If you’re a pet owner, chances are you’ve wondered how to get rid of fleas and ticks. Dogs are at particular risk for bringing home ticks, leading your whole family to deal with the hazards of an infestation. Below is some detailed information about ticks and your dog.

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#1. “Bug Bombs”

Bug bombs (also known as foggers) are pest control products that advertise their ability to kill pests by using aerosol propellants to aerate poisonous substances, killing any bugs within their reach. While it can be tempting to invest in these seemingly quick solutions, they’re not always as effective as they seem. In addition to the potential dangers to you and your family if the foggers are used incorrectly, they don’t reach bugs that aren’t out in the open at the time of the fogging. That means these bug bombs are potentially ineffective on pests such as bed bugs that hide underneath coverings.

#2. Throwing Away Furniture

While it may be necessary to get rid of some household items during an infestation, don’t make the decision to throw away furniture before you’ve consulted with an expert. Oftentimes throwing away furniture will only solve part of the problem. For instance, bed bugs can also live in the molding and carpet of a bedroom. Throwing away a mattress before the room is properly inspected by pest control services could mean that any new mattress you bring in will also become infested. Hold off on throwing away or replacing furniture until you have a better idea of what you’re dealing with.

#3. Osage Oranges

It’s a commonly-held belief that osage oranges will repel spiders. However, many people don’t realize that it’s not the oranges themselves but the trees they grow on that possess spider-repelling properties. Keep in mind that leaving out fruit like oranges can actually attract pests such as ants, making this myth especially counterproductive when it comes to pest management.

These are just three common pest management tactics that don’t actually work. When you’re dealing with an active infestation, it’s crucial to take advantage of the pest control services in your area. At Oliver Exterminating, we have years of experience managing pests and will be able to help you take control of the situation quickly and efficiently. Reach out to us today if you’re experiencing an infestation or are looking for ways to prevent one.

Rodents like mice and rats can carry a host of diseases ranging from bacterial diseases to more serious viral diseases.

The hantavirus, rat fever, salmonellosis, and even bubonic (black) plague are all caused in one way or another from contact with rodent bites or rodent droppings and urine.

Conditions in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, as you’ll see, have made a condition known as leptospirosis all the easier to catch.

Although the aftermath of the hurricane is still being felt by millions, it’s important to know the risks so that you can react intelligently and keep yourself, your family, and your community safe.

Leptospirosis: What You Need to Know

The Centers for Disease Control says that leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and can potentially be lethal.

Although some people show no symptoms at all, the most common symptoms are kidney problems, respiratory (breathing) problems, liver damage or outright liver failure, and meningitis.

Meningitis is an extremely serious condition in which the membrane around your brain starts to swell. You might feel a severe headache or complain of a stiff neck if you’re experiencing the symptoms of meningitis brought on by leptospirosis.

• How do people get it anyway? 

Leptospirosis is spread through contact with the urine of an infected animal, so certain people like farmers are particularly prone to getting this bacterial infection.

However, coming into contact with soil or water that’s been affected by the leptospirosis bacteria can be enough to become infected yourself. Rodents are particularly prone to passing this bacterial infection onto humans, so rodent control is definitely a good idea.

If you come into contact with either A) the urine of infected animals or B) soil or water that came into contact with the urine from an infected animal, then you might be at risk of getting leptospirosis.

Horses, cattle, and pigs, as well as some wild animals and household pets (dogs), can also be carriers of the bacterial infection. Rodents are a big carrier of this harmful disease.

• Symptoms to look out for 

The reason that leptospirosis is hard for some doctors to diagnose is that the signs of infection can mimic other diseases.

Symptoms like fever, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and a slight rash can occur with dozens of other diseases and infections, but those are all symptoms to look out for with leptospirosis.

Since it can take up to a month to show symptoms (some people show symptoms within two days, however) you could easily mistake this infection for something more minor. Another curious aspect of this bacterial infection is that some people might do a good job of fighting it off…at first.

