Skip to main content

Month: August 2016

Cockroaches Are A Common Pest

Cockroaches are an all to common fact of life here in Townsville and surrounding areas. There is nothing worse then when you get up in the middle of the night and turn the kitchen light on ,to find dozens of them (in some cases hundreds of them) running across your kitchen bench looking for a cozy spot to hide, such as amongst your cutlery; spreading their germs on the very things you’re going to shove in your mouth in the morning. Nice picture isn’t it?

One I’m sure many of you are all too familiar with.  Although filthy conditions can definitely cause problems such as the scenario mentioned above, unfortunately you can have an extremely tidy and clean home and still be infested by cockies.

We have been receiving calls from all over Townsville and surrounds to treat for cockies, but  Gulliver, Heatley, Kirwan, Currajong, Touth Townsville, Belgian Gardens and Townsville city have really featured.  Outer suburbs of Roseneath, Oak Valley, Bohle Plains, Burdell , Mount Low, Deeragun and Jensen have also had noticably increased pest activity.

The three main types of cockroaches you’re likely to find around Townsville. These are American cockroaches, Australian cockroaches and German cockroaches. The most common of these is the German Cockroach. Although they are the smaller of the three (growing to a length of around 13-16mm) they cause a lot more infestations then other cockroaches. I would estimate 90% of cockie infestations we treat here in Townsville would be to treat the German cockroach. The main reason behind this is that they breed very quickly and easily and prefer the indoor environments of our homes a lot more then other cockies.

German cockies lay around four to six egg cases with each case containing around thirty to forty eggs. That is potentially 240 cockies produced from one female. German cockies are usually introduced by bringing things into the house like used appliances, cardboard containers, boxes, bags etc it’s easy to see how bringing in a dozen or so via these means can quickly escalate into dozens, hundreds or in some extreme cases even thousands.

I did a job a couple of years ago in the Kelso area that really shocked me. I was welcomed into the house by a lovely young couple with very concerned looks on there faces. While they were talking to me, in the corner of my eye there was a dark marking along all the cornices that I could see, extending about 150mm across side of the cornice. For the fact that I still hadn’t directly looked at it yet, the first thought was that they had a serious mould problem and the this dark band was mould. When I was able to have a closer look, I was shocked to see that this was actually a mass of cockroaches. There were thousands of them. I have seen a lot of bad infestations in the sixteen years I’ve been a pest technician, but to this day I still haven’t seen another one quite like this. They were through the bedding, behind every cupboard door covering the entire back of the door, through all the food and utensils, through the curtains and basically in every nook and cranny you could imagine. By the time we were finished, there wasn’t a square inch of floor that didn’t have a dead or dying cockroach on it. The good news is, we sprayed and dusted and after an extensive clean up, the clients cockroach problem was successfully treated.

We use only the best top shelf products for all our pest control services, which is why we get the amazing results we do.

If you have an infestation at your place or if you just want to prevent ever having a problem like this, “as it is said prevention is better then cure.”, give us a call at Townsville Termite Specialist for a quote and friendly advice on cockroaches treatments or any other pest control needs.

Perfect Conditions For Termites

“WINTER IN TOWNSVILLE”, you’ve got to love it!  Beautiful one day, perfect the next. The weather has been unseasonably warm  here in Townsville, even more so then usual, and this has resulted in a definite increase in pest activity.  Particularly in areas such as Belgian Gardens, Annandale, Burdell, Rangewood, Wulguru, South Townsville and the Northern Beaches of Townsville to name a few.

We have been getting a lot more calls then usual for this time of year, from clients with pest problems from all over Townsville reporting cockies, spiders, silverfish, ants, ticks, fleas, mice, rats, ants and many more. Ticks and fleas have still been in plague proportions as mentioned in our last blog and calls from clients are still coming in and keeping us busy.

However, the biggest concern being termites has also been on the increase. Left untreated, termites can cause serious structural damage to your home.

The three most common species that you’re most likely to find infesting your home here in Townsville would be the Mastotermes darwiniensis, coptotermes acinaciformis and Schedorhinotermes intermedious or as we like to call them Masto’s, Copto’s and Schedo’s.

Although Copto’s cause the most dollars worth of damage Australia wide, the Masto Termites are by far the most destructive and can cause serious damage to your home in just a couple of months. The reason being why Copto termites cause more damage Australia wide is for the fact that they are found Australia wide and are in all major capital cities with Hobart as an exception, where the Masto is only found in northern Australia.

Thankfully, the treatment for termites is effective and generally takes only a day to carry out.

One particular job I’d like to talk about is a large Queenslander we treated in Railway Estate last week. The client knew he had a problem for quite a while but thought it was only minor. For this reason he had let it go for several months without getting anything done.

This particular Queenslander has been divided into four two bedroom units, two units upstairs and two units downstairs. At first glance it seemed like it only had a minor infestation in the back bathroom of only one of the units. With every job though, we carry out a full termite inspection. It turned out sections of all four units were infested with termites and there was quite a lot of damage. This job became an extensive treatment. To ensure total elimination of the pests, we also internal drilled and injected the slab along construction joins and completed a perimeter termite barrier treatment.

This is a common story here in Townsville and throughout Australia. What you see, may only be the tip of the iceberg, and quite often you may not see any evidence whatsoever, until the damage is already done, highlighting the importance of 12 monthly termite inspections for early detection or even better, installing a complete termite protection barrier system. You can give Townsville Termite Specialist a call on 07 4721 4996 for a no cost, obligation free quote, and face to face advice.