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When people think about pest control, a lot of the focus is on pest control for the home, or for commercial spaces. There’s no doubt that finding a mouse in your house can be a bit disconcerting, and that it’s even worse to find rodents in your kitchen; you be shut down for health violations! These concerns are valid, but there’s a third concern people don’t often think of – unless they work in goods producing industries, like farming, fishing, forestry, or food and beverage manufacturing. That’s the post harvest, post manufacturing loss of goods as a result of pests in warehouses, especially relevant in Winnipeg and Manitoba, given our status as an agricultural hub.

All kinds of pests can wreak havoc in warehouses; rodents contaminating goods with feces and urine, insects devouring stock from food to paper to wood. Industrial pest control is an important part of loss prevention in all kinds of different industries, and much of it must take place in the various warehouses in which you store your goods before they get to market. In fact, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has specific guidelines about what you should do to control pests, given their mandate of protecting Canadians from contaminated foodstuffs. There are a variety of strategies we can use to protect your warehouse from pests; monitoring, control, and management are the three categories we’ll look at today.

The first step to preventing losses in your warehouse is monitoring what pest activity is occuring. You may know you’re losing stock to pests, but unsure of what they are and where they’re coming from. To help with this, we’ll install state-of-the-art surveillance equipment throughout your warehouse to find the pests that are creating losses. This is a tricky job, because the pests could be rodents, insects or birds; that means they’re coming from all angles. From motion sensors to cameras, we’ll find them.

The second step is control; once we know which pests are causing problems, we can employ a variety of effective deterrent and elimination strategies in order to get rid of the pests. This might be baited traps for rodents, electric traps for insects, and cleaning out the rafters and roofing to get rid of nesting areas for birds. This will be followed by deterrent strategies that might include placing appropriate screens over vents, and covering floor drains so critters can’t climb up.

The last step is management; once we know exactly what pests are causing problems, we can help you develop best practices in order to reduce losses. Some of the strategies we might employ are first in, first out stock rotation, repositioning vulnerable stock items to make them less accessible to pests, and reimagining how your warehouse is laid out in order to reduce the number of hiding places for pests, as well as increasing their visibility. Best practices, including training employees to close all doors and windows that could allow pests to enter, and ensuring they don’t eat food on the warehouse floor, will be discussed. Other techniques we might go over include how the flooring and walls should be coloured to make pest detection easier, and where things like lunchrooms and freezers are best positioned.

Winnipeg is a beautiful city. We have a mix of incredible architecture (if you’re as inclined to brutalism as I am), historic landmarks like the Forks and Upper Fort Garry, our incredible rivers, and, of course, our urban forest. Our forested areas provide a plethora of advantages to Winnipeggers. They increase the quality of our air, help regulate stormwater runoff, and increase our property values, while keeping our city cooler in the summer. We’re also beginning to see potential psychological advantages to urban forestry; the Biophilia hypothesis says that we’ll love urban forests because humans have a natural love of life, while the Attention Restoration Theory says that people concentrate better after spending time in nature, or seeing nature. There are, however, a number of threats to our urban forests, most of them caused by insects. Today, we’ll look at an insect that, while not immediately threatening our urban forest, does cause pains and problems for Winnipeg homeowners: the cankerworm.

Cankerworms thrive because of Winnipeg’s forested area; in the late spring and early summer, you’re bound to see them if you regularly walk or cycle outside. They’re around every year, but some years we see a boom in their numbers; these booms are usually followed by a period of steady decline, then another boom (this is the case for most caterpillars).  Cankerworms start as light green creatures; there are two species, fall and spring cankerworms. As they mature, they begin to take on more colours – the spring worms turn brownish, while the fall worms take on bluish hues. While they’re called fall and spring cankerworms, that’s a reference to their breeding cycle; adult moths (though the females are wingless) appear around October for the fall worms, while the spring worms overwinter and emerge as adults in early spring. The worms themselves do most of their foliage damage in late May.

The damage you see to your trees is not likely to be permanent; more often than not, leaves will have regenerated by mid to late July. The damage done to the trees can, however, make them less resistant to future infestation and disease, which is why cankerworms are a contributor to overall deforestation, though they aren’t the leading cause. This means it might still be worth putting in the effort to fight off cankerworm infestations on your property.

