Varroa Destructor have Bees shaking in their Hives

  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… Continue reading Protect Wood From Water, Rot and Carpenter Ants

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… Continue reading How The Pests Get In

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… Continue reading A new Mouse Trap

  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… Continue reading Raccoons – Send them Packing

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,… Continue reading Moles -Tearing up Your Yard?

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… Continue reading Squirrels

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… Continue reading Coronavirus Myth Busters  

  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… Continue reading Muskrats

  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… Continue reading Skunk Issues!!!

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… Continue reading OMG – The Sting of a Wasp

South Delta Raccoon

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… Continue reading Asian Giant Hornet Part 3

  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… Continue reading Sugar Ants vs Pavement Ants Debacle

  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… Continue reading How bad can Carpenter ants possible be?

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… Continue reading Asian giant hornets Part II

  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… Continue reading Carpenter Ant Issues?

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… Continue reading Rats and Mice are adapting to Covid 19 lock-down

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… Continue reading Giant Asian Murder Hornets

  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… Continue reading  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Garden Insects

    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… Continue reading Fleas test positive for Yersinia Pestis plague  

  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… Continue reading Fire Ants Season is back!

  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… Continue reading Does the Virus come from a Raccoon?

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,… Continue reading COVID-19 Pandemic make Pest Control Essential

  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… Continue reading Bed Bugs? Fleas? Or Carpet beetle Larvae!!

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… Continue reading The Scorpion Fly

  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… Continue reading Rodent populations to grow during COVID-19 lock-down

  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… Continue reading Covid 19 Transmitted by Bat, Rodents and Primates

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… Continue reading Neophobic Rats are coming to Town

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.… Continue reading Getting Rid of House Mice  

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… Continue reading Mason Bee Season

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… Continue reading COVID-19 and Resurgence of Cannibalistic Rats

  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… Continue reading Slugs and Snails

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

  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… Continue reading Asian Long Horned Bush Ticks

  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… Continue reading Hantavirus is back – Just avoid Rodents

  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… Continue reading New Orleans is sinking – with 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… Continue reading Cotton Rats

  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… Continue reading Spring Gardens and Rodents

  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… Continue reading Your Pet and COVID-19

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… Continue reading Uptick in rats and mice invading Delta homes

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… Continue reading This virus making you feel more antsy?

  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,… Continue reading New Rat and Mouse Control

  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… Continue reading Rat Coronavirus  

  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… Continue reading Keeping the Stink out of the Skunk

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… Continue reading As We evolve – so do Rats.

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… Continue reading Baby Silverfish

  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… Continue reading Yellow Jackets

  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… Continue reading Norway Rats and Seoul virus

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.… Continue reading Signs of a rodent infestation

  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… Continue reading Skunks – the smell of Spring

  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… Continue reading Ant acid used for defense and cleaning food

  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… Continue reading Cleaning rodent-infested areas.

  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… Continue reading Norway Rats – the crepuscular creatures

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… Continue reading Temprid SC

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… Continue reading Biological Pest Control for your garden

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,… Continue reading Rat Lungworm Disease

  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… Continue reading Sugar Ants and How do I get Rid of Them

  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… Continue reading Rat whiskers use the Euler spiral

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… Continue reading Rats – A Formidable Opponent

  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… Continue reading Ambidextrous Squirrels are Smarter

  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… Continue reading The Opossum -top notch in pest Control

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… Continue reading Rats play tit-for-tat

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… Continue reading The House Mouse

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… Continue reading Nutria -the Invasive Swamp Rat

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… Continue reading Book Lice a.k.a. Psocids

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… Continue reading Firebrats

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… Continue reading Toys in the Attic – Or is it Pests

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,… Continue reading 2020 – Year of the Rat

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… Continue reading Edible Insects – Entomophagy

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… Continue reading Rabies in Skunks and Raccoons

  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.… Continue reading Our Raccoons – Procyon lotor – Dog Like Washer

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… Continue reading Ants – peeking behind to move forward

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… Continue reading Mayflies

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… Continue reading Blog: Head lice bites can cause a tickling sensation

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… Continue reading Empathetic Rats

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… Continue reading Head Lice – Pediculus humanus capitis

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… Continue reading Blog: Feral cats have rat-killing prowess

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… Continue reading Roaches – Number One Worst Pest

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

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… Continue reading Kudzu Bugs – the globular stink bug

  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,… Continue reading Delta’s Sugar Ant Crisis

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… Continue reading Feral Cats – Apex Rat Predator

  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… Continue reading Super Duper Rats

  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… Continue reading Our Skunks and their noxious spray

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… Continue reading Termites – what a life

  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… Continue reading Spot the early signs of Bed Bugs 

  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… Continue reading 25,000 bugs live in every Live Christmas Tree  

  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… Continue reading Delta’s Commensal Rodents

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

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.… Continue reading Bats – Dispelling the myths

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… Continue reading The Danger of Moths

  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… Continue reading Squirrels – fussy tailed rats ready to invade your home  

Blog: Silverfish have been around for millions of years Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist NOVEMBER 19, 2019 02:05 PM Photograph By HANS BRAXMEIER FROM PIXABAY Delta BC 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… Continue reading Blog: Silverfish have been around for millions of years Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist

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… Continue reading House flies and why you should be concerned

  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… Continue reading Mice – and What They Leave Behind

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… Continue reading Silverfish – how did it get in there?

  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… Continue reading Odorous Ants – A smelly situation

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… Continue reading More Facts about Mice

  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… Continue reading Winters Coming- Clean up time

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

  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… Continue reading Meet Your New Neighbors – the Raccoons

  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… Continue reading October set a new record for Vole issues

  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… Continue reading Cannibal Ant Colony

  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… Continue reading Body Lice and what you should know!

