Alliance Pest Blog - New Jersey's Reliable Pest Resource

Integrated pest management in schools is a comprehensive program that establishes guidelines, promotes safe practices, and insures that pests of all varieties do not pose a hazard for the students and teachers that attend a school as well as taking care of the lawn, plant, and shrub pests that can destroy the esthetic beauty of the school.  Integrated pest management is contracted to professionals that have certification and training in the management of the common and not so common pests that may infest a school or the school grounds. In some instances more than one company is contracted to control pests in the school while another takes care of the laws and plant pests. Occasionally, a professional trained in the capture and removal of nuisance animals may be contracted to rid a school of a particular varmint like a raccoon or coyote or a vicious feral dog.  There are federal,...

How do you get bed bugs? There are several ways you can bring bed bugs into your home unknowingly. One common way is to stay at a hotel/motel that is infested without checking it first. Before you take in your luggage or sit on the bed, you should first inspect the bed for bed bugs. Another way is to purchase used clothing, toys, books and furniture and bring it into your house; not knowing bed bugs are hiding in the seams. Never bring in anything that has been used by another person (no matter how nice it looks) without washing it and inspecting it well. Finally, allowing a house guest to stay with you that has a bed bug problem is a sure way to get the problem too. Bed bugs will come in hidden in seams of clothes, handbags, coats and luggage. What are bed bugs?  Bed bugs are...

When the fall starts getting cooler and winter is not so far away we retreat inside to warmer places to escape the cold winds of winter. We take cover from the cold and so do all the creatures that live outside around us. Where do they go? They seek shelter just like we do so you could end up with some unwanted company worse than some of your relatives. These creatures invade our home through the structures around the outside and include small openings in siding and roofing. Chimneys and windows and other areas that are made to be left open can be a gateway for animals like birds and larger animals. These animals are just like us in that they need to get in out of the cold. Some of the animals have been already chased out of their natural habitat by human development. These animals include small and...

Rats are a type of rodent that are commonly confused with the common house mouse. These two rodents are from different species and can cause lots of damages to your house and property. Rats are much bigger than mice about three times as much. Rats with their bigger presence can cause damage to wood, wires, and problems eating your food and garden. Some types of rats can even eat right through various types of metals like copper. One of the worst things rats can cause is the spread of disease to humans and other living things. Some of these diseases can cause serious consequences like rat bite fever and the plague. If you see signs of these animals around your property like large rat droppings the best thing to do is call a professional pest control company to have them eradicated. What are Rats? Rats are a type of rodent...

Now that fall is here it is time to watch out for creatures that may want to migrate into our homes to keep warm over the winter. One bug that likes to get inside for winter is the stinkbug. Stinkbugs get their name due to the stink produced when they are squashed or even when they are disturbed. In nature, where they belong, the odor they release gives them some protection from their enemies. And when they invade our space, the odor must be dealt with as well. Just squashing them with a fly swatter, for example, will cause them to release their odor and it will linger in the house. This can be a reason to call a professional if you find you have an infestation of stink bugs. There are hundreds of species of stinkbugs in North America, most of which remain in their natural habitat. Due to...

Bats Bats are an important part of our ecology. Bats eat insects in large numbers. Opposite to popular belief, bats are not effective mosquito control. Mosquitos tend to be on brush near water and people (which they feed from). Bats are not accustomed to that environment, as they live in darkness and hunt at night. It is common knowledge that bats are often carriers of rabies. In the United States bats were the animal most often found to be rabid when a case of rabies was identified. Not all bats have rabies. A bat can carry rabies and not have the virus. Bat bugs Bat bugs are blood sucking insects that live on bats and feed on their blood. Bat bugs look and behave very much like bed bugs. It is believed that bed bugs actually descended from bat bugs. Though these insects prefer bats as their hosts; they will...

As the temperatures drop and the winds bring a chill, you will be spending more time indoors. You will prepare your living space for the cold winter ahead to insure you and your family will be warm and cozy. You will not be the only one getting ready to snuggle into your home for the duration of the winter. Rats and mice will be doing the same thing. They do not need much of an invitation. A mouse can enter a home through an opening as small as the eraser on a pencil and a rat only needs the opening to be the size of a quarter! Even if you do not see an opening, they will find access through a small crack in the foundation. Sometimes they will slip in between siding and the concrete block. Or they can get even more creative. You may find that a rodent...

