Category Archives: Pest Information

Insect Growth Regulators & Roaches

If you have roaches in Lancaster PA, or York PA, Dominion Pest Control controls roaches in both counties. Roaches are not beneficial insects. What that means is that they do not help us in anyway. In fact, they actually hurt us. I know, you are probably saying, “What does he mean by that?” Roaches are the number one cause of asthma in children. And the gross thing, it is roach fecal particles in the air that do it. Secondly, roaches contaminate food sources.

Tons, yes hundreds of tons of food gets thrown out every year due to roaches contaminating food that humans eat.

The main problem with roaches is, in some species, the females only have to be impregnated one time, and then can release egg sacks at willful of baby roaches. This means that you can have a roach baby machine in under the refrigerator and not even know it. The way we combat this problem with pest control products is something called an Insect Growth Regulators. An IGR stops roach populations by telling baby roaches that they are already an adult roach, tricking them. So they do not turn into adult roaches, the only roaches that can reproduce.

In essence, when you kill one roach, you are taking out an army, a future roach army if you will. We know that it is impossible to extinct roaches, but it is important to get everyone that you see
running around.

If you think you are going to control roaches with a can of spray in Lancaster PA, think again. You may be in for the battle of your life. There are many species of roaches, but only a handful that actually invade structures. In this article, I would like to cover German roaches, the predominate roaches in apartments, trailers, homes, and warehouses.

Now nobody likes roaches of course, and since they are not a beneficial insect, everybody likes to blame someone else for having them. As an example, the German roach is not the German roach in Germany. No, it is the French Roach (how convenient). But you see, there is good logic behind it. The German roach has to come from someone else if you have them. It does not, can not, live apart from humans. So much for “they were here for millions of years before us”). Nope, the species has not been found apart from us. And the only way you can get a good infestation of these roaches is to have someone bring them in (including yourself).

Now you can get them by being near another residence that has them so bad they are spreading to you. I see this all the time too. But my point here is that no one will lay claim to them. Okay, by now you are asking, “okay, but how do you kill German roaches?”.

IGRs are a great way to help stop them. This stands for Insect Growth Regulator. By stopping the roaches from turning into adults, we can stop them from having more baby roaches. But this will not kill the German roaches that are already adults. So you are going to need one of the insecticide concentrates. Make sure that you mix it well in your sprayer. Note: you can mix an IGR with an insecticide concentrate in your sprayer.

However, you do not want to spray over your food stuffs, or your stove, or in your cabinets (unless the labels allow you after you have removed your items). With this in mind, you are going to want an insect bait. There are insect gel baits, and insect bait stations. Both are a good idea for the roach who wants to come out at night and have a snack. Using insecticide concentrations, Insect Growth Regulators, and insect baits, you can systematically kill roaches easily.  Dominion Pest Control has a very successful program for roach control.  The video below displays a serious roach infestation in Lancaster that was filmed by the Dominators reality show crew. Also, feel free to download our Roach Preparation Sheet.

Stink Bug Treatment Coupon

If you are looking for a way to save money and get rid of stink bugs in Lancaster or York PA, we have our download-able pest control coupon flyer here: Stink Bug Coupon.

The coupon gives anyone who lives in Lancaster or York PA the ability to receive $25 off their initial stink bug treatment!

Feel free to pass on to anyone you know in Lancaster or York PA who is having a problem with stink bugs!

No other company is as aggressive about stink bug control as Dominion.  With an average technician experience of 15 years, you are guaranteed to get a skilled pest control operator who has the experience you need to to get rid of stink bugs in your home or business.

Spotlight: Termites

Every year in Lancaster and York, PA, a healthy colony of Subterranean Termites release thousands of reproductive swarmers that try to emerge and start a new colony. These can sometimes be confused with Ant swarmers. It takes a trained eye to know the difference, so you might want to let us look at it for you if have a swarm. The other way you know if you have termites is if you find mud tunnels stemming out of wood.

Usually termites will manifest on the basement sill first, but sometimes they can be found in the garage door frame or any place you have wood-ground contact such as basement stairs that have poured concrete around the base. Termites may be in a piece of wood and not build mud tunnels or “shelter tubes”. Probing with a scratch awl is one way to determine termite activity; the awl will easily go into the wood if termites have been there for awhile.