  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… Continue reading Halloween Costumes and Creepy Crawlers

  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… Continue reading Halloween’s Creepiest Pests

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… Continue reading Blog: Rodent-borne diseases spread easily

  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… Continue reading Scary Rat Mauling

  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… Continue reading Scary Pests Halloween Pests – Rats, Spiders and Bats

  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… Continue reading Rodent-Borne Diseases

 Delta Optimist OCTOBER 23, 2019 06:12 AM #DeltaBC Blog: Stink Bugs and how to get rid of them

  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… Continue reading Introducing the Antlion a.k.a. the Doodlebug

  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… Continue reading Stink Bugs and How to Get Them Gone

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… Continue reading Which rats do you have?

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… Continue reading Real Creepy Halloween Creatures

  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… Continue reading Insects in Your House

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

  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… Continue reading How to get rid of Sugar Ants

  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… Continue reading SUGAR ANTS – Tsawwassen & Ladner  

  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,… Continue reading A Squirrels Pantry – your car!   

  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… Continue reading Insects – Pest or Dinner

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… Continue reading Electric Ants

  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… Continue reading Carpet Beetle Larvae Dermatitis

  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… Continue reading Honeybees no match for the Asian Mite

  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… Continue reading The insatiable River Rat

  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… Continue reading How to manage Rodents yourself

  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… Continue reading Mosquito Neuroinvasive Diseases

  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… Continue reading The Voles are back!

  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… Continue reading Sowbugs aka Woodlouse aka Yuck

  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… Continue reading Mouse-pocolypse – the year of the Mouse

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  

  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… Continue reading Good deeds lead to rat infestation

  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… Continue reading Is it a beach-ball or a Paper Wasp Nest?

  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… Continue reading Fruit Flies Invasion

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… Continue reading Squirrels use bird chatter as early warning signal

  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… Continue reading When squirrels attack your trees

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

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… Continue reading Autumn -the time of the year for Pumpkin Spice and Mice

  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… Continue reading How do you get rid of ants.

  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… Continue reading Carpenter Ant Damage

If you see carpenter ants crawling into your house then this is what they can do.

  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… Continue reading Ants in the nature – Myrmecochory

  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… Continue reading Mosquito season is Upon Us

  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… Continue reading Wasp Nests in Delta, like never before

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… Continue reading Hantavirus, its back!

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… Continue reading Eating insects can protect against Cancer

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… Continue reading Raccoons, how to keep them away!

  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… Continue reading Bed Bugs – Weird and Wacky but True

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

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… Continue reading Crickets

  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… Continue reading House flies: carry and spread diseases

  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… Continue reading Skunk spray can now be neutralized

  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… Continue reading 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… Continue reading Delta’s three main Rodent

  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… Continue reading Perennial Super Wasp Nests

  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… Continue reading Delta Squirrels

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… Continue reading I just got stung by a what!?

  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… Continue reading What makes a good squirrel proof bird feeder? 

  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… Continue reading The Ticks are here

  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… Continue reading Fire Ants

  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.… Continue reading Rodent droppings and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Virus

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… Continue reading Non-toxic pest control -go green

  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… Continue reading Honeybees – largest winter die-off in 50 years.

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… Continue reading Six interesting things about our ants

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

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… Continue reading Moles, Voles, Shrews and Pocket Gophers vs Your Lawn

  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… Continue reading Flying Squirrels? Just the Facts

  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… Continue reading Oh – those summer time ANTS

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… Continue reading Declining insects change our ecosystem

  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… Continue reading Ticks, Why so many!

  “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… Continue reading Ladybug Bloom

  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,… Continue reading Honey Bee Swarms

  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… Continue reading Ants 101

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… Continue reading Summer and the Stinging Pests

  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… Continue reading Bed Bug Season – don’t unpack them

  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.… Continue reading Carpenter bees- building a home in your home

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… Continue reading  May Day Parade Ladner B.C.

  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… Continue reading Sowbugs -land living crustaceans

  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… Continue reading FIRE Ants FIRE Ants

  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… Continue reading Japanese Giant Hornet is Here

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

  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… Continue reading Wasps – real logical invertebrates  

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… Continue reading Untitled

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… Continue reading Delta – The grey long tailed silverfish is here

  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… Continue reading Pollen, Grass and Pests can trigger your Allergy Symptoms

  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… Continue reading Gypsy Moth and the B.T.K. insecticide

  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… Continue reading Zombification -Wasp turns spider into incubating zombie

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… Continue reading Swarming Bees: What is really going on?

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… Continue reading Climate change – Rats are the Winners

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… Continue reading And so another Wasp season begins

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… Continue reading The common House Flies

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… Continue reading Suicide Aphids Explode to save their Nests

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… Continue reading Conditions are ripe for rats in South Delta

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,… Continue reading Why do we hate Rats

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… Continue reading Delta gets ratted out!!

  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… Continue reading Baby animals !! In your Shed!!

  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… Continue reading Fleas vs Ticks

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… Continue reading The Bottle Fly

  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… Continue reading Skunk Season is back again.

  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… Continue reading The Raccoons Are Coming

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… Continue reading Delta’s most hazardous spine-chilling insects

https://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-mason-bee-season-begins-now-1.23666910

  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… Continue reading Ultrasonic deterrent for rodents  

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… Continue reading Mason Bees Season Begins

  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… Continue reading The Malodorous Dual – the Skunk and the Striped Polecat

  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… Continue reading Carpenter Ants Damage

  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… Continue reading Odorous Ants

  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… Continue reading Rats – the secret sensory world

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

  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… Continue reading 2019 Grease Ant Epidemic in South Delta

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… Continue reading Silverfish – bite like sharks or sting like eels?

