Commercial Properties: Rats in Your Office or Restaurant

In offices and restaurants, rats can contaminate food, gnaw through walls and wires, and generally wreak havoc. They are difficult creatures to capture, so it is best left to the professionals. Suburban Exterminating serves most of Long Island and guarantees removal to give you peace of mind. Call (631) or (516) 864-6900 for rat removal.

In Your Office

Recent generations of rodents are not as fearful of human interaction and will test their limits in your territories. Rats can be quite smart and traditional trapping methods will not always work. While cleanliness will not keep rodents away, less clutter will give them less places to nest. Rats and other rodents in the office are a direct result of a constant food source. It is best to not eat at your desk, to clean regularly and not to store boxes. In industrial offices, pallets and boxes should not be kept too close to the walls.

In a Restaurant

Special attention to product selection is necessary for eliminating rodents in restaurants. The best results are achieved by killing rodents before they enter the building and maintaining a clean property. Keep dumpsters as clean as possible and cut grass and weeds along fence rows where rodents might hide or enter the property.

Norway Rat: Most Common Rodent at Commercial Properties –

• Norway or Brown rat is the largest of the commensal (living in close proximity with humans) rats.
• In every continent except Antarctica.
• Can produce up to 6 litters a year, but rarely live longer than 12 months.
• Have poor eyesight, but keen sense of smell.
• In buildings they prefer to nest in the lower levels like crawlspaces, basements, loading docks and sewers.
• They prefer meat, fish, and cereals. Their foraging range is 100 to 150 feet from their nest.

Rats are associated with various diseases and occasionally bite. Plague is no longer a major concern because it has not occurred in rats in the United States for many years. However, leptospirosis is a great fear. This disease is acquired by eating food and drinking water which are contaminated with infected rat urine. Rats also cause significant structural damage and product destruction.

Nesting wild animals leave droppings which need to be removed and the area sanitized. Suburban Exterminating will clean these hazardous materials and will also offer a consultation with one of our carpenters to repair any structural damage. Suburban Exterminating offers a wide range of competitive pest control services to meet the needs of commercial, retail and industrial operations in both the private and public sectors. To read about Suburban Exterminating's entire commercial services visit http://www.suburbanexterminating.com/services/Commerical-72.asp. Our operators are ready to place your service call seven days a week. Don’t let a small creature become a huge problem to your business!

The Dangers of Do-It-Yourself Exterminating

Many people have taken it upon themselves to try “at home” extermination remedies, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found there was a rise in accidental poisonings. A national report detailed 111 toxic exposures between 2003 and 2011 when dealing with bed bugs. Eighty nine of these cases were in New York. In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that bed bugs are developing enzymes to protect themselves against pesticides.“In New York City, bedbugs now are 250 times more resistant to the standard pesticide than bedbugs in Florida, due to changes in a gene controlling the resilience of the nerve cells targeted by the insecticide, researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst recently reported.” Lab tests show that bed bugs can survive 1,000 times the lethal dose of pesticides from 10 years ago.

The dangers of overdoing it in at-home extermination do not lie simply with bed bugs. There are many other pest controls that can cause toxic exposure if not handled by the professionals. Additionally, many pest’s waste will cause damage to your home and could be detrimental to you health. In June 2011, a Montauk man died from overexposure to toxic mice droppings. Hantavirus is a lung infection caused by materials found in rodent droppings, urine and saliva that are breathed in. While this recent case is very rare, avoid the risk of exposure by calling professional exterminators.

There are a few ways to avoid toxic exposure to at-home pesticides, but the safest bet is to call the professionals if you suspect an infestation.

• Don’t over apply insecticides.
• Always wash treated bedding/areas.
• Wear gloves and a mask when treating areas of suspected rodent infestation. Wash your hands thoroughly after using any “over the counter” pesticide.
• If you experience any nausea, vomiting, dizziness or respiratory irritation after applying insecticides, seek the advice of a professional.
• Call Suburban Exterminating for a free estimate if you suspect you have bed bugs. (631) or (516) 864-6900.

Call a professional to avoid all fears of do-it-yourself extermination!