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Image of pigeon deterred by "Bird Free Fire Gel"

Pigeons! What’s the problem?

Pigeons are an increasing problem and Regional Pest Services would like to advise you of the chief issues of concern regarding the potential hazards associated with pigeons, their droppings and nesting materials.

PSITTACOSIS (ORNITHOSISIS): This is an infectious disease. The organism is found in droppings, eye and nasal secretions of infected birds, which contaminate feathers and nesting materials. Transmission is usually through inhalation of contaminated airborne particles in which the organism can survive for several months.

The symptoms of human infection range from a flu-like illness with fever, joint, and muscle pains lasting a few days to more serious reactions including pneumonia.

BIRD LUNG (ALLERGIC ALVEOLITIS): This is an allergic condition occurring among bird keepers and people exposed occupationally to airborne particles in dust inhaled from bird corpses.

This can cause symptoms of fever and chest tightness with cough and in chronic form cause shortness of breath on exertion.

PATHOGENIC FUNGI Several pathogenic fungi find bird droppings, particularly if left to accumulate, a particularly good medium to develop. For most people, infection can appear to be little more than a bout of flu, but in susceptible individuals severe infections can occur.

INSECTS, MITES & FLIES: Urban birds have a number of blood-feeding parasites, which live in their nests and can bite humans including mites, fleas, ticks, and lice. Fleas will often infest office building carpets and cause biting insect problems.

Bird nests are also good harborage for other insect pests, which eat feathers, droppings and dead birds, but can live off and damage foods and textiles. These insects include carpet beetles, clothes moths, spider beetles, dermestes beetle and booklice.

Many of these pest outbreaks can occur even if the birds leave but nesting and droppings remain so that the insects forage as this food source breaks down.

When birds die inside or near buildings, the bodies can be a breeding site for flies.

PHYSICAL RISKS: The presence of bird infestations can produce foul odours, can deface and damage buildings and be a serious slip hazard when wet. Accumulations of droppings on pavements and fire escapes can result in injuries and complicated legal actions.

The defacement to building appearance can project a poor image to prospective clients particularly if in a food or professional business. Finally should a member of staff or public be unfortunate enough for birds to drop their faeces on them significant distress may be caused.

REMOVAL OF PIGEON CONTAMINATION: Guidance on this state that the following precautions are recommended:

• Personal protective equipment in the form of a disposable one-piece boiler suit with close-fitting hood or collar should be worn.

• Respiratory protective equipment is advised with filter.

• Good personal hygiene measures are essential and should include adequate washing facilities and separate eating facilities.

• The offending material should be removed in such a way as to minimise the amount of dust generated.

• Removed contaminated waste should be bagged and safely disposed of.

• Cleaned contaminated surfaces should be treated to eradicate residual bacteria & insects.

BIRD DETERRENT SYSTEMS Regional Pest Services are fully experienced in the installation of purpose-designed systems to prevent the re-occurrence of bird infestation by building proofing. This may include netting, sprung steel wires, bird spikes and repellent gel. All systems are fully licensed and are designed to not harm birds but to prevent access to the building from them.

Image of pigeon deterred by "Bird Free Fire Gel"

Bird Free Fire Gel

At regional pest services we have been trialing an exciting new pigeon proofing product (although it can be use for any bird) called bird free fire gel. The company that develop the gel claim that it has been used in Korea for the past 4 years and it works because to birds the gel looks like fire, to the human eye it simply looks like orange/yellow jelly but to birds which see in ultra violet (UV) it appears to them as fire. To us this seemed like outlandish claims so we decided to trail it on a couple of sites before we recommended to product to customers. To our surprise it WORKED. A customer of ours had a pigeon problem and because the building which had the problem had won awards for design they did not wont any spiking or netting, so we tried the fire gel to see the results, and six months later still no pigeon problem. we also tried it on a site that had a heavier level of infestation, where pigeons where using it as a roosting site and it has worked there too. The Gel is perfect for places where netting or spiking is not possible. It can also used in trees. Its not toxic and can used in all weather conditions, it lasts up to 2 years but other case studies have shown it to still be effective up to 4 years. We would recommend servicing the gel every 2 years it can still be more cost effective than expensive netting. For more information call us on: 01494 410880 or email us at: [email protected]. 
Check out the video link below:

