All Pest technicians often apply exterior treatments to structures to combat spiders, ants, and many other arthropod pests. Treatments may be preventative or may be designed to be part of a treatment effort to eradicate an existing infestation. Applications should not be made when weather conditions are windy or when conditions are wet or rainy. A treatment may be applied if conditions are damp or dewy, but expected to dry within the next several hours.

Before your All Pest technician arrives, please perform the following tasks:

1. Close all windows and exterior doors.

2. Remove all personal items within twenty feet of the structure and place them further out in the yard or inside. This include items such as clothing, toys, tools, food, furniture cushions, etc. Gas or charcoal grills may in place if they are covered and utensils are put away.

3. You may want to walk your dog(s) before the treatment commences. Pets and people will not be allowed in the treatment area until it has dried.

4. Let your All Pest technician know if there are any edible, fruit-bearing or vegetable-bearing plants in the vicinity. The type of product he will be applying is not appropriate for crop use. If necessary you may cover plants with a tarp. We recommend that edible plants be moved away from the structure to accommodate future applications.

5. Bird houses, baths, or feeders should be temporarily removed from the treatment area.

6. Deck or patio furniture may remain in place. However, it is helpful to your technician, and he can do a more thorough application, if the furniture is placed in the middle of the deck/patio. That way, he is able to treat the exterior walls of the structure as well as deck railings.

You do not have to leave your home during the application, but you must stay either inside your home or outside, well away from the treatment area. Once your technician has completed his work, you and your pets must still stay out of the treatment area until the application has dried. The drying time depends on the weather conditions at the time, and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. Consult with your technician if you are unsure when you may resume normal outdoor activities. After the application we recommend cleaning all surfaces within the treatment area where food will be prepared or served (tables, grill shelves, etc.)

The product that we apply is formulated with a special polymer resin that stabilizes the application. As long as the application has had a chance to dry, a subsequent rain will not significantly affects it performance.

Sometimes, due to environmental conditions or other reasons, home ares invaded by crawling insects and other arthropods. These pests include spiders, clover mites, centipedes, millipedes and others. Control of these pests often requires changing environmental conditions, but sometimes chemical control is needed.

There are a few things that you will need to do before treatment to make the application safe and effective. Please have the following steps completed before our technician arrives at your home:

1. Vacuum the living areas of your home. Clean surfaces make a treatment more effective.

2. Move furniture and other items away from walls when possible. Most treating is done in baseboard areas.

3. Move items such as games and children's toys to the center of the room, where no pesticide will be used.

4. Put pet dishes inside cabinets until after the application has dried.

5. Cover fish and reptile ranks and turn off air pump. Nearly all insecticides are extremely toxic to fish.

6. Put away or cover all exposed food.

7. Please close exterior doors and windows.

8. Upon arrival at your home you All Pest technician will review this list with you. If he does not feel that these steps have been adequately performed he may elect not to treat. We want to insure successful treatment the first time, and the preparation before treatment is an extremely important element of the eradication effort.

9. Once your technician has verified that your home is ready for treatment, he will ask you, your family, and your pets to leave the premises. This is done to insure your safety and well-being, and to allow your technician to perform his work thoroughly and without distraction.

10. You may return to your home in two to four hours, depending on drying conditions at the time of treatment. Once the application has completely dried, it is safe for you to resume normal activities.

ROACH PREP

Before one of All Pest’s professional technicians arrives at your home for treatment of cockroaches, you must perform the following tasks:

1. Remove all clutter such as clothing, children’s toys, stored items, etc. from kitchen and bathroom areas. Your technician cannot apply chemicals with these items present.

2. Thoroughly clean all bathroom and kitchen areas. This includes vacuuming out cabinets, cleaning all counter and stove-top surfaces with a heavy-duty cleaner, cleaning the oven, moving out and cleaning around and under the refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, and stove. Crumbs, spilled grease, and bits of food in these areas are a banquet for cockroaches. Floors should also be mopped. A high level of sanitation is essential for ultimate control.

