Pests we treat

Typically, rats:

• are larger than mice
• usually live outside
• have kidney bean size droppings

Home treatments for rats

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments typically involve:

• three visits, at least one week apart
• laying baits along any rats runs and in the drainage system (if required)
• information on the bait we have used, where they are, if you need to take any special precautions
• taking measures to protect children and pets.

Preventing rat infestations

To prevent rats from entering your home, you must:

• fix any holes in your home
• remove external sources of food such as fallen apples, pears, bird food or even water
• clear old furnishings, wood and overgrowth
• keep all refuse in your 'wheelie' bin and always closing the lid
• keep compost in a bin.

Noises coming from the loft are often caused by squirrels or birds, rather than rats or mice.

Typically, mice:

• are up to 10cm long
• have brown-grey fur on their back and lighter grey fur underneath
• have large ears
• have thin tails as long as their heads and bodies
• are smaller than rats
• are usually found inside
• have droppings the size of a grain of rice.

Home treatments for mice

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home typically involve:

• three visits, 7 to 10 days apart
• placing bait in marked boxes in the kitchen, under stairs and other affected areas
• an advice sheet with information about the bait used, where it was placed and any special precautions
• measures to protect children and pets.

Contact us if you need your home treated for mice. We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

Preventing mice infestation

Prepare your home against mice:

• closing up any holes in your property
• removing external sources of food such as fallen apples, pears, bird food, water
• clearing shelter or nesting material such as old furnishings, wood and overgrowth
• putting all refuse in your 'wheelie' bin - always close the lid.

Dead mice can be put in a plastic bag and then in the bin.

If you are worried about a squirrel infestation, please contact us to find out how we can help you to treat them.

Contact us if you need home treatment for black ants. We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

Black garden ants are:

• dark brown or black with a segmented body
• 5mm long

Pharaoh ants are:

• yellow or light brown
• almost transparent
• less common and smaller than garden ants
• no more than 2mm long

Where are they found?

The nest is usually found outside a property but they can get inside buildings through the tiniest of gaps to forage for food scraps, this is why they are usually found in the kitchen. During the late summer the nest produces winged ants, often called flying ants.

Home treatments for black ants

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home involve:

• only treating internal infestations
• one visit
• an insecticidal spray treatment
• an advice sheet with information about the insecticide used
• measures to protect children and pets.

Controlling a black ant infestation yourself

The most effective method of control is to find and destroy the nest. Look outside next to exterior walls on the south side of the house under paths or slabs.

Often ants will emerge in buildings from interior walls, giving the impression that the nest is inside the building. The ants often follow electrical wiring or plumbing along the length of the wall through the cavity or under the skirting boards.

If you cannot find the nest, use ant powder as a temporary solution to prevent them entering your property. Put the powder in any cracks:

• around door frames
• around airbricks
• around pipework
• around wiring
• behind kitchen units
• around waste pipes and drains

Lift the edge of carpets and apply powder along skirting boards.

We provide pest control treatment for bedbugs and have also produced advice if you think you may have an infestation or are preparing for a treatment.

Adult bedbugs are oval shaped, flattened and about 6mm long. When unfed they are pale brown in colour, but become reddish brown to mahogany when full of blood. Young bugs are nearly colourless, becoming brown as they mature.

Where are they found?

You can often find bedbugs:

• under carpets
• behind loose wallpaper
• behind wall pictures
• behind door frames
• around the arm joints of armchairs and settees
• in the seams of mattresses
• bedbugs can crawl vertically up wood, paper and plaster, but not smooth polished surfaces

Note. Their droppings look like black dots, which can also be a tell-tale sign. If you have no bites above the knee, the cause is more likely to be fleas.

Home treatments for bedbugs

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home involve:

• two visits, three weeks apart
• treating bedrooms and other affected rooms
• an advice sheet with information about the insecticide we used, where we placed it and any special precautions needed
• taking measures to protect children and pets

How to prepare your home for bedbug treatment

Before the treatment you should:

• remove pictures, posters, mirrors etc from walls
• move all beds, furniture and other items away from the walls
• remove head-boards from beds
• empty any bed storage compartments or drawers
• remove all items from under the bed
• remove bedding from mattress
• empty wardrobes, drawers, cupboards and beds of all linen and clothing and launder
• place any items which cannot be laundered in thick bin liners and seal tightly
• open and shake-out books, papers, CD/DVDs and videos
• lift all carpets around the edge of the room and leave them loose
• thoroughly clean and vacuum all rooms and empty the vacuum bag into the external bin immediately
• do not move anything out of the rooms to be treated, apart from rubbish and clothing that will need to be washed.

Before the first and second visit any clothes or bed linen must be either be:

• hot washed at a minimum of 60 degrees C or
• tumble dried at a minimum of 60 degrees C for at least 30 minutes or
• placed in a deep freezer for at least three days or
• dry-cleaned.

Other things to do before the treatment starts, include:

• unplug all non-essential electrical items
• turn off any aquarium pumps and cover the tank
• leave rooms to be treated and take all pets with you

After the treatment, you should:

• wait three hours before re-entering the rooms
• open the windows for an hour
• turn on aquarium pumps and other electrical items after the rooms have been aired
• do not vacuum, wipe or polish any treated rooms for at least two weeks
• sleep in your bed as normal - it helps to eradicate the bedbugs

If you wish to get a new bed, do not do so until the infestation is completely eradicated (which normally takes a minimum of two weeks and sometimes longer).

