Earth Guard's Blog

Is that a Fork in the Road?

Here’s an excerpt from an excellent article in the current issue of PCT Magazine about taking time at year end to really evaluate how we can not only maintain the status quo but grow our businesses in the coming year. It’s relevant, regardless of what kind of business you are in:

“At the PPMA-sponsored general session at PestWorld 2009, many experienced firsthand the marketing wisdom of noted business author Bob Pritchard. For those who were not able to attend, let me share just a few of surprising statistics he revealed that can be valuable to businesses in approaching the year-end ‘fork’:

• The results of an in-depth study by the Business School at Harvard University discovered 62 percent of all satisfied customers never repurchase from the same source.
• In that same study, researchers found that four out of five sales are generated by repeat business or “word of mouth.”
• In a marketing study conducted by the Rockefeller Institute, 68 percent of consumers will stop doing business with a company when they feel that the company has stopped caring, whereas only nine percent of consumers stop using a service because they have been attracted by the competition….

“These studies underscore the need for businesses to develop a long-term marketing strategy — a strategy that is not just reactive to market conditions, but also proactive in laying the groundwork for year-over-year goals.”

To read more, including tips about how to approach the New Year “fork-in-the-road” for your business, visit http://www.pctonline.com/Article.aspx?article_id=43366.

The author is the executive director for the Professional Pest Management Alliance. She can be reached at mhenriksen@giemedia.com.

Happy 2010, Earth Guard customers and friends!

“Nighty-night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” When I was a child, I’d hear that affectionate bedtime tease from an older person once in a while. But never did I see a bed bug in the flesh, and for a long time I thought bed bugs were just make-believe, like the boogie man or the monster under the bed.

But as a grownup and owner of a Sacramento pest control company, I now know bed bugs do indeed exist. Practically unheard of when I was a kid, bed bug infestations have become increasingly common in the United States since the 1980s, likely as a result of increased global travel and trade, changes in available pesticides and possibly pesticide resistance. Once associated with crowded, deteriorated housing conditions, bed bugs infestations in the finest hotels have made recent headlines.

Whatever the reason for their resurgence, bed bug infestations are difficult to treat and exceptionally easy to transmit to other locations.

Bed bugs are widespread in temperate climates, most commonly in North America, Europe and Central Asia. The most common bed bug species in California is Cimex lectularius, an oval-shaped, reddish-brown insect, about one-fifth inch long, with a pyramid-shaped head. Female bed bugs lay 200 to 500 white eggs in small clusters of 10 to 50, affixed to rough surfaces like paper or wood by a white sticky coating and not generally visible to the naked eye. Often the egg shells remain in place after the bugs have hatched. During daylight hours, bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices behind headboards, under loose wallpaper and in seams of mattresses, usually not more than a few feet away from a bed and their night-time food source—you!

Bed bugs go through five nymph stages before they reach adulthood, and must take a blood meal at each stage before molting to the next stage. The life cycle may take up to four months, depending on room temperature and access to food. Bed bugs typically live six months to a year, and adults can live for a year or more without feeding.

Although bed bugs can feed on rodents or birds, their optimal food source is humans. At night, they are attracted to the warm bodies of their sleeping food sources, puncturing the skin, and feeding for five to 10 minutes until engorged. Usually the victim sleeps through the pinprick bite, not realizing he or she has been bitten until the next morning. Saliva secreted by the bed bug may cause itchy red welts and in some cases more severe allergic reactions. The only way to know the bite is from a bed bug rather than a mosquito or spider is to find evidence of a bed bug infestation.

Although there is not hard scientific evidence that bed bugs transmit diseases to humans, older scientific literature associated bed bugs with such diseases as tuberculosis, smallpox and plague. Recent studies indicate that while the bugs do indeed ingest disease germs from humans, they do not replicate or transmit the germs back to humans.

Adult bed bugs and clusters of the lighter-colored nymphs are visible to the naked eye, but because they hide so well, it usually takes a thorough inspection to spot them. Since bed bugs are almost always found near a bed, start by checking mattress seams, box springs, head boards and bed frames. They also leave tiny, dark-red fecal stains and shed skins that are sometimes easier to spot than the insects themselves. They have stink glands, and you may notice a strong, rotten meat smell where there is a heavy infestation.

