Continue reading »]]> The best approach to protect your home from termite infestation is to avoid conditions that aid termites in gaining access. There are several simple things you can do to help avoid termites. First, do not allow the wood from your home to come in contact with the soil. The minute wood sets on earth, it starts attracting moisture and the combination of wood, soil and moisture attracts fungi that begin to decay the wood. Second, fix water leaks and control moisture in and around your home. The termites that live in Kansas require moisture and will thrive in damp soil and wood.

Avoid all wood-to-soil contact. Don’t stack firewood directly on the ground, especially next to the foundation of your home. Keep it elevated on racks. Also, don’t allow the siding of your house or trim to become covered by dirt. This allows unseen access by termites to your home and creates a condition that is conducive to termite infestation. Walk around the outside perimeter of your home and look for places where the wood or siding comes into contact with the soil and make a break of about six inches or more, if possible.

If you have roof or plumbing leaks, have them repaired. Often termites show up around fireplaces because the juncture where the sloping roof meets the fireplace doesn’t drain rain water properly. Moisture is retained in the walls and termites are attracted to the damp wood. Also, make sure that crawl spaces are properly ventilated. Damp crawls spaces aid termite infestation.

If you’re building a home, look at getting a pretreatment while the home is being built. It’s one of the most cost effective ways of preventing termites, if the treatment is done properly. Make certain the provider uses a good, modern termiticide and uses it at the required label rates. Many, if not most, pretreatments in Kansas are done very cheaply, which means that the pest control company  is using “cheap” rather than “good” product. Often, the chemicals are applied at rates much lower than required by state and federal law. Although, such treatments are regulated by the State of Kansas, due to manpower shortages, regulators have little time to monitor and enforce pretreatment requirements. If you’re getting the “builder’s special” on a termite pretreatment, the chances are you’re not getting much, if any protection.

If you discover that you have termites feeding on your home, your best response is to contact a professional pest control expert. Termites are extremely difficult to get rid of on a long term basis. They’re easy to run off for a short time, but once you’ve turned your back on them, they’ll find a way to get back into your home. Use a professional that has proper licensing, credentials and a good rating with consumer watchdog agencies like the Better Business Bureau. Check with neighbors and friends to see if they have used someone that has done a good job for them. You may want to get a couple of bids. Cheap often isn’t good. The easiest way to do a low-cost job is to use second rate materials at less than label rates. Ask lots questions when you get an estimate and use reputable companies.

Continue reading »]]> Termites are cryptic creatures. Their nests are concealed in the soil and their bridges to our homes are covered in mud. Because of their hidden nature, they are difficult to spot. Often, they invade homes through obscure places, mysteriously appearing in walls and windows or found sneaking up foundations in mud tubes. Seldom do we see termites in the open except during the swarm season when the winged termites (reproductives) leave the nest in large numbers to seek mates and start new colonies.

Termites are widely distributed throughout the southern plains. The US Forestry Department estimates that this region is heavily infested with subterranean termites with seven to eight colonies per acre. That means most quarter acre lots have 2 termite colonies active on the property. Chances are that they are in your yard, but the most important question is, “Are they feeding on my home?”

Termites are most commonly discovered during the spring when humans go outside to work on their houses in flower beds and yards. The most common sign is a shelter tube running from the ground up a foundation wall and entering a home where the siding meets the foundation, or inside the garage where the sheetrock or wood framing meets the concrete. If you scrape the tube open, little creamy-white insects will emerge indicating the termites are actively feeding on the structure. Sometimes, the only thing we see is mud packed in corners or joints where the termites have closed off a crack to seal in their movement and feeding. They bridge open areas in shelter tubes made of soil glued together with their secretions.

