Cockroaches! Nothing sends shivers up more people’s spines when it comes to pests more readily than a cockroach. These tough little insects are durable survivors, and for many places in North America they are a way of life. While the thought of having cockroaches around may send people into a panic or get a hospitality residence severely downgraded, the fact is that cockroaches will probably always be around, and it is impossible to get rid of every single cockroach in a home.

Integrated pest management seeks to learn lessons from years of overused and ineffective toxic insecticide use and to approach pest control in a much less harmful way. If an infestation is under way, integrated pest management calls for several ways of dealing with it, but the key in many cases is to use steps that prevent pest populations from getting out of control. In part, the successful implementation of this strategy will involve an understanding of the biology and habits of the particular pest in question. Here are some ways in which you can control cockroach numbers.

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Many types of insect which we regard as pests only take on that role once they enter a home, and the carpet beetle is a great example of this. These beetles are no problem at all when they are outside, and are in fact quite nice to look at. Even inside the adult beetles are not that big of a problem, aside from the fact that they are probably looking for somewhere to lay their eggs.

It’s the larvae of the carpet beetle that will do the damage inside your home, eating holes in all sorts of different fibre goods from rugs (thus the name) to your favourite Sunday sweaters. And once carpet beetles get started, it can be very, very difficult to eradicate them from your living areas. Prevention, the most important step of integrated pest management, is your best defence when it comes to keeping carpet beetle numbers from infesting your home. Let’s take a look at what you can do to protect your belongings.

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You’ve probably heard that if there ever was a total nuclear war, it would be cockroaches that inherited the planet. While the gallows humor of the statement is debatable, it is true that cockroaches are one of the hardiest species to inhabit our planet. They have several adaptations which make have helped them to become either first or second on the list of pests in the United States, depending on where you live. These adaptations are also very useful when it comes to pest control, for the cockroach that is. Let’s take a look at what makes the cockroach so hardy and how you can control the population in your house without the use of atomic weapons or others that are overly threatening to your own existence.

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There’s one word that anyone with school age kids has dealt with at some point, that can send waves of panic through households, and it isn’t guns: it’s lice. Head lice are a common pest to people both school age and out of school alike, and often humans think that the only way to deal with these pests is through the use of insecticides (that includes insecticidal shampoo). Companies that manufacture the product laugh their way to the bank, because in fact lice can be dealt with through strictly organic, non-toxic means, it just takes some time and attention.

The number one thing to realize about lice is that they cannot live for any amount of time outside of their chosen environment, and they do not stray from that environment. There are three different types of lice, and we talk about them in a separate article. For this article, it is only important to note that none of the three species can live outside of the specific hair environment that they are named after. There is no need at all to spray or otherwise treat a house where someone who has had lice resides; the lice will all be dead within a few days of leaving (in the case of head lice) a noggin.

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When it comes to household pests, there are few that are less harmful than the fruit fly. Really the only thing that makes these tiny, short lived, and furiously prolific creatures fall into the pest category is that they can be very annoying. Even that is strictly visual though; do you know anyone who has every heard a fruit fly?

That being said, it can indeed be incredible annoying when you go into the kitchen to get a piece of fruit and are literally swarmed with hundreds of the little beggars. It can also be embarrassing if you have guests over. Fortunately, fruit flies are pretty easy to deal with. Here are some of the best ways.

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Fleas are another common pest, and one that we will never be totally free of no matter what measures we use. They are just too adaptable, and their life cycles too varied, to get rid of them altogether. They are therefore an ideal candidate for the integrated pest control method, which does not seek total annihilation at all costs but instead reduces the problem so that it is barely noticeable.

A flea infestation is pretty easy to notice; everyone is breaking out in little red, itchy welts, the pets are constantly harassed, and it’s just general misery. As we said above, you will never be able to get rid of every flea so that means there are going to be fleas around, but you can greatly reduce the impact that they have on your life (in other words, they will still probably harass your pets, but not to too great an extent, and for the most part you and your human family members will be left alone).

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It’s funny that although cockroaches only inhabit about 1/3 of continental North America in any great number, they are the most commonly cited pest in our pop culture. Part of the reason for the popularity of cockroaches when it comes to pestilential discussion is just the sheer physical reaction that people seem to have to these insects; we will get into that in a little bit. Just keep in mind as you are reading this that although cockroaches are by far one of the most hardy insect pests on the entire planet, you are unlikely to encounter them in any great numbers wherever the temperature dips below five degrees Celsius on a regular basis. If you do live in warmer areas (and the German cockroach can be found even in colder parts of the continent although with proper control and the aid of the mercury they usually don’t become a big problem) , here are some of the problems that are associated with large numbers of cockroaches. (more…)

When it comes to the hardiest species on the planet, few animals can rival the cockroach. These insects are found everywhere, and there are literally thousands of species. Of these species, there are only 30 which are known to infest human buildings and thus considered pests. Still, this doesn’t mean much if you are one of the people whose home has been infested by thousands of one of the 30 species. (more…)