As soon as the temperatures begin to drop, winter pest problems become a major issue. Who can blame rodents and insects for wanting to seek refuge from the cold by trying to burrow into our nice, warm, toasty houses? As a result, billions upon billions of dollars are spent each year to eradicate these pests. But what if there were ways to prevent this common problem? What if there were things that could be done to prepare your home for the deluge of winter pest problems? Fortunately, help is on the way. The following list will provide you with a variety of methods for preventing pests from entering your home during the upcoming winter season.  Store Your Food Products in Sealed Containers There are few things worse than heading to the kitchen to pour yourself a bowl of cereal in the morning and finding pests inside of the box. If...

One day I found a large ant under the computer table and threw it outside. I thought nothing of it. The next day I found another and then another. About a week later, as I vacuumed way under the table right up against the wall there was a pile of dust; sawdust it seemed like. The window between the living room and computer room had rustic rough wood frames. I thought “How odd those frames are creating dust like that.” It took a while of more ants, more sawdust until I asked my husband to take a look. He removed a baseboard and discovered the whole area was a massive beehive of activity. Or, in this case an anthill of industry. He sprayed the area with an insecticide we had on hand. We cleaned up all the dead ants. A few days later, there were more ants. I became worried...

Professional Pest Control for Ridding Cockroaches in the Kitchen Kitchens are loaded with goodies and water that attract the human palate, as well as not so easy to see tiny pests. The kitchen is the place most bugs particularly cockroaches congregate whenever a piece of food or tiniest drop of water spills. Before too long, you may find you have a cockroach infestation. Although homeowners attempt to keep their kitchens spotless, most cockroaches have a tendency to discover something in there to feed on anyway. Their saliva and excrement alone are sufficient to bring about genuine hypersensitivities or even asthma attacks in many individuals, even when homeowners don't realize they are in the home. As their irritants spread around kitchens, germs move over clean dishes and flatware. They, likewise, leave around remains that can prompt the spread of germs. Breads or bags of chips, for example, that may be left...

Fleas Fleas are nasty little insects that affect all kinds of animals and even humans. Fleas are wingless insects that have mouths that are able to pierce skin and suck the blood out of animals. They are parasites that live on the outside of the body and live off the blood all kinds of mammals and all kinds of birds. There are 2,000 species of fleas all over the world but the most common ones are cat fleas, dog fleas, human fleas, Moorhen fleas, the northern rat flea, and the oriental rat flea. Like mentioned before fleas are wingless insects that are between 1.5 to 3.3 mm long. They are agile little insects that are typically dark in color and their mouths are in the shape of a tube to make it easier to drink the blood of whoever they land on. Fleas have very long legs and the back...

Carpenter Bees Carpenter bees are the larger bee in the bee family and they can be found all over the world. There is approximately 500 species of the carpenter bee. The name “carpenter bee” comes from how they build their nests. They build their nests in dead wood, bamboo, and timber that are used for building structure of all kinds. They can also build their nests in the ground. There is a group of carpenter bees called Ceratinini and they are smaller carpenter bees. The typical carpenter bee are large, very resilient, shines in the sun, are black in color. There are some carpenter bees that have yellow marks on their head. Carpenter bees look very similar to the bumble bees, which makes people confused between the two. There are several species of the carpenter bee where the females will live with their daughters or sisters, which create a small...

The Truth about Rodents in a Restaurant Sometimes cleaning is just not enough in the restaurant business. There are many ways that a restaurant can develop a problem with mice and with rats and those ways are not always based on cleanliness. The fact is that water and standing water can be just as bad as food or debris. As far as bugs go, it is a fact that a roach can live off a single drop of water for as long as one week. The same basic facts are true of mice and rats. While it may take a little more than a drop of water to sustain a mouse for a week, it does not take much more than that. Most restaurants concentrate their efforts on the cleaning of food and debris. There is a little bit of emphasis that is placed on drying the kitchen and surfaces...

