Blog Post

3 Overlooked Pest Temptations in Food Service

  • By Admin
  • 15 Mar, 2018
You have rules about closing containers, cleaning up spills, and wiping down all equipment at the end of the shift. You have a pest control service come in and spray a couple times a year when you see bugs. Sometimes you set a few mouse traps when staff find rodent droppings.

Despite your best efforts, you're fighting pest invasions in your restaurant or food-handling facility. Integrated pest management (IPM) is the solution to your problems. With IPM, you take a preventative approach to bug and rodent control by focusing on the details. Here are three pest attractants you may be overlooking.

You have rules about closing containers, cleaning up spills, and wiping down all equipment at the end of the shift. You have a pest control service come in and spray a couple times a year when you see bugs. Sometimes, you set a few mouse traps when staff find rodent droppings.

Despite your best efforts, you're fighting pest invasions in your restaurant or food-handling facility. Integrated pest management (IPM) is the solution to your problems. With IPM, you take a preventative approach to bug and rodent control by focusing on the details. Here are three pest attractants you may be overlooking.

1. Lighting

Insects are attracted to the lights inside and outside of your building. Most of the bugs that fly toward the light inside your facility will not reproduce or seek out food, but they will die and leave their carcasses behind. No one needs moth or beetle bodies in their product, even if the insects can't spawn.

The type of lighting you use matters when it comes to IPM best practices. Mercury vapor lights are bright and cost-effective, but they're 112 times more attractive to insects than sodium vapor lighting. One way you can use mercury vapor lights to your advantage is to place them at a distance from your facility. The insects will be attracted away from your building.

Select indoor illumination in a yellow range (575 to 600nm) if you want to avoid tempting bugs that are light-seekers. Bulbs on the bluer end of the light spectrum (450 to 500nm) including mercury vapor lights should be avoided indoors and in fixtures close to your building outdoors.

2. Landscaping

Your facility or retail landscaping offers safe nesting and navigation to bugs and rodents. The shiny, precisely trimmed hedges next to your front entry may look great in photos. That lush landscaping may also hide pathways and foundation cracks used by rats, ants, and roaches to access your food storage areas.

You can have both landscaping and fewer pests when you practice IPM. First, have your pest-control expert inspect your landscaping for temptations. If insects are using rocks or mulch to hide or build nests, these areas can be treated and monitored by your pest control company. The mulch materials can be replaced with pest-repellent ground covers.

Trim shrubbery and trees so they aren't touching the building. This step blocks off access to the roof or wall entry points. Install bug-repelling plants to replace attractive plants. Have caulk, flashing, and foundation sealer professionally applied to prevent insect and rodent infestation near landscape plants and tree branches.

3. Drains

Cockroaches, rodents, frogs, and snakes haven't heard the phrase down the drain. These pests happily slide up into openings in your drain system and appear in the strangest places.

American cockroaches feed and breed in the gunk in drains by day. After workers clock out and lock up for the night, the roaches file out en masse into sinks and out of floor drains to feast on crumbs, soap scum, and water droplets.

Rats can scurry up an open drain pipe and swim into a toilet bowl or mop sink. Snakes may follow the rat into the drain, just as frogs often follow insects and other prey into an inviting, wet drain pipe. The key is installing mesh covers on all drain openings and having drains inspected twice a year for cracks and leaks.

Clean your food-service drains on a regular basis to meet IPM standards. Check guidelines for your food-service products and equipment to order approved, safe drain cleaners and disinfectants. Your commercial pest control company knows which pest treatment products are safe to use in restaurants and food-service buildings.

Contact Copeland Exterminating Service today to schedule an inspection of your food-service facility. We offer pest treatment with safe, low-toxicity chemicals and personalized pest control plans for commercial operations in the Lexington, South Carolina region.
By Admin 12 Sep, 2018
Most homeowners do not find the sight of ants scurrying around their home appealing. But the overall distaste of these insects is not the only danger of having them in your home. While surprising for most people to learn, some ants can affect your home and your health. By learning about these dangers, you will understand the importance of preventing and controlling an ant infestation.

This guide and your pest control professional will help you learn about the real dangers of having ants in your home.
By Admin 06 Jul, 2018
Ants in the house are a big problem: where you see a single ant, a colony is most likely nearby. But why do you have ants in your house in the first place? Find out why and how to get rid of them for good.
By Admin 15 May, 2018
Mosquitoes are a common pest in every part of the United States. Mosquitoes feed off other living creatures by drinking their blood, and in doing so, are common carriers of dangerous diseases, such as the Zika virus. Mosquitoes can also carry yellow fever and malaria, among other diseases, although it's rare to be infected with these types of illnesses by an American-native mosquito.

You have many mosquitoes plaguing your property, and despite your best efforts to keep the creatures at bay, these pesky, hungry pests keep biting you and your family. To get rid of mosquitoes on your property for good, you must first understand why they are invading your home.
By Admin 24 Jan, 2018
Mosquito bites are itchy and uncomfortable, but beyond the discomfort, they can also be dangerous. Mosquitoes are known to carry a number of viruses and parasites that cause disease in humans. The following are four of the most common mosquito-borne diseases.
By Admin 21 Nov, 2017
When you think about a pest that burrows into the wood structures in your home, multiplies at a rapid rate, and leaves you with thousands of dollars’ worth of damage, any homeowner is bound to be a little nervous. Termites are perhaps one of the scariest pest issues that a homeowner can face, so if you discover you have a problem with termites, a worried reaction is to be expected.

