Professional Pest Control, Wildlife Removal Contractor in Edison, NJ

Recently, we were sent out to a home in Edison, NJ, to handle a mouse infestation in the crawl space. Although we found a number of mice droppings throughout the crawl space, the thing that really jumped out at us during our inspection, was the fact that the crawl space door was broken and being held in place with a stack of bricks! Unfortunately, this didn't stop the mice from infesting the home, as all a mouse needs to infest an area is an opening the width of a pencil.

We brought this to the owner's attention, who was already aware of this and was planing on fixing the door once the mice were eliminated. So what we did was clean up all the mice droppings and install several rodent bait station throughout the crawl space.

Once that was finished, we installed several bait stations along the exterior of the home. Afterward, we stuffed all potential access points around the utility pipes and the exterior of the home with chew proof, stainless steel metal mesh and then sealed them with a waterproof premium adhesive. 

Lastly, we scheduled several follow up visits to monitor the activity and replenish the bait in the rodent bait stations until the mice are no longer infesting the home. 

I was recently sent to a home in Edison, NJ, to help a homeowner with a yellow jacket infestation in his back yard. These are highly aggressive, territorial wasps. With their yellow and black or white and black striping, these feared stinging insects are readily identifiable with their distinctive warning coloration. A single yellow jacket can sting repeatedly. Multiply that with a swarm of yellow jackets on the attack, and it’s a dangerous situation, especially those allergic to their venom. A mature yellow jacket colony can contain a thousand or more workers. Yellow jackets are scavengers that eat a wide variety of foods besides just flower nectar. They seek out foods loaded with sugar like sodas as well as meats, fish, and almost all of the food debris you’ll find in garbage. It’s no surprise they thrive around people and are attracted to outdoor events where food is served. 

This homeowner had an underground nest in his backyard, which is quite common for these insects. Although some yellow jackets build aerial nest, many types of yellow jackets found in New Jersey are ground-nesters, and will build their nests in soil cavities, tree stumps, rodent burrows, and other natural openings as nest sites, enlarging the cavity as the colony develops. If you see flying insects shooting out of a hole in the ground, it’s a good chance they are yellow jackets. Typically, we find that the ground-dwelling yellow jackets are even more aggressive than those that build nests above-ground.Their paper nests are completely surrounded by a paper envelope, so you’ll usually see a paper “hood” over the underground nest. 

When removing a yellow jacket nest, I take all the precautions to avoid being stung and put on a protective suit. Even wearing a suit, I’ve been stung, and it’s one of the most painful insect stings out there. I used a backpack sprayer with pressure to soak a liquid treatment below ground to reach the nest. The objective is to kill the colony before the yellow jackets have a chance to respond to protect their nest.  

During the summer, it is important to check your yard for holes and possible yellow jacket nests, especially if you have curious kids or pets that find backyard holes irresistible to explore. Yellow jacket stings are quite common because these nests are hidden unlike the aerial ones. Just mowing the lawn can set off a swarm. Also, since the nest is underground, there is no way to gauge the size of the colony. 

One of our many communities I provide service to had a homeowner who was seeing wasps in her kitchen and bathroom. Once I arrived at the community in Edison I found the entry point behind the gutter. I showed the homeowner where the wasps were entering and told her once the dust application was done she should expect the wasps to be gone in a few days.