Some of Our Work
Roof Rats
Roof rats are the most common rat in the Las Vegas Valley. The Norway rat is also here, but not quite as many. Rats are omnivores which means they will eat anything they can find. Roof rats usually prefer to stay up high in trees or, you guessed it, nesting on roofs. They can also make their way into the attic and start causing real problems for the homeowner. This one was caught in a customer's garage along with several others. After a thorough search of the premises, it was discovered that they were entering the garage through a crack in the concrete underneath the vent leading to the outside. Once the point of entry was repaired and the rats eliminated, the customer has had no additional instances.
Scorpion Round Up
Certain parts of Las Vegas & Henderson have higher populations of scorpions than others. This group of Arizona Bark Scorpions was caught in the Henderson area near 95 & College. We forgot to count but from the image, it appears there are at least eight in the jar. These were caught at night in the middle of summer, and they are rather easy to find due to their exoskeleton. Under a blacklight, scorpions glow with a yellow/green tint in the dark and tend to stand still to hide from predators. This makes it easier to catch them but it goes without saying, don't use your hands! We use a 3 foot extension grabber and like to put them in a jar while we finish collecting their friends. We encourage our customers to conduct round ups like this at least once a week in the warmer months to help cut down on the population. A couple of hours in the freezer, and you can then throw them away.
Bed Bugs
Bed bugs have made quite a comeback in recent years, and most would blame the worldwide ban of the insecticide DDT in 2001 for this resurgence. Las Vegas is ripe for bed bug infestations simply because of the large number of travelers we receive from foreign countries. This photo shows the castings from a rather bad infestation in a customer's home. As bed bugs mature they shed their skin and emerge larger, mainly after a feeding. The sheer number of castings that were present during this treatment showed that the infestation was pretty bad. Some other signs of bed bug activity include black spots on the mattress or sheets (fecal matter), blood streaks on the sheets, and red reaction spots on the skin where the bugs have bitten the host. Bed bugs are hard to get rid of and usually take several follow up treatments to completely remove them from your home. The good news is that most scientists believe that they do not carry or spread diseases from one person to another. That said, you still don't want these things in your home.