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… Continue reading Insect Extinction maybe coming

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… Continue reading Well stocked real estate can be a squirrels jack pot

Blog: Bird feeders – a neighbourhood smorgasbord Randy Bilesky / Delta Optimist FEBRUARY 13, 2019 09:05 #Delta  you own a bird feeder (we call them rat feeders in the pest world), you’re likely to encounter some of these common problems. It’s difficult to attract birds to a feeder and not squirrels, mice, rats and a handful… Continue reading Delta Optimist – Blog: Bird feeders – a neighbourhood smorgasbord

  Your watching tv your living room and something catches the corner of your eye, you quickly look over and see a rodent scurrying across the floor.  Was it a rat, a mouse, a gremlin– do you have a rodent infestation? It’s tough for a seasoned pro to tell what the difference is by a… Continue reading A rat, a mouse – what really is the difference?

If you own a bird feeder (we call them rat feeders in the pest world), you’re likely to encounter some of these common problems with your bird feeder. It’s difficult to attract birds to a feeder and not squirrels, mice, rats and a hand full of predators . As it turns out, the bird feeder… Continue reading Bird feeders – a neighborhood smorgasbord

  A lot of home-owners are frequently challenged with the slime chances of keeping their home free from pests. The first thing anyone that encounters a insect or rodent problem they head off to the local hardware store to stock up on pesticides, insecticides and rodenticides. Retail stores are not allowed to sell the effective… Continue reading What makes a good Pest Control Company – the service technician

Now a local pest control expert says pigeons aren’t just a problem for transit users, Randy Bilesky of Go Green Pest Control out of a Delta, says he gets calls from businesses and homeowners about the birds and says you can actually copy some of translates Pigeon prevention methods at home. So hears an example… Continue reading Pigeons on the pill: TransLink tries birth control to tackle bird problem – Home Invasion

  Mice reproduce at an disturbing rate; a litter of six to eight every couple months. Although infestations happen year-round, it’s in the winter that we notice them most. These vermin can cause all kinds of damage to your house. Mice have the usual proclivity to masticate and gnaw materials apart. Their nests are often… Continue reading Are you ready for mouse season

Spider mites can be a winter epidemic in the lower mainland because our homes are warm and dry. They seem to be a February thing on houseplants and they can do serious damage to anything they infest. They can infest a home very quickly as they have a 4 week life cycle: their eggs hatch… Continue reading Spider Mites- a winter epidemic

The new evasive insect to hit the lower mainland is the subterranean termite, it has been an issue in the Okanagan for the last several years. They build their nests underground usually in wood that is in contact with the soil, where they tunnel through the wood that they are eating.  Subterranean termites only eat… Continue reading Hear ye hear ye – the Subterranean Termites are here

Go Green Pest Control is warning that there has been a massive increase in the number of infestations lately, with the company recording a 55% increase in call outs from last January. Delta has seen a immense increase in infestations from these pests, accounting for more than 25% of all call outs. Silverfish can lay… Continue reading Silverfish Update

Wasps, crickets and cockroaches play a dynamic part in the cross-fertilization of the non-photosynthetic plant (a plant mostly lacking in chlorophyll or a functional photosystem). As we all know, wasps do play a role in pollinating flowers, but cockroaches and crickets are not generally seen as key pollinators. Wasps, cockroaches and crickets are all attracted… Continue reading Meet the new pollinators: Cockroaches, Crickets and Wasps

As mating season approaches, we’re more likely to find and smell skunks around our homes. In mating season, like us humans, males don’t necessarily make the best choices and sometimes will shoot across traffic and make other life altering changes. While driving , especially at night when its dark and usually wets and raining, extra… Continue reading Oh, The Smell of Skunk Mating Season

Skunk and Raccoon Latrines Believe it or not, skunks and raccoons actually have terrestrial toilets called latrine sites, a communal location to routinely expel their urine and feces.  The animals use latrine sites as territorial markers, for ritual behavior, social networking and sanitation. These latrine sites are places where several animals use the same area… Continue reading Skunk and Raccoon Latrines

There are several earth-friendly mole control options for our customers, with moles issues being one of the most prevalent calls me take through-out the year. While some people believe that heavy rains or even using a garden hose can eliminate moles by flooding their tunnel systems, moles are intelligent enough to avoid drowning. When a… Continue reading Earth Friendly Mole Control Options

  Several people have taken to social media to express fear those ants have taken up residence in their neighborhood. There is a similarity between the native thatching ant and the European fire ant. European fire ants where found in Naramata in 2013 and currently a working plan to eliminate the invasive species in that… Continue reading Beneficial ants in Naramata near Penticton BC

  The spring is just around the corner now and I was thinking about another year of being stung by wasps and red ants and where they stand of the ‘ouch that really hurt” scale. Well there is actually a scale that deals with is. They say that the concept of pain and distress is… Continue reading Rating the Stinging Pain of Hymenoptera’s

  Bugs and insects use toxins to hunt prey or help evade predators. So are they venomous and poisonous, we often use this interchangeably, but do they mean the same thing? Spiders are equipped with venomous fangs that deliver their poison to prey or use against those that hunt them. Alternatively, some butterflies and caterpillars… Continue reading Venomous or Poisonous: Its all in the delivery

  Cockroaches, next to rats are the nastiest creatures in the pest control business. These eerie crawlies are flat, brown and their shells are greasy to touch. Yes, just writing this sends shivers down my spine. Cockroaches can survive a nuclear explosion, their ability to withstand extreme radiation exposure comes down to their simple bodies… Continue reading Delta Cockroaches

  A longer milder spring and a warmer winter so far has left us with more rats than usual this time of year. The warmer it is the more rodents survive.  In Delta, with a substantial shipping industry coupled with this years mild climate, has made us a hotbed for rat infestations. Another contributing factor… Continue reading Delta still teeming with Rodents

  Mice, rats and squirrels are some of the most communal pests that occupy our homes regularly when the weather starts turning cold. Although squirrels, like rats and mice, are in the order of rodentia, not all rodents are “vermin,” but rats and mice definitely are. Here are a few suggestions to keep all three… Continue reading 2019 and Rodent Free

So we are in mid January now and carpenter ants are popping up around your house, what is up with that? So you ask, are carpenter ants really active in the winter? Well it depends on were they are living, in a wall or floor of your house were it is warm enough and they… Continue reading Carpenter Ants In The Winter?

