Archive for the Wasps Category
Posted on February 26, 2013 with No Comments
Rats, wasps, bees, fleas, and mosquitoes can be a tremendous nuisance. The spring and summer months are the perfect time to enjoy your patio and garden, but when these recreational areas are infested with creepy, crawly critters it becomes difficult to do so. pest control services utilize a number of tools and methods for wasp nest removal and other kinds of pest problems. Regardless of whether you are having wasp problems or are experiencing other kinds of pest troubles, a pest control company can come in, do a full diagnosis, and do what is required to rid your home and the grounds around your home of any and all unwanted insects and vermin.
Wasps are of particular concern during the spring and summer months. They can infest and build up nests in the spaces around your home. Recurring visits by wasps, especially if they come in groups, is an indication that there is a nest somewhere on or near year property. If not taken care of immediately, problems with wasps can go become very serious. The last thing you want is for wasps to nest permanently in your yard, or in some other area of your property.
The best way of ensuring that your wasp problems are handled competently and effectively is to call a professional pest control service. Such exterminators are trained to rid you of the problem of wasp nests. And they can take the resolve the problem in a way that will be of little expense and inconvenience to you.
Spring and summer are for barbeques, swimming, and other outdoor entertainments. It is virtually impossible to indulge in such recreation when your backyard is infested with wasps and other pests. Calling in a pest control service can help you reclaim your living space. However, it is vital that you call the right company—a company that is able to offer the right service for the right price. It may be the case that the wasp problem is one that affects the entire neighborhood. If this is the case, the pest control company you work with will need to be flexible enough to work with a joint effort by the community to combat a pest problem. Not every pest control company can offer that kind of service, so it’s vital that you find and contact one that can.
The worldwide web provides a medium through which it is possible to search through and evaluate the websites of many different pest control companies. The web gives you a great deal of power and control in choosing the pest control firm you believe it is best to work with. Using the web will enable you to select the pest control firm that you believe can best deal with the wasp problem you face. And the great thing is you can do such a search and selection in the comfort of your home. This makes deciding on the pest control company that is best suited to meet your needs and expectations easy and convenient.
This blog was posted on the nopests blog of J.P. McHale Pest Management Inc. and approved for publication by Martin Miller, NBC Bird and Pest Solutions.
Posted on September 13, 2011 with No Comments
This wasp nest is 18 inches long and 2 feet wide! Wasp nests by this time of the year have grown to be the the size of volleyballs from being left untreated all season.
While this may look like a piñata, the slightest disturbance to the nest could result in some unwanted activity.
If you live in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut and notice one of these in your yard, contact our office immediately!
Posted on June 22, 2011 with No Comments
USA Today reported on the unfortunate differences for people who encounter stinging insects that are allergic, versus those who aren’t. The pain of a wasp or other stinging insect bite may linger, but not all people are fortunate enough to walk away from the 
incident alive.
Eliminating the possibility of running into stinging insects, and considering allergy shots are the top two preventative measures the article suggests.
Research suggests that allergy shots work the way a vaccine does, and that the increased immunity to the allergen will decrease the patients’ likelihood of severe allergic reactions when coming in contact with the stinging insects.
Avoiding stinging insects altogether is not always feasible, especially if you enjoy being outdoors. However, knowing your surroundings and detecting any major infestations of stinging insects in your yard may help decrease your likelihood of encountering these [occasionally] dangerous pests.
Over a half million people are rushed to the hospital each year for stinging insect bites, and around 50 of those people will die.
Please take proper precautions against stinging insects, and give us a call if you suspect any unwanted activity!
Photo Credit
Posted on June 20, 2011 with No Comments
I still remember the first time I saw the 1950’s movie about nuclear-mutated ants threatening to take over the world. I was quite 
young and impressionable, and I’ll admit the movie was a little scary. Think about it, GIANT ANTS! A hard, bulletproof exoskeleton, the ability to carry many times their own weight, and huge mandibles that could squish little humans! Yikes.
Well thank goodness we don’t have to worry about giant nuclear ants. Instead, we are faced with countless miniature ants that infest our homes and structures (some tradeoff!). Judge them not by their size, ants are considered to be the most successful of all insect groups with approximately 12,000 species worldwide. They occur in all terrestrial habitats around the world and outnumber many animal species. They are closely related to bees and wasps, sharing both physical characteristics and social organization with these groups. That is, ants exist in eusocial (truly social) societies that provide cooperative care for young, maintain a reproductive division of labor and have overlapping generations.
A common ant example in the minds of many homeowners is the carpenter ant. A black or otherwise dark bodied species, carpenter ant workers vary in size from about 1/4 to 3/4 inch (3.5 to 13 mm) in length. Like all insects, they have three body parts and six legs. They have a diverse diet, feeding on many kinds of plant and animal foods that are either living or dead. During the hot summer months (right about now!) they tend to forage for food at night, making their presence unknown to unsuspecting homeowners.
Carpenter ants nest in a number of different locations: stumps, hollow logs, telephone poles, fence posts and structural wood. Indoors they might target windowsills, doors, roofs, porch columns, or other hollow structures such as pipes. Nests in a home could be a satellite colony, a smaller collection of ants that do not have an actively reproducing queen and are instead a break from the larger parent colony.