3. Eliminate all cockroach food and water sources. This includes placing open food (such as open cereal or cracker boxes) and pet food inside sealed plastic bags (do not leave pet food in dishes on the floor), sealing trash bags when not in use, cleaning cooking utensils and dirty dishes immediately after use, and relentlessly cleaning up all spills, leftover food, crumbs, etc. Your technician will be using cockroach baits and the elimination of competing food sources is extremely important. Additionally, changing cockroaches’ environment by eliminating food and water sources stresses the cockroach population forcing them to seek out other sources which allows our baits and chemicals to be more effective.

4. Immediately cease using any sprays or chemicals you have been using for your cockroach infestation (nor begin using anything after our treatment). Chemicals available to consumers can do more harm than good because they often have a repellent effect which scatters the cockroach population.

Your All Pest technician will review this list with you when he arrives. If he does not feel that these steps have been adequately performed, he may elect not to treat. We want to insure successful treatment the first time and the preparation before treatment is an extremely important element of the eradication program. Once your technician has verified your home is ready for treatment, he will ask that you and your pets vacate the treatment areas. This is done for your safety and well-being and to allow your technician to perform his work without fear of injuring anyone.

For successful treatment, we must first attain and maintain a high level of sanitation and eliminate cockroach food and water sources. This is your responsibility. Second, your technician will apply several baits which are highly attractive and lethal to cockroaches. Third, your technician will conduct a spot and crack-and-crevice application of a non-repellant, residual insecticide. (If a very heavy infestation of cockroaches is encountered, your technician may also elect to vacuum up all visible cockroaches before he begins treatment.)

The technician will then apply gel bait with a caulking gun-type device and apply the gel as a fine bead in areas that cockroaches will likely inhabit or pass by (cracks/crevices in walls, cabinets, near appliances, etc.) as well as other types of bait and/or bait stations. Cockroach baits, while extremely toxic to cockroaches, are designed to be slow-acting. This is an advantage because it causes a “domino effect” to other cockroaches. Nymphs feeding on the feces of poisoned adults will also die. Cockroaches will often cannibalize their dead companions, especially if other food sources are scarce, and thereby ingesting a lethal dose of the bait chemical.

After your technician has baited areas of cockroach activity, he will apply a residual chemical to areas of the kitchen and/or bathrooms and/or any room he deems necessary. This chemical is extremely effective because cockroaches cannot detect it or its lethality. By simply walking across a treated surface, cockroaches will pick up a lethal dose of chemical and die in as few as six hours. The chemical will be spot-applied on baseboards, under appliances, inside cabinets, and in crack and crevice areas. You will not notice any strong odor nor be in danger of breathing fumes. You should stay out of treated areas until the applied chemical has dried. This can take anywhere from two to four hours or more. If you, your family, or a pet should touch any treated areas when still wet, simply wash the affected area with warm water and soap. Once treated areas are completely dry you may resume normal activities.

Within two to three days you should see a dramatic decrease in the cockroach population. However, not all cockroaches will be killed immediately and eggs will continue to hatch for several weeks. Therefore, continued efforts on your part will be necessary to include maintaining a high level of sanitation, cleaning up spilled food, washing dirty dishes and cooking utensils immediately after use, running the dishwasher at night, tightly packaging all open food (such as cereal, cracker, cookies, flour, sugar, bread, and dry pet food) in plastic bags or airtight containers, feeding pets only at pet mealtimes, eliminating pet water at night, and sealing garbage containers (you can simply use a twist tie to seal garbage bags). All of these measures are especially important at night when cockroaches are most active, and must be continued for a period of at least four weeks after treatment, even if you are not seeing any live cockroaches. We must stress that by eliminating food and water sources, our baits and chemicals become much more effective.The importance of your efforts at post-treatment sanitation cannot be overemphasized.

If you are still seeing some live cockroaches after our treatment, please be patient. Chemicals and baits take time to do their work, especially if the infestation is large.

Before one of All Pest’s trained technicians arrives at your home to treat your home for fleas, you must perform the following tasks:

1. Remove all items from the floor of every room and closet, especially children’s toys, pet food and water bowls.

2. Remove all items under beds and furniture. Do not place items on upholstered furniture; the furniture must be treated. If pets sleep or lounge on beds, remove linens and launder in hot water; leave beds unmade.

