Wasps and Yellow Jackets: Now is The Time to Trim Shrubs and Bushes
Stinging insects such as paper wasps and yellow jackets hide their nests. It’s a defense mechanism. That’s all well and good until you accidently get too close or Heaven forbid, brush up against one. One of the most common ways to encounter a wasp or yellow nest is while doing yardwork. Don’t wait until July to begin trimming shrubs and bushes. Do it now before nest building begins. Even now nest construction is beginning- but it’s still early.
One of the easiest steps you can take to protect you and your family from insect stings is to periodically take a walk around your yard and look for signs of yellow jacket ground nests or wasp nests that are concealed in shrubs, bushes, and play items such as swing sets, sliding boards, and trampolines. Paper wasps will typically make nests on the underside of these items. Watch sections of bushes and shrubs and watch for wasps leaving and returning.
Paper wasp nest in a blueberry bush
Yellow jackets have a very noticeable flight pattern – they fly out from their hollow concealed nest- often located in the ground – at an approximately 45-degree angle.
Aardvark Pest Control Services – The Mosquito Experts
Aardvark Pest Control Services is the Mosquito Expert
Mosquitoes can seriously ruin the enjoyment of your backyard with their buzzing and biting. Why let them keep you inside on a beautiful night.
Several of the mosquitoes most common to our area are container breeders. This means it doesn’t take much water for them to breed right in your backyard. For example, some of their breeding sites include: bird baths, knots in trees, inoperable swimming pools, upside down trash can lids, grill covers, and old tires.
Our service begins with an inspection to identify visible areas of standing water in your yard that might give mosquitoes an opportunity to breed.
Once identified, we’ll make suggestions to help eliminate these areas that promote mosquito breeding and we’ll treat those areas that can’t be easily dried out using a product that will kill mosquitoes in their larval stage. This will stop the mosquito’s ability to reach people-biting adulthood.
Next, we’ll apply an insecticide to control adult mosquitoes. Typically areas treated include shrubs and ground cover. These applications are most effective when made on a monthly cycle. We recommend these treatments be made between May 1 and September 30. We also offer a three-time program and one-time event treatments.
This service is available as an ad-on to our Comprehensive Annual Pest control program (CAP), or as a stand-alone service. Either way, while we can’t eliminate every mosquito, we can enhance the enjoyment of your outside time by greatly reducing the number of pesky mosquitoes in your yard.
Take back your backyard. Contact the mosquito experts at Aardvark Pest Control Services at info@getaardvark.com or call us at 610-494-4474.
West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease
We often receive questions regarding West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease. Following is information from the CDC.
West Nile Virus
Regarding West Nile Viruses, here are some facts and figures taken from the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) website:
Most people (70-80%) who become infected with West Nile virus do not develop any symptoms.
About 1 in 5 people who are infected will develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. Most people with this type of West Nile virus disease recover completely, but fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.
Less than 1% of people who are infected will develop a serious neurologic illness such as encephalitis or meningitis (inflammation of the brain or surrounding tissues). The symptoms of neurologic illness can include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, seizures, or paralysis.
According to the CDC, in Pennsylvania, in 2014, there were 12 confirmed cases of West Nile Virus resulting in 1 death.
For more detailed information, visit the CDC’s West Nile Virus homepage at:
https://www.cdc.gov/westnile/index.html
Lyme disease
According to the CDC, in Pennsylvania, there were 37.2, 32.5, and 39 cases per 100,000 people reported in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively.
Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks. Laboratory testing is helpful if used correctly and performed with validated methods. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, applying pesticides, and reducing tick habitat
Most cases of Lyme disease in the United States occurred in the northeast including Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.
For more detailed information, go to the CDC’s Lyme Disease homepage at:
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html
While we can’t eliminate all of the mosquitoes and ticks that transmit these diseases, we can provide you an enhanced outdoor experience with friends and family as you take back your outdoor living spaces. And that makes Aardvark Pest Control Services’ mosquito control service pretty worthwhile.
