Allenwood, NJ Professional Pest, Bird & Wildlife Services

Recently, I went out on a service call to a new residential client in Allenwood, NJ who was having an issue with ants in her home. To narrow down the location of the nest, I asked the customer where her home had the highest levels of ant activity. 

Here the homeowner told me that the heaviest ant activity was concentrated in the living room and the den. While inspecting the exterior perimeter of the house I came across a large population of foraging ants. I immediately identified these distinctive large ants as carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are usually black or brown, approximately 3/8 to 1/2 inch long, and have a rounded thorax (abdomen). Carpenter ants do not eat wood like termites; instead, they cause damage by chewing out galleries in the wood to nest. Two common signs of a carpenter ant infestation are rough wood shavings mixed with parts of dead ants from the colony, which is known as frass, and a “rustling” sound that is sometimes heard as the ants go about their activity in the home’s wood.

I also noticed that the caulking around a window frame near the living room had eroded away and some ply boarding near the den was exposed to moisture. Carpenter ants are attracted to damp, soft, or decaying wood to nest. They will rarely seek out hard, healthy wood. As a result, homes with water or moisture issues are more prone to carpenter ant infestations. 

In order to permanently resolve the infestation, I needed to locate the colony by tracking the ants' pheromone trail. When ants forage, they leave a pheromone trail for them to follow back to the nest. I tracked the ants to a nearby damaged tree in the yard that had frass coming out of the base. 

Now, that I knew where the colony was located, I could begin treatment. I applied a liquid residual around the entire exterior foundation of the home, inside the living room, and around and into the damaged tree. Once the carpenter ants come in contact with this product, they'll bring it back to their colony and transfer it, either by grooming or feeding one another. The ants will inadvertently spread the application from one to another and in a short amount of time, it’s lights out for the entire colony! 

I went out on a service call for a property manager of a community building in Allenwood, NJ who called our office after finding German cockroaches in one of his tenant's apartments. Once I arrived I immediately spotted cockroaches crawling over the kitchen sink. German cockroaches are light brown to tan coloring with two dark stripes on their backs. They prefer to live in warm places close to moisture and food sources, hence why they were found in the kitchen.

After completing our inspection of the entire apartment and finding more cockroaches in other rooms, we removed everything not nailed down to the floor in order to begin treatment. Once everything was removed we treated every single inch of the apartment with an EPA registered growth regulator that affects the German cockroaches reproduction system so they can't reproduce.

Next, we used a micro-injection machine that sprays a very fine mist of an oil-based product into the cracks and crevices where the cockroaches may be hiding. This chases the cockroaches into the growth regulator that was sprayed earlier. Next, we applied another application that forms a barrier to prevent the cockroaches from dispersing to other apartments. Finally, we set glue traps and scheduled a follow-up inspection to monitor the infestation and apply additional treatments.

Recently, we were sent out on a service call for a homeowner in Allenwood, NJ. The homeowner kept hearing suspicious noises during the day in his attic.

Upon entering the attic and beginning our inspection, I heard a flapping sound fly by my head. As I shined my light I saw two starlings flying toward the gable vents. Starlings are small birds, about 8.5 inches in size and their bill is yellow during the mating season and black the rest of the year. They primarily nest in cavities and are happy to use those provided by people— such as stove, dryer, and exhaust fan vents.

As I made my way through the attic over to the gable vents I was quite surprised to find two gigantic nest’s that were built directly from the gable vent to the floor. These nests together weighed an excess of 100 pounds! First, we carefully removed the nests and used are HEPA vac to vacuum the entire area. Next, we sanitized the attic with a solution that targets bird mites. Bird mites are parasites that feed on the blood of birds. When birds leave their nests, the mites are left behind without a suitable host for their next blood meal. They will make their way into a home, and once inside they will take over, climbing all over your walls, ceilings, and beddings.  

Finally, we will use hardware cloth to screen off the vents to keep these unwanted pests outside where they belong.