  Your car is a warm, dry and undisturbed ideal shelter for feeding, nesting and breeding rodents. Rodents can cause significant damage to the car, damage that could end up costing you thousands of dollars in repairs. You can’t exterminate every rodent in your area, but you can take some hands-on steps to reduce the… Continue reading Rodents attacking your car?

  Rats language is all about whistling, chirping and bruxing in the form of ultrasonic vocalizations that we need specialized equipment to hear.  By understanding their speech we can also understand their emotional well being. Rodents make 20 + types of whistles that make up their language in form happy and sad calls. Changes in… Continue reading Understanding Rodent Chit-Chat

  A new study has discovered that Leaf-cutter ant nests produce thousands of times more carbon dioxide than the adjacent soils do. In Costa Rica on the forest floor, leaf-cutter ant nests, that cover 1.5% of the forest floor,  make massive piles of dirt spotted with several holes that release carbon dioxide from the ant… Continue reading Leaf- Cutter Ants add to Global Warming

  If you are returning from a trip, you should follow these guidelines to avoid bringing bed bugs home with you. Luggage stands in hotel and motel rooms are a hot spot for bed bug activity as they use luggage to travel and infest a new home. When you return from a trip, you might… Continue reading Christmas holidays are over check your luggage for bed bugs

Roof rats, also called black rats or ship rats, get their name from their need to be up high in trees and roofs. Roof rats rarely live longer than 9 months, but females may give birth to as many as 3 dozen babies in that time. Such rapid reproduction lets infestations to occur rapidly.  These… Continue reading Roof Rats

Go Green Peat Control acquires Insect and Rodent Exterminators http://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/insect-and-rodent-exterminators/ ‎ gogreenpestcontrol.ca & Exterminators Delta Ladner Wassermann B.C. Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/go-green-peat-control-acquires-insect-rodent-randy-bilesky/?published=t

Chances are, there are toxins loitering around the corner in your home, often, when you don’t even realize it. Here are four simple steps to make your house greener.  Start slowly by replacing just  your top 1 of your most-used/most-consumed products first. Then follow the 80/20 rule – 80% of the time buy safer products… Continue reading Four simple swaps to make a greener home

  Santa is long gone now, but those Christmas pests & rodents might still be hanging around and now that the temperature has dropped, its important to winterize homes to keep them safe from incoming pests.  Here is some helpful advice to keep them outside in familiar Santa CLAUS fashion. “C” stands for your chimney,… Continue reading Santa has left the Building

Here are the 12 things that you may want to ask Santa for a pest control solution this Christmas. Your Christmas tree has lights, bobbles, decorations and spider webs?? Spiders are free pest control but not on your Christmas tree. Your living room is decked with rat traps instead of boughs of holly. Silverfish are… Continue reading The 12 Days of Christmas Pests

It was one night before Christmas, and somewhere in the house The attic was squeaking, could it be a mouse We looked throughout the house but no signs were there Could our house is infested, it sounded like a bear The kiddies were crying, restless in their beds While visions of rats scurried in their… Continue reading It was one night before Christmas

The bread bug, biscuit or drugstore beetle is a stored products pest. The name might come from infestations that happened to druggists that user herbs in their potions back in the day. They live inside stored foods that are not kept in secured containers. They are usually found in kitchens and pantries where there may… Continue reading Bread Bug / Biscuit Beetle / Drugstore Beetles

School is almost out for the Christmas holidays and many people will travel to foreign lands seeking the sun and hot weather. Because airline tickets are becoming so cheap many people are travelling to area that harbours many insects including bed bugs. These insidious creatures will travel anywhere or do anything to din on you… Continue reading Christmas Traveling

New statistics released puts bed bugs as the 2018 Pest of the Year for the second consecutive year. Canadians searched for information about these pests a astounding 600,000 times during 2018. The announcement is a chronicle of the year in pest trends, covering internet searches to social media. The Pest of the Year title was… Continue reading And the Pest of the Year is…Bed Bugs

  Pests are often thought of as spring-summer weather issue, but homeowners need to know that old person winter brings with it a ton of likely pest issues. Once the thermometer starts to drop and the rain comes down in river like torrents, ants, mice, rats and other collective trespassers look for a warm location… Continue reading Winter Pest-Proofing tips

Termites, termites, termites, yes we have them here but not to the extent that they do down south. Why are we so concerned about termites, well they eat wood or more specifically they like cellulose. Cellulose is a substance contained in the cell walls of plants that gives them their rigid structure. Termites have bacteria… Continue reading Not your average Termite

Yearly, those true believers in real Christmas trees head out to pick out their own tree or cut one down. But, heaven forbid, that real tree can be the source of sneezing and coughing as long as that tree is up and for some time after that. Now studies have come out describing the ways… Continue reading Christmas trees may cause Hay Fever Symptoms & Insomnia

Synurbic pests (live predominantly within an urban ecosystem) have become gradually flexible to changing environments, allowing them to grow in new locations, by manipulating our needs to survive, many have learnt to live in urban areas aggressively manipulating our towns and cities. And yes, we have heard and read about the new wonderful breeds of… Continue reading Synurbic Pests