Aardvark Pest Control Services provides mosquito control services to Villanova, Radnor, Gladwyne, Aston, Garnet Valley, Glen Mills, Media, Lower Merion, Haverford, Devon, West Chester, Malvern, Kennett Square, Chadds Ford, Bryn Mawr, Rosemont, Wynnewood, King of Prussia, Swarthmore, Conshohocken, Narberth, Broomall, Havertown, and Southern Chester County.
Introducing Aardvark Mosquito Control Services
Aardvark Pest Control Services is excited to announce our new mosquito control program.
Mosquitoes can seriously ruin your enjoyment of your backyard with their buzzing and biting. They can keep you inside on a beautiful night.
Several of the mosquitoes most common to our area are container breeders. It doesn’t take much water for them to breed. For example, some of these breeding sites include: bird baths, knots in trees, inoperable swimming pools, upside down trash can lids and old tires.
Our service begins with an inspection to identify visible areas of standing water in your yard that might give mosquitoes an opportunity to breed.
Once identified, we’ll make suggestions to help eliminate these areas that promote mosquito breeding and we’ll treat those areas that can’t be easily dried out with a product that will kill mosquitoes in their larval stage. This will stop the mosquito’s ability to reach people-biting adulthood.
Next, we’ll apply insecticide to control adult mosquitoes. Typically areas treated include shrubs and ground cover. These applications are most effective when made on a 21-day cycle. We recommend these treatments be made between May 1 and September 30.
This service is available as an ad-on to your comprehensive annual pest control program (CAP), or as a stand-alone service. Either way, while we can’t eliminate every mosquito, we can enhance your enjoyment of your outside time by greatly reducing the number of pesky mosquitoes in your yard.
Take back your backyard. Contact the mosquito experts at Aardvark Pest Control Services at info@getaardvark.com or call us at 610-494-4474.
Wintertime Isn’t Pest-Free Time
Winter is a time to hunker down, sit by the fire, watch playoff football, and plan springtime activities. At least you don’t have to worry about pests. Right?
Not so fast
Winter is also a time for many pests to hunker down (in your home) and continue their own activities while waiting for warmer weather.
Following is a brief description of some of these pests and control suggestions. If you would rather not don the exterminator uniform, Aardvark Pest Control Services offers free inspections and estimates to do the job for you.
Let’s take a look at a few of the top wintertime pests.
Mice
Mice are very resourceful and adaptive creatures. When the weather is cold, they look for a way in to your home. Once inside they can create havoc by destroying food in pantries and leaving droppings on counter tops. The average mouse can be responsible for 40-50 droppings in a 24 hour period.
Mice leave telltale signs of where they have been and how they get around – what paths they are taking into and around the inside of your home. These signs can also give you clues to where they are living.
Top Five Signs of Mice in Your House
1. Rodent droppings. Since mice cannot control this bodily function, they leave droppings behind wherever they have been. Follow the droppings trail and often you will find where the mice are coming from.
2. Urine trails. Same idea as above. They can’t control this bodily function either.
3. Chewing. Mice are nibblers and they can snack on numerous food items each night. Loaves of bread and boxed food items are common targets.
4. Rub marks. Mice like to run along walls. When a mouse uses a particular path repeatedly the mouse begins to leave a build- up of grease marks from their body on the wall they rub against. These rub marks eventually begin to look black.
5. Small holes in walls. Mice often live in walls and they need a way into walls – usually through holes they have chewed. These holes are often easy to identify – they generally range in diameter from the size of an index finger to the size of a thumb. However, this author has witnessed mice entering a hole the size of a Bic pen.
Top Five Things To Do To Make Your Home Less Hospitable For Mice
1. Eliminate Clutter. Mice like to nest in quiet, dark, undisturbed piles of stuff – boxes, clothes, food items. Do not allow things to collect in undisturbed piles– especially in less frequented areas such as basements, garage, and attics.
