Barron Pest Control
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My Blog
Blog
Rats Everywhere
Posted on January 4, 2016 at 3:43 AM |
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8th December and today I treated the biggest wasp nest I've seen this year, the worker wasps were still bringing food into the nest and to say it was "active" would be an understatement, in the weak December sunshine they were really busy. What's going on with the weather? Last week while treating rats in Evercreech I saw daffodils out in full bloom and the local rooks are busy spring cleaning their nests. Summer slipped seamlessly into Autumn and I was kept busy with wasps, moles and more rats than ever before. This year they seem to be everywhere - gardens, lofts, sheds, garages, anywhere there are poultry, stables, compost bins, sewers, under floors, in walls, up drain pipes, you name it and they'll have been there,no where seems safe from them this winter. We had an Autumn invasion in the hen run, the Fenn traps accounted for 5 or 6 in quick succession but I could tell from the fresh droppings and footprints in the mud of the run that at least one was evading the permanently sited traps. This rat had two well defined runs so I set a Fenn trap on each run buried in the soil & covered with weld mesh tunnels. After a couple of days I'd not caught it but rain overnight had left more mud in the pen and I could see from the tracks in the dirt that the culprit had changed his route to avoid my carefully sited traps. I can only assume that this rat had turned up with the others, seen his relatives get caught and learnt to avoid the metal devices placed strategically in the hen run. The crafty rodent's new route took it straight acoss the middle of the pen so after the hens had gone to roost I set a "whip" snare on the clearly defined run, this was about 5.00pm as it was getting dark, at 8.00pm when I went to feed the dogs I shone my torch across the pen and was pleased to find the rat dead, suspended from the whippy stick. |
Rampant Rats in Radstock
Posted on April 28, 2015 at 9:01 PM |
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Golden Mole
Posted on October 27, 2014 at 9:07 PM |
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Wasps, Wells & Warminster, Rats in Radstock, Mice in Midsomer Norton, Hornets in Horrington, Moles all over Mendip
Posted on September 26, 2014 at 6:36 PM |
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Rats & Moles
Posted on March 17, 2014 at 6:46 PM |
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Rats Vorsprung Durch Technik
Posted on February 12, 2014 at 12:48 PM |
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Christmas Message
Posted on December 24, 2013 at 8:03 PM |
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Halloween
Posted on October 30, 2013 at 5:07 AM |
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Cage Traps
Posted on October 22, 2013 at 9:35 AM |
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Autumn Pest Control - Cluster Flies
Posted on October 15, 2013 at 12:47 PM |
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With the days getting shorter and the nights longer & colder the Natural World begins to shut down for the Winter. Rats and mice, perhaps displaced by harvesting activities begin coming into warmer buildings to survive the winter, their activity often going un noticed until droppings or gnawing have caused damage or spoiled foodstuffs. The pest of the moment however is the Cluster Fly. After several nice sunny days of late the phone has been red hot with people troubled with plagues of flies. During the summer months these flies are of no consequence and the adults live harmlessly out of doors, feeding on pollen and nectar, however when the weather cools they seek shelter in nooks and crannies in houses and other buildings and as the temperature drops they will look for more protection and frequently form huge clustering masses in lofts and roofspaces. These large masses of flies are not considered a health risk, as they aren't associated with manure or rotting flesh like bluebottles or house flies would be, as they do not breed indoors they aren't indicative of poor hygiene. Large accumulations can though, produce a sickly smell. Control of Cluster Flies can be very difficult, it's not possible to control the larval stage as they are parasitic on earthworms, sealing entry points around an entire building is usually impossible, or at best very difficult. Vacuum cleaners can be the best method of getting rid of adult flies around windows and sealing around window frames can help to prevent access. Once the flies are inside an attic or loft accessable clusters can be vacuumed up or an insecticidal space spray or "smoke bomb" used to quickly kill any exposed flies, however these treatments are only effective for those flies present on the day and care must be taken to ensure there is no risk of fire, no danger of triggering smoke alarms and no bats present. Unfortunately, for anyone who is bothered by cluster flies they do seem to favour the same buildings year after year. Houses that face south and are light coloured outside (painted white, magnolia or yellow, or locally, Bath Stone), seem to be particularly to their liking, however, as I mentioned before they aren't a health risk, just a (sometimes severe) nuisance and no matter how horrible looking the infestation is, they are unlikely to pose a threat to your health or well being. |
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