What happens is that an infected person’s immune system fights off the infection for a few days and the person seems to get better. Then the second stage of leptospirosis kicks in and the person might go from experiencing the headache and chills in stage one to more serious symptoms like meningitis.

This second, much more serious form of leptospirosis is called Weil’s disease and it requires immediate medical attention.

• How to stay as safe as possible 

Enlisting professional help for rodent control is one way to stay safe. On a more day-to-day level, avoid wading or taking a swim in water that you think could be contaminated with urine.

Especially after the hurricane with all of the debris around, make sure to wear protective footwear and consider replacing open-toed sandals with boots or shoes.

Contact Oliver Exterminating to learn more about how you can combat this disease and for rodent control in your home or yard.

The difference between residential and commercial pest control often boils down to the time frame that you have for taking action and what can happen if you allow a pest infestation to linger.

Residential pest control is usually a fairly straightforward process. You simply contact Oliver Exterminating Services San Juan corporate office to schedule an appointment.

Oliver Exterminating Services offers pest control, wildlife control, and lawn care services to residents of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Actually, Oliver is one of the most experienced and certainly one of the largest private pest control operations active in the region today.

The Residential Pest Control Process 

With residential pest control, you can expect a comprehensive initial inspection followed by environmentally friendly approaches to take care of today’s problems (i.e., corrective pest control) and keep pest control issues at bay in the future (i.e., preventive pest control).

The end goal is protecting the investment you have in your home and keeping you and your family safe. There are no binding contracts to sign and callbacks between services come at no additional charge so you can have peace of mind in knowing that there are experienced professionals a mere phone call away.

Residential pest control often means having a protective barrier placed around your home to prevent or eliminate insect entry, wildlife control services for immediate problems, and receiving advice on how best to seal your home against pests.

In some respects, as you’ll see in a minute, residential pest control is somewhat simpler than commercial pest control in that residential pest control is about keeping your home and family safe. Period.

With commercial pest control, though, you’re talking about more moving parts and things to protect. Although the consequences of not dealing with fleas and ticks with flea and tick control can definitely be disastrous for your family, a business owner that fails to deal with a pest control issue could lose everything.

Commercial Pest Control: What’s at Stake and How Best to Protect Your Business Investment 

The reason that commercial pest control is seen as slightly more complicated than residential pest control is that commercial pest control includes many different kinds of businesses and industries.

You could be talking about a nursing home in Puerto Rico, a restaurant in the Dominican Republic, a franchise location at a hotel chain, or a brick-and-mortar storefront that’s being overtaken by a rodent infestation.

So, you’re potentially talking about many different kinds of industries. Of course, that also means that you’re talking about different kinds of inspections and health challenges.

If you’re working within the catering and hospitality industry, an unchecked pest control issue could mean thousands of sick customers due to food poisoning. After that, a passing grade from a health inspector might be the least of your issues.

Bed bugs can also afflict hotel owners if they’re not careful. Even in a warehouse environment, failing to deal with a pest control issue immediately could mean thousands of dollars lost in the value of damaged goods. A business reputation, once hit, might never recover.

Pest Control to Fit Unique Industries

Oliver Pest Control has engineered and tested pest control methods to serve the needs of professionals in a variety of different industries, including office buildings, universities, restaurants, schools, warehouses, transport, distribution, and many more.

Commercial pest control at Oliver Exterminating Services includes rodent and wildlife control, of course, but also sophisticated pest control equipment like a subterranean termite baiting system and micro TimeMist dispensers to deal with commercial pest control issues.

Protect both your family and business by contacting Oliver Exterminating Services today.

Managers of hotels, motels, and apartment complexes can’t tolerate “freeloaders” taking up valuable space that could be generating income. And that’s especially true if those very same “guests” getting a free ride are driving away your paying guests!