We are experts at insect control in Winnipeg, so we know how to handle cankerworms. We’re quite fortunate in that the females of both fall and spring cankerworms are wingless, so they need to climb trees; banding trees with sticky adhesive is enough to stop them from reproducing. For infestations that have already affected your trees, we can use a special larvicide that kills the cankerworms before they begin defoliating your trees. Insect control is the first line of defense against the deforestation that’s occurring in our city; from more minor nuisances like cankerworms, to more disastrous nuisances like Dutch Elm Disease brought on by the elm bark beetle, proper insect control can help save one of the most beautiful parts of our city.

Subterranean termites get into house from the soil then make foraging tubes. The tubes – oftentimes referred to as “mud tubes” – are around the width of one pencil and are brownish in color. They’ll offer shelter for foraging termites. As termites are inside your house, they’ll feast on the wood inside of it. In addition, drywood termites feast on wood within your house; however, don’t need contact with soil.

If termite activity is left neglected, noticeable wall and wood damage may result. Here, in this blog post, the commercial pest control services of Gilles Lambert Pest Control discusses the signs of termite damage in walls:

Indications of an Infestation of Termites

• Swarming ones are attracted to light and sometimes can be spotted close to doors, windows, lighting fixtures, and vents.
• After they enter a new house, they’ll shed their wings. You may see those shed wings among dust close to heating vents, windowsills, doors, in bathtubs and sinks and inside spider webs.

Indications of wall damage that is caused by termites may include: Paint blisters, mud tubes, damage to wooden trim or wood paneling, pinholes in the wall, and hollow sounding wood.

Some of the above indications are a sign of a subterranean infestation of termites, while other ones indicate an infestation of drywood termites.

Do Termites Feast on Drywall?

Termites feast on any substance that’s composed of cellulose — an ingredient discovered in wood. Drywall also is covered by cellulose. Therefore, termites may feed on the drywall’s paper covering, making your ceilings and walls prone to termite damage.

How to Eliminate Termites in Walls

If you see indications of termite damage on the walls or any other areas of your house, it is vital that you treat the infestation immediately before it grows worse. The treatment method depends upon several factors, which includes the kind of termites which are infesting your residence. The procedure almost always includes treating spaces other than the area in which termites are in plain view.

Since correct identification is critical and do-it-yourself methods for control and treatment oftentimes fall short, it is suggested that you call a termite control professional like Gilles Lambert Pest Control. An experienced termite control expert will inspect the house for termite damage and activity, correctly identify the termites then suggest a course of action based on your circumstances.

If termites aren’t found, that’s the best time to treat termites – before they’ve produced any damage.

Advantages of Professional Gilles Lambert Pest Control Termite Treatment

Because termite activity may be difficult to spot if homeowners are not scheduling routine inspections of their house, termite activity may remain undetected for quite some time.

That is why it remains critical to arrange an inspection with an expert Gilles Lambert Pest Control termite specialist who’s experienced with looking for warning indications of termite activity.

Further advantages of arranging an inspection with a specialist include the identification of the unique termite invader to the residence, since it’s important to identify the termite species to use the suitable methods to rid the home of these extremely costly and damaging insects.

Just like frost and snow, rodents are a staple of cold weather, much to the dismay of company owners. As temperatures drop, these pests seek refuge in man-made buildings, especially warehousing facilities, because of the shelter and sustenance oftentimes inadvertently provided here. The financial consequences of a rodent issue can, sometimes, be vast. Your best bet for prevention is heightened attention, investigation and knowledge. The industrial pest control professionals of Gilles Lambert Pest Control goes into this in more detail below:

Most employees are not incentivized to take a close look at the shipments received. Ideally, as the truck opens up, she/he ought to notice or take a good look to check if there’s an obvious rodent presence. It’s the ideal time to cancel a poor shipment, instead of later.

The business flow might not be conducive to spending more time looking for indications of a rodent problem. However, a pest-free, successful business will look at it as an investment of time. There’s an extensive quantity of headaches, time, and money saved through committing an extra couple of minutes to checking for rat or mice calling cards.

