Responsible Pest Control Company in Englishtown, NJ

A homeowner in Manalapan, NJ contacted Cowleys and wanted to add blown-in cellulose insulation to his attic space. Once we arrived, before beginning any job, we conducted a thorough inspection to determine any severe issues in his attic. This inspection not only helps us identify any issues in the attic but also helps us determine how we can SOLVE those issues.

After our inspection, we determined that the attic was under-insulated. Having an under-insulated attic can lead to a number of problems, the most popular is mold and mildew growth in the attic. If the home doesn’t have an adequate vapor barrier and there are leaks, then that water absorbs into traditional forms of insulation. Then mold and mildew begin to grow, which can be a health hazard for everyone in the home, including pets.

To address this issue, we added 12 inches of Tru-soft cellulose insulation to cap off this attics existing insulation. Cellulose insulation is used to fill the attic to the recommended insulation levels. The blanket of insulation will create a thermal barrier and will dramatically increase the home's efficiency.

While performing a routine service for a Home Protection Plan client in Manalapan, NJ I found pavement ants trailing along the side of the home. Pavement ants are tiny ants, only about 1/16 of an inch in size and are light brown to black in color. They nest in cracks in driveways and sidewalks and will pile dirt in a mound on top of the pavement — which is how they got their name. Their colony includes multiple queens and numerous workers. A queen establishes a new colony of pavement ants by laying eggs and the worker ants then tend the queen’s brood until they develop into adults. During their development, broods are transferred from location to location to protect them from fluctuations in moisture and temperature. 

For treatment, I’m going to apply a liquid non-repellant directly on the ant trail and along the entire exterior perimeter of the home. This non-repellent is undetectable to the ants, so when they come in contact with it, they return to the colony and share it with other ants, including the reproductive queen. The application works quickly, and soon the ant population is completely eliminated. 

I went out on a service call for a new residential client in Manalapan, NJ who was having an issue with hornets circling around her pool shed. When I arrived and began inspecting her backyard, I came across a bald-faced hornet nest dangling on the side of the pool shed.

Bald-faced hornets have a black colored body with white markings on their face. They are primarily active during the day and build aerial nests made of paper-like material. They are very protective of their nests and will aggressively attack and sting people and animals they deem a threat. Bald-faced hornets often attack in large numbers and, due to their smooth stinger, can attack a target repeatedly without harming itself.

I equipped my bee suit and applied a foaming knockdown application directly to the nest. This application is designed to immediately eliminate the bald-faced hornets. I attached the application to my B-pole in order to treat the nest safely from a distance. Once the hornets were eliminated I removed the nest and applied a residual application to the entire soffit area of the pool shed to prevent any future bald-faced hornets infestations. 

A client in Manalapan, NJ contacted Cowleys after hearing noises in his attic late at night. I suspected it was raccoons since raccoons are nocturnal and are notorious for invading attics, but still needed to conduct a thorough inspection.  

I began my inspection in the attic and immediately came across a pile of bat guano. After completing my inspection I determined that it wasn’t raccoons, but bats that invaded the attic. This is why a detailed inspection is necessary. Bats in the attic can be catastrophic for homeowners. Bat guano carries the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. If the bat guano dries up, becomes air born and is inhaled, it will give you a lung infection called histoplasmosis. If histoplasmosis spreads beyond the lungs and into the whole body, it can be fatal. Bats are also the second largest rabies exposure threat to humans and their pets. The virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected bat, however, you can also be exposed to rabies through contact with bat fur, guano, blood, or urine. Although bat bites in humans are exceedingly rare, if you suspect you have a bat issue, don’t take any chances.

The main entry point ended up being where the soffit meets the roof. There was a tiny gap that was the perfect size for a bat to enter. I set-up a bat cone connected to a one-way exclusion device. A one-way exclusion device is a device designed to safely allow the bats to leave the home but prevent them from re-entering. A bat cone is an extension of the device that safely guides the bat out of the attic. Because of their length and cylindrical shape, once bats exit they can’t get back in. They can’t get back in because there is no way for them to land and scoot up through the tube. They will fly towards the rear end of the tube where their former access was and be blocked.  

Once all the bats were safely removed from the attic, I placed hardware cloth over the main access point to seal up the gap as a temporary solution as the homeowner was replacing his roof anyway and hired a contractor to do so. Next, I equipped my personal protective equipment and removed and sanitized the bat guano. Now the homeowner can rest easy knowing that his home is free from bats!

Recently, I was sent to a home Englishtown, NJ to resolve a troublesome flea infestation. Fleas are tiny external parasites that require blood meals similar to ticks and bed bugs. Their lateral compressed body allows them to easily move through the hair, fur, or feathers of the host’s body. While bed bugs prefer human blood, fleas are most attracted to our feline and canine pets, and once in our homes use us for their blood meals as well. In people, they often wind up in our hair, causing extreme soreness and itching of our scalp. People can have an allergic reaction to flea saliva, and these pests are known for transferring intestinal tapeworms to our pets. Flea tapeworm is possible with humans if an infected flea is swallowed, so most reported cases involve young children.

Cats and dogs are the most common source of flea and tick infestations inside a home. Once brought inside, they are prolific breeders. A flea can lay upwards of 50 eggs a day and 2000 eggs in her lifetime. The eggs hatch in a few days. This homeowner had both a cat and a dog, so one or both of these innocent-looking animals was the likely source of this infestation.  

An effective flea treatment must be a cooperative, coordinated effort with the customer. Cowleys provide a “to do” checklist for homeowners prior to our arrival to make the treatment most effective. Upon arrival, I thoroughly inspected all of the rooms. We treat all of the flea harborage areas including flooring (carpeting and rugs) and couches. Our products kill both the adult fleas and their off-spring. The customer is responsible for flea treatment of their pets. I treated all of the rooms in the house with special attention to those rooms used most frequently by the pets. 