Image of rats near rubbish dump sites

Rise in rodents as weekly rubbish collections drop

Picking are slim for many during the economic downturn but not it seems for rodents. As an increasing number of cash-strapped councils have been forced to cut back on weekly bin collections in the past five years, more than a quarter of households say they have noticed a rise in vermin.  One in five homes has been damaged by rodents, such as rats or mice, and pests causing £500million of damage.
The most common was vermin chewing through cables. “The dangers of ignoring a pest problem can be devastating,” said LV home insurance, which commissioned the research.
METRO Friday February 24 2012

Photos of huge rats immune to normal rat poisons in the Milton Keynes area

Super rats

Plague of mutant ‘super rats’ infests Britain

An increasing number of Britain’s rats are mutating to become immune to commonly sold poisons, scientists have warned.
Yahoo! News – 17/10/2012

Yahoo! News UK – A plague of mutant rats resistant to most poisons have been found in areas of the UK (Image: Rex)An increasing number of Britain’s rats are mutating to become immune to commonly sold poisons, scientists have warned.
Research from Huddersfield University found 75 per cent of rats in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, had built up a resistance to the poisons. The most serious mutations have affected rats in Bath and Wiltshire. Experts say the rise is down to an incorrect use of poisons, where people have used dosages that are too low. Rats which are resistant to the poison are fattened up by the bait, with survivors going on to mate with other resistant rodents.

This allows a generation of rats that are resistant to existing poisons to build up. Dr Dougie Clarke, head of biological sciences at Huddersfield University, said: “Some pest control companies are still using the same rodenticides -Bromadiolone and Difenacoum – in areas where there are resistant rats and things need to change.
“We’re wiping out the normal susceptible rats and we’re going to be left with resistant rats only in this area so alternatives have to be found so we’re not using these poisons.”
Wildlife experts are also concerned about the risk to other animals -especially cats – which may hunt the rats.
Andy Beddows, a rat catcher from Gloucester, said poison inside the rat could be passed on to animals, including birds of prey, which eat the rodents.
He said: “If you’re putting poison down and it’s one of the mutant strain, if it takes a belly full of rodenticide you may as well be giving it sugar puffs.”
The study aims to survey 25 councils across the country and test samples from 600 rats. So far researchers have tested around 300 rats.
Dr Clarke said that all rats in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath could be resistant to poisons within 10 years.

Best of Yahoo! News

 

Image of a Coypu in the wild

Giant rats seen in Britain are actually Coypus

Giant rats seen and found across the British Isles are actually coypus, a rodent native to South America. I’ve heard a lot of nonsense about rats growing to the size of cats, the so called super rat, often when on a call the customer will out stretch their arms “my friend’s uncle said he has seen one this big” but recent pictures would seem to back up this outlandish claim. Well afraid not, what people are most likely seeing is the coypu a rodent native to South America.  Adults are typically 5–9 kg (11–20 lb) in weight, and 40–60 cm (16–24 in) in body length, with a 30–45 cm (12–18 in) tail. They have a coarse, darkish brown outer fur with a soft under-fur. Two distinguishing marks are the presence of a white patch on the muzzle, and webbed hind feet.  They are brought over to this country for their fur.  Farmer killed “giant rat” in county Durham   The other possibility is the muskrat which is native to North America and were introduced to Europe in the early part of the 20thcentury. There are much better at surviving the cold temperatures than the coypu. They can grow 0.6–2 kg (1.3–4.4 lb.)That is about four times the weight of the brown rat. They are generally dark brown in colour with some variations ranging from lighter, blond colour to almost black and have a long tail that is flattened.   So if you do see one of these rodents it is best to call us for advice or the RSPCA.                                                                                                                                                         Muskrat                                            Coypu                                     By Graham B Farmer  