Bed bugs are great travelers, and you may inadvertently bring them home in luggage or packages, from hotels, movie theaters, and bus or train seats. If your holiday plans include travel, whether you’re staying at a 5-star hotel or a roadside inn, a good rule of thumb is to leave your bags at the door of your room, pull up the bedding and check the mattress seams and surrounding nooks and crannies for any sign of these unwelcome occupants—before you start unpacking.

Eliminating bed bugs is time- and labor-intensive. Pesticide treatment must be coupled with thorough steam cleaning, vacuuming, washing of bedding in hot water, sealing up hiding places, and ongoing monitoring of the affected areas. Over-the-counter chemicals are less effective in field tests, and the most effective pesticides for use on bed bugs must be applied by licensed pest control professionals.

To read more about bed bugs and other pest control and environmental issues, visit my blog at http://earthguard.com/blog.

For more detailed info about bed bugs, try these excellent sources of information:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7454.html

http://www.pctonline.com/Article.aspx?article_id=37351

Seasoning your chili with flea dust? From PCT Magazine, this brief article demonstrates how badly things can go wrong when untrained consumers try do-it-yourself pest control:

California’s Top Pesticide Blunders

In Butte County, Calif., a man used a salt shaker to apply insecticidal dust on his dog for flea control. Later, he thought the salt shaker contained garlic salt and sprinkled the insecticidal dust on a bowl of chili.

The man realized his mistake because the chili tasted strange and the beans were a gray color. He experienced some stomach discomfort and went to a hospital for treatment.

This incident is one of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) “Top Pesticide Blunders,” which reminds the public to avoid illness and injury by following label instructions and using household cleaning and gardening products that pose the least risk to their health and the environment.

What follows are two Butte County incidents and blunders that were drawn from 2007 illnesses and injuries reported to DPR. State privacy law protects the individuals’ identities.

• In Sacramento County, a teenage girl saw a mouse in her home and used gopher bait to control the problem because she had seen her parents use it effectively against gophers in the yard. She read the label, but did not understand it. She poured a handful of pellets into a corner of two bedrooms and waited in another room. Within two hours, she experienced a sharp pain behind her eyes, and tightness in her chest when she breathed in. She was taken to an emergency room for evaluation.

• In Los Angeles County, an elderly woman spilled insecticidal powder on herself as she tried to open the container to use for roach control in her house. She apparently held the container over her head. She experienced “burning” and was taken to her doctor. See the original article.

Of course, as owner of a Sacramento pest control company, I admit a bias toward using trained professionals for something as dangerous
as handling hazardous chemicals. Improper handling of pesticides is not only potentially harmful to loved ones and pets, it also harms our environment. Recent studies have revealed dangerously high levels of pesticides in our Sacramento-area waterways, believed to come from both agricultural and misuse by well-intentioned residents and business owners (Sacramento Bee article ). A properly trained pest control technician analyzes the pest problem and determines the most effective treatment using the smallest and most precise possible applications of pesticides. Few home or business owners have the training and experience to achieve that result.

From PCT Online, November 2009:

“In May, a small group of professionals from around the country met the “locals” from one of the toughest rodent environments — New York City. Here’s a bit of what they learned…

“New York City was established in 1625 as New Amsterdam. No one knows for certain when the rat arrived thereafter, but estimates place it at perhaps 150 years later. Now, the problems associated with keeping rat populations low in New York City are directly related to New York’s human population….

“So, how will New Yorkers manage this formidable pest within the constraints of this complex city? The cold, hard truth is, in spite of the best efforts of NYC pest professionals, the Norway rat is likely to persist there in the shadows and underfoot, out of sight and mind to most except those that seek it out. They’ve had more than two centuries and hundreds of generations surviving and adapting to life in the Big Apple. In fact, it’s fair to say that most rats in New York City are not killed by man. Most die from stress caused by competition for food and territory among their own kind….”  Read more at: http://www.pctonline.com/Article.aspx?article_id=42946