In our previous blog, “Why is Pest Control Still Important During COVID-19?“, we talked about why it’s crucial to continue with pest control even if your business is closed, and how Modern Pest can help protect your business.
Now that businesses are beginning to reopen, business owners will be returning to what they thought were vacant stores and offices. But just because people weren’t occupying the location doesn’t mean that pests weren’t.
Your customers want to come back to your business, but not to pests. Click here or call Modern at 1-800-323-7378 to schedule our custom ecocare commercial service.
What’s in there?
A few of the most common pests that might have been occupying your space while you were social distancing and sheltering-in-place are mice, rats, cockroaches, and flies.
So, what are some signs that you have issues with these pests? What should you be looking for? And how can Modern help get rid of them and get your business back on track?
Signs of Rats and Mice
You might not know mice or rats have moved into your business right away. They love to hide in protected areas like shadows and corners, and in “squeeze points” where their whiskers touch the ceiling and they know larger predators can’t get them.
- The most obvious sign: you’ve seen them scurrying around. Where there’s one, there’s going to many more. And since they reproduce very quickly, an infestation can happen fast.
- A strong, musky odor from the rodents’ bodies, feces and urine
- A decaying odor from rats and mice that have retreated into walls and died
- Droppings that resemble brown grains of rice
- Sebum, an oily secretion of the sebaceous glands left behind by rodents as discolored, oily streaks on areas that they frequent
- Gnaw marks on nearly anything they interacted with, including pipes, furniture, wood molding, plastic, aluminum, and electrical wiring
- Damage to food packaging (gnaw marks, rips and tears in bags, food scattered around the area)
- Sounds of scurrying and/or squeaking noises in the walls or in cabinets
Signs of Cockroaches
The most common cockroach species in the United States are the German cockroach and the American cockroach. They can spread disease, contaminate food, and cause allergies, particularly asthma.
- You can smell them. Cockroaches produce a pheromone to keep their group together that causes a musty smell.
- You’ve seen one. Adult German cockroaches are about 1/2 – 5/8 inches long and tan to light brown in color. They have fully-developed wings but do not fly. German cockroaches can be identified by their small size and two dark, parallel lines running from the back of the head to the wings.
- German cockroaches droppings look like small, dark grains of pepper. They can be found on countertops or in drawers.
- Stains from fecal matter will show as dark spots or smears and will be seen in room corners, along door tops, and anywhere there are cracks.
- The American cockroach is more often found in urban metro areas. They are the bigger of the two species and can grow to over of 3 inches long. They are reddish brown in color and known to be moderate fliers.
- American cockroaches leave droppings in dark places like basements or behind appliances. These droppings can be mistaken for mouse droppings.
- Egg cases are dark-red or blackish brown and are found where you also find droppings.
If you’ve reopened your business and discovered pests, click here or call Modern today at 1-800-323-7378
Signs of Flies
Flies can be more than a nuisance. Flies carry over 100 pathogens that have been known to cause diseases in humans and animals such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, and more. There are several different types of flies common in New England, including house flies, blow flies, fruit flies, phorid flies, and cluster flies. Flies reproduce rapidly, and a single fly can produce 1 million offspring in as little as six to eight weeks.
- You’ll know you have flies when you see them. Different species prefer different conditions.
- Phorid flies are most abundant where there is decaying plant and animal matter. They breed in areas where moisture exists, such as around plumbing and drains in bathrooms and kitchens, garbage containers and disposals, crawl spaces, and basements.
- House flies are most often noticed as adult flies. They are typically found around garbage where they lay their eggs.
- Fruit flies love drains and garbage and are particularly attracted to empty beer and soda bottles or cans. They’re also found around soppy mops and buckets.
The Modern Solution
Modern Pest hasn’t stopped performing pest control during the coronavirus pandemic. As an essential service, Modern knows that letting pest control issues get out of control during a pandemic is a threat to public health, food supplies, and infrastructure, not to mention your bottom line.
We are adapting to the constantly changing world of COVID-19. Our traditional Integrated Pest Management-based ecocare commercial services are customized to your specific business and pest issues. And our innovative, around-the-clock Anticimex SMART technology is the intelligent way to monitor pests in your facility. No matter what solution you choose, Modern has you covered.