Termites need to maintain a very humid condition inside their colonies to survive. In normal ambient conditions, they will dry up and die if left exposed. Therefore, they maintain a closed system to block out dry air and sunlight. About the only time you will see them out in the open is during swarm season in April or May, usually when the weather warms to the 80’s and we’ve just had a shower. These conditions create an environment which favors the winged, “teenage” reproductive survivability when leaving the nest. They seek a mate and crawl under a log or rock to start a new colony.
When humans see a large number of flying insects exploding out of a crack or swarm castle (elevated mud tube) they’re usually alarmed. If the termites are inside a home they move toward windows or light sources seeking the outdoors. If the termites swarm outside, they are carried by the wind, fluttering along in the air. They are not good fliers. When they hit the ground, they pull off their wings and look for a mate, often wandering around the edges of walls and foundations.

Since ants also swarm during the warm months, they are often confused with termites, especially if they are in the winged stage. There are subtle physical differences between winged ants and termites. If you find winged insects in or around your home you should collect a specimen and have it identified. The County Extension Office has expert information available, or you can call a pest control professional for positive ID.

The third sign of termites in your home is damaged wood. If you find soft, hollow areas with galleries and mud, the chances are that termites have been there. Sometimes termites are present, sometimes they have moved on to other areas. Often, water-damaged wood will also be soft and somewhat hollow, but it will not contain galleries or mud. If you have questions, have the area evaluated by a pest control specialist.

The three signs of subterranean termites are

• Mud tubes extending from the ground to the wood elements of home.  Tubes are usually the size of a soda straw.
• Flying winged termites swarming during the warm days of spring, usually after a rain shower
• Hollow, damaged wood with or without grubby off-white insects

Termite damage occurs slowly, It usually takes 3-5 years before significant damage occurs. However, because of their cryptic nature, termite activity can often be overlooked for long periods of time. They can be moving up a mud tube behind storage in the garage or even coming through a crack in the mortar joints of an exterior brick wall and not be noticed for years. If you home is more than five years, you should have it checked by a termite inspector every year or two.

Individual termites are easy to kill. Termite colonies are difficult to stop. Termites are persistent and will spend years finding ways back into your home. If you have termites, you should consult with a professional pest management specialist.

Continue reading »]]> Q. What is the latest on termites and control of them?

A. Good question…termites have been around for millions of years. If you Google “termites,” you will see how they are a light-colored social insect that forms large colonies. Many species live in warm or tropical regions, feed on wood, and are highly destructive to trees and wooden structures.

While many think of them as pests and useless, they are actually doing what God intended them to do when He made them. In his infinite wisdom, God created these little, grubby-white insects with good reason. They were given the task of recycling decaying wood. They are the little sanitation workers of the soil. They were endowed with special bacteria in their gut that allows them to digest cellulose and turn rotting wood into nutritious soil.

However, when humans began to build wooden structures, the wars between termites and humans started. Although few of us mind termites doing what they are supposed to be doing in nature, we will go to great lengths to put a stop to these wood worms and their destructive work when it comes to our homes and buildings. They want to turn them into dirt. We of course can’t allow that to happen.

The only problem is…these little creatures are difficult to control. They’re also difficult to find. In search of their food (wood and cellulose) they can squeeze through cracks 1/32 of an inch. They’re an integral part of nature and they’ll go 24 hours a day in their dark caverns. The problem is that they often mistake the “good wood for the bad.” They have plenty of time on their hands to complete their work. The ages are on their side. Scientists have found fossilized remains of termites dating back more than a100 million years.

Termites are cryptic, hidden in the earth, or in walls or behind veneered surfaces.  They find ways in and around our best efforts. What are humans to do? The best thought is to establish a perimeter and hold the line. Many solutions have been developed throughout the ages for termite control. Mankind has developed many potions, both fair and foul. We want protection from these home destroyers, knowing that termites cause more monetary damage to wooden structures than fires, earthquakes and storms combined.

Recent studies have found that over 90% want protection from termite invasion.  According to Dr. Michael Potter of the University if Kentucky, 93% of home and building owners were also concerned about the use of termite control chemicals. Fortunately, there has been a breakthrough from a company that has developed a new bait that is green and most effective. This technology has won the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Although something else may come along in the future that is more effective, this product offers unsurpassed termite protection today.