Image of rats in a home

Rat attacks baby girl in Camden

A mother described how her baby daughter was attacked in her cot by a foot-long rat. Lindsey Molyneux went to check on 16-month-old Lolly, who had woken up crying, and found her covered in blood with deep bite marks on a hand. She and husband Michael, 41, then saw the rat scurrying around their one-bedroom flat in Camden. Mrs Molyneux, 30, said it also chewed through Lolly’s pyjama bottoms. She said: “Lolly began crying through the monitor and I went in because I didn’t want her to wake her twin Lily. “She was shaking and I thought she was just having a nightmare. “Then she was sick and as I took her clothes off I saw all the blood. It was gushing out of her hand. We couldn’t figure out what had happened as we have no pets and there is nothing around her bed that could do that. “I called NHS Direct to find out the cause and was on the phone to the nurse when I saw the rat scurry past me. It was massive, about a foot long. I started screaming, ‘There’s a rat’, and my husband filmed it on his phone. “Then he grabbed the broom and I opened the front door. As soon as I did that the rat legged it.” Mrs Molyneux said her GP did not believe the story until she showed him the footage. The couple have since had their flat disinfected and cleaned, while pest control experts from Camden council have laid traps and checked nearby sewers. Lolly received treatment and is recovering well. Pest controllers were unsure how the rat got in but Mrs Molyneux said her front door had been left open for half an hour earlier in the night to ventilate the flat while her husband, an engineer, cooked dinner. She said: “The fact that it bit Lolly is bad enough but there’s also the thought that it was crawling on her. It has got in once and I’m still afraid it can again.” EVENING STANDARD Friday 16th November 2012  

Expand Your Business

Pixabay Image 1734176

Would you like to add pest control to your list of services? We are a locally company based in Watford that specialise in commercial pest control. We work with many facilities companies already, such as 1st choice,SGP and Pinnacle.

Why not expand your business into the pest control sector.

Benefits include:

  • No cost to yourself
  • You make a set percentage on every job we do
  • Adds a service to offer to your customers
  • Gives an “edge” over other companies that do not offer this service
  • We are members of the BPCA and safe contractors
  • All our vans are unmarked to save embarrassment and confusion to which company we work for

Ring us to discuss on: 01923 205756 or email us at [email protected] FAO Graham Farmer (Area services manager)

Regional Pest Services
Wren House
19-23 Exchange Road
Watford
Hertfordshire
WD18 0JD

Regional Pest Services VAT 165204429

What poisons and why? Chelsea London

People often ask me what poison we use and how do they work. All our rodenticides are second generation anticoagulants which work by thinning the blood by blocking the vitamin K cycle which stops blood clots forming which is essential for the body’s survival. We use many different types of anticoagulant rodenticides because in some areas such as parts of London rodents can be resistent to them. This normally happens due to prolonged over use of a particular poison. Just because the rodents are eating the bait does not always mean it is working. The different types we use are Bromadione, Flocoumafen, Brodifacoum and Difenacoum. I once had a job in Chelsea which had a large mouse infestation. I had to try three different types of anticogulants in many different forms before I found the one that worked and the problem was resolved. It is not just the type of poison we have to worry about but also the form it is in. They can come as a wax block, a grain block, pellets, pasta sachets, gel base and even paste. In the case above I found a brodifacoum paste worked. In many cases we have to keep trying different combinations of baits and the form they are in before we find the one that works.

Maidenhead invaded by rats

A branch of Nationwide, and several other retailers had to close their shops for several days to eradicate an infestation of rats. And this in a prospeperous Bucks city centre!

The article in the Maidenhead Advertiser identified the probable source of the infestation as rats coming in from the railway line. Railways provide a “safe passage” for rats insofar as there is limited access for creatues rats see as predators (dogs, human beings, etc.) and there is much cover in the form of brush, equipment and even the rails themselves in which the rats can hide if necessary.

Because of this premises near railway lines, both business and domestic, need to use more advanced strategies to control vermin in the area and simply ridding one premises of rats won’t stop others coming back and taking their place.

Weird wasps stories – Chesham-Uxbridge-Amersham-Watford

I was recently called to a house in Chesham where the owner kept finding dead wasps by their patio doors In there living room and did not know where they where coming from. I could not find a nest anywhere I looked in the garden, in the loft even next door. So I called a colleague of mine to come and help. He was at a loss too, but as we where standing in the living room staring at about 20 dead wasps on the floor next to the patio doors, a wasp came buzzing from behind us and flew straight into the patio doors.

We turned around and moved a sofa and found a tiny hole in the wall. There used to be a fire place which had been blocked up with plaster board. The wasps had made a nest in the top of the chimney and had chewed their way through the wall. They were killed by drying up in the magnified sun from the patio doors when trying to escape. We blocked up the hole and then we were able to deal with the nest.