Ticks can be scary creatures to us humans because we know they live outside. We could be hiking into the woods or just in our backyards and ticks will somehow find us. We might not even notice that they have attached themselves to us. We could be in the shower and all of a sudden there is this dark thing on our arm or legs. How is it that these sneaky creatures end up on us? You can get them outdoors when you go camping, hiking or just playing and working in the backyard. The reason Ticks end up on you is because they are like Dracula and they need blood to survive. Without blood they will die. This is why they are classified as a parasite. Ticks are classified as Arachnids because they have eight legs. Their way of survival is to live off blood from various sources. They...

We all like to go out to a restaurant once in a while to have a nice meal. The food is cooked by someone else, the dishes are washed by someone else, and the table is set by someone else. Once in a while, something as simple as going out to eat at a restaurant can feel amazing, especially if the food is good. However, since everything is done by someone else, we are trusting the hygiene of others, and if said hygiene fails, it is clearly a problem that needs to be dealt with. Usually, nothing says a restaurant lacks hygiene quite like a cockroach. In fact, the restaurant can be as clean as it gets, with regular hygiene checkups and incredible control, but if there is one cockroach out there ruining a meal, then the reputation of the whole restaurant is going down, sinking really hard, because if...

Bat bugs are primarily located in any location that houses a large number of bats. They are an insect parasites that feeds upon the blood of bats for sustenance. The name "bat bug" is typically applied to insects who are a member of the Cimicidae family. They are also close relatives of the bed bug and are typically mistaken for them as a result. Unless you possess the ability to examine for these bugs microscopically, they tend to elude the naked eye. Bat bugs have also been known to attack humans when the opportunity presents itself. The appearance of the bat bug is a reddish coloration. They are oval shaped, tiny bugs that have a flatter shape if they have not fed on a host recently. Their coloration becomes darker following a feeding and their bodies take on a more plump, robust appearance. The bat bugs' mouth parts are used...

Ants are one of the great anomalies in nature. They appear so small, but it belies the strength they are capable of. While many people are turned off by ants, especially when they interrupt a picnic or a day at the park, but they’re an important part of keeping nature in balance. The pavement ant is a common species of ant, and has its own unique history. History of the pavement ant If you’ve ever encountered an ant in your life, it was probably a pavement ant. They are one of the most commonly encountered ants that enter homes on the east coast, after they most likely arrived in the United States on boats coming over from Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. The pavement ant is a soil-dwelling creature, and when the soil from those ships arrived in the U.S., they arrived as well. Over time, the pavement ant...

With most things in this life, staying clean is important, but in some instances no matter how clean someone stays little creatures and pests still make their way inside of the home. Ants are problems that affect many people and the nuisances take over almost everything in the home. So how can someone avoid being over-run by the pests? Like most everything that lives, in order to stay alive ants need food, water and shelter. By making sure to rid your house of any crumbs that may escape to the ground or spills of water on your coffee table, ants won’t be able to survive or reproduce. There are a few simple things you can do to prevent ants from coming to your house in the first place and many steps you can take to get rid of them. Simple preventative measures against ants really just include staying clean. If...

The little black ants' (monomorium minimum) origins are within the continent of North America. They find lots of ways into households often. They come to consume meats, honeydew, sweet food, vegetables and other insects. They will eat most of what people eat. They devour the sweetness out of plants so they like organic matter also. They Will Pinpoint Places to Live The little black ants create colonies in the wooded parts of rooms and buildings. They also dwell in soil, slabs of concrete, close to foundations, and under rocks. The small cavities of the soil let folks know that the ants built places to live underground. They will also make nests in the walls, the veneer of bricks, and under the doorway carpet. They Are In the US Too In the US, the little black ants can be found almost anywhere. The folks there have issues with the little black...

The Argentine ants come from the countries of Argentina and Brazil. They have spread out all over the continent of South America. They invade in serious forces rapidly and the Argentine ants have made homes on 6 continents, and plenty of Oceanic islands. How They Can Colonize In Argentina & Brazil, they show a communal system arrangement with hostility between workers of the contrasting nests. Argentine ants also create huge colonies throughout the world. A sufficient amount of them that colonize around the world relate and their origins go deep into several areas along the Rio Parana. Exactly 160 Argentine ants of South Africa were analyzed. Those are from the neighborhoods of Bett's Bay, Caledon, and Cape Point. The ones within Caledon are almost identical to the ones in Buenos Aires. The Argentine Ants Move Mathematically Argentine ants pick collective routes that are suitable statistical distribution of likelihood. They move...