Contrary to popular belief, carpenter ants (and carpenter bees for that matter) do not actually eat wood, but use it strictly for nesting. In order to feed and derive nutrition from wood, insects such as termites require a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms to digest cellulose. Not having this mutualism prevents ants from eating wood, but not from destroying it! In fact, ants can be a little picky when it comes to the wood they infest. They specifically target moist wood that is partially decayed and easy to chew through with their mighty mandibles. This means that carpenter ants are a product or indicator of a structural problem (water damage), and not necessarily the initial cause of the damage. The first thing to do when you suspect a carpenter ant infestation is to identify sources or moisture: clogged gutters, roof leaks, cracked pipes, etc.
As a kid (before the trauma of Them!), I enjoyed watching ants follow their strictly defined paths. Although carpenter ants sometimes diverge from this behavior and forage randomly, somehow they always find their way home and use pheromones, chemical communication signals, to navigate. When they arrive home, they kindly share the bounty of their harvest with others in the community via a process known as trophallaxis. It’s a fun word, say it out loud: Tro-pha-laxis. This term describes the exchange of nourishment between two insects, and in ants occurs mouth to mouth (indeed there are other ways this happens in the insect world…). This behavior has been targeted by scientists, successfully reducing the amount of product necessary to control damaging ant species. Regardless of whether baits (sugary or salty depending on the time of year) or sprays (with particles ingested during insect grooming) are used, our products make their way into the ant digestive system. Back at the nest, these products are spread throughout the colony via trophallaxis, eventually killing not just workers, but the larvae and queen. Control of the entire colony is therefore possible by strategic placement of baits, eliminating the need for wholesale spraying of large areas to wipe out a nest.
Photo Credit: Matt Frye
Tags: bee, carpenter ant, carpenter bee, movie, Termites, wasp
Category: Ants, Bees, Carpenter Ants, Carpenter Bees, Insects, Pests, Termites, Termites, Uncategorized, Wasps
Posted on November 22, 2010 with 5 Comments
Tags: jp mchale, Westchester magazine
Category: Ants, Bees, Company Announcements, Crawling Insects, Insects, NY Pest Control, Pests, Summer Pests, Termites, Wasps
Posted on June 24, 2010 with No Comments
Yesterday, one of our techs had a very funny encounter. Early in the morning he was called to a customers house to check for wasps nests. The homeowner came outside and held the ladder as the tech walked up and started to inspect the bottom of the roof. The tech was in his bee suit and mask so he would not get stung. While he was up there, he heard a piercing scream. Startled, he almost fell off the ladder! The home owners daughter had just woke up and outside her window she saw our tech in his bee suit! Who was more scared, our tech or the girl?
JP McHale is a Westchester Pest Control company. We would love to help you with your pest problem! Contact us by phone 800-479-2284, email, live chat, twitter, or facebook.
Posted on June 8, 2010 with 2 Comments
I recently came upon this interesting video. Wasps only sting when they are alarmed or threatened, but this is still a risky idea!
Posted on May 18, 2010 with 1 Comment
Ouch! Bee and Wasp stings are the worst! But how can you tell which one stung you? The Boston Globe published an article on May 17th explaining the differences bees and wasps. Like most people have experienced, both are painful when they sting you. A bee goes right on the skin, making a sting which releases 50 micrograms of venom, and then gets right out, leaving their stinger in the skin. A wasp, however, stings which releases only 2 to 15 micrograms of venom, and then leaves the skin only to try and sting a human again. A wasp keeps its stinger intact, unlike a bee, so if stung, make sure you remove the stinger if it stays in the skin. When removing the stinger, make sure you scratch it out and not pull so more venom does not come out. Once a person is stung the best way to treat a sting is to put ice on the sting or numb the area quickly so the person will not feel the pain. After the bee or wasp stings it is important for everyone to leave the area because once they sting, they will call others to the area. People can be allergic to one type of venom and not the other, but both stings will result in hives if the person is allergic. Make sure you notify a doctor immediately if the person experiences an allergic reaction and for severe cases, call 911.
(Wasp on left, Bee on right)
To learn more about bees or wasps and to see how JP McHale Pest Management can help you manage a bee or wasp problem, feel free to contact us by email, live chat, twitter, facebook, or check out our website. Have a great day and watch out for those stingers!
Boston Globe, Bee Picture, Wasp Picture
Tags: allergic reaction, Bees, Sting, Stinger, Stinging insect, wasps
Category: Carpenter Bees, Flying Insects, Insects, Stinging Insects, Summer Pests, Wasps
Posted on January 18, 2010 with 1 Comment
Many times when a homeowner sees a common pest problem such as pavement ants, carpenter ants, a wasp’s nest or similar, they will go to the local hardware store and buy Raid or a similar product to control the problem the least expensive way. However the old saying stays true…”you get what you pay for.” In the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut only a select few of these types of products are available for purchase without a license.
As true with our application methods, the same are available in stores such as spraying, baiting and trapping methods.
Let’s say for example you see a large amount of carpenter ants on your deck, and you apply an over the counter spray. This spray will appear to take care of all of the visible ants that the spray contacts. However, this spray is considered a “topical” product, which will simply kill the pests on contact. In order to effectively control carpenter ants they need to bring back the product to the colony to ensure the entire problem is controlled. If you employ a pest control company, spraying the topical spray can actually negatively affect the control measures because there will be less worker ants to bring the products back to the colony.