2. Seal any holes that might provide entry into your home, or provide access into wall voids. These holes might include plumbing or other utility lines(baseboards heaters are a notorious entry point for mice since mice like temperatures somewhere around 80 degrees). Steel wool works well for this.
3. Eliminate access to food. The more food available, the better their ability to survive. Keep food in sealed containers.
4. Use traps to catch mice – we prefer the common snap trap. Be careful to keep traps out of the reach of children and pets. If there is enough clearance, the area beneath the stove can be a good spot to place a snap trap or two.
5. Make sure the bottoms of all doors that lead to the outside of your home are tight. Remember the Bic pen rule- if you can slide a Bic pen under your door mice can get in.
Spiders
Nearly all spiders you will encounter are harmless. It is a documented fact that spider bites are widely over-reported. Still people do not like spiders – especially in their home.
The common house spider is the spider most often encountered indoors. This spider is a web builder and inside structures house spiders are most likely to be found in upper corners, under furniture, in closets, window frames, basements, garages, and crawl spaces. is found throughout the United States.
Jumping Spiders. Their name comes from their jumping ability and habit of jumping or springing up which they use to capture prey.
Cellar spiders are commonly referred to as “daddy-long-legs” because of their very long, thin legs
Wolf spiders are hunting spiders and will chase after their prey. These spiders are often big and hairy which alarms some people, but they are primarily nuisance pests. Wolf spiders often enter your home in search of prey. Inside they can be found at or near floor level, especially along walls under furniture and other objects. Wolf spiders are often brought indoors along with firewood.
Vacuuming areas where these spiders are found is the best first defense in their control. Concentrate on areas that are harder to reach and therefore often overlooked such as under furniture and beds.
Overwintering Pests
Overwintering pests such as stink bugs, boxelder bugs, cluster and face flies, and lady bugs to name a few typically invade your house in the beginning of fall when the weather starts to cool at night. They enter your home in an attempt to survive the winter.During the warmer days of winter, they can reemerge inside your home because they can’t distinguish between natural and artificial light and head towards windows in an attempt to get outside.
Again, use your vacuum as a first line of defense.
Get Two Free Months of Pest Control
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Spring is for Preventive Pest Control
Spring is almost here. That’s a nice thought. This is the time of year to get out of the house, plan gardens, clean up the yard, play with the kids, and get ahead of the insects.
Yes spring is a great time to take preventive measures against infiltrating insects. Preventive measures are the key to fewer pests.
At Aardvark Pest Control Services, we embrace the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is a green approach to pest control that looks at root causes of pests and looks for opportunities to diminish conditions conducive to their activity. When conducive conditions are removed, we use fewer pesticides.
The following suggestions are a significant part of any environmentally friendly green pest management program.
Interior spring cleaning is an excellent way to disrupt pest activity – especially spiders. Now is a great time to move furniture away from walls when you vacuum. Vacuuming those hard to reach areas will also eliminate potential food sources for mice and ants.
Check for gaps at the bottom of door sweeps and gaps around utility line entry points to keep pests out. Replace door sweeps as needed. Seal any gaps around utility line entry points to dissuade carpenter ants or prevent a possible summertime nest of yellow jackets.
Check screens to keep flying insects out of your home on those days when you want to let some fresh air in.
Move wood piles away from the house. Wood piles provide nice habitats for rodents, ants, and nesting opportunities for stinging insects.
Clean out the garage. Clutter provides nice hiding places for insects and rodents.
Consider decorative rocks instead of mulch. Mulch provides an excellent living environment and food source for seasonal crawling insects such as ground beetle and millipedes. These spring and summer time pests live in mulch and then invade your home when it gets too hot or too wet.
Make sure to rake old leaves away from your home. Seasonal crawling insects like to live in and eat last year’s decaying leaves. Generally speaking, they like any decaying organic matter.
Finally, make sure that the gutters are clean and water is flowing freely thru the downspouts. A rain gutter full of leaves makes an ideal spot for mosquito breeding activity. Also, be careful about anything on your property that might collect water.
Good luck and enjoy the coming nice weather.