If you have an infestation of beetles, contact us to find out how we can help you to treat them.

Contact us if you need your home treated for cockroaches. We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

Identifying cockroaches

Brent is commonly affected by Oriental or German cockroaches which are:

• 10-25 mm long
• light, dark brown or black.

Home treatments for cockroaches

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home typically involve:

• one visit
• placing gel bait under sink cabinets, around door hinges and other affected areas
• a spray for intensive infested areas
• an advice sheet with information about the bait used, where it was placed and any special precautions needed
• measures to protect children and pets

Preventing cockroach infestation

You can prevent cockroaches from entering you home by:

• filling any cracks
• reducing clutter
• cleaning pet droppings with detergents and disinfectant
• putting dead cockroaches in a plastic bag and in your wheelie-bin
• cleaning up all food debris from floors, tables, cupboards and drawers

Contact us if you need your home treated for fleas. We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

Fleas:

• are up to 7mm long
• are brown-black
• can jump but cannot fly
• frequently originate from cats and dogs or their bedding
• like carpet and central heating

Bites from fleas are usually restricted to below the knees, bites more evenly distributed on the human body are more frequently caused by bedbugs.

Home treatments for fleas

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home typically involve:

• one visit
• a spray treatment for carpets and soft furnishings
• an advice sheet with information about the insecticide used
• measures to protect children and pets

Preparing your home for a flea treatment

To prepare your home before we arrive:

• remove and get rid of all clutter
• machine-wash all clothing and bedding at 60 degrees
• vacuum carpets and soft furnishings
• get pets de-fleaed and use a flea collar and/or flea tablets/drops
• move furniture from edges of rooms

All treated areas should not be cleaned, polished or vacuumed for two weeks after the treatment.

Contact us if your home needs treatment for clothes moths. We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

The clothes moth is the most common fabric moth.

Identifying clothes moths

• Adults are golden with reddish golden hairs on top of the head.
• Their wings span around half an inch and are fringed with a row of golden hairs.

Where are they found?

Because these moths are weak flyers and not attracted to light, you can find them close to the infested items, such as in dark areas of closets.

The larva is the damaging stage of the clothes moth and feeds on:

• wool clothing
• carpets
• rugs
• upholstered furniture
• furs
• stored wool
• animal bristles in brushes
• wool felts in pianos
• fish meal in fish food
• cotton, when blended with wool

Signs of clothes moths damages

Damages usually appear in hidden areas of your clothes such as:

• under collars
• under cuffs
• in crevices of upholstered furniture
• in carpet areas covered by furniture
• in fabrics with food stains, perspiration, or urine.

Home treatments for moths

An adult must be present before we start the treatment. You will have to leave your property during the treatment and return at least three hours later. Treatments in your home involve:

• two visits, three weeks apart
• treating all affected rooms
• an advice sheet with information about the insecticide used, where we placed it and any special precautions needed.

Preparing your home for moth treatment

We may not be able to treat your home if you do not carryout the following:

Before the treatment you should:

• vacuum the whole house, especially areas where you have seen damages such as baseboards, cracks and crevices - dispose of the bag immediately after vacuuming
• dry clean or launder items in hot water at more than 120 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes
• put washed or dry cleaned clothes in a sealed plastic bag
• move wardrobes, cupboards and beds away from the walls
• unplug all non essential electrical items
• turn off any aquarium pumps and cover the tank.

The above steps will also need to be repeated for the second visit.

Controlling a clothes moths infestation yourself

Clothes moths may hide on woollen garments or scraps stored for long periods. In order to prevent clothes moths ensure your clothes are:

• stored properly
• periodically hung in the sun
• brushed along the seams, in folds and pockets.

Brushing destroys eggs and exposes larvae. Larvae are strongly repelled by light and will fall from clothing when they cannot find protection.

We also offer advice on preparing for a treatment.

Typically, wasps:

• have black and bright yellow bands
• have a narrow waist in the middle of a thin body
• are 10-15mm long
• have a smooth, hairless body
• are often found around rubbish and food
• feed on other insects.

Note. Bees are rounder, fatter, slower moving and hairier than wasps. The rear legs are fat and they have duller coloration. They only feed on pollen, so they are often found near flowers and plants.

Home treatments for wasps

We only offer this treatment from 1 April to 31 October.

An adult must be present throughout each visit. Treatments in your home involve:

• one visit
• injecting dust into the nest usually in lofts or outside under the eaves
• an advice sheet with information about the insecticide used, where it was placed and any special precautions
• taking measures to protect children and pets.

The nest will be dead in one or two days after the treatment.

Useful information

• There is no need to remove a dead or dormant nest as wasps will not return to a dead/dormant nest. If you would like it removed we charge £25 for this service. Please call 020 8937 5252.
• During the bee season in May and June, you should take particular care to ensure that you correctly identify whether you have bees or wasps. If you book a wasp treatment, and our pest controller discovers that you have bees, the law does not allow us to undertake a treatment and we will refund your fee minus an administrative charge.
• Wasps never return to last year's nest
• Almost all nests discovered in early spring (March and early April) are dormant nests from a previous summer. You can often avoid unnecessary expense in early spring by only booking a service if you see wasps using the nest. If not it is almost certainly a dormant nest from a previous year. 

Our prices are given to you upfront. There are no hidden costs so you can have peace of mind.

• Bees - if you have a problem with bees, information on swarm removal can be found on the British Bee Keepers Association website.
• Foxes - If you have a problem with foxes, you can find more information on The Fox Project website.