Videos

Cowleys Pest Services Videos - Page 5

How to Apply Insect Repellent - NPMA

Watch this video to learn the proper way to apply insect repellent when spending time outdoors. Video provided by the National Pest Management Association (NMPA).

Categories

Video Playlist Category
Additional Services
Video Playlist Category
Attic Insulation
Video Playlist Category
Bird Control Services
Video Playlist Category
Commercial Pest Services
Video Playlist Category
Pest Service Plans
Video Playlist Category
Pests We Treat
Video Playlist Category
Wildlife Removal

All Videos

Recently, Cowleys received a call from a homeowner in Hazlet, NJ. She was at her wit’s end with an on-going bed bug issue. Another pest control service seemed unable to resolve the problem after multiple visits, and she was frustrated beyond belief. A co-worker recommended Cowleys because we successfully treated a bad bug infestation for her. She wanted this infestation resolved one and for all.  Upon arrival, a two-person team of bed bug specialists conducted a thorough inspection of the home. It is critical to know the scope of the infestation — what rooms are infested and the level of infestation in those rooms — in order to determine the optimal treatment plan. You have to be systematic and thorough since bed bugs hide in the smallest of places. It is essential to lift up and look under any bedding and upholstered furniture. We inspected the bedrooms and found some minimal bed bug activity in the master suite. Although bed bugs commonly hide in and around mattresses and bed bugs, they can be found anywhere that human hosts like to sleep or rest. We began inspecting the living room couch. My observant partner found a large adult bed bug and two almost microscopic nymphs nesting in the seam along the zipper of the couch cushion. The adult just had a blood meal and was fully engorged. this was the problem — the other service had limited their treatment to the bedrooms, and most of the bed bug activity was in the living room. We began treatment in the living room by vacuuming up all of the adults an nymphs. Properly performed inspections are critical with any pest infestation, but with bed bugs, the inspection is especially important. With bed bugs, fully understanding the situation is a prerequisite for a successful result.  
Bed Bugs Found in Cushion in Hazlet, NJ Home
Recently, I was sent to a home in Hazlet, NJ to resolve a carpenter bee infestation. These bees were excavating galleries in multiple sites around their home. The customers had just enrolled in our home protection plan, and their particular plan covered carpenter ants and carpenter bees, two common wood-destroying insects.   After completing treatment  for the carpenter bees, I performed an inspection of the home’s exterior perimeter and applied a preventive treatment. While outside, I observed carpenter ants in several places along the home’s foundation. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not consume wood as food. Instead, just like carpenter bees, they build galleries, with a distinct preference for soft, damp wood, to build galleries to deposit their eggs and house their larvae. Outside, carpenter ants will often build their nests in rotting trees. With homes, you’ll often find these destructive ants carving out galleries in water-damaged deck boards, posts, and other wooden structures prone to water damage. Despite their size, carpenter ants can do an extensive amount of damage in a short period of time. Fortunately, under their home protection plan, these insects were covered. I successfully treated the exterior of the more for these ants.
Carpenter Ants Found Near Hazlet, NJ home
Recently, I was sent to one of the residential communities in Edison, NJ, that is regularly serviced by Cowleys. A homeowner noticed wasps entering the building from the exterior exploiting a gap around a utility line and contacted the property manager. Often, over time, sealant around utility lines entering homes dissolves or wears away from the outdoor elements, giving insects and rodents an easy access point into the dwelling. Mice need only a 1/4 inch or so to squeeze through, while insects can enter through the tiniest of cracks and gaps that form around foundations.  Summer is our peak season for wasp and other stinging insect infestations, and for those who are allergic to insect venom, it’s especially serious. Observing stinging insects around homes and other structures especially doorways and walkways where people are coming and going, it is critical that the infestation be resolved quickly. For this wasp infestation, I first applied a residual insecticide dust to the opening. As wasps come into contact with this dust, it will penetrate its exoskeleton and kill them. I wanted to give the application a couple of days to work. I returned two days later to seal the opening with copper mesh and silicone caulk. 
Wasps Present Danger in Edison, NJ
Recently, I was sent to a home in Hazlet, NJ after the homeowners noticed an sharp increase of ant activity inside their home. Although a foraging ant or two may make their way into a home, if there is a consistent barrage of ants inside a home, it means that ants have laid a pheromone trail into your home — and they aren’t planning on leaving. During my inspection of the home’s exterior perimeter, I was focused on finding the ant trail into the home so I could determine where the ants were coming from. This would allow me to locate the nest and the rest of the colony. Ants establish trails for other ants to follow when foraging for food for the rest of the colony. Ants will eat a wide variety of organic matter, including dead insects and the surgery residue in substances like honeydew that’s secreted from aphids. I was persistent in my inspection and was able to find a large satellite colony that they ants had established in a potted plant holder nearby the home. Ants often set up satellite colonies as temporary stations away from the parent colony. After lifting the potted plant out of the planter, I observed a huge colony feeding on plant matter. Once the nest was disturbed, the ants seemed to know that the jig was up. The workers instinctively started to grab the eggs in a last ditch effort to escape. But is was too late! They were caught red-handed and would not be eliminated. I thoroughly treated the inside of the plant holder, the ant trail, and the exterior perimeter of the home. This application will be carried back to the nest and be distributed throughout the colony. For the home’s interior, I applied a crack and crevice treatment to the doorways that will keep away any foraging ants. With this indoor-outdoor treatment, the ant colonies will soon be eliminated. The ant troubles of these homeowners are over. 
