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Archive for June, 2010

If you are considering bees as a hobby or as a sideline business, there are things you will want to keep in mind before making that decision. Since there are many factors involved with making money with the honeybees produce, you might want to start doing it as a hobby. There is a significant amount of money in the start-up of beekeeping. Before investing any amount of money in your beekeeping project, you might want contact beekeepers in your area. As a rule, they will more than happy to share their experience with you. Most beekeepers love keeping bees and to them it is just a “hobby”, but they can give you some insight into beekeeping. Take plenty of notes. More likely than not you will need them.

In making the decision of becoming a beekeeper, you will want to consider the safety of family, friends, and neighbors. You wouldn’t want someone to get stung that is allergic to bee stings. The best course of action on that account is to ask your neighbors and friends, if any of them are allergic to bees. You will also be able to find out if there might be someone who would not like beehives so close to their proximity. You will also want to check with the county you live in. You will want to know about any ordinances or laws prohibiting beekeeping.

You will also want to consider whether or not you have a location that would be conducive to maintaining bees. You will also want to consider where the bees will have to fly to retrieve nectar and pollen. Keeping plants they like close by is not a bad idea either. Since bees need water every day, you might want to have water for them close at hand. You don’t want them visiting the neighbor’s swimming pool. Here is a list of spots unacceptable to the health of the bees.

How many months of the year will pollen and nectar will be readily available to the bees?

Will you have to feed them in order for them to survive and how much of the year?

Is there a water supply available year round for the bees? They need water every day.

You will need to consider what will be underneath the bees as they fly to get the nectar and pollen they require. The bees will defecate as they are flying and their feces will leave spots on everything below them. The feces can even ruin the surface of a vehicle. There are methods to use to force the bees to fly at a higher altitude, such as a tall fence or thick tall plants near the hive.

You want the hives accessible year round.

You will want to avoid low spots for your hives because they hold the cold, damp air too long.

You will also want to avoid high spots for your hives because that would be too windy.

These are just some of the things you will want to consider before taking on this hobby.

During a nectar flow, many of the older workers will be in the field hunting for food. This is the best time to examine the colony.  During the summer more bees will be in the hive and the situation can change, especially between the nectar flows. There can be some robbing going on at this time, which will make the bees even more defensive at any intrusion to their hive. Leaving the colony open for more than a few minutes can accelerate a robbing as can leaving cappings or honey exposed. It will become a necessity to reduce the entrance of a weak colony to prevent stronger hives attempt to rob from it. A honey flow will reduce the likelihood of robbing.

The mood of the bees can have a lot to do with the weather or the time of day. On the days of rainy weather, cool temperatures, early in the morning or late in the afternoon will be more likely to make them angry and they will attack.  Always inspect them on warm, sunny days in the middle of the day when most of the bees are foraging.

Keep a constant warm water supply for the bees to cool the hive and dilute honey to feed t heir young. They will collect water from the closest water source. If you do not have a constant supply of shallow water for the bees, they will look for it somewhere else, like the neighbor’s pool, birdbath or wading ponds. The bees are more likely to drown in those sources. If you have a water supply for them when they first fly out in spring, they will not go anywhere else for water. Once they find a water source, it is hard to keep them from going back to it.

A beekeeper must keep the bees in control every time the hive is open. A typical hive can house thousands of workers all capable of stinging. There are measures a beekeeper can take in the open that he can not take in the city because of the closeness of other people.

Smoke is the most important tool for the beekeeper opening a hive. Smoke should be used in moderation, but the smoker should be capable of producing large volumes of smoke on short notice. The beekeeper must smoke the entrance of the hive, under the cover, and periodically smoke the frames while the hive is open. Try not to jar the hive or the frames as that may anger the bees, which will make it hard for a beekeeper to do his work. The beekeeper must work quickly and carefully. By going through the frames several times a year, the beekeeper keeps the frames movable. Remove any excess combs.

Using gloves when working with bees make the beekeeper clumsier and he may lose control of the hive. The stings that the gloves are protecting you from are easily removed and the pain quickly passes.

Find tips about how to kill bees and bee identification at the Bee Facts website.
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Rats are naturally opportunistic omnivores. If they have the opportunity, they will indulge in insects and other small invertebrates, such as snails or caterpillars. However, as any farmer will attest, rats can also thrive on a predominantly plant-based diet made up of grains, corn, fruits, vegetables, and other plant material. So, not surprisingly, a pet rat’s food can be primarily vegetarian, if supplemented with fresh animal-based foods to provide additional beneficial nutrients.

