Insects inside and outside your home:
Summer is here and with the warm weather comes a variety of insects. Like it or not, these creepy-crawlies will find a way into our homes. But there is no reason to be hospitable and let them stay.
Typical household bugs can vary greatly depending on where you live, but some of the most common house pests include fleas, flies, ants, cockroaches, bedbugs, fish moths and even crickets.
Protek has a range of new products to prevent these nuisance and disease carrying insects from making themselves at home in your house!
THE DELINQUENTS:
The house fly is not only a nuisance pest but can also cause harm to humans and animals. The housefly is the most common species and carries and spreads several potentially deadly diseases including typhoid fever, salmonella, tuberculosis, conjunctivitis, leprosy and cholera, as well as intestinal worms and the bacteria responsible for dysentery. They feed and reproduce on garbage, faeces and rotting flesh. And then, after picking up millions of germs, they fly into our homes and land on our food, bodies and personal belongings, leaving behind these same germs. Houseflies defecate every 4 – 5 minutes, spreading these diseases. They will lay eggs on your food and vomit on it before eating. A female housefly will lay 3 000 eggs within its life span of 21 days and the fly larvae will hatch into maggots within 24 hours.
Pets are the most common source for fleas and the ideal means of transporting them into your home. Adult female fleas are capable of laying as many as 50 eggs per day and can live up to 100 days. Fleas love warm, humid temperatures out of direct sunlight and relatively undisturbed areas. It is important to inspect shaded areas in your garden and home and to pay special attention to carpets, furniture and pet kennels and bedding where fleas are most likely to reproduce. The dark spots left by fleas are usually easier to spot than the fleas themselves. These spots consist of a mixture of blood and faeces and flea larvae use this as a food source.
Ants are generally regarded as beneficial insects in the garden because they are scavengers or predators that feed on a variety of eggs, larvae and mature pests. They are also considered a nuisance, especially in the home where they descend upon any morsel of food. They also cause damage to our garden when the numbers are not controlled. Some ant species also “milk” aphid colonies for honeydew. The aphid colonies thrive when they are regularly milked and in turn, they suck the sap from the plants which causes the plants (e.g. rose shrubs and conifers) to die.
Cockroaches occur where there is food waste. They are carriers and transmitters of a variety of diseases e.g. food poisoning, dysentery, diarrhoea, etc. Their skins, carcasses and faeces aggravate allergies, especially in children and sensitive people. Because cockroaches are nocturnal, you will most likely never notice them during the day, but if you do see them during daytime, it means that there is an overpopulation and a serious infection.
Bedbugs feed on human blood, usually at night. Their bites can result in a number of health problems including skin rashes and allergic symptoms. Bites cause redness of skin to prominent blisters as well as itchiness. Eliminating bedbugs from your home could be difficult.
Fish moths can wreak havoc with your clothing, leaving small holes in your favourite clothes. They are found in cupboards and drawers as well as between the pages of magazines and books, or any other place where they can find food. Although they are harmless to humans, they cause damage to clothing and will eat away at certain fabrics and woollen items.
Crickets offer benefits to our gardens as they eat small pesky insects, such as aphids and scale, and they gorge on weed seeds. They are essentially just a nuisance pest, particularly if their nightly concerts keep you awake. However, once inside your house, crickets may feed on fabric like cotton, silk, wool, fur and linen.
THE PUNISHMENT:
Protek Fly Bait is a highly effective, ready to use granular bait. Fly Bait attracts and kills flies through contact or stomach action. It can be used as a dry scatter bait or wet as a surface spray or paint on. Simply scatter granules over surfaces where flies are known to congregate including waste disposal sites, refuse dumps, manure heaps, food processing plants, restaurants, poultry houses, dairies, feedlots, piggeries and stables. For heavily infested areas a solution of the granules can be prepared and painted on a target area and will provide effective fly control for a surrounding areas of 200 m².
Protek’s Guardian Indoor Insect Spray and Guardian Outdoor Insect Spray will protect your home and garden from a range of unwanted guests, including fleas, ants, cockroaches, bedbugs, fish moths and crickets. The ready to use water-based formulation offers convenience and easy application against crawling pests as well as effective control for weeks thereafter, depending on the surface treated. It could be applied in and around the home, commercial and industrial premises, around camp sites and in caravans where ants and other crawling insects are found. Spray on walls, wall floor junctions, table legs, storage compartments, cracks and crevices, inside and under cupboards, shelves and drawers, behind and under stoves, sinks and fridges, nest entrances and along insect trails, window sills, mattresses and bedframes, pets bedding and carpets.
Eliminating these bugs from the home could be difficult, but with Protek on your side, you can effectively stop these pests in their tracks!