Ant Infestation in Hazlet, NJ
While servicing one of my commercial accounts in Manahawkin, NJ, the manager alerted me to a ant problem in the dining room. Inspecting the dining room, I quickly found ants trailing towards a pile of food crumbs. Once a worker ant finds a food source, they communicate with other workers who take that food back to the colony to feed the queen ant and her workers. Good sanitation is key to eliminate most insects. After showing the manager the food debris throughout the dining room, he assured me that they would step up their cleaning. I applied a residual insecticide to the ant trails and surrounding areas. 
Ants will always find the crumbs
Attic Systems dealers have been making thousands of homes across the U.S. more comfortable and energy efficient with attic insulation and air sealing. Why is attic insulation so important? The temperatures in your attic change drastically in the winter and the summer. Heat radiating from the roof keeps the temperature in your attic in the triple digits most of the season. If your attic is improperly insulated, your ceiling will become hot and that heat will irradiate through your living areas. In the wintertime, heat moves from your heated living space into your freezing cold attic. Proper attic insulation is designed to stop heat flow between your attic and your home. For that reason, our Attic Systems dealers will often recommend blown cellulose insulation over fiberglass batts. Cellulose insulation have a higher R-Value than fiberglass, and when blow in an attic, it quick fills all the gaps and nooks. Fiberglass batts have to be cut to size to fill the cavities and that often leaves many gaps for air and heat to flow through, reducing the R-Value of the Fiberglass even further. Cellulose is also better at resisting the air flow that fiberglass. Cellulose insulation is also treated with fire retardant and insect repellent chemicals, making it overall safer and longer lasting. Our Attic Systems dealers are committed to providing always the return for every dollar you invest in attic insulation, and that includes recommending and installing always the best materials. With an Attic Systems Dealer you are always in good hands!
Attic Insulation: Blown Cellulose vs, Fiberglass Batts.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 1/3 of the air homeowners pay to cool and heat the typical home, leaks through holes and gaps in the duct work. If air leakage wasn't bad enough, uninsulated air ducts housed in unconditioned attics also cause enormous energy waste. During the winter, the heated air blown through the metal ducts loses temperature as it runs through a freezing cold attic. During the summer the process is reversed. The cold air that comes out of the A/C unit is heated as it runs through ducts housed in a scorching hot attic. That means that if you have unsealed and uninsulated ducts running through your attic, the cool or heated air hardly makes it in to all the rooms in your house. Your HVAC system is working much harder than it should, and you might be experiencing a lot of discomfort in certain areas of your home. Attic Systems dealers are committed to providing the best return of investment in terms of comfort and energy savings. When you sign up for an estimate we will thoroughly inspect your attic and detect any problems that might be impacting your comfort and energy bills. We will then provide solutions to help solve them all. You are always in good hands with an Attic Systems Dealer.
Duct Sealing and Insulation in Attics
Before insulating your attic, it is extremely important to have it professionally air sealed. Air sealing will keep heated air from leaking into the freezing attic during the winter. It will also keep scorching hot air from the attic from leaking into your home during the summer. A professionally air sealed attic makes your home more comfortable and lower your energy bills year-round, because your heating and cooling system will not need to work as hard to keep up with air leakages. Attic insulation without air sealing won't stop air flow between conditioned and unconditioned spaces. When it comes to attic insulation, all of our Attic Systems dealers are committed to providing the best return for your investment in terms of comfort and energy savings. With Attic Systems, you are always in good hands!
The Importance of Air Sealing your Attic
How does mold grow in your attic? In the typical home, the conditioned air from the living space is always leaking into the attic through all types of gaps left by builders during the construction. Holes around electric wires and plumbing, or around lighting fixtures, as well as unsealed attic hatches are all areas from where the air that you pay to cool and heat can leak into the attic. During the wintertime, as heated air leaks into the freezing cold attic, relative humidity in the air increases and condensation occurs. The wood structures in your attic soak up that moisture creating the perfect breeding ground for mold. Mold in your attic can compromise the roof structure, and ruin your indoor air making your home smell musty, and exposing your family to harmful mold spores. As part of the world's largest Attic Insulation network, all of our dealers are fully trained and certified to completely solve mold problems in the attic. That is done by first using our exclusive MoldX II System to kill the mold and prevent it from growing back. We then professionaly seal as many gaps as possible to isolate the living area from the unconditioned attic and keep as much heated air as possible from leaking out. Whether you have mold problems in the attic, or comfort problems throughout the house due to poor attic insulation and air sealing, you are always in good hands with Attic Systems.
How to Solve Mold Problems in the Attic
