Responsible Pest Control Company in Eatontown, NJ

Recently, we were sent out to a home in Eatontown, NJ to remove some squirrels from the attic. How were the squirrels able to gain access into the attic? Through the builders gap, which is the gap between the fascia board, where the gutter is hung, and the roof decking. The gap is meant to help with airflow throughout the attic, but also presents an opportunity for squirrels, as well as raccoons, birds, and bats, to infest the attic.

First, we installed a one-way device over the main access point (which was a small, chewed out opening in the builders gap), temporarily enclosed the area with hardware cloth, and set up several baited devices nearby. The one-way will allow the squirrels to safely leave the attic but prevent them from getting back in. Next, we installed Pest-Blok over the builders gap except the area where we set up our one-way. Pest-Blok doesn't restrict airflow, undergoes a silicone-protected polyester coating process that makes it last longer, and guards the home against squirrels, pests, birds, and all other nuisance wildlife.

Once we retrieve all the squirrels from the home we will relocate them to a new, humane location, disinfect the attic, and install Pest-Blok over the access point. 

Recently, homeowners in Eatontown, NJ, found themselves with a serious ant infestation in their kitchen and dining room. The key to resolving ant infestations is eliminating their underground nest. Sometimes their nest is in a wall void of the home, but more often than not, it is outside nearby the home and the foraging ants have formed trails leading inside the home. It’s important to follow their trail to determine their entry point.

Here, I observed ants leaving the kitchen toward a sliding door in the dining room. Upon closer inspection, there was a piece of molding missing from the bottom. This was how these little pests were gaining access. I sealed the hole to prevent them from continuing to use the home as a place to forage for the nest. I also performed an indoor-outdoor treatment that will soon kill the nest. With ants, it is not enough to kill the replaceable and expendable foraging ants. There will always be more where the came from. 

Indoors, I treated the kitchen with an ant gel and outdoor applied an effective perimeter treatment. As the ants cross the treated area, they will bring the product back to the nest to share it with the other members of the colony. Soon, this ant infestation will be eliminated.

Recently, I was sent to a home in Eatontown, NJ to deal with a wasp infestation. Upon arrival, I saw that I was dealing with baldfaced hornets. These aggressive, territorial social wasps are part of the yellow jacket family. Their coloration is readily identifiable: black with white markings on their face and abdomen. They are exceptionally strong wasps that can drill their stingers through thick clothing, and even worse, a single wasp can sting multiple times since they don’t lose their stingers. The wasps that we know as yellow jackets usually build their nests in underground burrows and other cavities. However, baldfaced hornets are aerial yellow jackets that build their distinctive spherical paper nests above-ground in plain sight, 

These wasps make their nests from chewed wood fibers that they mixed with their saliva to hold everything in place. Every baldfaced hornet nest is built from scratch each year, starting in early spring when the queen locates her nesting location. These nests are not reused, and the queen are the only members of the colony that survive the winter. This nest that I was called to remove here in Eatontown was a mature end-of-summer summer nest that easily had a few hundred workers. As you can see in the photos, a mature nest can grow quite large — upwards of two feet long and more than a foot in diameter! 

A baldfaced hornet nest has a thick, multilayered outer shell with a single opening toward the bottom. This opening is used by the  wasps to enter and exit the nest.  These nests are often attached to tree branches or shrubs, but they are also built in places where the wasps pose a threat because of their close proximity to people. We are often called out when the nests are attached to or in close proximity to homes, patrons, or sheds. While we often find these nests built under roof eves, they can be built virtually anywhere —  even on the  the top of a window frame on the side wall of a garage! Because of its location, I was able to get a good view of the nest on both sides.  

Removing a hornets nest is risky business. These insects deliver a sting you won’t soon forget, and from personal experience, these wasps can sting someone who is protected with a full body suit.   

To remove the nest, I first used an aerosol to knock down all hornet activity. Once the hornet activity around the nest has stopped, I then remove the nest, package it, and take it with me. There is always a chance of a few stunned, but still alive, hornets inside the nest. With a baldfaced hornet infestation and other nest-building stinging insects, I remove the nest off the property. With these large multi-layered nests, there is always a possibility that there are live wasps hiding inside — and when they emerge they will be quite upset that their nest has been disturbed!

I came across this beautiful baldfaced hornets' nest during a home protection plan servicing in Eatontown, NJ. Home protection plans are a great way to stay on top of pest infestations and protect your property. We perform periodic inspections and preventative treatments of the residence throughout the year and often locate infestations that the homeowner was not even aware of. For example, these homeowners were completely unaware that there was an active wasp nest on their property. 

I carefully treated and removed the nest. Anytime I deal with stinging insects, and I’m not stung by one of these ornery fellows, is a good day for me. Today was a good day!

I was sent to a home in Eatontown, NJ to remove a mature baldfaced hornets' nest that had grown to a pretty impressive size by the time I had gotten there to deal with the infestation. 

Baldfaced hornets are a type of aerial yellowjacket that prefers to build their nests a few feet above the ground. Yellowjackets, on the other hand, prefer to conceal their nests in hidden locations, and usually, build them in holes or cavities such as underneath a home’s exterior siding. This particular nest was in a common location — the nest, about five feet from the ground, was built in a tree nearby the home. The homeowner’s son was recently stung by one of the wasps from this nest, and the homeowner did not want to take any chances of a reoccurrence. One wasp sting is one too many! Baldfaced hornets are large wasps, and their stings are especially painful.

Before treatment, I put on a protective suit. Baldfaced hornets, like their yellowjacket relatives, are highly aggressive and territorial. If they feel that their nest is being threatened, they won’t hesitate to sting. And because their stingers aren’t barbed, a single wasp can sting multiple times. Needless to say, I had no interest in being on the receiving end of a baldfaced hornet sting, and I took the appropriate precautions. 

I treated the nest with a foam aerosol that quickly eliminates the colony. Once I saw that the nest was dormant, I sawed off the tree branch from which the nest was hanging so that I could safely bag the nest and remove it from the property.

When it comes to trapping wildlife, this particular job demonstrates the importance of setting traps based on where the wildlife is observed — either directly or by signs of wildlife activity like nesting materials and droppings. It doesn’t matter whether those areas happen to be convenient and accessible for the wildlife technician to set the traps. Sometimes they’re not!

A homeowner in Eatontown, NJ contacted Cowleys because squirrels were running rampant on his roof and he wanted them trapped and relocated. Here, we needed to set up two ladders on two different roofs in order to set and access the traps. To finish a wildlife job as quickly and effectively as possible for the homeowner, we need to go where the wildlife is — not where we would like them to be. Wildlife trapping is as much of an art and a science and there is no substitute for experience. When it’s done right, wildlife can be trapped and relocated quite quickly. But when it’s done wrong, it’s a frustrating process for both the wildlife technician and the homeowner.