  Christmas is coming and it’s time to get the Christmas decorations out. Now, is there something loitering in those boxes full of glittery holiday joyfulness? Pests in Delta love attics and crawl spaces. They particularly love munching on boxes used to store your holiday decorations as well the decorations themselves. The most common pests… Continue reading Holiday Decorations and other surprises

Some pests like rats and mice are in fact more active in the winter as they search for somewhere to stay – indoors. Rats and mice aren’t hibernators, so they must incessantly feed throughout the wintertime. Rodents have petite bladders so they have to urinate and defecate constantly, leaving a trail of disease, pathogens and… Continue reading Winter Rodents

Now that winter is almost upon us, people can expect to see more coyotes in the coming months. This is the time when coyote’s parents give their young ones the boot and expect them to forage for themselves. Also come January, breeding season starts for coyotes and they become more mobile. Coyotes are common to… Continue reading Coyote season is here

Christmas is coming and if you decided to purchase a real (once live) Christmas tree you should expect to bring in a few unexpected guests into your home, in the form of insects. A rough estimate puts approximately 75 percent of Canadians decorate with a Christmas tree and of those people who do, only 20… Continue reading How to Remove Pests from a real Christmas Trees

Strange things in the world of insects often crop up but this one seemed a little stranger than most. First of all there is a spider that looks like an ant, supposedly to avoid a certain spider wasp that likes to paralyse spiders in order to lay their eggs on the spider’s body, which then… Continue reading A Spider that looks like an Ant suckles its young

Here is an example of a real story I hear far too often. You’re going through your work week morning routine, getting dressed and leaving for work when you see a rat running from your car when you look out your front window. This is not the way anyone wants to start their day. Of… Continue reading Rats in Your Car?

Just like the notorious saying by the members of the House Stark in Game of Thrones  “winter is coming”, this also a warning to homeowners because your house, townhouse, condo or apartment is likely nice and toasty warm, rodents and other nasty pests are likely to be entering your home to seek warmth. Yes, there… Continue reading Winter Is Coming – are you prepared?

You know that the holiday’s or Christmas season is almost upon us as the grease ants start coming out. These tiny ants can stay in the walls for months but when the furnaces in homes begin to run a lot more, these food scavenging ants that both bite and sting, start coming out in full… Continue reading Happy Grease Ant Season

Rodent females create extra offspring after smelling odors (chemo-olfactory cues) produced by scared males. Fear of being torn apart and eaten can influence the size of populations. A study showed that exposed small, highly fecund (prolific) species like rat mothers produce families with about 40-60 percent more pups compared to female that were not exposed… Continue reading Fear changes how Rodents reproduce

Often the first thing people think when they get itchy bites on their legs, arms or torso is I’ve been bitten by bed bugs. If you’re concerned about the potential of bedbugs, knowing what sorts of things you might be confusing for signs of bed bugs is definitely important. Though you might think that finding… Continue reading What are causing all these bites?

The bushy tailed woodrat is the only native rat found in B.C. and has been spotted here in Delta. It is a large squirrel-like rodent with long dense fur and a bushy tail. Like all our local rats- the Norway and roof rats, the packrat are active all year and nocturnal (busy in the night).… Continue reading Packrat aka Bushy-tailed Woodrat

Fire ants are legendary for their skill to swarm together and self-assemble bridges, ladders, and even floating boats. Scientists have now learned the statistical rubrics that rule how fire ants form these assemblies, and this may help researchers in building swarming, miniature shape-changing automatons or robot swarms that might be able to slim down and… Continue reading Shape shifting Fire Ants

Keeping your home clean by getting rid of things that attract rats and mice is the best way to deter them. Rodents are always looking for food, so make sure nothing has been spilled or made available for a hungry critter, especially under cabinets and places that are easy to hide in. Always clean up… Continue reading Can Cayenne pepper get rid of rodents?  

For Delta residents, rats can be a threat to your property, health, sense of security and sanity. They can chew through electrical wires potentially causing be a fire, chew through plastic water pipes, drywall and destroy insulation. Rats leave behind urine and feces everywhere they go – THEY JUST CAN’T HELP IT – which can… Continue reading The Rat Patrol

Nature can play a major role in future technologies in agriculture, powerful poisons from a variety of animals and insects are a practical substitute to damaging pesticides used in agriculture. Animal venom could be nature’s own problem-solver for food security. Scientists are looking to harness venomous properties in the field of farming, using venomics. Venomics… Continue reading Venomics – nature’s pesticide

November is the month of the silverfish, as we get the most call-outs for these creatures than any other month of the year. They are one of the most common household insects in homes throughout B.C. The name silverfish is somewhat misleading, as they can’t live or swim in water but they do skitter across… Continue reading Introduction to Silverfish

Bee populations around the world have been in decline for years now. One of the perpetrators behind this drop is neonicotinoid compounds, one of the most widely used types of insecticide. First used in the mid-1990s, they are now the most commonly-used class of insecticide. The insecticides are used in seed treatment, where high concentrations… Continue reading Why Honey Bee Colonies are dying off

  So if you thought that there was only one kind of bed bug out there, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are actually three types of bed bugs that like people. Being able to identifying which species of bed bug actually helps to eradicate them. The three different types of bed bugs… Continue reading Not 1, not 2 but 3 kinds of bed bugs

Similar to human teenagers, young rats like to play fight. Researchers have found that immune cells in the rat’s brains help transition the adolescent horseplay to solemn adult behavior. Young rats like to race around, jump, climb and roughhouse with their siblings. Of course this activity is actually practicing attacking and defending themselves for when… Continue reading Horseplay for Rats

Often I encounter rat infestations where the rats have gotten into a house and totally run amuck. People are usually worried about the feces they leave behind but rat urine can be equally as dangerous as the diseases in feces. When people come into contact with rat urine there is always the chance that they… Continue reading Rat urine – yikes

  Researchers caution that global warming will certainly lead to the population of rats absolutely exploding in major cities. Scientists have shown that the likely 2 degrees of global warming to come this century will be extremely dangerous as the climate heats up, rats will breed faster. Cities spend millions of dollars to stop the… Continue reading Global Warning – Larger Rats in Greater Numbers

So what is a raccoon cocoon, well it’s a crocheted and embroidered raccoon cocoon onesie for infants BUT. Now if you are still reading let’s chat about regular old cocoons, most people probably think they know what a cocoon is but they are actually more complex than appears. An insects cocoon is different than an… Continue reading What is a raccoon – cocoon?