3. Clean and thoroughly vacuum all areas paying special attention to areas where pets spend the majority of their time. Vacuum carpets, baseboards, all upholstered furniture, and areas pets frequent. Use a vacuum with both suction and a beater bar on carpeting. When finished, place vacuum bag inside a sealed plastic bag and discard.

4. Wash pet bedding or dispose in a sealed plastic bag.

5. Mop tile and hardwood floors.

6. Cover fish and reptile tanks and turn off air pump. Nearly all insecticides are extremely toxic to fish.

7. Put away or cover all exposed food.

8. Mow lawn a day or two before treatment.

9. Pick up children’s toys, pet toys, and other material in yard. Store where flea control products will not be applied. Outside, flea control products will be applied to the perimeter of the home, porches, patios, decks, and any areas pets frequent.

10. Take pets to a veterinarian for a systemic flea treatment, or purchase an over-the-counter systemic treatment and treat your pet yourself. This should be done prior to treatment of your home. The newer systemic treatments, including Program™, Advantage™, and Frontline™, are very effective and recommended. You may also elect to treat your pets yourself using one or more other over-the-counter products (sprays, shampoos, dusts, collars, etc.), but these products are not as effective as the systemic treatment, and will require a dedicated, long-term effort on your part.

Upon arrival at your home, your All Pest technician will review this list with you. If he does not feel that these steps have been adequately performed he may elect not to treat. We want to insure successful treatment the first time and the preparation before treatment is an extremely important element of the eradication program.

Once your technician has verified that your home is ready for treatment, he will ask you, your family, and your pets to leave the premises. You may return to your home in three to four hours, depending on drying conditions at the time of treatment. Upon your return, please verify that surfaces are dry; if accidentally you or your pet touches a still-wet surface simply wash the affected area. We recommend that food-surface areas, such as tables, counters, sinks, etc. be cleaned with a detergent or commercial cleaner, then dried with paper towels and the towels discarded. At this point you may resume normal activities.

Your technician will be applying a product which contains two adulticides and a larvacide. The adulticides provide quick knockdown and some residual effect against adult fleas. The IGR, by interfering with the molting process, prevents both eggs and larvae from maturing into sexually viable adult fleas. There are currently no approved products available to pest management professionals that kill pupae.

You should see an immediate reduction in the adult flea population. None of the pupae and few of the larvae will immediately be killed, however. As noted above, chemicals are unable to penetrate the pupal case; therefore, new adult fleas will continue to emerge from the pupal cases for the next several weeks. They will then be eventually killed by the residual effect of the adulticide present, or by the systemic chemical in your pet administered by your veterinarian. A few may survive and reproduce, but their eggs and larvae will not be viable due to the IGR present in your home

Larvae are generally found in protected areas – such as creases in upholstered furniture, deep in the pile of carpeting, etc. The larvae will not be immediately killed by the IGR, but the chemical interferes with the molting process and prevents their normal development, thus eliminating sexually viable adult fleas.

The day after your home is treated you must vacuum all floor surfaces and areas pets frequentand continueto vacuum all these areas at least every three days for a period of three weeks. Each time you have finished vacuuming, remove the vacuum bag, seal in a plastic bag, and discard. Although you may continue to see some fleas, as the days pass you will see fewer and fewer. Even if you are seeing no adult fleas you must continue to vacuum for the prescribed time. New adult fleas still in their pupal cases must be stimulated to emerge so that the chemicals can perform their intended function while they are still active. The importance of your efforts at post-treatment vacuuming cannot be over-emphasized.

You may continue to experience some flea activity for two weeks. While we understand that this may be disconcerting to you, we ask that you remain patient. In almost all cases, after two weeks flea activity will cease or be at a very low level. The IGR will continue to work, preventing fleas from reaching sexual maturity and the systemic insecticide you are using on your pet(s) will kill any other adult fleas breaking the life cycle.

Clients often mistakenly believe that removing pets from the premises will help to eradicate the infestation but this is not true. Cat fleas readily feed on humans perpetuating the infestation indefinitely. It is far more effective to treat your pets with one of the systemic products (described above) and allow your pets to frequent their normal living areas. Adult fleas feeding on your pets – their preferred hosts - will then die before they are able to lay eggs, breaking the life cycle.

