When a plant or an animal gets a bug attacking it, it is usually because the plant or animal lacks vigor. A lack of vitality/ vigor is usually a result of a factor in the environment weakening it. In the West, we use prescription medication to resolve this type of issue in animals. Pesticides are like prescription drugs. They are very similar. Pesticides are even manufactured by Bayer and other companies that also produce pharmaceuticals.
A prescription drug can help combat pathogens in plants and animals. It is not ideal to only rely on only pharmaceuticals though. For example, you wouldn’t want to take cholesterol medicine and continue to eat fried foods. And you wouldn’t want to take blood pressure medicine without reducing stress in your life. You will want to remedy the factor in the environment that tends to be the source of the problem. It is the same with your pest infested house.
When your home gets a pest, it is like a plant or animal getting a pathogen. And there are three different ways to control pests/pathogens: Chemical, Cultural and Mechanical.
Chemical control is using pesticides. Or in our animal analogy; taking a prescription.
Cultural control is manipulating the environment to affect the pest/ pathogen. This can be as simple as removing any potential food sources. Running a dehumidifier will help control silverfish and other bugs. Turning off outside lights to reduce the spider population. This is a perfect example of how important customer involvement is. For example, we can spray for spiders outside. If you leave the lights on, more spiders will come into the area once the spray breaks down though.
Mechanical control is also important to use in any pest control plan. The more non-chemical control methods that you can use, the better. That is pretty much the key to performing integrated pest management. Mechanical control is vacuuming before flea control service. Removing infested items and setting sticky traps are also examples.
Mechanical control goes hand in hand with many of our services. Flea medication for your pet is a must. It goes with our flea treatment.
What makes these two things better are mechanical control. For example:
Use a flea comb in conjunction with the pet medication.
Wash the fleas off your pet.
Vacuum up the larvae on the floor.
Wash the pet bedding. Bedding cannot be sprayed with pesticide.
Trap any flea-ridden wildlife on your property.
These are all solid examples of mechanical control methods. Preparation guidelines are our way of using nonchemical control methods. If you use many nonchemical control methods, you increase your chances of success.
When certain environmental factors exist, it can be difficult to end infestations. Some customers want us to wave our chemical control wands and make the pests vanish. But this is not how pest control works. And there are certain things that we cannot do for the customer. We can’t take your pet to the vet for flea medication. We can’t wash your bedding before we do your bed bug treatment. Hence the need for preparation guidelines.