Pest control specialist Randy Bilesky, owner of Go Green Pest Control and Exterminators has seen a 50 per cent increase in calls to his service this season over last. “People panic … we get the phone call after someone has walked through a spider web,” said Bilesky. “They are sure it’s still in their hair, especially… Continue reading Randy Bilesky talks to CBC, City News and The Weather Network about the recent SPIDER APOCALYPSE

CLIMATE | Creepy Crawlies It’s not your imagination, spiders are getting bigger Spider sightings are on the rise in metro Vancouver – populations way up https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/spiders-bigger-and-more-numerous-this-fall-due-to-warmer-weather-western-canada-british-columbia/116072/ Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 2:59 PM – It isn’t just your imagination: sightings of spiders are on the rise in Metro Vancouver this fall, and, according to one pest controller,… Continue reading It’s not your imagination, spiders are getting bigger

Yes, squirrels are just large rats with fuzzy tails, or are they? Unlike their cousins the rat, squirrels are not a nocturnal creature, spending the daylight hours collecting seeds and nuts, and avoiding predators. They seem relatively harmless until it’s your attic that they are looking to get into. Like everyone else, the first thing… Continue reading Going Squirrelly?

Around the globe there is a significant change in populations’ of butterflies, bees, beetles, and other insects and arthropods (invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton). Many people tend to think of animals as four legged creatures, but there are over a million species of insects that are the dominant form of animal kingdom. Too many of… Continue reading Insect Armageddon

It’s no wonder that Halloween haunted houses are decorated with phony rats, neoprene bats, elastic spiders and sinewy spider webs – they are all creepy, crawly, spooky and scary. Imagine having these vexations in your home can be a real live nightmare – and unlike the Halloween adornments, real pests are well entrenched long after… Continue reading Halloween – Creepy, Crawly, Spooky and Scary

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/spiders-bigger-and-more-numerous-this-fall-1.4880720 ‘People panic:’ Expert says massive spider season upon us CBC Meteorologist predicts when this season’s frightful reign will end Cathy Kearney · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2018 1:00 PM PT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago Larger than normal hobo spiders have been seen darting around rooms and getting caught in people’s hair in Metro Vancouver… Continue reading When will Spider Season Reign End

  CBC Meteorologist predicts when this season’s frightful reign will end Cathy Kearney · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2018 Larger than normal hobo spiders have been seen darting around rooms and getting caught in people’s hair in Metro Vancouver this fall. (Sam McCann/SFU) 12 comments It isn’t just your imagination. Scary sightings of larger-than-usual spiders are on the rise… Continue reading ‘People panic:’ Expert says massive spider season upon us

  Although bumble bees are thought to be the big brother to honey bees, their winter behavior and their protection devices are not. A colony of honey bees will keep their nest warm and safe throughout the winter, although smaller than a summer colony. They eat and work all winter long using up a large… Continue reading Bees, Bumblebees and winter vacations

Well we are bearing done on Halloween now and if you haven’t purchased your pumpkins yet – you best get on it. This year’s crop of pumpkins seems to be plentiful yet the prices seem to be higher than ever. Okay enough of that – carve up your pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern and you are… Continue reading Jack-o-lantern and rodents –Trick’em or Treat’em

How do ants communicate, first we must ask, why do they crawl in lines? Ants use pheromones (a chemical substance produced and released into the environment by an animal or an insect, affecting the behavior or physiology of others of its species) to communicate with one another. A worker ant that leaves the nest to… Continue reading How do Ants Communicate?

Cockroaches are normally nocturnal, active at night, unless you have an infestation – when overcrowding and a lack of food sources can cause them to brave the daylight in order to survive. The majority of cockroaches we have here are German cockroaches, although they’re not even originally from Germany and in Germany they’re often referred… Continue reading Cockroaches: Do you have them??

Although these spiders aren’t aggressive, and rarely bite humans, the brown recluse is known for being one of Canada’s most dangerous spiders. Brown recluse spider bites often go unnoticed initially because they are usually painless bites. Symptoms usually develop hours after a bite. Initially the bite site is mildly red and upon close inspection may… Continue reading Brown Recluse Fiddler Spider

The average lifespan of a groundhog is quite short, three years. Like many other rodents, everyone wants to eat them, cats, dogs, coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls and many other predators including cars. Groundhogs are herbivores (vegetarians); they feed on fruits, vegetables, grass and plants. Winter months, groundhogs hibernate underground in burrows where they also mate… Continue reading Life as a Groundhog

  Over the last millennium, rats have become one of the worlds most despised and prosperous pests in our civilization. Both urban and suburban rats have consistently lived next to human civilization without any concerns of becoming extinct. Rats living in cities have a much richer and consistent diet than rats living in the country.… Continue reading City Rats are the Real Fat Cats

The false widow spider (Steatoda Nobilis) can be spotted this time of year (autumn) as the weather gets wet and colder. This widow has some likenesses to the black widow spider, but is clearly identifiable as it has cream markings on its abdomen that resembles a skull. They grow as long as 1.6 cm in… Continue reading False widow spiders, what not to fear?