Well, that’s exactly what bed bugs do. Preventing a bed bug infestation and eliminating a bed bug problem you may already have should, therefore, be top priorities for your business. At Oliver Exterminating, our professionals are trained in top notch bed bug removal.

Tips for Preventing a Bed Bug Infestation

You can’t afford to wait until your guests start reporting getting bit before taking action against bed bugs. There is no choice but to be proactive, focusing on prevention and already having a plan of action in place should a bed bug problem even be suspected.

Here are five bed bug removal tips for keeping bed bugs away from your property and away from your guests:

1. Carefully inspect any new furniture (in all the cracks and crevices) before adding to a room’s decor. Bed bugs are not only freeloaders but also “hitchhikers.” You can’t help if they come in on guests’ suitcases, but let that be the only possible way in.

2. Cover all mattresses and box springs with plastic. A tough, rightly sized encasement will resist tearing and keep bed bugs from getting a foothold in their namesake location.

3. Isolate each unit to curb bed bug “migrations.” Put in door sweeps, seal cracks along floor/ceiling trim with caulk, and use outlet covers to keep bed bugs from moving room to room through the walls.

4. Use round, ridged plastic “monitors” under the feet of each bed. These ingenious little devices are very simple, but they keep many bed bugs from getting to a mattress by guarding the only locations where floor and bed are in contact.

5. Vacuum rooms thoroughly and frequently, especially right after a guest has occupied the room. Vacuum mattresses, box springs, floors, where carpet meets wall, and in and around wood furniture. Then immediately dispose of the vacuum bag in an outdoor garbage can.

Tips for Effective Bed Bug Removal

Far better to prevent bed bugs from intruding into your premises to begin with, but that is not always possible. There has been a resurgence of bed bugs in recent years, and they have a knack for finding ways to travel.

Here are five key tips for effective bed bug removal:

1. Thoroughly inspect the mattress. You need to look for dark feces spots at mattress seams, look inside the box spring, and dismantle the bed to check each part individually. Look inside crevices in wooden bed frames, and have a vacuum handy.

2. Inspect the entire room. Bed bugs don’t always live in the bed. You need to scour the carpet, the trim boards, all furniture pieces, lamp shades, everything in the entire room.

3. Use a steam machine to kill bed bugs and their eggs. Steam is a very effective way to rid a mattress of bed bugs, but you have to get into all the seams and crevices.

4. Stack a sealed mattress on an infested one to “starve out” the bed bugs. This method takes up to a full year to work, but bed bugs will eventually die if they can’t get out and feed.

5. Use insecticides specially designed to target bed bugs. You may need to call on professional pest management to safely administer and effectively apply the right kind of pesticide.

Contact the Professionals

Many of the tactics mentioned above can be done in-house, but some of them might be difficult for “amateurs.” Professional bed bug removal professionals like those at Oliver Exterminating will know how to do everything listed above and more.

Mosquitoes and ticks are among the most common and most noisome of all backyard pests. As such, much is known about them and much is done in our region in the way of mosquito and tick control measures.

Nonetheless, despite the familiarity of these two very unpleasant creatures, there are many “hidden” facts that most people simply don’t know about mosquitoes and ticks.

Here are five facts about mosquitoes and five facts about ticks that, perhaps, you never knew:

Five Little-Known Facts About Mosquitoes

1. The word “mosquito” is of Spanish derivation, meaning “little fly.” That makes sense if you know Spanish since “mosca” means “fly” and “-ito” is the diminutive suffix.

2. Only female mosquitoes are pests. All mosquitoes feed primarily on fruit and nectar. Females, however, also drink blood to get badly needed protein to the developing eggs. In fact, they can gorge themselves on blood to the tune of three times their body weight.

3. Mosquitoes are toothless. Even though they are so well known for biting, those are more technically “mosquito stings,” not “bites.” Having no teeth, a long proboscis is used to pierce victims’ skin and draw out blood.

