Old Bridge, NJ Pest, Bird, & Wildlife Control

A restaurant in Old Bridge, NJ was having ongoing pest problems and decided to use Cowleys for their periodic servicing. Soon thereafter, I was dispatched with another pest control technician to do a thorough roach clean out. As soon as we started, we realized that there was an even more serious infestation that needed to be resolved — mice!

It is imperative for restaurants to have sanitation and hygiene protocols established and followed for the kitchen staff. It’s only a matter of time before a dirty kitchen finds itself with pest problems. Apparently, the other pest control service did not convey the importance of sanitation. Pest control in restaurants must be a cooperative effort with the pest control service.

As shown in the photos, the grill has not been adequately cleaned. Even worse, underneath in the grill’s catch basin there were mouse droppings. While we were doing our clean out, no more than an hour after the grill was turned off, a mouse popped his head up to see what all the commotion in the kitchen was all about. It was painfully obvious to us that this kitchen had major sanitation deficiencies. The photos underneath the deep fryers speak for themselves. It was no surprise that rodents had made this kitchen their home. Fortunately, my partner and i were there to start eviction proceedings against these trespassers!

A rodent infestation in a restaurant or other food preparation business spells big trouble, and we knew that we had to act fast to get things under control. We started out by placing glue boards in strategic places throughout the kitchen. Glue boards not only catch rodents. We use them as monitoring devices between service calls to gives us a reliable indicator of what pests are active and the level of infestation. We also set up outdoor rodent bait stations. With rodents, a major part of the inspection is locating potential entry points. Unfortunately, because of their size, mice are able to access buildings through quite small gaps and cracks around the building’s foundation. We thoroughly inspected the basement and sealed all of the access points that we could find. 

An infestation this severe cannot be completely resolved in one visit. It will require constant follow-ups until we can get the situation under control. We informed the manager that the staff needs to do a more thorough job with kitchen sanitation and there must be accountability of cleaning tasks so everyone knows what is required of them. We look forward to working with this new customer and get them on track for a clean, healthy kitchen. 

Well, here we are. It’s mid-September and getting toward the end of bee and wasp season. I expect that, given the time of year, this nest will probably be one of the last active hornets nests that I’ll remove this year, and I’ll bid these insects a not-so-fond farewell. As the colder weather approaches, the insects will abandon their nest. The fertilized queen will find a secure private location to overwinter while the other colony members end of their brief lifecycle.

I was sent out to treat and remove a hornets nest in a condominium community in Old Bridge, NJ serviced by Cowleys. Hornets are very productive workers that can build these nests in a relatively short time. Hornets nests can become quite large, even as big as a basketball. A single nest can house hundreds of worker wasps. These wasps are aggressive and highly territorial, stinging any potential intruder (or more often, someone who mistakenly enters the vicinity of their nest). This particular nest is pretty big and it likely took about three weeks for the hornets to construct. These wasps remove bark from trees and chew it with their mandibles and secrete saliva making a paper-like pasty material that they use to form their nests. If you have a chance to see one of these nests up close-up (preferably, one that is dormant!), they are really quite beautiful structures of nature. These nests even have different shadings because of the variation of different barks used.

Many of these nests can be left alone. However, unfortunately, these insects decide to build their nests close to human habitats. That’s when a pest control professional needs to be called in. Wasp stings can be quite painful and a single wasp is able to sting multiple times. If you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can find yourself in the midst of a wasp attack with multiple stings. At best, these stings are quite painful, and for someone allergic to wasp venom, a wasp attack is a serious medical emergency.

Although their are different ways to treat the nest, one effective way is to use a product that is not a quick knock-down. A slow-acting residual product ensures the treatment affects not only the hornets in the nest, but also the foraging wasps that are returning. This way, the entire colony is destroyed. After a few says when the nest is removed, there will not be any “homeless” hornets flying around looking to build a new nest on the same site.