Pest Management Professional, April 2012

dos donts did you know COCKROACHES Paul J Bello Contributor I f you found the last German cockroach on Earth what would you do kill it or let it live This question was posed to a pest management class I attended recently Almost all of us agreed it had to go and who could blame us After doing cockroach cleanouts in New York area restaurants until 4 a m a few nights a week perhaps most of us had seen enough cockroaches Some of us were surprised at the professors response to this question because he didnt agree with us The esteemed Dr Austin Frishman said hed allow the German cockroach to pass to preserve the species However considering I discovered a roach feeding off the bristles of my toothbrush early one morning in my hotel room in New Orleans my perspective might be biased The following are this months cockroach control dos and donts Dos Be thorough when inspecting and treating Observe which baits deliver the best results Provide customers with practical tips they can follow to enhance control program results Be sure to include why cockroaches are considered public health pests and need to be controlled Consider your complete arsenal of viable weapons techniques and methodologies when conducting cockroach work Remember vacuuming infestations can significantly reduce cockroach populations while providing a key assist to baiting programs and residual insecticide treatments Seek assistance when an account remains problematic and you cant achieve desired results Donts Dont forget cockroaches can spread disease and allergens that can be problematic for asthma sufferers Dont continue to do the same things when youre not getting effective control You might need to change tactics and or technologies to control cockroaches successfully Dont forget it made front page news when a toddler in Atlanta choked to death on a cockroach in a badly infested apartment Dont forget that some of the nonchemical control techniques can enhance control results Dont forget that over time some baits can become less palatable and or attractive to cockroaches Dont be hesitant to communicate with your service manager if an account requires more time to service the customer isnt providing cooperation or support needed and or you need help Do so before the account mirrors the one that produced the cockroach packed sticky trap in the photo above pmp This cockroach monitor trap was filled with the pests in less than 24 hours Dont wait until populations grow to this level before asking for help at your accounts You can reach Bellow president of PJB Pest Management Consulting at paul bello@ att net Flies Flies have more than 4000 facets for sight in each eye House flies feet are 10 million times more sensitive to the taste of sugar than is the human tongue The favorite colors of house flies are red followed by orange black violet green blue white and yellow Movement attracts flies more than color Flies have a smelling distance of more than 750 yards A flys feeding range usually is limited to two miles The quantity and type of maggots and flies in a decomposing corpse can help a forensic entomologist estimate the time of death fairly accurately During warm weather a fly can produce a family generation in less than two weeks 2YHU HDUV RI FHOOHQFH LQ LUG DQG LOGOLIH RQWURO LUG DQJHU 6FUHDPHU 6LUHQ 6LQJOH DXQFKHU 6FUHDPHU 5RFNHW 3 LUG DUG DQQRQ 5RWRPDW YLDQ LVVXDGHU 6FDUH 0DQ ZZZ UHHGMRVHSK FRP 34 April 2012 Pest Management Professional mypmp net