Those inquisitive petite mice that spent the summer scavenging outside are now looking for a warm home to hide, eat and nest while the weather turns to rain and dark days. Mice are attracted to warm air that escapes a home, which may be carrying the smell of food with it. Approximately 75 percent of… Continue reading Mice Infestation Session

The average lifespan of silverfish is between 3 months and 8 years. Their survival includes avoiding predators, surviving without food and producing a lot of little silverfish. These little bugs can go without food for almost a year living on stored internal fat, as long as they can get access to water. As a nocturnal… Continue reading It’s a tough life for Silverfish

In this business, we occasionally get called out to a house, for a pest issue, that happens to be a hoarder house. Now the definition of a hoarder is roughly anyone that feels the need to find, collect, keep or pack any and everything – but is rarely organized i.e. pack rat. In the local… Continue reading Animals Hoards

In most ant colonies, the ratio of worker ants to soldier ants remains constant at 90-95 % worker ants to 5-10% soldiers. Ant colonies maintain the balance between soldiers and worker ants by regulating the growth of the undeveloped wing discs in larvae stage with a pheromone. The difference in the size of soldiers and… Continue reading The growth of Soldier Ants

Along with the cooler wet weather, autumn tends to generate an upsurge in the amount of pests and other rodents in your yard and but even worse, into your home. The normal suspects we find this time of year are mice, mole, voles, rats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons. The things that make us all uneasy about… Continue reading Evict unwanted Pests this Fall

Delta homeowners should steady themselves for an assault of lethal and filthy animals as the cold wet weather sets in. This time of year is when hordes of rodents look to leave the fall chill by looking for shelter inside your home and this autumn is set to be one of the worst yet for… Continue reading Rodent Bumper Crop

Have you ever noticed that most insects that you find dead in your house are belly up, or more specifically cockroaches? In the wild, outside of your house, it is not to likely that you will ever find a cockroach belly up because it will usually perish to a predator or die hidden in the… Continue reading Why are dead cockroaches always belly-up?

So you hear noises in your attic, okay you have squirrels, rats or mice. But after it’s been checked out there are no rodents in the attic, then its most likely bats. Bats don’t usually seek out attics of houses for roosting rather they get there for any number of reasons.  First, if they are… Continue reading A little Batty in your Attic?

Well now that autumn has set in, you may have noticed that stink in the air around or in your house. Falls is the time that stink bugs surround your house and want to get in and overwinter. Stink bugs have an eerie ability to slip into homes through rips in window screens and door… Continue reading Autumn Stink Bugs

Raccoon zombies are actually raccoons that have distemper, they behave very strangely; popping up on their hind legs, baring their teeth, and then falling over in a comatose state. These raccoon zombies have canine distemper virus, CDV, which is usually present in the raccoon population although at low levels. Distemper cases in raccoons tend to… Continue reading Raccoon Zombies

There are 87 species of dragonflies and damselflies in B.C. They have been given a bad name over the centuries, being called devil’s darning needles, mosquito hawks, snake doctors and being said to be able to sting venomously and stitch shut the mouths of disobedient kids. They don’t bite but if you catch one and… Continue reading Dragonflies and Damselflies

So does having a cat reduce the incidence of rats on your property? Well, almost every home owner that I talk to say it does and that they rarely see or hear rats, until they actually do. Studies of cat-rat interaction almost always conclude that cats really don’t and won’t wipe out populations of rats… Continue reading Cat–Rat Quandary

Being in the business that takes you a lot of homes, we encounter new to old houses, and houses that are kept absolutely pristine to all out hoarders. Occasionally, we encounter homeowners that live in somewhat dirty and unkempt conditions. Recently, one such individual had body lice, hence the body lice blog.  Body lice infestations… Continue reading Body Lice – Infestations

Booklice are tiny insects, not true lice, usually found around old books and paper products in the home. Booklice prefer warm environments with plenty of moisture (moisture content level of at least 15%) and humidity found in kitchens, bathrooms, crawl spaces and attics. Some booklice like stored grains and will infest your pantry and cupboards… Continue reading Just in time for school, Booklice

Yes it is fall now but those nasty wasps have not given up yet. We are potentially going to have them stinging around until late October. So, what do you do to take the itch and pain out of a wasp (or bee) sting? If you are lucky enough not to be allergic, than here… Continue reading Taking the sting out of Wasps

Now that fall is almost upon us, the remaining wasp nests are at a breakneck speed to finish-up for the summer. The queen will produce new males and queens – these will fly away from the nest, mate and the new queens will find somewhere to hibernate. Once autumn kicks in, the cold weather and… Continue reading Why We Dislike Wasps

The naked mole-rat or sand puppies, are the only known “eusocial” mammals, the highest classification of sociality. Its physical characters allow it to prosper in severe underground environments and are almost entirely cold-blooded. A colony consists of the queen (the only breeding female), breeding males, and many female workers that do not reproduce. The colony’s… Continue reading Queen Mole Rat has automatic babysitters

Fall means ripe peaches, apples, pears, figs and other fruit in Delta. Regrettably, it also means exploding populations of fruit flies heading right for that ripe fruit. Also known as vinegar flies, fruit flies are attracted to ripe and decaying fruit. Fruit fly populations rise with the abundance of available new produce and they get… Continue reading Fall for Fruit Flies

There were an extraordinary number of wasps’ nests in Delta this summer. We had to deal with almost three times as many service calls as last year. Delta was buzzing this summer – but not always in a virtuous way. An epidemic of wasps led to an astonishing number of calls to Go Green Pest… Continue reading Weird Locations for Vespula vulgaris’ nests (Wasps)

There are some simple approaches you can try to spider-proof your house. Keep your house clean and airy by vacuuming and dusting regularly, and don’t allow clutter to build up. Keep your house filled with natural light; so if possible, leave blinds or curtains open during the day. Spiders smell with their legs, so strong… Continue reading Making your Home – Spider Proof

It would seem that we are experiencing one of the worst spider seasons that we have seen in year. People ask me “why are there so many more spiders this year than usual,” something I’ve heard every year for the past 12 years! In reality, low moisture availability makes late summer a much worse time… Continue reading Late Summer – Spider Season.