What to Do to Prevent Rats and Mice

• Seal: Seal the building up. Eliminating potential entry points should be a must and is better done right now, instead of deeper into the winter season.
• Food Storage: Split up food storage into sections. If one’s infested, it’ll take longer for the others to potentially suffer the consequence of the infestation, too. This means if you discover that one space is compromised, it’s possible to take action to save the other ones.
• Movement: Periodically moving objects around assists in reducing the probability of a rat or mice problem.
• Timing: Food which comes in first ought to be shipped first. The oldest object always should be sent out first.

If you store all the edible items together, the odds that your issue will spread to the whole stock are substantially higher.

If you think your rodent issue isn’t manageable, contact a pest professional who can both educate you, as well as remove the issue. Heighten your warehouse facility’s attention to detail as it’ll come to shipments, and you’ll effectively and greatly reduce your odds of a rodent infestation this winter season. Invest the time, and you will save time.

How to Eliminate Rodents in your Warehouse Facility

• Inspect All Incoming Shipments. Even if the warehouse protocols are up to standard, there isn’t any guarantee that the same may be said of the suppliers. Inspect all skids, every time.
• Rotate Product. The longer a product sits, the more susceptible it is to rat and mice invasion. Decrease the opportunity for harborage by consistently moving product inside your warehouse.
• Watch the perimeter. Outside bait stations assist in reducing rodent pressure, as well as lessen the likelihood of mice and rats getting inside.
• Sustain an “inspection aisle” between the walls and stacks of product. The area ought to be wide enough to allow the technician to inspect between and behind stacks.

To book an appointment with the industrial pest control professionals of Gilles Lambert Pest Control call us today at 204-479-6669.

The Winnipeg pest control experts of Gilles Lambert Pest Control understand first-hand that there’s bad and good information that’s floating around online, the papers, and additional media sources in regard to bed bugs.

It may be challenging for the average consumer to understand what details are correct and how they can respond to those tenacious bloodsucking insects.

Here, the friendly folks at Gilles Lambert Pest Control lists 6 common myths and facts in regard to bed bugs:

Myth: If an individual isn’t bitten by bed bugs, they don’t have bed bugs.

Fact: Research has proven that less than 50 percent of individuals who are bitten by these pests have a reaction to the saliva that’s injected into their skin. Folks who don’t have a reaction don’t usually realize that they have bed bugs until the bed bug infestation is raging out-of-hand.

Myth: Bed bugs just occur in low-income housing type of structures or flea infested motels.

Fact: These pests know no socio-economic boundaries. Flea bag motels, five-star hotels, as well as homeless shelters all have been subjected to their wrath.

Myth: These bugs are an indication that someone is dirty.

Fact: The insects have been in existence for millions of years. Bed bugs don’t care if someone is clean or dirty, only that they’re alive and have blood to consume. They prefer to hide in spaces that has clutter, though.

Myth: These pests only can be discovered in areas in which people rest.

Fact: Despite its name, the bed bug can hide in any crevice or crack near where a human rests. Look for bed bugs around baseboards, behind headboards, behind mirrors, pictures, curtains, inside bedding, in and underneath electronics, in or beneath dressers and nightstands, and inside electrical switches and outlets.

Myth: They only bite human beings.

Fact: They prefer to consume human blood, yet if none is available a nearby pet or animal will do just fine.

Myth: The pests are simple to self-treat.

Fact: All throughout the US, pest control experts like Gilles Lambert Pest Control attest that the bugs are the most challenging insect to eradicate in all kinds of locations.

So, what are the symptoms and signs of bed bug infestations?

These signs and symptoms include:

• a musty, sweet smell
• rusty–colored spots of blood that is caused by their blood-filled fecal matter which they excrete on nearby furniture or the mattress
• bed bugs inside sheets and the fold of mattresses
• the exoskeleton of the bed bug after molting

The best method of ridding your business or home of these destructive and hard-to-get-rid-of bugs is to employ a pest control expert that has expertise in bed bug eradication such as the Winnipeg pest control services of Gilles Lambert Pest Control.

For bed bug treatment, bed bug inspection, or overall pest control in the Winnipeg area call Winnipeg pest control today at 204-479-6669 or email us at gilles@glpestcontrol.ca.

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