Currently, most available rat foods are of mediocre quality, containing mostly low quality plant-based, and low-grade animal-derived ingredients which may be unhealthy over the long run. Even if higher quality, safer, and more nutritious organic ingredients are used, these are usually processed at high temperatures, which devitalize endogenous nutrients in the pet food products that contain them. High heat is used for most extruded rat food, i.e., pellet foods or ‘lab block’-type foods, even those products that are USDA certified organic.

A more ideal rat food would be composed of unrefined USDA certified organic ingredients and would not contain any artificial ingredients. These quality ingredients would not be exposed to, and therefore devitalized by, high heat processing. USDA certified organic ingredients are healthier because they are free of pesticides residues, are not genetically engineered, and are significantly more nutrient-rich than non-USDA certified organic ingredients. Moreover, organic certification assures that no toxic pesticides or cleaning agents are used during the handling, storage, and processing of food ingredients or final products. Currently, only organic certification assures that the pet food manufacturer uses the organic ingredients as claimed. Non-USDA certified organic claims are not yet regulated or enforced by US law.

As you might gather from the foregoing, even USDA certified organic rat foods aren’t necessarily perfect foods for your pet rat, particularly those containing refined ingredients or ingredients that have been processed at high heat, which destroys the nutrients contained in those ingredients. Even though in such cases, excesses of supplementary nutrients may have to be added to achieve minimally acceptable nutrient levels after heat processing, these nutrients are generally synthetic and of questionable quality, and are also easily degraded and deactivated when exposed to air or light. Therefore, the nutritional value of organic rat foods that have been supplemented with isolated nutrients may rapidly fall below promised levels soon after these foods are manufactured or purchased by pet owners.

An alternative to supplementation with isolated synthetic nutrients is to provide nutrients through the primary food ingredients and to preserve these nutrients by using a gentle processing method, such as freezing or gentle dehydration. Currently, we know of only one pet food manufacturer which uses such a mild processing method to provide live raw dehydrated pet foods for pet rats and other pet rodents.

If you don’t have the time or resources to provide your pet rat with fresh, healthy, and safe foods, then you would be well advised to search for the best available foods on the market and actively support those companies that supply such foods. Only in this way will more companies that are providing quality pet foods survive and be able to compete in the pet food market. In the case of rat foods, since there seems to be a general lack of interest and demand on the part of many rat owners, the market for such foods tends to be underexploited or even ignored by the majority of the pet food manufacturers.

Eric Taylor has years of expertise on pet care and pet rearing. He writes on dehydrated pet products, USDA certified organic rat food, holistic dog foods and pet treats that could be used as diet for your pets and ensure their health and wellness.
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If you’re in the hospitality industry, this is one website you don’t want to find yourself on. BedbugRegistry.com is a free public database that encourages people to report bed bug experiences, specifically at hotels. There’s a quick reporting form for listing the hotel name and street address which is translated into a dot-covered map of the U.S. showing the locations of each reported infestation. A list of the hotels and other infestation sites is provided to warn travelers. What the site doesn’t do is verify reports, nor does it indicate when a hotel has successfully remedied the problem.

The old adage there’s no such thing as bad publicity doesn’t carry any credence with hoteliers. They know that even a whispered rumor can have a disastrous effect on business. Websites that detail horror-laced reports of being eaten alive by bed bugs during an overnight stay in a hotel or motel play on growing public hysteria about these blood-sucking parasites. Fanned by a blitz of media attention, an accusation can instantly damage a hotel’s hard-earned reputation and frighten away guests.

According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), bed bug infestations have been reported in all 50 states. Nearly unheard of since near eradication by DDT-based insecticides in the 1950s, bed bugs are back and in ever-increasing numbers. Bed bug reports increased by 71% from 2000 to 2005 according to the NPMA. Most pest control companies now field dozens of calls a week each week. “The last 12 months have been particularly active,” said Cindy Mannes, NPMA director of public affairs. “They are showing up like never before in hotels, hospitals, college dormitories, and multifamily housing units as well as single-family homes.”

“Most hotel chains don’t keep track because the number is so insignificant,” said Joe McInerney of the American Hotel & Lodging Association said at the 2006 International Bed Bug Symposium when asked about the growing number of bed bug complaints in the hospitality industry. He noted that there are more than 4.4 million hotel rooms in the U.S., adding “you could count the number of cases per day on one or two hands.” Yet according to a 2004 survey of pest control professionals by Pest Control Technology magazine, hotels and motels were the most common sites of bed bug infestations, accounting for more than one-third of bed bug complaints. In a recent survey, one company reported that 24% of their 700 client hotels required bed bug treatments between 2002 and 2006. Brooke Ferencsik, spokesman for popular hotel review site TripAdvisor.com told USA Today, “We get a steady stream of bed bug reports and have hundreds of reviews” mentioning them. “Even if travelers aren’t experiencing [bed bugs], they’re becoming more aware and are looking out for them.”

