Pest Control Services for Carpenter, Big Black, Small, Sweet & Tiny Sugar Ants | Ecotech Pest Control, New Hampshire & Maine
Termites
Termites are the insect that home owners should most dread because undetected they have the potential to do thousands of dollars in structural damage to the home. There is only one species found in the North East part of the country, the eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes). The termite worker is very small and will look like a white ant (fig 3). The reproductive members of the colony are new kings and queens and are known as “swarmers” because in the spring they will all leave or swarm out of the nest all at the same time to start new colonies. The swarmers are very small, brown, and start out with four wings of the same size (fig 3). The wings are dropped later once a suitable nest site is found. This species of termite lives in the soil feeding off of dead tree roots year round, and in the warmer months consuming dead wood on the surface of the ground. Most of our homes are constructed of “dead wood”, and to a termite that means food, which is why they are so destructive. Termites nest in the soil and must return to the nest on a regular basis. They cannot walk around out in the open like an ant or other insects do because they aren’t able regulate the moisture in their bodies without suffering dehydration. Regular trips into the nest site under the soil prevent dehydration. The termites extract moisture from the soil and to facilitate the journey they make tubes out of soil about as wide as a pencil, that run up foundation walls to the wooden parts of your home Fig 1 & 2.
Bees
Another identifying feature of the Carpenter Bee are the piles of wood shavings from the excavation of the wood (sometimes mistaken for carpenter ant activity), just below the location of their Galleries. If the bees have nested in the trim of a home along the roof line, you’ll see soffit staining on the side of the house. This is caused by the pollen that is being knocked off the bee as it enters the hole in the wood it uses for its nest. These stains will be yellow (from the pollen), and black from the mold that grows on the pollen stain.
Wasps
Always be cautious when approaching wasps, especially around their nest sites. Each wasp is able to inflict multiple stings making them extremely dangerous if provoked. Their stinger is primarily used for subduing and collecting other insects to feed to their larva, however it’s also used to defend themselves and their nest.
Ticks
The past couple of decades have shown a spike in tick-borne disease transmission, especially in the York County and NH Seacoast areas. Lyme disease, Powassan virus, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis cause major debilitative illnesses spread by infected tick species, afflicting people in the North East with life-changing symptoms that last for months, or even years. While not every tick you find may be infected with these maladies, many are. At Ecotech Pest Control, we take the health and safety of our customers very seriously. Our tick treatments focus on likely high-density tick population areas on your property with the goal of significantly reducing these pests and their odds of harming your family.
Mosquitoes
There are 45 species of Mosquitoes in the NH seacoast and southern York County ME. Only 18 of them actually bite humans. Mosquitoes need shallow pools of water, fresh or salt, for them to complete their life cycles. Different species emerge at different times of the summer. For home owners the salt water species of mosquitoes emerging from June until September are most problematic. These are the mosquitoes that make it very hard to enjoy outdoor activities through the day and then impossible, by early evening. These mosquitoes wait out on your lawn or along shady tree lines around your property, resting and waiting for sun to go down so they can become active and fly without dehydrating. Mosquitoes can become even more of a concern towards the end of the summer because of the diseases they acquire and build up among their population, thus creating a greater chance for people to contract those diseases after being bitten.
Flies
It is difficult to provide a clear way to identify these bees, they are non-descript and resemble other insects including some flies. In general they have a round bottom, they’re bald, and are generally just shy of 1/2 inch in length. We at Ecotech Pest Control, do not service for Honey Bees. There are two reasons for this. First, honey bees are dangerous, very dangerous when provoked, and need a specialized bee keeper to remove the nest without damaging it. Honey bees are a valued resource, they pollinate everything we eat, and most plants and trees we grow. They need to be preserved. If you have an established nest on your property then please call us and we will put you in contact with a bee keeper, whose job it will be to remove and relocate the nest, to give it a new home.
Hornets
Bald Face Hornets are actually wasps. They are very dangerous and behave a lot like Yellow Jackets, in that it doesn’t take much to provoke them into an attack, and they have similar nest construction. Bald Face hornets are black and white in color, and about 1/2 inch long, as shown in Fig 1. They get their name because of their white faces which distinguishes them from all other wasps, as shown in fig 3. These insects also create nests that hang from houses, as seen in Fig. 2. Nests can hang from trees, bushes, and other wooden structures. The nests can be as large as a basket ball with up wards of a thousand workers by the end of the summer. These nests are exceedingly dangerous, they should be avoided and handled by someone qualified to deal with them.
Yellowjackets
Yellow Jackets are by far one of the most dangerous insects in the N.H., seacoast and southern York county M.E., areas. These insects create the round, grayish colored, paper like nests, that you see hanging from various wooden structures. Most commonly the insects build nests that hang from houses, trees, under decking, as well as inside wall voids and attics, and even underground in the yard. Where the nest is located will depend on what species of yellow jacket inhabits the site. These nests start from one queen in the spring that makes a nest the size of a golf ball and can grow bigger than a basket ball over the summer, and can house over 1000 workers in a single nest by the end of the summer. If disturbed, threatened, or handled and treated improperly, the nest can become aggressive (sometimes without much provocation), and the situation becomes very dangerous, and anyone can be seriously attacked and injured.
Carpenter Bees are very large bees with shiny black bottoms. These bees burrow into woodwork making tunnels (known as “galleries”), which form the nest. The bees lay eggs in the tunnels, coming and going from the nest, as they collect pollen to feed to the developing larva. Carpenter Bees damage the trim and siding of your homes as they build. Carpenter Bees are a prime food source for Woodpeckers and other birds that chip at wood for insects. After these animals locate a nest they begin digging into the wood to eat the bees, causing even more damage. Most people will notice Carpenter Bees hanging around sections of their home in the spring – particularly males. The males which have a yellow face (Fig1) will buzz bomb you though they are harmless and have no stinger. The males naturally die off by June. They can be annoying but are easily dispatched with a tennis racquet. Although they are not aggressive, it is important to distinguish females from male bees by their black face, because they do sting.
The theory of IPM is to reduce the use of pesticides in and around the home in the process of controlling pests. This is done by managing the environment directly around the home to prevent food, harborage and access for insects and rodents. By doing this and understanding the biology of the insects that are common pests in the home in the Seacoast area we are able to reduce our treatments to only two exterior services a year.