Continue reading »]]> Pest proofing your home from rodents can sometimes be a hassle. Forty percent of mammal species are considered rodents, and can be found in vast numbers on all continents other than Antarctica. The most common rodents we encounter in residential settings are mice, rats, voles and shrews. Rodents are specified by their sharp incisors that they use to gnaw wood, which can harm the siding, electrical wiring and the interior of your household. They mostly feed off of seeds and plants outside which can lead to further home garden complications. They are historically known as pests due to their consumption of seeds and their propensity to spread disease.

There are about 2,277 species of rodents. The ongoing success of the species to populate is partly because of their small size, short breeding cycles, and ability to gnaw and eat a wide variety of foods. They must keep their teeth worn down by gnawing, in turn the teeth are used for cutting wood, biting through skin of fruit, or for self-defense. Although some species of rodents, such as the guinea pig, have been domesticated throughout the years, most of the rodents in existence will cause harm and unrest in your household.

We offer a wide range of residential solutions at Patton to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or
baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your rodent infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.

Patton Termite & Pest of Wichita specializes in Commercial/Residential: eradicating of spiders, ants, termites, wasps, hornets, fleas, bedbugs, insects and rodents. Patton provides insect and rodent monitoring / trapping, exterior perimeter power spray and / or baiting, termite monitoring, and brown recluse spider clean-out. Patton uses green, integrated pest management for chemically sensitive people. Contact Patton Today at (316) 773-3825.

Continue reading »]]> Bed Bugs are a major pest control problem that can cause unrest in your home. Bed bugs have been known human parasites for thousands of years and have even become increasingly more resistant to pesticides. Many health problems can arise from a bedbug infestation; including skin rashes psychological effects and allergic symptoms. Infestations have been on the rise in recent years due in part to more frequent foreign travel and a greater increase of second hand home furnishing exchanges.

Bedbugs are not completely nocturnal but have the habit of being very active at night, feeding off their hosts unnoticed. Adult bedbugs can grow to 4-5 mm in length and 1.5-3 mm wide. Bedbugs are commonly mistaken for other pests such as booklice and carpet beetles. They are able to stay alive in a wide range of temperatures and atmospheric compositions. They can also live for a year without feeding. Many ways your home can become infested is through your household pets, on clothing or luggage, or even previously infested items such as furniture or clothing that is brought into the house.

We offer a ride range of residential solutions at Patton Termite & Pest  to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or
baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your bedbug infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.

Continue reading »]]> Wasps, Hornets, and their nests can become a major problem in your home. The majority of wasp species are parasitic and usually rely on a host to lay their eggs. The most familiar wasps have a venomous sting, although a great many species don’t actually sting. Wasps are commonly mistaken for bees and vice-versa. The various species of wasps fall into one of two main categories: solitary wasps and social wasps. Adult solitary live and operate alone, and most do not construct nests; all adult solitary wasps are fertile. By contrast, social wasps exist in colonies numbering up to several thousand strong and do build nests- but in some cases not all of the colony can reproduce. In more advanced species, just the wasp queen and male wasps can mate, whilst the majority of the colony is made up of sterile female workers.

The type of nest produced by wasps can depend on the species and location. Many social wasps produce paper pulp nests on trees, in attics, holes in the ground or other such sheltered areas in access to the outdoors. However, solitary wasps are generally parasitic or predatory and only the latter build nests at all,  hence they do they are most commonly found in sheltered places typically on the side of walls.

Hornets are the largest species of wasps reaching up to 2.2 in. in length. A  hornets’ nest is founded in spring by fertilized female queen. The queen generally selects sheltered places like dark hollow tree trunks. At the peak of its population, the colony can reach a size of 700 workers, which occurs in late summer. The adult male hornets will die off shortly after mating, the workers and non fertile queens survive at most until mid to late autumn; only the fertilized queens survive over winter.

