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Fleas
Fleas There are many species of fleas throughout North America, but the ones considered pests most often are dog fleas (Ctenocephalides canis) and cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis), as these species will infest homes. Other species carry plague and other diseases, but they will not infest a home in large numbers. Dog and cat fleas prefer … Continue reading
Pest control handbooks
You don’t have to use pesticides (Killicides) to manage pests in your home or business or on public property. There are safe and effective ways to control almost all pests, including cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, fleas, ticks, mosquitoes and most others. I have three handbooks available that will help you get away from pesticide pollution. … Continue reading
Pest control qualifications
I posted this last year and want to repost it because it is very important you check the qualifications of any exterminator you hire for any purpose. This fellow kills prairie dogs because he stupidly believes they are dangerous. I got an email from someone about an article I wrote about prairie dogs. It looks … Continue reading
Pest Information
I am going to post information on controlling pests every day on here and I will cover most household pests and they will be in alphabetical order. In some cases, like today, I will only cover one pest because of the amount of information. On other days I will cover several pests. What is a … Continue reading
Rodenticides
I get specimens in the mail for identification and occasionally from pest control companies. I got a flea in the mail from a pest control company for identification. It came from a ground squirrel area on a property near the Organ Mountains in southern New Mexico. The flea was Oropsylla montanus (no common name) and … Continue reading
Rodenticides
I just got an email from someone about a lot of rodenticide bait boxes in an area in Santa Fe. The company that put them there is totally unqualified in common sense. In New Mexico, we have approximately 107 species of fleas (I counted them). Of that number, about a third are known or possible … Continue reading
PESTICIDES ARE NOT NECESSARY
You can mix one clove of sliced garlic, one sliced onion, one tablespoon of cayenne pepper and 1 quart of water. Steep for one hour, strain, add a tablespoon of liquid soap and spray it around the house for ant and/or roach control. Much better than toxic pesticides. You can pour boiling water over a … Continue reading
My experience in the pesticide industry
Let me tell you my experience with pesticides and why I am totally against them now. I started in the pest industry in Florida in1972. We used to drive cars and not trucks and keep all the chemicals on the front seat next to us. They were toxic products such as DDT, chlordane, heptachlor, malathion … Continue reading
Rodenticides
This is very important if you have mice or other rodents and you need to control them. First, never use rodenticides and that means never hire an exterminator that uses rodenticides. The reason they use rodenticide is that they can check the bait boxes once a month. If they set out snap traps, like they … Continue reading
NM Pesticide regulations
This is important if you use an exterminator in New Mexico. All pesticide applicators have to be licensed and there are several categories of a license they are required to have depending on what they do. If they treat a home for termites, they have to have a Wood Destroying Pest Control category (7D). If … Continue reading
Mice
Fall is here and mice may be coming to visit. The deer mouse is one of the most common rodent species found throughout most of the United States . They are 4” - 9” long, are reddish-brown in color with a white chest, white feet, and a bi-colored tail: brown on top and white on … Continue reading
Positive pest identification
The most important part of pest management is properly identifying the pest. In some cases an unknown bug in the house might be beneficial, so it is necessary to know what it is. How can any bug be beneficial in a house? A couple of years ago an exterminator identified some small black things in … Continue reading
Coyotes
Coyotes feed primarily on rodents, squirrels and other small animals. They may feed on a larger animal if it is dead or severely hurt from something else and can’t defend itself. When we go out and kill coyotes for the fun of it, which is ridiculous in itself, we are creating an environmental problem that … Continue reading
Ants
There are more than 20,000 species of ants around the world and about 570 species in the United States. Of those, about 30 species are common household pests. When discussing ants, we will use three terms that reflect the size of the ants in a colony. If ants are “monomorphic”, it means all the workers … Continue reading
Bed Bugs
Although bed bugs are a major problem in some urban areas and hotels, the good news is that they don’t carry any diseases. Some people don’t even know they are getting bitten. When my wife gets bitten she breaks out in a pretty impressive rash. When I get bitten, there are no marks at all … Continue reading
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