The key to handling a termite infestation is knowledge and a good pest control agent. While most homeowners know what termites are and even understand their threat, they do usually have specific questions. Here is a look at some common questions that worried homeowners have about termites.

Just How Quickly Can Termites Reproduce?
The rate at which the termite queen will produce eggs depends on the age of the colony. In the earliest development of a colony of termites , a queen will not produce as many eggs, but as the colony gets more populated and older, the queen can lay as many as 1,000 eggs per day.

It is the tendency of termites to reproduce more as the colony grows that is most dangerous for homeowners. What looks like a small, manageable problem with termites at first can evolve into a full-on infestation if left unattended for a long period.

Are Termites a Health Hazard to Humans?
Termites themselves are not a known health hazard to humans. Even though they can accumulate in your home and could be deemed unsanitary, termite droppings are actually consumed in some parts of the world because they have nutritional value and are primarily composed of digested wood particles.

However, there is some concern that people could be allergic to termites and their fecal matter. So you should take notice of any skin reactions or allergic sensitivities if you have a major infestation in your household and come into close contact with the termites, their nests, or their droppings.

Termites are not predatory creatures. Instead, they are often sought after by predators like birds, ants, and other insects. Therefore, getting bitten by a termite would be unlikely even if they are in close proximity or get on you. A soldier termite could possibly deliver a bite if handled, but for the most part, termite bites are not a concern.

How Long Does It Take for Termites to Cause Significant Damage?
One of the primary problems with termites is the fact that they have an almost insatiable appetite for the cellulose in the wood they consume. These insects keep going through your wood for food 24 hours a day at a fast rate. Even worse, they stay hidden away, burrowed through tunnels they create in the wood, so you may not see damage even though you know the termites are present.

Measuring how long it takes for termites to cause significant damage is difficult because:
  • Termites eat through material at different rates according to the density of the material
  • Termite colonies can range in size so dramatically
  • Termites don't always feed in the same places all the time
While it is hard to determine exactly how quickly any damage to your home can occur, you should know that termite colonies can consist of millions of bugs in their largest state. With this large amount of termites eating every day, all day, severe damage is definitely imminent.

Even though a termite infestation can be a scary situation, it is a situation that can be handled with a good plan, ongoing treatment, and professional pest control help. Contact Copeland Exterminating Service  for help if you have an infestation of termites in your home.
By Admin 20 Sep, 2017
Your future house is a major investment, and you want to make a choice that gives you and your family a safe place to live for many years. While you naturally want to pick out a house that has the ideal layout and design, it is also important to focus on practical matters such as pest control.

Even the most beautiful house can quickly become uninhabitable when pests such as termites invade, and a major pest problem can become a huge financial drain if you are forced to repair serious damage to your house's structure.

The good news about pest control issues and home buying is that you have control over knowing exactly what you are dealing with when purchasing a house. Use this guide to detect pest problems as you tour new homes and identify strategies for dealing them.

By Admin 20 Sep, 2017
Fall is an excellent season to spend time outdoors. The temperatures have dropped to a comfortable level, and the bugs have relocated until next spring. In order to fully enjoy playing football on the lawn with your children or having friends over for a few final outdoor barbecues, you'll want to keep your yard looking great. Follow the six lawn maintenance tips below and you'll have an inviting property that is also healthy and thriving. 
By Armand 18 Jul, 2017
Termites thrive in humid environments, and your South Carolina home is at risk for being invaded by these destructive critters. While pre-sell inspections help, it is still possible to find yourself dealing with an infestation years later. When you suspect a termite invasion, it is important to act fast by checking for these signs of a problem.
By Admin 31 May, 2017
Copeland Exterminating Service proudly provides education and information to our customers to help homeowners better understand the habits and behaviors of pests. This knowledge helps in the war against bugs and home invaders. In this installment, we want to discuss roaches.

What does it mean when you find roaches in your kitchen?

You can be alerted to the presence of roaches in your home by smell, by finding roach egg cases or roach feces, by finding dead roaches, or by seeing them scatter when you click on a light at night. If you finding roaches out in the daytime, you already have an infestation on your hands.

Roaches come in looking for food, water, or shelter. They want to eat and mate. They like to live in things such as newspaper stacks or piles, in cardboard boxes and paper bags, in clutter, or in trash that has accumulated. They like paper especially, but will find ways into anything for food such as the oven or microwave.

Give Copeland Exterminating Service a call today and let us provide residential pest control. We can block any entryways from outside and spray inside in likely hiding places. We look forward to helping you!
By Admin 15 Mar, 2017
As the weather warms up, so do the termite swarms. The Southeast will again start bracing for a heavy termite season  as spring approaches, so if you live in the area it’s good to be educated about what you’re up against.

Termites, also known as silent destroyers, are extremely prevalent in the southeastern US and have been known to cause more than $5 billion worth of property damage to homeowners in the area. These costs are created when termites chew through wood, wallpaper, flooring and other parts of the home. Here are some of the most common types of termites to watch out for and where they are located:
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