The resurgence of bed bugs has created a particularly vexing problem for the hospitality industry. Rooms that were pest-free one night can be infected by a guest the next. Legal experts have noticed a boom in bed bug litigation with guests suing hotels for millions of dollars. “Not only can a hotel get a terrible reputation for allowing the creepy crawly bed buddies to exist, but they can also lose out on a lot of dough,” wrote a blogger on HotelChatter.com. Some lawyers are actually trawling for bed bug clients. A notice on InjuryBoard.com reads: “If you have been the victim of bed bug infestation, it may be important to contact an attorney who can help you protect your legal rights.”

The financial impact of a bed bug suit can be substantial. In the 2003 landmark case (Matthias v. Accor Economy Lodging); Toronto siblings who stayed in a bed bug-infested motel room received a jury award of $382,000 in their suit against Motel 6. In 2006, a Chicago couple sued a Catskills resort for $20 million, saying they were physically and mentally scarred after suffering 500 bed bug bites. “I was horrified to see all of those bites all over my body,” said plaintiff Leslie Fox. “I was miserable. My skin felt as if it was on fire and I wanted to tear it off.” In 2007, New York opera star Allison Trainer sued the Hilton hotel chain for $6 million claiming she suffered more than 100 bed bug bites at a Hilton Suites in Phoenix. Her story was widely reported in the press: “They were all over the bed and the comforter and the pillows and I pulled the sheets off and they were just everywhere.” Her attorney documented 150 bites and 23 scars. Just last month a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that two Maryland tourists bitten by bed bugs during a 2003 stay at the Milford Plaza could proceed with their $2 million negligence suit, though punitive damages were denied.

What you don’t see is hotels suing guests who bring bed bugs with them. Adept hitchhikers, they enter hotel rooms in guests’ luggage or on their clothing. Most won’t leave with the guest; they’ll nest in and near the bed awaiting the next occupant and their next meal. Bed bugs are not a sanitation issue. About the size of an apple seed, the tiny nocturnal pests are nuisance parasites that feed on human blood. They do not transmit disease but can cause considerable emotional distress. In about 50% of their victims, bed bug bites produce itchy red welts that may take two days to develop, complicating detection. Many hotel guests check out before an infestation is discovered. Prolific breeders, females can produce up to 500 eggs during their one-year lifespan.

Infestations can spread rapidly to adjoining rooms and those above and below an infested room. Bed bugs travel easily through vents, ducts, wall voids and electrical and plumbing conduits. They can be spread by housekeeping staff on clothing or carts. “A lot of people would be surprised by the hotels we’re finding bed bugs at these days,” said Dean Henry, a Seattle pest control technician. “People don’t expect to see them at the higher end places.”

Notoriously difficult to locate, bed bugs hide in tiny cracks and crevices on and near beds to be near their food source. They may harbor in the seams of mattresses; on furniture and drapes; behind wall hangings, baseboards and headboards; under the edges of carpeting; and inside light fixtures, electrical outlets and switch plates. Your best defense against bed bugs is daily inspection by a trained and knowledgeable housekeeping staff coupled with regular pest control inspections by a firm with an expertise in eliminating bed bugs.

1. Bed bugs are tough to kill. They have a hard cuticle for protection. Traditional treatment is to fumigate the room with chemicals known as pyrethroids, but pest control companies have come out with an arsenal of new services and products to fight bed bugs:

2. Specially trained dogs are being used to sniff out bed bugs. K-9 services provide initial detection and follow-up but not extermination. A trained dog can thoroughly investigate a room in two to three minutes, indicating areas to treat.

3. Cryonite kills bed bugs by freezing them with a non-toxic, environmentally-safe carbon dioxide vapor. The vapor is particularly effective in penetrating under furniture and into cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide. Unlike traditional pesticides, Cryonite kills bed bugs in all stages of development, including eggs, and is effective against pesticide-resistant bed bugs, German cockroaches, meal moths and other hard-to-kill pests. Since it leaving no poisonous residue, rooms can be used immediately after treatment.

4. ThermaPure uses giant heaters to heat rooms to a constant 120 to 140 degrees for several hours in an effort to bake bugs to death.

5. Bed bug proof mattress and box springs encasements protect your bedding investment from bed bug infestation.

The best way to keep bed bugs from getting your property listed on BedBugRegistry.com is through comprehensive education of housekeeping and support staff and professional pro-active prevention and through rapid treatment when bed bugs do appear.

Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com.
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The disrepute of the bed bugs shows that these are just next to the vampires known for their blood sucking acts. Yet many of us do not get the alarm in time. It is quite understandable with the fact that bed bugs along with some pests had been exterminated well with the widespread usage of DDT in the US right after World War I.