To prevent future infestation, it is important to prevent the establishment of flea populations in the first place. This can best be accomplished by the following measures:

1. Keep your pets protected against fleas, either by systemic products prescribed by veterinarians and proven to be superior or by over-the-counter preventative treatments.

2. Keep pets away from feral cats and dogs which almost always harbor fleas and other parasitic organisms. Also keep pets away from wild animals.

3. Vacuum your home often, especially areas pets frequent. Good sanitation practices help to break the life-cycle of fleas as well as other household pests.

4. Wash or change pet bedding often.

5. Keep your lawn mowed short and brush/trees trimmed back away from the house. This prevents shady, humid conditions required for flea larvae.

6. Do not allow any wild animals – such as skunks, raccoons, squirrels, birds, mice, etc. – to nest or take up residence in, on, or near your home. Nearly all of these animals are infested with fleas of varying species.

Bed bug infestations can be extremely difficult to eradicate. However, All Pest Inc. pest management professionals possess the knowledge and chemical tools to provide effective bed bug control. Clients should understand that bed bug infestations generally cannot be controlled by chemical means alone. Therefore, you must perform an important and active role in eliminating these pests from your home. This handout will provide you with information regarding All Pest Inc’s bed bug eradication program.

Preparation

• Remove all bedding, clothing, curtains and other washable items from the room and closets. Wash all items in hot water, and then dry at your dryer’s highest temperature setting. Place the items in tied garbage bags and do not put them back in the room. You may return these items to the room 4 hours after your technician has finished treatment.

• Large unwashable items (bed frame, night stands, televisions, stereos, etc.) should be wiped down but can stay in the room being treated.

• Smaller unwashable items (alarm clocks, picture frames, knickknacks, etc.) must be removed from the room. They should be placed in tied garbage bags. You may return these items to the room 4 hours after your technician has finished treatment.

• Clean and thoroughly vacuum all areas, with special attention to carpets, baseboards, and all upholstered furniture. When finished, place vacuum bag inside a sealed plastic bag and discard or clean canister outside.

• Remove the bed from the bed frame and place it against a wall in the room being treated.

• Mop tile and hardwood floors.

• Cover any fish or reptile tanks and turn off air pump.

Please understand that all these tasks must be completed prior to your technician’s arrival. If the technician is unable to treat because the home is not prepared, you will be charged a fee of $75.00.

When your All Pest technician makes an exterior application to your home or other structures, he will do his best to minimize overspray on your windows. However, some overspray is inevitable, especially second or third story windows.

All Pest technicians use the very latest in pesticide technology. The product we most often use for exterior applications has a proprietary polymer ingredient that protects the active ingredient from sunlight, rain, dust, and pollen, thus increasing the active ingredient’s useful life. The polymer does stick to surfaces very well, which makes window cleaning somewhat more difficult in some cases. Here are some important tips to help you get your windows sparkling again with the least amount of time and effort:

1. Wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from cleaning solution and pesticide residues.

2. Wash your windows soon after the application. The cleaning process will be easier then because the polymer ingredient tends to harden with time.

3. Use an ammonia-based cleaning solution, such as Windex®, or the homemade cleaning solution (recipe below). We have found the homemade solution is better and cheaper than commercially available solutions.

4. Use plenty of cleaning solution, and let it soak into the deposits on the window for a moment or two before rubbing.

5. If the deposits do not come up easily with a rag, use a non-scratching cleaning pad to scrub the deposits off. If you use plenty of cleaning solution and let it soak into the deposits for a moment or two, it will require just a little effort to scrub the deposits off. A cleaning pad designed to clean non-stick cookware, such as a Scotchbrite™ Dobie™, works very well.

6. Once the deposits have been removed from the window, polish with a dry rag or newspaper. This will make your windows sparkle!

Window cleaning solution recipe:

¼ cup ammonia

1 cup 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol

A few drops of dish washing liquid

Mix all ingredients and add enough water to make ½ gallon of solution