If you need a termite treatment, you may not want to wait too long before calling us—termites do quite a bit damage quickly. This is your home we are talking about, one of your greatest investments literally being eaten! In Lancaster and York, PA, it is important to use a non-repellent insecticide on termites so they do not move down the road to the neighbors, but instead, die right where they are. Using technology that allows the termites to transfer the product one to another, we can shut down a termite colony with one-million members within three months! Not only will Dominion Pest Control kill the current termites attacking your home, our treatment will kill any other termite colony that comes in contact with the treatment for over one decade! Now that’s taking control!

 

All About Stink Bugs

Stink Bugs have arrived! Within the last decade they have been imported to Allentown, and now they are in Lancaster and York, PA! Named for the terrible odor they give when crushed, stink bugs are here to stay. They seem to find their way into homes with little effort, and have now become a pest we need to control.

The easiest way for us to control stink bugs is to powerspray the perimeter of a home or structure, and focus on areas where they can penetrate into the interior walls. It is not uncommon for a stink bug to hitch-hike on a body into the house, but if you are seeing them in the winter that is not when they got in. Sadly, they are already in your walls, you just don’t know it. Stink bugs will sun-bathe on the south side of your home if you live in Lancaster or York, PA, and then press in around areas such as windows, doors, utility service lines, dryer vents, outside faucets, etc. Confused by the extreme difference in temperature between the inside and outside of your wall, stink bugs will press in to where they think summer is—the inside of your home! If you have stink bugs, don’t fret, give us a call right now at 717-393-7879!

Roaches in PA

There are only three or four species of Roaches that you will find in your home here in Lancaster and York, PA. The most popular by far, is the German Roach. Sometimes confused with Brown Banded Roaches, German Roaches are light brown and small. These guys multiply faster than rabbits. They always come from people bringing them in, or by an attached building that has an infestation. They do not live outside, and need to dwell with people to survive. Once impregnated, the female German Roach can release eggs at will. It’s kind of scary isn’t it? Well don’t fear, Dominion is here! We can get control of these roaches rather quickly. Maintaining control is recommended monthly.

Another roach commonly seen here is the Oriental Cockroach. Black and larger, they are found mostly in basements, but can be seen wondering around even on the 2nd floor. In Lancaster and York, PA, one can find oriental roaches living in the sewers and coming up dried out drains. Older structures seem to be more susceptible to oriental roaches. Spraying is not as effective as commercial granule baits for this roach which loves the cover of darkness. There will be a significant decrease of activity after our 1st service for oriental roaches. Maintaining control is recommended monthly.

The American Cockroach is the biggest that you will find in your home here in Lancaster and York, PA. These are the ones exterminators tell their “War Stories” about. They are a formidable foe, but with proper professional products mixed with experience, they don’t stand a chance against Dominion Pest Control. Although they are frightening to the home occupier, we can get and maintain control of these guys easily.

Carpenter Ants

When it comes to Carpenter Ants, the biggest question many people have is, “Are they in the house or are they coming from the outside?” This is a great question, and there are some ways to try and figure it out. Carpenter Ants can be a real problem if they are nesting in the house. Before you start spraying everything you can find under the kitchen sink on these ants, let us make sure they are Carpenter Ants, and not some other species. If you have black (not dark brown) ants that can be different sizes when found, you probably have Carpenter Ants. The same colony can have small and big members. Size is not a real factor in determining if you have them, so do not spend a lot of time analyzing this variable. A better idea is to determine where they are coming from (we will talk about this later).

One the sure way of knowing that you have an infestation inside the home is if you find “flying ants” or “swarmers”, as we in the pest control industry prefer to call them. Flying ants inside are never a good sign. But before you get all worked up, make sure they are not termites. You will be thankful when you determine it is just ants if that is what it is! If you do determine that they are termites, call a professional company and consider having a professional treatment before you try to tackle them yourself. Mistreating a termite colony could cost you thousands of dollars in the long run. The easiest way to determine if you have ants (whether Carpenter Ants or other) is to look for three distinct body parts. With ants, the head, thorax and abdomen are all visible to the naked eye. Termites appear to only have two segments. However if in doubt, call in a pest control company to make sure. Most companies have a “free inspection policy” and will not charge to tell you what kind of bugs you have.