4. Mosquitoes hibernate. Mosquitoes go into hibernation mode when outdoor temperatures dip below 50°F.

5. Mosquitoes find their victims in three ways: by following a “trail” of exhaled carbon dioxide, by smelling octanol and other chemicals emitted in sweat, and by using special sensors to detect body heat.

Five Little-Known Facts About Ticks

1. Ticks are rarely infected by pathogens. It’s true that ticks can transmit diseases, but when they do so, it is normally only because of infected blood from a previous host mixing with the blood of the new host.

2. Ticks live primarily on blood. There are specific species of ticks that gain most of their sustenance from the blood of deer, mice, and other animals (and people too!).

3. Ticks can feed for days on end on a single victim. They dig in their teeth and firmly attach themselves and then drink for as long as they can. It usually takes 24 to 48 hours before a disease can be transmitted, but there is no guarantee (so mosquito and tick control should not be considered optional).

4. Ticks are “stealthy.” That is, they purposefully climb up long blades of grass or other tall plants and wait for an animal or human to pass by so they can grab hold of them with their legs. Sometimes, they even jump from overhead and land on top of their prospective “blood donors.”

5. Ticks are technically not insects. While it might come as a surprise, ticks have eight legs instead of six and are, therefore, not true insects. They are related to spiders and are scientifically classified in the arachnid family.

Mosquito and Tick Control Strategies

There are a number of effective strategies you can employ to minimize mosquito and tick populations on your premises. Even in Puerto Rico, where mosquitoes and ticks thrive in the mild climate, there are ways to effectively “fight back.”

First, you should remove all standing water, cut down all tall grass and weeds, eliminate debris and yard litter, remove tarps and firewood, get rid of plants that attract deer (common tick carriers), and regularly check pets for ticks.

Next, you should contact a professional mosquito and tick management company, like Oliver Exterminating Services, to treat your premises with insecticides. Property-wide spraying, barrier treatments, spot-treatments, and regular anti-mosquito and anti-tick maintenance services can greatly reduce or eliminate mosquito and tick populations.

Puerto Rico is easily one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet. With amazing year-round weather, beautiful white-sand beaches like Flamenco beach, and a huge amount of biodiversity, there’s a lot to love.

Without adequate protec…

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Bed bug infestations are normally thought of as only occurring at home or in hotel rooms, but in reality, they can happen anywhere — including in your work office.

Remember that these tiny but pestilent little creatures are capable of hiding in upholstered chairs and couches and in cracks in wood furniture and desks, not only in mattresses. Plus, it is not at all uncommon for offices to include small beds for workers to use when commuting long distances or forced to stay overnight due to extreme weather.

Here are some key facts to be aware of in regards to recognizing a bed bug problem, realizing the dangers of bed bug bites, and implementing effective bed bug removal and prevention measures.

Diagnosing the Problem: Does My Office Have Bed Bugs?

There are four main ways you are likely to become aware you have a bed bug problem. Here they are:

1. Seeing a bed bug. Bed bugs typically remain hidden, their presence being detected by their work rather than by actually seeing them. And this “stealth factor” also explains why many would not recognize a bed bug even if they saw one. This is what they look like: up to 5 mm long; pancake-flat, oval to round bodies; small heads with long antennas; no wings; brownish-red in color (blood red after a meal).
2. By their shed skins. If you begin finding discarded skins that are the size and shape of a bed bug body (as described above), be sure the bug that left those casings behind is not far away.
3. Finding their feces. As bed bugs normally defecate in the hidden crevices in which they live, you may not see their feces without a diligent search. But, should you spot it, it will be a blackish-brown spot or mound.
4. By being bitten. Bed bugs species survive on only one thing — human blood. They leave bloody welts that can be quite large and cover large sections of the back, arms, or legs. This is the least desirable way to realize your office has bed bugs, but unfortunately, it is probably the most common.

