Lanoka Harbor, NJ Pest Control Contractor & Attic Insulation Professional

Homeowners in Lanoka Harbor, NJ, contacted Cowleys to inspect and treat for a possible mouse infestation. According to the homeowners, they were gone for three months, and upon their return saw the tell-tale signs of rodent activity like droppings.

During my inspection, I found rodent droppings underneath the sofa in and around a box of photographs that was being stored underneath. However, these homeowners were not dealing with mice. There was an infestation of Norway rats, also called sewer rats. Norway rats, which are brown or grey, are larger and more aggressive than roof rats. Roof rats are more slender and have a much longer tail than Norway rats.

Since Norway rats are larger, their droppings are larger as well. Norway rat droppings can be up to 1/2 inch in length and are capsule-shaped with rounded ends. Roof rat droppings are smaller and have pointed ends like mouse droppings. Pest control technicians can often identify the type of infestation based on the appearance of the droppings and track marks. 

I moved the couch to get a closer look. These industrious rats were taking leaves from the indoor house plants to use as nesting materials underneath the sofa. For any rodent infestation, I inspect the home’s exterior perimeter to look for entry points. Usually, the rodents exploit pre-existing gaps and cracks like openings around pipes entering the home. However, here, the rats with their razor-sharp teeth and strong jaws chewed through wood to enter the home. 

To treat this infestation, I was especially careful to selectively apply product. The objective is to target only the pest and you want to make sure there is not possible inadvertent human contact or contact with pets. These homeowners had dogs. I also applied tracking powder to the pipe chases in the crawl space, which are a favorite route for rodents. With rodents, it is never a one and done treatment. I’ll be back for a two-week follow up to re-assess. I’m confident that this rat infestation will be quickly resolved.

Cowleys handles all of the pest control matters for many condominiums, senior communities, and other multi-unit housing throughout New Jersey. I was recently sent to a condominium community in Lanoka Harbor, NJ for which we perform all of the preventative pest control treatments in addition to resolving any active pest infestations faced by the homeowners. The property manager informed us that the owner of one of the the units was plagued by small army of ants roaming around garage. As I was heading there, I thought that this was a somewhat unusual ant infestation because these insects are attracted to those locations in a home like kitchens and bathrooms where there is water and moisture.

Upon arrival, I inspected the garage. I observed several ants exiting a small hole in the beam going across the garage. The homeowner also relayed to me a valuable piece of the puzzle: The A/C repairman who was doing routine servicing of all of the units told her that he had found large ant nest in her neighbor’s attic. Whenever dealing with an ant infestation, one of the key objectives is to locate the ant nest so that the queen and the rest of the colony can be eliminated. It saved me a lot of time to be told the general location of the ant nest. This was also an example of how, in attached multi-unit dwellings, an insect infestation can easily transfer from one unit to the next. Here, this unit shared a common wall with another unit on the right side.

While in the garage, I observed ants trading across a garage beam. It was clear that these ants were coming into this garage from the other unit because there was no ant activity to be found on the unit’s exterior. I treated along the beam with a non-repellent application that the ants are unable to detect. We purposely don’t want the ants to avoid the product because we want them to bring it back to the nest and share it with the other ants through feeding and grooming. This way, we use the ant’s social behavior in order to eliminate the entire colony.