Hillingdon Pest Control News:
Rats in Hillingdon by paulg on 02/05/2012 |
Could the number of rats in Hillingdon start to fall because of the recent drought. With the so called lack of rain over the last year months, apart from April, bringing in hosepipe bans for many counties across the country, this could have an effect on the population of the rats. Like all mammals rats need water to survive. With less than average rainfall filling up the reservoirs and the ground drying up faster than before, there is less water for everyone including rats. But will this lack of rain really affect the rats here in Hillingdon, probably not. Rats are a very versatile mammal that will find water and food anywhere. Whether it is from reservoirs, rivers, streams or the sewers, there is water for rats everywhere. Then of course there are the burst water pipes everywhere. Rats will survive a drought despite what you might read in papers or hear on the news. The only way to exterminate and get rid of problem pests like rats is good old fashioned human detection and eradication. Even this though will only help to keep the numbers down. Rats have been around for thousands of years, in one form or another and no matter how much we try and get rid of them, they will find a way of evolving their ways to live around ours. No matter how clean we keep our streets and homes, there will always be food for them. Putting out our rubbish for the bin men the night before collection because they collect in the early hours of the morning, is a food supply for them to scavenge through. Although rats are primarily a nocturnal pest the food waste that is put out by any food establishment during the day is another source of survival. This and all the council cutbacks during the recession mean fewer rubbish collections and fewer street cleaners in many towns like Hillingdon. |
The long summer wasp by paulg on 27/02/2012 |
In the last few years there has been a noticeable increase in the reports of wasp nests in the Hillingdon borough, both from the public and from pest control companies. One of the generally accepted reasons behind the higher number of call outs for wasp nest removals has been the unseasonable weather conditions. If it is a warmer than usual Spring, this could cause the wasp queens to come out of hibernation earlier, and mean that the number of wasps in the nest multiplies quicker. It is also possible, due to the fact that winter was later and warmer, that more queens survived than they have in previous years. The usual months for wasp activity are June to September, but with the longer, warmer summers that we have been seeing of late, wasp nests are still being seen and reported well into October and even early November. During the summer months of the year you are unlikely to get stung by a wasp as they are usually too busy chasing insects and rearing the baby larval wasps. However, during the Autumn months of September and October wasps start to feed on fermenting over ripe fruit; this leads to wasps becoming drunk and they become at their most dangerous. Wasps once drunk on fruit can become very aggressive and as such will be more likely to sting people. (A bit like us on a good night out) So if the last few years are anything to go by, expect a lot of wasp activity and wasp nests being reported. |