Both a wasp and hornets sting can be very painful to humans and allergic reactions (fatal in severe cases) can occur. All wasps and hornets can sting multiple times; they do not die after stinging a human as is typical for a worker honey bee, they can also bite and sting at the same time unlike bees. Hornets, like many other social wasps, can mobilize the entire nest to sting in defense, which is highly dangerous to humans, therefore it is not advisable to kill a hornet near a nest as this can alert the rest of the colony to attack.

We offer a ride range of residential solutions at Patton Termite & Pest to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your wasp/hornet infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.

Continue reading »]]> Fleas are can be a very inconvenient pest for your home. They have adapted mouthparts specifically for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites living off the blood of mammals. Over 2,000 species have been described worldwide. Being small, agile, usually dark in color and have a hind pair of legs adapted for jumping. They are able to jump vertically up to 7 inches and horizontally up to 13 inches, or 200 times their own body length, making them one of the best jumpers of all known animals (relative to body size).

They are light in weight so its easier for them to attach to hairs or feathers on a hosts body. Its almost impossible to kill them with smashing or scratching due to their very hard bodies that can withstand great pressure. They lay tiny white oval shaped eggs and their larva is small and pale. Adult fleas cannot survive or lay eggs without a blood meal, but may live for one year without feeding. There is often a desperate need for flea control after a family has returned from a long vacation. When the family and their pets are gone for a while it causes fleas to remain in a kind of limbo inside a pupal cocoon until a blood source can be located for feeding. In just 30 days, 10 female fleas under ideal conditions can multiply to over a quarter million fleas in different life stages.

Fleas carry with them a disease that is called flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) and can cause other medical problems such as secondary skin irritations, and in extreme cases anemia, tapeworms, and stomach flu. They are also known to carry endemic typhus and also the bubonic plague. On humans, fleas can become settled in a person’s hair in less than ten minutes and can lead to soreness and itching.

We offer a ride range of residential solutions at Patton Termite & Pest to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your flea infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.

Continue reading »]]> Spiders can be a very dangerous problem for homeowners. Spiders are found on every single continent worldwide except for Antarctica and have been established in nearly every habitat with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species and 109 families have been recorded by axonomists. A spider’s web can vary widely in size, shape and the amount of sticky thread used.

The female spider will weave silk egg-cases, each of which may contain hundreds of eggs. Only a minority of species are actually social but can create a commune of webs housing from a few to as much as 50,000 individuals. Most spiders live for at most two years, however, tarantulas and other similar spiders to them can live up to 25 years. They occur in a large range of sizes, shapes, colors, and even the ability to poison you. Although most spiders will only bite humans in self-defense, and few produce worse effects than a mosquito bite or bee-sting, most of those with medically serious bites, such as a recluse spiders and widow spiders, are shy and bite only when they feel threatened. This can easily arise by accident however but only about 100 deaths from spiders have been reported since the beginning of the 20th century.

We offer a ride range of residential solutions at Patton Termite & Pest to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your spider infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.

Continue reading »]]> Termite workers build and maintain nests to house their colony. These nests are elaborate structures made using a combination of soil, mud, chewed wood/cellulose, saliva, and feces. They provide many functions for the infestation, including a protected living space and an ability to collect water through condensation. Some species build nests above ground, that eventually develop into mounds. Homeowners need to be careful of tree stumps that have not been dug up as they are prime candidates for termite nests and being close to homes, termites usually end up destroying the siding and sometimes even wooden beams.

We offer a ride range of residential solutions at Patton Termite & Pest to help you maintain a safe and healthy home environment. With each visit we provide identification of common pest conditions that invite infestations. We offer many residential solutions from interior service to key areas, insect and rodent monitoring/trapping, to exterior perimeter power spray and/ or baiting. With our Premium Residential Solutions we can offer many services that aren’t commonly found with most pest control companies. We also provide a targeted follow up in a timely manner to ensure the remediation of pest problems.

We at Patton use the top technology to make sure we can eradicate your termite infestation. We bring into your home over 75 years pest control experience so that you can be assured that we are doing everything in our power to help you to maintain a safe and happy home.