ARE THE 'ALIENTS' ATTACKING YOUR HOME

We have received many enquires on how to control ants at the home or offices and are fascinated with some the natural way things are done to get rid of them. Some of them suggest that if add 1 part water to 1 part vinegar  and spray at the invading ants the ants are kept away. Then there some who have put Traditional  oilmen with a cotton bud at areas where there are ants but imagine the house smelling like a Medical Hall. May be you have an interesting method of getting rid of ants, do share with us. Anyway let us briefly explain to you on the nature of ants and how is it possible to keep a check on them 

In Malaysia we are troubled by many species of ants, the more common ones are the big red ants that build nest in your plants or trees. This type of ants bites and leave sore feeling. They seem to multiply every day and the more your try to get rid of them, more seem to appear. There is of coz' the small black ants, the brown ants that work as scavengers , eating almost everything in their paths and found mostly in the garden ground. They channel up the earth and mostly seen during dry seasons. The number one nuisance ants it the on that goes for anything that is sweet, it is light brownish in colour. Some have been bitten by this ants,you have to be extremely careful when you have a baby around the house.

Ants communicate with each other using pheromones and perceive smells with their long and mobile antennae (that's why we call them aliens as they look like one). Whenever an ants forage for food it leave behind a scent trail. The trails will be highway for all other ants to follow and when more ants follow the trails, this trails become 'hot '. All the surrounding ants of the colony will zoom in to the food source using this 'hot' trail. Once the food supply is depleted less ants will follow the trail and the scent of the trail will vanish and so will the ants.

So how do we control them, firstly all the area must be clean and food free for the ants. Secondly the scent trails must be erased, now it makes sense that the mixture of vinegar and also the Traditional oilmen is actually is a method of breaking the scent trail. Thirdly all the plants and trees should be treated for ants and also the grounds at the garden. Pesticide not only erases the scent trail but leaves a barrier against invading ants compare to natural method which will not last more than a few days.

ARE RATS REALLY AS SMART AS THEY SAY IT TO BE?

In my experience as a Pest Controller I have heard many stories about how Rats become violent after you begin to curse them. Please share your Rat experiences with us and we can come to the conclusion to see if Rats are really  smart animals.

As for my part, I was once  called  to control the invasion of rats at a  famous restaurant in a well known shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur. The restaurant  owner tried many methods on his own but could not get rid of the rats and the rats were multiplying at such a rapid rate that he could not keep up with the cleaning of the rats droppings and the smell of urine.I was called to take care of the problem. I was amazed that he was not closed down for business and no customer of his, had actually complained about the smell and the visibility of  rats dropping. It dawned on me much later that the lighting at this restaurant was way down and he had strongly scented potpourris all over his restaurant to camouflage the smell as well as the droppings.

A couple of days later we got down to work and as my staff was laying the baits and traps for the rats, the most amazing thing happened. I came eye to eye  with a huge black rat with deep red eyes which actually made me take two steps back. This 'monster' was observing all that we were doing and was following us from a distance, above the false ceiling it was a common open area for the entire complex which allows the rats to move freely beyond the restaurant perimeter. There was nothing I could do about this 'monster' but lay every trap there was for it. One would have thought that I had gone mad when they saw me telling the 'monster' to stay away from this restaurant or else he will surely be caught in my trap. He just ran away after the telling off and I thought to myself, okay that's done with.

I got a shock on my return to the restaurant a week later for further treatment when I again came face to face with this 'monster'. This time around I felt a certain shiver run trough me, I began  greeting it by saying hello and it responded with a loud squeaking sound that almost threw me off the ladder. I realized that it could be the leader of a pack of rats and after recomposing myself, I spoke gently to this 'monster' saying that we are putting a barrier against all rats to the restaurant and it should stay away and tell its  friends to do the same. The 'monster' ran away never to be seen again and it was never caught in our traps. The owner said that after a week later,  they have not seen any rat droppings or urine anymore.

You wonder whether the 'monster actually understood what I was telling it or it has observed the barrier we had created against the rats. The last I heard is that the restaurant below the one we were treating was terrorized  by rat invasion.

RAT CONTROL

Lately we have been floored with inquiries on the control of RATS. We believe this could have started from the articles that was carried out in the newspapers recently about the diseases that the droppings and urine contain. I'm sure sometime in our life we have been warned to always wash or clean the top of the cans of drink that we purchase. The reason is that there might be the presence of rats urine.

In order to control RATS, we must first understand their behavior. Rats are smarter than we give credit for. They will not simply take any type of food or poison that you may place for them. They taste, they observe and they will shy away if they find that the item they are consuming is of danger to them. That is why you can never get rid of them by yourself and need the help of a pest control operator. The baits that are placed by the PCO are specially formulated to avoid bait-shyness. Even with this advantage the PCO needs to know much more to stop other rats from coming into your premises and that is why only a few PCO are capable to provide such services. Always ask your PCO on the method they will employ and you can make your assessment from their reply.

Remember always, your property does not need to be dirty for Rats to invade.  

PEST CONTROL

We at Absolute Pest Control Sdn. Bhd. have started this blog so that we are able to disseminate information pertaining to pest control. We want this blog to be a interactive blog. We want you to ask us question on problems you face with pest and at the same time do share your experiences with pest encounters. We will try our level best to provide you answers to your questions and at the same time please leave your pest problem to pest control operators.