Pest Control Services in Keyport, NJ

As this homeowner was lounging out on her deck, she spotted something interesting emerging from underneath her deck - ants! She called us for help and we were sent out. When we arrived and took a closer look, we identified them as carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are wood-destroying insects and are so named because they excavate wood in order to build their nests. Carpenter ants are large ants, ranging in size from ¼ to ½ inch in length, are usually black, red, or brown in color and nest outdoors in damp, decaying wood like tree stumps, logs, or hollowed-out trees. They also build their nest inside a home, seeking out water-damaged, decaying wood that they can easily excavate. In doing so, they can seriously damage the structure of the home.

First, we applied a liquid residual around the deck and the entire exterior of the home. After that, we applied a granular bait throughout the landscape. The carpenter ants will think that they found a tasty treat, so they'll go back to their nest to share the treatments with the other ants and their queen. By spreading the treatments throughout their colony, the carpenter ants will be eliminated in a short amount of time.

After finding a bed bug on her body, this customer in Keyport, NJ immediately called us for help and we were sent out. As we inspected the bedroom, we found these blood-sucking pests tucked away in the label of the mattress.

To begin our treatment process, we vacuumed up every single bed bug and their egg. After that, we treated the bed frame, mattress, headboard, and every other infested area with a fungicide application. This product creates an effective barrier that infects and exterminates the bed bugs almost instantly. Once we finished with that we applied residual dusting product to every single outlet throughout the home, as a precaution. This targets bed bugs of all life stages, sex, and feeding status, and neutralizes them. The last thing we did was schedule several follow-up and return visits to monitor the bed bug activity and, if necessary, apply any additional treatments.

As one of our pest control techs was inspecting this homeowners attic in Keyport, NJ for rodents, he came across a ton of bat droppings throughout the area! Turns out, they didn't have a rodent problem, but a bat infestation! He told the homeowner who then called Little Rascals and we were sent out.

As we inspected the attic, we concluded that the bats were able to get inside the attic by squeezing through the ridge vents. The whole purpose of the ridge vents is to allow hot air to escape from the home. However, the material that ridge vents are made of can warp from age, heat, and sun exposure, leaving the area vulnerable for bats and other nuisance wildlife. So we installed several bat cones throughout the ridge vents and then installed Ridge-Guard® along the other areas of the ridge vents. Ridge-Guard® secures and reinforces the ridge vent shingles to prevent the bats from entering the home through that area.

Once all the bats have been safely removed from the home, we're going to remove the bat cones, installed more Ridge-Guard® over the areas where the bat cones were, and disinfect the attic.

I was sent to a home in Keyport, NJ after the homeowner contacted Cowleys because of skunks that had taken up residence on his property. Because of the time of year and a few other clues found during my inspection, I felt that there was a high likelihood that I was dealing with a mother skunk and her babies. In these cases, it’s critical to keep the family together. Depending on their stage of development, the babies, without their mother, will die.

 After about a 60- to 75-day gestation period, female skunks give birth to a litter of three to ten pups. The most common months of birth are May and June because breeding usually occurs in late winter or early spring. Every so often, if there is a mild winter with a lack of snow, more food will be available. That is when we sometimes see the first baby skunks of the season in April, but it’s an unusual occurrence.

Skunks are one of the few mammals that have the ability to delay their pregnancy for almost three weeks. Called delayed implementation or embryonic diapause, the fertilized egg temporarily ceases to develop and does not attach to the uterine wall. Instead, the eggs free-float in the uterus until the female is ready for them to develop. 

Baby skunks are born blind and helpless, weighing just over an ounce. These kits must remain hidden in their nest until they can see and are strong enough to follow their mother. Once weaned, at about eight weeks, they will start to "trail" their mother on foraging trips. 

When trapping for skunks during baby season, you do not want to set up any “one way” exclusions. “One ways” are devices set over access points of a home that allow an animal to leave, but not return. Just like a one-way valve, it only allows movement in one direction. While these devices are usually a humane way of evicting animals from an attic or elsewhere in the  home, they are a problem during baby season. When using a one-way, there is a good possibility that if you evict the mother, her helpless young will die of starvation. 

Baby skunks develop their stink glands early in their lives, and can emit a spray after they are only 8 days old,. Leaving the babies to die would likely release the noxious spray in your attic, crawl space, or wherever the nest is located. In addition, the homeowner would have to deal with the remains and everything it attracts. Even ignoring all that, leaving the babies to die without their mother’s support is inhumane and no properly trained wildlife technician would ever consider it. 

Because I was sent to this home in early July, I did not want to take any chances of harming any baby skunks — and to play it safe, I did not install a one way. Instead, I set four traps just outside the burrow. In these situations, the goal of the wildlife technician is to trap the mother first. Under the best scenario, the babies will follow behind and fill the other traps shortly thereafter.