A commercial office in Lincroft, NJ, regularly serviced by Cowleys was having issues with ants infesting several offices on the second floor. When you see infestations like this, the questions start coming. How were the ants even getting to the second floor? After all, it’s not like they could take the elevator! And why are they even bothering foraging up there here when there are no obvious sources of food or water? It seemed like a lot of work to get up there for very little payback.  I found the answers during my inspection. I discovered their travel route: There was a creeping vine climbing up the side of the structure that managed to reach a window on the second story of the building. Once the foraging ants were up there, they did what foraging ants instinctively do. They went into the offices to take a look around and see if there was anything interesting that they could bing back and share with the rest of the colony. The lesson here is that if you give ants an easy route into your building, they won’t hesitate to exploit it. Although creeping vines give buildings that stately “Ivy League” college appearance, insects will use these vines as a natural bridge to look for openings to access the building. It’s often how ants wind up on higher floors of a building when there is no infestation on the floors below.  I treated the interior areas where ant activity was observed by the office workers, and also treated the exterior perimeter for the invading ants. Despite its aesthetics, I recommended that the vegetation be removed from the side of the building. As long as vines were allowed to remain, there would always be a risk of re-infestation.             
Ants use natural bridge in Lincroft, NJ
Bed bug infestations start when a resident or guest unknowingly carries a bed bug into a home. They are hitchhikers that don’t get there own accord. We can pick up bed bugs anywhere there are other people who may be bringing bed bugs with them. You can get them in a motel while traveling, in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, or even visiting family or friends. This particular homeowner in Bayville, NJ had not been traveling and she had no idea how a bed bug managed to find its way into her home. Often, the first sign of a bed bug infestation are waking up with unexplained bites (especially a pattern of three bites all in a row). After our initial bed bug treatment, we always schedule a two week follow up to re-inspect to determine the effectiveness of the first treatment and to re-apply product to those areas that still have problems. Bed bugs are highly resilient insects and the reality is that you can’t assume that one treatment is enough. Proper follow-ups are an integral part of the treatment process. With that said, bed bug are just another type of insect and the treatments for them are highly effective. Having bed bugs is not a hopeless situation! Here, when I lifted up the mattress and box spring I found a fully engorged dead bed bug that just had its last meal. After a bed bug has its blood meal, it will cross over the treated area back to its hiding spot. Their bellies scrape against the product that we apply. And that’s the beginning of the end. Within two hours, the product will be absorbed into the bed bug and the insect will soon die. Since bed bugs hide between feedings, it is essential to do multiple treatments (generally, three) over a five-week period. Bed bugs stay hidden until the host is sleeping or resting. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale. It’s quite common for a homeowner to come across a few bed bugs between the first and second treatment. Bed bugs do not uniformly die and they don’t die all at once. It takes some time for all of them to eventually come into contact with the application. Bed bugs are tricky bugs that are very good at survival. But, as I like to say, they may be sly, but so am I. Just give me a few visits, and I’ll clear those biting bugs out of your house!  
Bed bugs found during follow up inspection in Bayville, NJ
The name “bed” bug for these biting insects is somewhat of a misnomer. Since bed bugs are parasitic insects that feed off human hosts, they do often hide in and around mattresses, box springs, and headboards while waiting for their next blood meal. That does not mean, wherever, that bed bug infestations are limited to beds. For from it! While treating any bed bug infestation, we assume that bed bugs could be congregating anywhere and everywhere in a home, especially with heavier infestations where the bed bugs have spread.  Here, I was contacted by property management for an apartment building that we service in Beachwood, NJ for suspected bed bug activity in one of the units. The tenant had reported to the building manager that she was getting bitten while watching TV at night in her recliner, where she often fell asleep before going to bed. She would wake up with 3 itchy bites in close proximity to each other. Mysterious bites are often the first sign of bed bug activity, especially if there is a series of three bites in a row. often, with bed bugs at least, bad things often come in threes! Pest control technicians sometimes informally refer to this common three-bite pattern as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here, the bed bugs “knew” that their host returned to the same recliner night after night and were content to wait for her there.  Upon arrival, I immediately inspected the recliner. I immediately knew there was a problem. There were bed bugs skins left behind where the bed bugs had molted in many of the cracks and crevices, or tufts, on the upholstered chair. I carefully turned the chair over to inspect its underside. Sure enough, there were additional skins and even some adult bed bugs nesting in the seams. Bed bugs prefer to nest in tight areas where they have contact on multiple sides of their body simultaneously. As with many animals and insects, tight enclosed spaces provides a sense of safety and security.  I showed the tenant my findings. When I arrived she was worried that she was wasting my time and was imagining things. I told her that was far from the case and a pest control service should be contacted whenever someone is waking up with unexplained bites. Just because you have not yet seen the insects doesn’t mean they are not there, especially with low-level infestations in their early stages. She was also relieved to know that I could begin treatment immediately to get rid of this infestation. I can’t stress this enough — a pest control professional should be contacted even if you just THINK you have bed bugs, especially if mysterious bites start soon after returning from a vacation or after having visitors or returning family members in your home.
Bed bugs found during inspection in Beachwood, NJ