Cockroaches & Common Pests
Cockroaches
“Cockroaches are commonly found in commercial buildings”.
Cockroaches present one of the most significant public health risks, carrying diseases such as dysentery, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, typhoid, poliomyelitis and salmonella. Cockroaches are nocturnal creatures, which spend the daytime hours hiding in cracks and crevices around sources of food and water such as cookers and sinks.
Complex pipework systems and underground ducts in larger buildings can make their control all the more difficult. Food contamination occurs when the cockroach moves from refuse to food preparation areas. Cockroaches are a serious pest that needs extermination and preventative control. Cockroaches will cause significant damage to your assets. Cockroaches eat practically anything from human food to leather, wallpaper and even other cockroaches.
They are most commonly found in commercial premises in which food is produced or handled, such as restaurants and catering establishments. However, they are not uncommon in domestic situations where they live in kitchens and drains.
American and German cockroaches are commonly found in the Queensland area.
Flies
It’s not a good look to have flies in and around commercial food establishments irritating customers. Flies prompt the assumption of unsanitary conditions, and can serve as mechanical vectors for serious health threatening microorganisms including Salmonella, E-coli, Cryptosporidium, and Listeria.
The industrial preparation of food and other manufacturing processes creates ecological opportunities for insects that often lead to problems for the public. This is perhaps best exemplified by the infestation of food facilities by flies. The presence of flies in and around commercial food establishments is off putting for a variety of reasons; not the least of these is their tendency to annoy customers and employees. Another major problem is the role of flies as mechanical vectors of organisms that cause human illness and disease.
As accredited pest management professionals BHI play an important role in protecting our customers and the public from the negative impact of pests, including flies. BHI are experienced with Restaurants, food processors, pharmaceutical suppliers, healthcare providers and many other industries that have a lot at stake and could be jeopardized by flies. Protecting the quality of their products, reputation, and their relationships with their customers is an essential and valuable service that shelters the profitability and even the sustained existence of a company.
Stinging and Biting insects
Wasps
Wasps do act as a pest! When wasps gather wood and materials for nest-building, they can chew and damage the timbers of both fences and buildings. Wasps are known to strip the bark of trees causing die-back of branches and young shoots and in late summer they can do significant damage to fruit crops.
When wasps nest in high traffic areas or near homes they can become a nuisance and about 3-5% of people can have a potentially dangerous reaction to stings.
Bed Bugs
“Sleep tight don’t let the bed bugs bite”.
Bed bugs are not known to be frequent carriers of disease but are a pest due to the unpleasant irritation following their bites. There are several ways in which dwellings can become infested with bed bugs. People may acquire bed bugs at hotels or bed-and-breakfasts and bring them back to their homes in their luggage or they might pick them up by inadvertently bringing infested furniture or used clothing to their household damage.
Carpet Beetles, Moths and Silverfish
Identification and elimination of the pest that’s damaging your assets requires specialist help. Act quickly to reduce the cost of damage!
Carpet Beetles create widespread mass destruction on a large scale. We have two common types causing destruction in the Brisbane area. The first species of Beetle favour carpets and woollens with widespread damage to domestic and commercial property having a 9-12month life cycle. The second species of Beetle creates destruction towards roof cavities and bird-nests with a 6-12month life cycle.
Moths
“Preventative pest control management is integral in protecting your business and personal property assets”.
Moths are a very wide spread destructive pest within the Brisbane areas. We have two common types of moth that need elimination and management. The first species of moth destructs animal products including wool and fur. The larvae construct a network of silk tubing amongst the food source, this may obscure their presence. They have a life span of 3-8months. The second species we have commonly become to know also creates destruction on a large scale damaging woollens, felts, upholstery. Cases are normally conspicuous as it is incorporated with feeding material. They have a life span of 3-8months.
Silverfish
Silverfish ( Latin name Lepisma saccharina) is an insect that can grow up to 12-20 mm in length causing considerable damage to property and possessions. Silverfish create a large threat for commercial and industrial production environments where Silverfish eat carbohydrates (starch, cellulose and sugar), glue in books, shampoos, soaps, silk, linen, plants and dead insects. Silverfish inhabit dark and moist places eating mould, fungi leaving there droppings everywhere. They are well known for getting into unopened food packages consequently causing loss in product and company profits. These insects are capable to live in most climates, and domestically they prefer dark and moist places, with moderate temperature areas, such as attics, basements, laundry rooms, kitchen and bathrooms. In a domestic environment Silverfish can be commonly found under sinks, bathtubs, bookcases, on closets, in wall voids, door and window frames. They can be often found in stored box full of clothes and papers in garages and storerooms.
Fleas
Fleas are a cause for concern in their ability to transmit disease organisms. This ability is enhanced by their promiscuous feeding habits as they move from one host species to another. A good example of this is the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, which readily attacks humans, dogs, rats and foxes. The human flea, Pulex irritans, can be found on dogs, rats, pigs, mice, deer and foxes. Infestation by fleas may also cause severe inflammation of the skin and intense itching.
The potentially long pupal stage, and the fact that adult fleas can live without food for remarkably long periods, accounts for the fact that people may enter a house after it has been unoccupied by humans or pets for months, yet be rapidly and severely attacked by fleas.
Fleas commonly bite people about the legs and ankles, and there are usually 2 or 3 bites in a row. Flea bites are felt immediately, but tend to become increasingly irritating, and are frequently sore for as much as a week.
“Please ask our specialised Pest Control Investigators at BHI about our accredited practices for Fleas, lice, Ticks and Midgies plus our identification process for elimination and prevention”.
Mosquitoes
“Mosquitoes are able to carry disease from host to host by taking out their blood and that makes them one of the deadliest animals in the world”.
Mosquitoes (Latin Culicadae) have been implicated in vectoring many diseases to humans including dengue fever, Australian encephalitis, Ross River virus disease and Barmah Forrest virus disease; malaria has been transmitted locally in Australia only rarely in recent decades. Aside from the serious health risks, mosquitoes’ presence is annoying to humans who spend time outdoors, their bites produce itchy welts and the enjoyment of many outdoor areas is curtailed. Over 300 species of mosquitoes have been identified in Australia but only a small number are of major concern.
Mosquitoes feed on the blood of various kinds of hosts, specially mammals, birds and amphibians. They usually attack vertebrates, but some mosquitoes also attack invertebrates, mainly arthropods. Loss of blood rarely causes some bigger problems to their victims but the saliva of the mosquitoes often irritates the skin and results in an unpleasant feeling. They also spread various diseases which is much bigger problem than some scratched skin.