Taking Heed: The Dangers That Bed Bugs Pose

Symptoms of being bitten by bed bugs can appear immediately or within a few days. We have mentioned the bloody blisters they leave, but these bite marks also itch furiously and can become inflamed or infected.

In general, bed bugs do not carry harmful disease or transmit the blood of one host to the next. However, there is no absolute guarantee of that. And recent studies show that they can spread Chagas disease. Plus, bed bugs can explode after gorging themselves to the full on human blood or after being rolled on or touched by a human hand. At that point, contaminated blood they have recently eaten can potentially get on you and infect you.

Taking Action: Effective Bed Bug Removal

Some pests can be dealt with effectively without professional help, but bed bugs are not in that category. The truth is, mattresses may need to be heated with special machinery, nesting sites and eggs must be located, and special chemicals need to be applied.

Specialized tools are needed to probe into hard to reach spaces, and it can take days or weeks of periodic monitoring to ensure lasting results.

By laundering all your linens and keeping your office clean, you can reduce the odds of an infestation, but bed bug removal truly requires an experienced professional.

For bed bug removal services in Puerto Rico, do not hesitate to contact Oliver Exterminating at 787-764-2000 or by filling out their online contact form.

Puerto Rico has beautiful weather year round. All that sunshine does wonders for the flowers here too—the Puerto Rican hibiscus is the state flower and its big, gorgeous red petals always steal the show.

All of those flowers can mean another thing (aside from tourists)—bees. When everything is working in harmony, bees provide the pollination that plants and flowers need to reproduce and bees, in turn, pick up some pollen and nectar along the way.

Everyone’s happy! So, what’s the problem? Well, for one thing, a beehive on your property…

Because a beehive can pose a danger to you and your family, you might consider professional beehive removal on your property and safely having the beehive transferred away.

Reasons to Hire a Professional

A bee sting is nothing to scoff at as the average person can only tolerate about 10 stings per pound of body weight. Even just one or two stings, though, can cause a lot of discomfort and ruin your whole day.

If you’re allergic to bee stings, then having a beehive on your property is another matter altogether. Someone allergic to bee stings might experience a sudden drop in blood pressure, trouble breathing, and severe swelling.

Even if you know how to remove a beehive on your own and know the right clothing to wear, there’s still a huge risk that something could go wrong and that you could accidentally end up provoking a swarm of bees.

• Experience and Preparation

A professional pest control expert will have removed beehives from hundreds of homes in Puerto Rico before and know what to expect. For starters, a pest removal expert will know what kind of clothing to wear and how to behave to avoid upsetting the bees.

A pest control professional will come to your residential or commercial property at a time of your choosing and tackle the challenge of beehive removal and relocating a beehive away from your property.

The first thing that you’ll notice is that pest control professionals wear light, smooth clothing when removing beehives. Why? Because dark colors tend to provoke bees, and rough clothing can do the same. You definitely don’t want that!

Pest control specialists wear veils to keep bees from stinging their face or getting in their line of sight. They also wear puncture-proof leather gloves to avoid getting stung as they go about beehive removal.

• Safe Relocation Away From Your Property

Did you know that when thousands of bees get together to form a giant beehive and a huge network of honeycombs, that you could be talking about more than one hundred pounds of honey in a single hive?

While a lot of people think one hundred pounds of honey sounds pretty tasty, one hundred pounds is also hard to move.

Imagine how much harder it would be to move that one hundred (or more) pounds if you have to worry about getting the beehive out of a tricky location (e.g., under a porch or within a wall).

Even if you can easily access the beehive and it’s on a tree branch, using a ladder while wearing a veil and beehive-removal gear would still be quite a challenge. It might not be safe to attempt to remove a beehive on your own.

A honey beehive can be quite heavy and bumble bees can be incredibly aggressive when threatened.

If you’re dealing with a beehive in your home or workplace, then you should definitely contact a pest control company before trying to plug up the entry points or remove the hive yourself. Leave beehive removal to the professionals.