Fleas are challenging infestations because of their sheer numbers, but with persistence and follow-up visits, these infestations, like any pest infestation, can always be resolved successfully.

While servicing one of our commercial accounts, a restaurant in Englishtown, NJ I observed a line of foraging ants marching around the outside perimeter of the structure. These particular ant are known as crazy ants — not because they drive you crazy, but because they move very erratically and unpredictably when foraging for food. From a distance, these tiny ants look like discarded coffee ground until you realize that these little things are alive and moving in every direction. 

Recently, I successfully treated another smaller species of ants, pavement ants, using a granular bait at another commercial account serviced by Cowleys. I wanted to try it here to see if it would take the “crazy” out of these ants.I placed some of the bait in the ant trail. Some were picking up the bait while others ignoring it. With ant infestations, I always try to locate the nest by following the ants. These ants seemed to be gravitating toward a tree in a parking lot island, and I saw ants climbing up the tree trunk. I kicked over some mulch and observed some pavement ants. These ants are even smaller than their crazy cousins. The pavement ants were especially interested in the bait I set out for the crazy ants. I set out more granular bait at the base of the tree to control both species of ants. With ant infestations you can’t assume you are dealing with only one species. Often, conditions that are favorable for one type of ant are favorable for others. I was glad that I observed these ants outside of the building. It’s always better to control an ant colony outside before the pests have a chance to invade the structure and find their way into all sorts of hiding places.

During the servicing of one of our commercial accounts in Englishtown, NJ, I came across a Halloween display better than anything you could buy in a store. I crossed paths with an orchard orb weaver. This beautiful spider was beginning to weave its treacherous web on the customer’s building. 

Many spiders, such as this one, have brilliant coloring and fascinating patterns. Orchard orb weavers have shimmering silver-white, green, and gold on their abdomens. Their classic wheel-like orb-shaped web is nearly horizontal and the spider hangs underneath it. Other orb weavers that we commonly find in New Jersey are the cross orb weaver and the spotted orb weaver. During the fall season, it doesn’t take long to find a spider and its intricate webbing. I carefully removed this spider, put her in a container, and relocated her into the woods nearby the building so she could enjoy the rest of its crawly life in peace. 

Unfortunately, spiders, just like bats, have an undeserved reputation as something scary, creepy, and dangerous. That’s far from the truth. Out of the thousands of species of spiders, about fifty are found in New Jersey, and of those, only two are poisonous, the black widow and the brown recluse. Of course, it’s always best to avoid touching any spider. Although spiders try to avoid human contact as much as we try to avoid them, they will bite if they feel threatened or endangered. 

Why did I go through the trouble of saving a spider? This lone spider was outside and just minding its own business. It wasn’t posing a threat to anyone. More important, spiders are beneficial insects. They are one of the best biological forms of pest control (as are mosquito-devouring bats) — and they don’t cost us a penny! Spiders will happily feed on common indoor pests that they ensnare in they web including mosquitoes, flies, clothes moths, and roaches. Also, spiders kill other spiders for survival including poisonous ones like black widows. 

So, if you happen see a spider or two in your home, don’t kill them. Their webs are catching many nuisance insects. It’s worth the trouble to trap them in a cup and relocate them to freedom outside. Spiders and their webs silently and efficiently trap many nuisance insects in and around your home or business — and they don’t even expect a tip!

With a hornets nests, you sometimes have to look carefully in order to find them. This particular large hornets nest was camouflaged by the trees on this residential property in Englishtown, NJ. For me, when dealing with a nest of this size, I don’t take any chances and wear a full bee suit for protection. 

Wasp nests are built by social wasps that live in large colonies with hundreds of workers, all of whom are ready to sting to protect their nest from any intruder. Thenest is made up of paper paste using chewed up wood fibers mixed with the insect’s saliva. Normally, these aerial hornets prefer to build their nests in trees (others, like yellow jackets, prefer holes and cavities for their nest-building).These use the nest for only one season. However, simply removing a dormant nest will not resolve the issue because the surviving overwintering wasps will construct a new one. The most effective way to deal with a hornets nest is to kill the colony while it is still active.

For this nest, I used an aerosol formulated for a knockdown of the nest up to 20 ft away. A light application is enough to eventually kill all the wasps as they pass through the opening of the nest. Just as important as killing the insects in the nest, it is critical to kill the foraging workers returning to the nest as well. When these insects come into contact the chemical over the next couple of days, there will be a complete kill of the entire colony. With the nest removed and the queen killed, the homeowner does not have to worry about this particular colony rebuilding. 

These homeowners in Englishtown, NJ found themselves with groundhogs nesting under their porch. Often, we deal with these critter control problems by installing Dig DeFence, a patented drive-in fencing system that extends the protection of any sense below ground. It stops dogs from digging out of your home’s fencing and also stops wildlife from entering areas like decks and patios that seem to be magnets for burrowing wildlife. Since these are steel drive-in panels, you can avoid the time and expense of trenching in order to install an underground barrier.  

We determined that for this particular home, these panels would not be effective because of the condition and spacing of the lattice on the porch. We wanted the right solution to keep out wildlife from under their porch even if it meant some extra work on our part. We decided the best way to keep out burrowing groundhogs and other digging animals, we did some digging on our part and buried thick wire mesh one foot down and bent it at a 90-degree right angle pointing one foot outward. We secured this “L”-shaped fencing to the porch structure, extending it over the lattice that had wide gaps in it for many types of wildlife to enter. This mesh will prevent the most determined groundhog or other burrowing creature from entering underneath the porch, either above ground or through digging.