Cost of Pest Control at busy Airports?

With all the jets going back and forth, and the enormous amount of people coming and going, we mostly notice the rush, the security and the schedules of Arrivals and Departures. But with all those people come food--restaurants as well as the food services to replenish the airliners for their passengers. And there is the waste: waste food and cooking debris...and also all the waste products that come off the airplanes. There is usually an on-going rat or mouse population around airports that, hopefully, you don't have to see. Then you add all the places that jets travel and the possibility of transiting parasites, insects and particularly bed bugs in all that luggage! What does it cost? Well, Los Angeles' airport, LAX, has just caught up with the pest control budgets employed by other major airports and it will be $750,000 per years to protect the airport from runaway pest infestations. Part of the cost will insure that there is a pest control technician on site 24 hours/day, 365 days a year! Our own SeaTac has a similar budget and has had long-term experience with rat problems.

For more information about rats, rat control or rodent control. For information about rodent exclusion and preventing rats. here we discuss how to block out rats, to create a rodent-proof barrier. For information about why rats and mice are so successful. Here we discuss the abilities of rats and mice to climb, gnaw, chew, jump, swim and burrow their way into a home or business. Don Leland

Ants may Harbor Virus that Threatens Honey Bees

Researchers in New Zealand, Argentina and Australia conducted a study showing that a previously unknown virus--one which may have caused massive honey bee deaths in New Zealand...in carried by ants. The virus causes "deformed Wing," which is correlated with hive collapse. Original Article This finding comes as honey bee populations have experienced a significant decline. Speculations have risen about certain, specific pesticides to other factors. However, the primary causal factor continues to allude science. Much more will need investigated and uncovered for us to stave the collapse of bee populations in the U.S. and certain other regions on the planet. Some researchers point to the fact that our modern, large-scale agriculturally-driven practice of raising massive amounts of honey bees--apis sp.--is basically set us up for failure. Our many crop systems, including everything from alfalfa to berry and orchard crops now rely on a mono-culture of pollinators--the "European" and "Caucasian" honey bees (two strains of one species.) Healthy, and natural pollinator systems rely and a wide range of various bees, some wasps, beetles, butterflies, and even flies. Such a system would required us to move from mono crop cultures as well, but specifically would favor green belts of bushes and trees near crops to supply the naturally occurring range of pollinating insects. Originally from NPR, and can be heard here. Don Leland

Woman Has Portions of All her Limbs Amputated Due to Tick Bite

It's a very rare instance, but a 40-year-old Oklahoma woman had portions each leg and each arm amputated due to a life-threatening infection from a tick bite this summer. Her name is Jo Rogers, a mother of two. She likely got bit--and, hence, contracted the disease, while hiking. This is an extreme case, but we are not without ticks here in the Seattle - Puget Sound region. Yes, there are far more ticks usually found in eastern Washington, but we do have ticks here in western Washington as well. Many are found on deer trails in the woods right around us. Perhaps the most common species of tick here is the 'brown dog tick.' Don't let the name fool you...deer and other animals are their hosts as much, if not more, than dogs.

Fortunately, we have few cases where ticks are plentiful on any small portion of property and neither homes nor lawns--knock on wood--need be treated. Nevertheless, we at Cascade Pest Control provide control for fleas and, in the rare instance, ticks. Cascade Pest Control is dedicated to protecting your health and property. Call Cascade Pest Control for all your rat, rodent, insect and other pest needs.  Don Leland

Opossums In the Bellevue-Eastside Area

Opossums are not native to the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, opossums are now wide-spread and have been cited in Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Everett, Issaquah and just about every other city and town of King and Snohomish counties.

Here's a few facts about opossums:

1. The only opossum species in North America are the "Virginia 'Possums." 
2. Males average about 6 lbs. and females normally weigh in at around 4 lbs. But they can sometimes weigh as much as 15 lbs! 
3. Opossums have a gland somewhat like a skunk and can emit a similar odor. 
4. When attacked they can "run." But they may also snarl at their attacker. And, of course, they can also "play possum," that is, they hold still and act as if dead. 
5. We at Cascade get a few calls here and there for infestations in crawl spaces beneath the home. 
6. On some calls we've encountered them eating copious amounts of dog food. One technician went out into the client's garage--with the client--only to find an opossum starring up at them from the bottom of a large bin of dog food! 

Opossums are just another example of vertebrate pests of homes in the greater Seattle, Eastside and other areas. Of course, rats still cause the most damage and calls. But opossums are strange to encounter. You might at first think you'd found an "atomic rat!" Cascade Nuisance Wildlife Control. Call Cascade Pest Control for all your rat, rodent, insect and other pest needs.  Don Leland

Ant Researcher Nearly got Arrested!

Dr. Laurel Hansen We at Cascade Pest Control have known Dr. Laurel Hansen for decades. In fact, nearly 40 years ago, and prior to the inception of Cascade, I (Kurt T.) was collecting carpenter ant samples from around the greater Seattle area and sending them to Dr. Akre, her professor. I later found out that I could have been better directed as some of what I collected was not quite what she needed. But I did my best to contribute samples and she went on to earning her PhD. Since then she's been perhaps North America's expert on campnotus...carpenter ants. And we at Cascade have attended her lectures and even brought her in for training. But the funny thing is that some years ago when Ms. Hansen was conducting research at night following carpenter ants with red-shaded flashlights. She had permission of the property owners, but apparently the property owners hadn't mentioned her nighttime studies to their vacation-time house sitter. The house-sitter called the police who found her and her, along with some entomological colleagues, "lurking" about in the dark shining red-colored light onto the ground. It took some explaining but eventually the police let her go, but not without her teaching them a thing or two about ants! :)

Shown here is 'damage done by carpenter ants' and 'lone carpenter ant worker.' For more information on carpenter ants. http://www.cascadepest.com/ant-control/ Cascade Pest Control provides Carpenter Ant and other Ant control in the greater Seattle area, including Bellevue, Issaquah, Everett, Kirkland, Redmond, Kent, Lynnwood, Woodinville and beyond. Cascade also provides rat and rodent control. Don Leland

Seattle summer means more wasps are about

Summer is still going strong here in the Greater Seattle area, and after another mild winter, this means we'll be seeing large populations of rodents, spiders, and wasps among other nuisance pests.

One of the more notable jobs we handled this week was a call for a wasp nest near a playground at a condo association (COA) in Bothell. Take a look at the size and location of this nest!

 

Wasps build their nests on bushes or trees, on fences, in attics and crawlspaces, in the ground and even in wall voids. Here in this case we see a large nest established very close to the playground area of a condo association. We see so many of these, in fact, that we've made a short video showing examples of wasp nests.

For further reading, UC Davis has a very good site on bees and wasps. 

Seattle is #1....but not in the way you might think.

Seattle leads the country in contact with rodents, according to a recent study released by the US Census Bureau. The agency conducts a biennial accounting of rat, mouse and cockroach sightings across the country. The most recent numbers, collected in 2013, were released in June 2015, and show Seattle is a rat paradise!

Amazingly, this graph suggests that Seattle has more homes with rodent infestation that New York City, the alleged city of 2 million rats, as does Austin, Miami, Tampa and San Antonio.

The same report shows Seattle scoring in the lower-ranking cities with mice and cockroaches. View the Bloomberg article here, and contact Cascade Pest Control TODAY if you have a rodent issue!