Manchester & Trafford Pest Control

Posts Tagged ‘Plague’

Flying Ant Problems in Lancashire, Cheshire & Manchester

Only people who have experienced it will know the true horror of flying ants in the home.

Having an infestation of normal wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their annual mating ritual the situation can become unbearable.

Ants often build colonies under the floors and in the cavity walls of our homes and this colonies will continue for many years if left untreated getting progressively worse each year.

Ants love a sandy soil and there are many places in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which tend to produce more ant problems than others, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham spring  to mind as hot ant properties.

Unfortunately it is during their mating phase that they are most troublesome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this tends to be fairly regularly around the third or fourth week in July.

Ants mate on the wing and around mid-summer they produce winged immature Queens and winged males which in nature would fly off and mate on the wing. Many thousands of these winged ants are produced per nests and nests tend to synchronise their release so that they mate with ants form other nests.

Invariably this process commences after a couple of days of very hot, dry weather  and will usually last for about a week although isolated releases will occur throughout most of June, July & August.

Unfortunately when the nest is under the floor of the house the results can be catastrophic, literally thousands of flying ants emerge into the lower rooms, collecting on windows as they head for the light.

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives – The rat population of Britain is currently at an all time high, fortnightly waste collections, lack of sewer baiting and the late night takeaway are all cited as culprits in this rodent explosion, but what do we really know about the humble creatures that thrive in our sewers and induce almost universal fear and loathing in all who encounter them.

Rats are not native to Europe or North America but originate in Asia and almost certainly arrived in Europe as stowaways on trading ships, indeed the common name for Rattus rattus is the ship or black rat.

Brown Rat

In Asian folklore the rat is a prominent character, in Hindu mythology the elephant-headed god Ganesh is accompanied by a rat wherever he travels. An offering to Ganesh and his companion Vahana the rat is therefore an important part of Hindu worship.

To the Romans the sighting of a white rat was considered to be lucky but if you found that rats had chewed your belongings then you should postpone any business affairs that you were planning that day or they would surely fail.

Reviled in the west, the rat is revered in Chinese mythology, being part of the Chinese zodiac and respected for its quick wit and resourcefulness. The rat is considered good luck in China & Japan where it is credited with bringing the gift of rice to the world.

To the Polynesians rats were an easily bred and transportable source of food