Another way to determine if the ants are nesting in the home is to note the time of year. If you have Carpenter Ants roaming around the house in the middle of the winter and it is cold outside, they are definitely not coming from the outside! This is also possibly something you will see in the late winter-spring. “Ok, what do I do now?” you ask, itching to kill these things. Well hold on, before we get into that, let’s talk about some habits these home-wreckers have.

The biggest thing you need to know about Carpenter Ants is that they need water to survive. Although their primary diet is dead insects, they will always need a water source. It is usually outside–such as a bird bath, a clogged gutter, poor landscaping or some other drainage issue. Worse yet, the water source may be inside. “What?” you may ask. It is true, it can be inside your home. Many times homeowners have told me horror stories about that tiny leak under the bathtub or kitchen sink they never knew about under one day… Carpenter Ants started showing up and someone suggested a leak. Or, it could condensation on pipes in a crawl space. And what about improperly sealed shower stalls? All these things contribute to attracting Carpenter Ants. They say to themselves, “Why live outside in the elements when we can live can live here with our primary staple (water).” They certainly are not stupid creatures, as King Solomon noted and encouraged lazy people to go and learn from them.

Another habit worth noting is that they are primarily nocturnal. Most of the ones you see during the day are just scouting the situation out. A lot of people report to me that they see them only in the early morning. This is the graveyard shift getting ready to clock out. They most likely found a gold mine in the sink from last night’s dishes that were washed.

Now let us talk about control. First, you must determine where the colony is hiding. It may be far away from the sightings and you may never find them without help. A good idea is to look outside during the late afternoon on the perimeter of your home for “ant trails”. If you find them going up the side of your home, follow them. Especially if they are carrying something like a dead insect-they are always going back to the nest with it and will lead you to some idea as to where it may be. It could be in the attic, or one of your eaves, a basement sill area, or simply between your walls. If you can find the nest and want to treat it yourself, using a powder or “dust” is one way to kill the colony by using a bulb-duster and pumping the powder into the hole on the outside where they disappear into. Sometimes though, this can make matters worse, you may end chasing them deeper into your house and then they manifest in areas you were not seeing them in before. Using a general spray insecticide can hold them off on the inside, but could end up causing the situation to become more severe with their speading-out in areas where they are not visible.

After treating Carpenter Ants for more than a decade, I do want to encourage you consider calling a professional who has access to professional products that may discourage the ants from moving around and dying right where they are. An example of this would be baits or non-repellents that act like a virus to the colony. If your concern is financial, please consider that mistreating Carpenter Ants could result in serious damage to your home long-term, and translate into repairs that seriously out-way the cost of a professional treatment.  To learn more click on the video below.

Yellowjackets & Other Stinging Insects

Yellowjackets can make a nest in the ground or inside structures such as walls in a home or business.  If you have this situation, do not spray!  If you do, you risk pushing them inside where they will not be able to get out.  Wasps can make nests behind shutters, up in corners of eaves, inside lamp posts, etc.  And of course, you have your Hornets that make potentially basketball size nests anywhere.

All of these stinging insects can be controlled by Dominion Pest Control.  For some, it might be recommended to have a regular quarterly powerspray on the perimeter.  In any event,  control for pests is fairly simple.  Depending on the situation, we may use a dust, or a non-repellent transferable product whereby the insects transfer the product one-to-another.

Spiders in Lancaster & York

There are many types of spiders that will invade your home here in Lancaster and York PA, too many to name actually. One thing that you need to know is that they can be stopped. Years ago, people would tell me that someone in the pest control industry told them that there was nothing that you could do for spiders. Well that simply isn’t true. We will get and maintain control! In fact, when someone is on our Quarterly Perimeter Powerspraying plan, they won’t see many at all. That’s right, we can control them to the point that you’ll wonder where they all went!

One of the ways we get control of spiders is by treating rooms in the home with a general spray insecticide on the initial service where the spiders are being sighted. Something that is important is to have us treat the basement and garage on the initial service also. From there, we maintain control quarterly from the outside. Now we are not talking about something you pick up at the hardware store; we use products that are long lasting along with low toxicity rates. And best of all, mostly every product we use has virtually no odor at all! Call us for more details! To view Dominion’s veteran technician Christopher Komarow treat a spider infestation, please click on the video below.