Pest Management Professional, November 2017

CoCkroaChes bring home the baCon Led by the ubiquitous German cockroach Blattella germanica the Top 5 most prevalent cockroaches for PMPs is a carbon copy of last years list David Hersh second generation owner of Hersh Exterminating Service Hermitage Pa jokes that his 71 year old company is older than dirt and Im not far behind it He recalls the bad old days of basically harvesting cockroach populations at restaurants and other accounts Products and sanitation practices have improved greatly over the years he notes but cockroach problems will still persist We find that one of the biggest culprits now is getting cockroaches in with distributed products Hersh says noting that a delivery to a restaurant can contain tiny hitchhikers who then quickly proceed to set up housekeeping in the kitchen Everyone has commercial accounts that are all over the place with sanitation which doesnt make it easier But it doesnt make it impossible rodent rundown House mice Mus musculus once again top our mostprevalent rodent list followed in the same order as last year by Norway and roof rats deer mice and moles Glen Roses Morrow paul morrow is concerned about unscrupulous non licensed companies who scare consumers into unnecessarily redoing their attic insulation in the name of rodent control I recently had an account where the wife called about a dead brought to you by mouse behind the bathroom wall After taking care of that I set a few traps in the attic and a couple days later caught about four mice he says Her husband meanwhile called in a different company who informed them they had at least 100 rats in the attic and to replace all their insulation to the tune of about 15000 Its a wonder youre not sick the guy told them I gave them the number of the Texas Structural Pest Control Board to report this company I told them If you had 100 rats in your attic it would sound like a disco up there whither wdi wdo This years list of most prevalent WDI WDO deviated the most from the year before where Eastern subterranean termites dominated and carpenter ants were second Carpenter bees moved up a notch from last years third place showing perhaps because of weather or perhaps because of how as Morrow noted earlier termite calls turned into carpenter ant accounts Last year wood decay fungi and true powderpost beetles tied for fourth place This year the beetles had the edge nudging fungi work to fifth place Dealing with all manner of pests is all in a days work Morrow notes hes dealt with everything from boa constrictors to feral hogs But he adheres to one credo Leave it all at work If you read my obituary its probably because my wife warned me not to bring bed bugs home and I did pmp You can reach GOOCH at hgooch@ northcoastmedia net or 330 321 9754 Top 5 Revenue GeneRatinG SpecieS Ants 1 Carpenter Camponotus spp 2 odorous house Tapinoma sessile 3 Pavement Tetramorium caespitum 4 Argentine Linepithema humile 5 Fire Solenopsis spp CoCkroAChes 1 German Blattella germanica 2 American Periplaneta americana 3 oriental Blatta orientalis 4 Smoky brown P fuliginosa 5 brown banded Supella longipalpa rodents 1 house mice Mus musculus 2 Norway rats Rattus norvegicus 3 roof rats R rattus 4 Deer mice Peromyscus maniculatus 5 Moles Talpidae Wood destroyinG inseCts orGAnisms 1 Carpenter ants Camponotus spp 2 Carpenter bees Xylocopa spp 3 Eastern subterranean termites Reticulitermes flavipes 4 true powderpost beetles Lyctinae 5 Wood decay fungi mypmp net pest management professional November 2017 S11