Good old google has hundreds of DIY solutions to get rid of almost any bug or rodent. Unfortunately, very few work on a consistent basis and do not meet the scientific standards for foundational validity. Here are a couple DIY remedies that just don’t work. Fresh rosemary or lemon mixed with water and sprayed on… Continue reading Fleas ? Try this first

Many people would prefer to try natural mosquito control remedies rather than the heavy deet products. But do all those natural herbs, spices and oils really work? Should you be stocking up on those lavender and lemongrass candles? Can they really keep mosquitoes away? Mosquitoes find their hosts (mammals) by sensing the carbon dioxide that… Continue reading Mosquito Repellents: lavender and lemongrass  

Rodents are clever animals that love clutter, thrive in unkempt conditions (the more cluttered the better) and they are filthy – carrying many diseases. Mice and rats have great memory skills, if you have had rodents in your house before; you are likely to get more back. All rodents leave behind pheromones that tell the… Continue reading Not! Attracting Rodents to your house

Ants work together to dig intricate tunnel systems underground. Traffic engineers study ant colonies as mock-ups for learning how thousands of ants avoid creating traffic gridlocks while working in a restricted, jam-packed setting. It has been found that single workers follow counterintuitive guidelines to mine the beginning development of tunnel networks. After watching ants dig… Continue reading Ants Optimized Division of Labor 

  Just the site of a cockroach in a t.v. show is enough to turn most people’s stomach, now imagine walking into your kitchen at lunch time and seeing a half a dozen skittering across your countertop –this is described as an infestation. Cockroach’s like rats are nocturnal so if you see either during the… Continue reading Cockroaches-Prevention is better than cure!

There is little to fear about spider beetles, they really are beetles that look very much like tiny spiders. They have six legs and a round body with a smooth outer shell, which makes them look like spiders. Spider beetles also look like bed bugs because they have similar shape are reddish brown like adult… Continue reading Spider beetles – almost nothing to be afraid of

Powderpost beetles leave wood peppered with pinholes when the larvae produce fine wood powder as they tunnel through the wood. There are three beetles that chew through wood: lyctid, bostrichid and anobiid beetles. The Anobiids are the only type that attacks both softwoods (house lumber) and hardwoods (mostly cabinetry and furniture). The moisture content needs… Continue reading Does your Furniture have Dandruff?

Blister beetle, sometimes known as oil beetles (Spanish fly), secretes an irritating substance called cantharidin produced as a defensive secretion. The beetle does not have a stinger and cannot bite. So, Blister beetles discrete cantharidin to protect themselves from being eaten by predators. When collected, cantharidin is used medically as a topical skin treatment to… Continue reading Blister beetles and Warts

Generally, ants have a short life cycle, but some colony members can live from as little as a few days to as long as a few decades. Male ant adults live for only a few days and die after mating with the females. So one of the most important factors affecting lifespan of the females… Continue reading How long do Ants live?

This summer we have seen twice the number of wasp call outs than in the previous four years. The dry spring and hot summer has led to a substantial rise in wasp (and hornet) nests and an increase in swarm strikes. So, what should you do if you are attacked by wasp or a swarm… Continue reading Coping with Wasps and Hornets

A pair of Barn owls can consume over 2,000 native or invasive mammals per year. It has long believed that Barn owls diet consisted of rats and mice but new research has found that their diet is actually made up of 85% shrews and voles (easier to catch then rats and mice), and 12% mice… Continue reading What do Barn Owls really eat?

With their pincers or abdomen forceps, earwigs are somewhat intimidating, yet they do not produce poison or spread disease. The pincers are actually for defense and fighting other earwigs. There is a myth out there that the term earwig comes from the superstition that earwigs burrow into the ears of human and animals while they… Continue reading Earwigs – Ear Wigs !!!

Your home is your fortress, except when it comes to rats and mice. These trespassers attack your roof, inhabit walls and attics, tunnel under foundations, loot all available food sources, and start a new society all in no time at all. Sometimes, but definitely not all the time, the occurrence of rodents does not mean… Continue reading Mischief – a group of Rats

Scientists have discovered the first example of a parasitic plant attacking a parasitic insect on a common host plant. Love vine, a parasitic plant, feeds off oak trees as it climbs and then attacks tumor-like growths made by gall wasps. Parasitic gall-forming wasps use a mixture of venom and proteins to help grow nurseries for… Continue reading Parasitic Love Vine mummifies Parasitic Wasps – all at the expense of the Oak tree

  Several lawsuits have been dismissed, alleging that the soybean-based coating causes rodents to gnaw through the wires and that rodent-inflicted damage to the soy wiring can debilitate the vehicles and escalation the risk of motor vehicle accidents. Japanese car makers express warranty promises to repair only defects in materials and doesn’t cover design defects,… Continue reading Auto Companies not responsible for wires attracting Rodents

Wine growers are installing bat roosts around vineyards to get bats to feed on grapevine moths. The moths and their larvae have insatiable craving which can clear out half of the grapes in some vineyards. Vineyards have been forced to use pesticides to reduce grapevine moth infestations, as their larvae feed on the inside of… Continue reading Vineyards using bats as pest control