Customer Profile
Name: Ms. Jones
City: Manhattan, NY
Problem
Ms. Jones called because she has had a continual problem with cockroaches in her apartment in New York City. She tried to deal with her building’s exterminator, but he only spends five minutes and leaves. She wants to get rid of the roaches once and for all.
Inspection
The inspection of Ms. Jones apartment revealed that her kitchen cabinets were infested with German Cockroaches. Throughout much of the apartment cockroaches were found. This was very common years ago. The current pest control operator was treated the baseboards with a pyrethroid only. The pest control operator had been repeating this treatment for months. The cockroaches had initially declined in numbers but soon rebounded and were more numerous than ever.
Our inspector explained to Ms. Jones that a combination of a bait insecticide, in the form of gels or within an arena, and an insect growth regulator would control the situation to her satisfaction. Ms. Jones was impressed with our overall knowledge of the cockroach life cycle and habitat that she hired us to perform the work. She was instructed in how to best prepare for the treatment.
This is a picture of a gravid (pregnant) female; within the Ootheca (egg case) are up to 40 individual cockroach eggs.
Technical situation
The apartment was cluttered and needed to have several newspapers piles and boxes removed. Ms. Jones also was instructed to remove items from her kitchen cabinets and discard some of her store products. This preparation would allow us to access the crack and crevices that roaches are known to hide in. Although cockroaches don’t truly nest, they do congregate in areas together. This is where they leave dropping with pheromones to attract other roaches for breeding.
Solution
An intense crack and crevice application of Advion� Cockroach Gel and Bait Arenas along with Gentrol� Aerosol insect growth regulator throughout the kitchen and bathroom was performed. In Ms. Jones’ case an additional application in parts of the bedroom and living room was required since cockroaches had been dispersed due to the repellency of the pyrethroid applications. The insect growth regulator would increase the appetite of the roaches therefore increasing the feeding on the baits and gels.
Benefits
A baiting program that takes advantage of the cockroach’s feeding behavior. The results are that the roaches bring the bait back to where they congregate and soon die. The other roaches then feed on the carcass of the original cockroach and soon die as well. This is known as the domino effect. The results are that with one small treatment the entire cockroach population in a NYC apartment may be killed off in a manner of days.
It is the knowledge of the proper treatment techniques with the right materials that solve infestations. Magic Exterminating strives to be at the cutting edge of the latest innovations in pest control. We approach clients using integrated pest management. Magic Exterminating offers inspections, evaluations, exclusions, treatments, and follow-up evaluations in solving pest problems.
Ralph H Maestre BCE
Technical Director
