Barnegat, NJ Pest Control & Attic Insulation Professional

During an exterior inspection of a termite baiting station that was recently installed for a customer in Barnegat, NJ I found a colony of ants, with larva, taking shelter in the bait station trying to survive the cold winter temperatures. A closer inspection revealed that these were pavement ants. Pavement ants are also called sugar ants and are about 1/8 of an inch in size and are brown to black in color. They will eat almost anything, including other insects! They forage in trails for distances of up to 30 feet and are known to climb masonry walls that enter into occupied areas. Why are they called pavement ants? Because they create nests under or in cracks in pavements.

I applied a liquid non-repellent directly onto the ants and around the entire property. The ants will come in contact with this application and transfer it to other ants in the colony, either by grooming one another, feeding one another, or eating their dead! They'll even transfer the treatment to the reproductive queen, ensuring complete elimination of the entire colony. 

Often, raccoons, especially mother raccoons seeking a quiet, private place to raise their young, use attics and chimneys as dens. But they can and will make their nests almost anywhere. We’ve dealt raccoon nests in crawl spaces, barn lofts. and with this home in Barnegat, NJ, the mother raccoon didn’t even bother to break into the home. Here, the mother set up shop underneath some patio furniture that was covered for the winter.  So, when you are ready to start using your patio furniture and remove the protective covering, please be cautious. There may be a family of wildlife squatters that have already decided to use your covered patio furniture as their own little backyard campsite! before you do!

I set up a few traps and loaded them with my secret irresistible bait recipe. It did not take long to trap the mother raccoon. As you can see from the photo, she was giving me quite the dirty look for trapping her. I rounded up the babies and safely relocated the family to a location safer for them and safer for these Atlantic Highland homeowners. Raccoons may look cute and cuddly, but they are large aggressive animals that can be quite dangerous if they feel cornered or threatened. Mother raccoons are especially protective of their helpless kits. Wildlife is wonderful, but it’s a much better situation for everyone when wildlife stays in the wild and enjoyed at a distance, far away from human habitats.

I was recently sent to a home in Barnegat, NJ, to deal with a carpenter bee infestation. Carpenter bees are one of the more common wood boring insects that infest homes and other structures. The females runner into wood to deposit their eggs, and their excavation can cause considerable damage, especially if left unchecked and the bees return year after year. Often, carpenter bees rear their ugly heads around the eaves on the sunny side of a home. But carpenter bees can burrow into virtually any wooden structural material in and around your home. These bees often bore their nesting holes into the wood of decks, bay windows, and even wooden swing sets. The common thread is that their usual choice ion wood s bare, unpainted, weathered wood that is often soft from water damage.

While treating a home for carpenter bees on the peaks of a home, I’ll always inspect the surrounding areas for not only the target pest, but for any other pest activity. Upon inspection, I noticed a pile of fresh sawdust — this “frass” is a telltale sign of property-damaging wood-boring insects. Sure enough, this little pile was right underneath an entry hole. After treating this hole, I noticed active carpenter bee activity under a bay window. I could actually hear these little buggers chewing the wood and I could hear the “munching” sound of carpenter bee activity as the females bored into the wood. 

Homeowners should keep an eye out for carpenter bee and other insect activity. They don’t make much noise, and generally the damage they do is subtle and takes place over a long period of time. Carpenter bees return to the same location year after year to reuse and expand old galleries and build new ones. Over time, damage from carpenter bees and other wood-boring insects can be extensive. The earlier that these infestations are identified and treated, the better.

As part of my monthly servicing for one of our commercial accounts in Barnegat, NJ, I always conduct a thorough inspection of the building’s exterior perimeter looking for signs of pest and rodent infestations. Many times we are able discover and treat infestations before they make their way inside and cause even more trouble. Here, I discovered a trail of ants on the exterior frame of the warehouse doors. Foraging ants will form a pheromone trail from the nest to the food source for other ants to follow. It’s the ant’s version of not re-inventing the wheel! Once we discover a trail, we follow it to see where the ants are coming from and where they are going. Here, the ants were trailing from a nearby tree to the warehouse door and then making their way up the side of the building to the gutter/roofline.

Ant infestations can be difficult to treat because of their sheer numbers. Also, it is essential to treat the ant nest itself and not merely kill off replaceable foraging workers. I treated this infestation by applying a liquid treatment to the foundation, windows, and door frames. This product will be carried back to the nest by the foragers. I then applied a gel bait around the door frame as well as a granular bait around the tree were the trail had started. The combination of these treatments will soon eliminate this ant colony. I always feel good about stopping a pest infestation dead in its tracks before they have a chance to make their way inside the structure.

When homes and other structures have ongoing problems with nuisance birds like pigeons and seagulls landing, roosting, and nesting on ledges, gutters, and other areas around the roof, our Bird Solutions division can install various types of physical barrier deterrents that instantly converts your property from a desirable bird habitat into an undesirable one. Once we remove the landing spots on your ledges and other areas, the birds simply “pack their bags” and move elsewhere.  

Proper installation of deterrents by an experienced bird control specialist is essential. One of the most common physical deterrents that we install are bird control spikes. For this house in Barnegat, NJ that was having a nuisance bird problem, I installed bird spikes on the chimney caps.

The feedback from the homeowner was great. Once these spikes were installed, the birds were given a strong message that they were no longer welcomed here, and they moved elsewhere! Unfortunately, when dealing with birds, they often become someone else’s problem. ideally, we want the birds to use natural structures to land, roost, and nest instead of using homes and buildings.