AZ Pest:: Arizona Pest & Termite Control

QUESTION:
Since roaches will eat many things, will they be attracted to ant bait gel or bait stations, and will ants be attracted to roach gel or bait stations?

ANSWER:

Roaches and Ants are principally scavengers that feed on many things, and they definitely would eat a bait that is “designed” for some other kind of insect. When the first modern era cockroach bait came into our market 20 years ago – Blue Diamond Roach Paste – not only were PMP’s absolutely AMAZED to see how desperate roaches were to eat the bait, many technicians started seeing piles of dead ants too. Now we have dozens of different cockroach baits in gel, paste, granular, and plastic station formulations, and the manufacturers of these products spend a great deal of time and money trying to produce a product that is irresistable to the targeted insects.

It would seem logical that there are certain food ingredients that are most enticing to a German Cockroach, and others that are most attractive to certain species of ants, so a cockroach bait is developed with the cockroach in mind and vice versa. If you get the peripheral control of other pest insects then so much the better. We have both sugar and protein baits for ants, knowing that either of these nutrients may be the one that worker ants are foraging for at some stage in the life of their colony. Having the variety of choices helps us offer a bait that will be most acceptable to the ants. Roaches are not social insects, so it is more likely that whatever they stumble upon will be regarded as food, but we also are told that the German roach has a high requirement for moisture, and that the roach baits with moisture in them will often be the preferred material.

Bottom line though, is that each kind of bait is formulated with food ingredients that seem, in the laboratory setting, to be most attractive to the labeled pest, and this is not necessarily going to limit that bait’s effectiveness to just that insect. Omnivores like ants and roaches are likely to feed on each other’s materials, and the active ingredients in them will just as quickly kill an ant as they will a cockroach.

Mr. Pest Control http://www.pestweb.com

Pest Control Question:

What is the name of the fly that just flies in circles, like in the garage or patio? I put out Maxforce fly bait, but nothing works. I make sure to pick up all the dog and cat droppings, so where do they come from?

Answer: 

There is one species of very annoying little fly, appropriately called the Little House Fly (Fannia canicularis), that spends its time flitting endlessly around in shaded locations. This often is covered patios, open garages, breezeways between buildings, or under shade trees. Sometimes dozens of them may be present, and the annoyance is increased when you walk through the area. Their appearance is similar to the regular Housefly, but the little house fly is much smaller and males have patches of light yellow on the sides of their abdomen, which is very slender.

Like so many other “filth” flies these breed in decaying materials, such as garbage cans and dumpsters, rotting vegetation, animal waste, etc. In the landscape the source often will be dog droppings that have laid around for too long, allowing the flies to lay their eggs on the droppings and for the maggots to move through their stages and to the pupa. To resolve this the homeowner needs to be coached on frequent removal of the pet droppings, with no more than one week between cleanup periods. Vegetation that has piled up and remains wet is a perfect breeding medium, and lawn clippings are often the culprit. As a pile of lawn clippings begins to rot it generates heat, and now the warmth and moisture within that pile can produce huge numbers of flies for a long period.

Control can be a little difficult when it comes to dealing with the adult flies. Since they are able to fly and are drawn to a shaded place, it may not even be on your customer’s property that they are breeding. We preach source control when it comes to dealing with flies, rather than focusing on the adult flies, and this is extremely appropriate for filth flies. But, if they are breeding in some other yard but just coming to your customer’s property because there is some great place to fly around, that makes it tough. The little house fly seems to be far less attracted to the highly effective fly baits than the House Fly, but I would still try these, such as the Maxforce Granular, Maxforce Spot On, or the QuikStrike. The adult flies normally feed on nectar and other sugary resources (honeydew from aphids), so they do like sweet liquids.

Since the problem is very often outdoors it really limits the use of UV light traps, which would have too much competition from sunlight to be very effective. If possible you might be able to install fans or in some other way create air movement, which discourages the flies from using a particular area. Treating surfaces near the flight area with a residual contact insecticide may be helpful, as at some point in time even these tireless fliers do have to land, and if they land on that material it may be sufficient to kill them. A microencapsulated or wettable powder formulation may be best, such as Demand CS, Tempo, or some other pyrethroid. The use of pyrethrum sprays will also be pretty limited in effect, as they would dissipate rapidly outdoors.

www.pestweb.com

Hey Bruce, I have a colony of bees on my property, think are they Africanized?

Feral bees located in Arizona , New Mexico ,southern California,  southern Texas , and southern Nevada , are likely to be Africanized bees.

Hey Bruce, Do Southwest cockroaches transmit disease organisms?

Some cockroach species are known to transfer pathogens.
The fact that some synanthropic cockroaches live in homes, sewers, hospitals, etc. and feed on human foods, and feces, makes it possible for them to vector a variety of human disease.

Hey Bruce, Can you relocate honey bee colonies as opposed to killing the colony?

If foraging bees are trapped and released with no comb to return to they will die. 

Got Questions? Roachman@azpest.com