Now, owing to the international travel & immigration, the symptoms of bed bugs are again surfacing. Unfortunately people do not come to know that it is the bed bugs crisis until they actually have excessive itching and the oval-shape insect bites. Even these symptoms seem to fade away the chances of being related to the real cause that is the bed bugs as they get mistaken with the mosquito bites and / or the dust mite bites.

When ever a household experiences the bed bugs symptoms, instead of checking their mattresses, couch upholstery, beddings, etc. for the bed bugs, usually, the members of the family spray the other gel-type insect sprays in order to kill the cockroaches and / or mosquitoes. Of course, this does not restraint the bed bugs, and hence, the furniture & upholstery continue to be infested with the bed bugs.

Here are some tips to understand that it is the bed bugs crisis at home:

1. A house heavily infested with the bed bugs would surely have an offensive, musty, sweet scent. Actually this odor is released by the bed bugs’ through the scent glands.

2. Watch out for the fecal and / or excrement stains, the shed skins of the bed bug nymphs in the crevices, egg cases, cracks or the holes on or near the bed.

3. The furniture near your bed must also be checked.

4. The bedroom wallpapers, the bed springs & the clothing in the dresser – all these areas must be checked for the reddish brown stains of excrement.

5. The living room couch must be checked for the stains, specially in case you or for that matter any other member of the family gets the bed bugs symptoms like the swollen bites, immediately after sitting on the couch.

6. All places in the house where the person stays for 30 minutes or more must surely be checked for the bed bugs.

The hot shot hiding places for the bed bugs are:

7. Thin cracks and / or seams of your mattresses are quite well suited places to locate bed bugs.

8. Actually the bed bugs always want to live as close as possible to their food source that is the human blood.

9. The cracks near to the bed or that are around your bedroom & living room are the key places where the bed bugs love to hide.

10. The moment you sight the bed bug in any part of the house, it becomes obvious that now they are all around the place.

Here are some tips to locate bed bugs:

11. Inspect the entire house the very moment any off the bed bug symptoms are found true.

12. Make sure to dismantle the whole bed.

13. Check the headboard

14. Inspect all the seams of the mattresses thoroughly.

15. In caser you come across a reddish brown excrement & sheddings of the insect skin, it implies that the house is now infested with the bed bugs.

16. Next essential step would be to tear off the wallpaper.

17. There are chances that bed bugs must have created a big colony under that wallpaper.

18. Leave no wooden furniture with out inspection for bed bugs.

19. There are chances that the furniture would have bed bugs as well as this insect prefers wood or cloth for the apt hiding places as compared to plastic or metal.

20. Check the empty night stands by emptying them and examining inside as well as outside.

21. Next, tip it over on the inspection of the crevices, recesses, cracks, corners, etc. of the wood work underneath.

22. Since the bed bugs love wood, chances are that the bed bugs would hide there inside.

Some interesting facts about bed bugs are as follows:

23. Bed bugs feed on as they pierce the human skin using its 2 elongated beaks.

24. One beak injects saliva containing anesthetic that reduces the pain of the pierced skin along with an anticoagulant that keeps the blood from getting clotted.

25. Another beak is used to suck the blood.

26. Bed bugs are actually nocturnal insects. So naturally they become active in the night, majorly for one hour that is when the dawn breaks.

27. These are oval-shaped flat insects that hide in the extremely thin cracks where it is fairly easy for them to breed.

28. The adult bed bug lives for around 18 months or so with out any feed simply hiding or breeding in their colony. They wait there patiently for the victim.

29. Bed bugs are also known as the hitchhikers owing to their ability of traveling long distances simply by riding on the suitcases, luggage & clothing.

30. A female bed bug can lay up to 300 eggs in her lifetime.

31. The eggs of the bed bugs hatch to form nymph with in 10 days.

Abhishek has got some great Bed Bugs Elimination Secrets up his sleeve! Download his FREE 69 Pages Ebook, “How To Win Your War Against Bed Bugs!” from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/113/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.
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Rats mainly feature out in search of food, water, and shelter at night and in many cases are homes become their favorite hang out. This does not mean they will actually live in your home; they only frequent your home for food and water.

Rats are not as easy to get rid of, as many people believe. Rats are a bit leery of new things that have been placed in their paths along their favorite places to visit. This means if you place a trap somewhere close to an area they visit, normally it will be left totally alone for up to four days. Professionals explain that since rats are this way when it comes to new things, it would not be wise to bait a trap as soon as you place it. The reason being is that before grabbing the bait, they will investigate the trap for at least a day before they actually grab the bait. The best way is to leave the trap with the bait alone.

After a few days, you will notice the bait gone. Now, add more bait and set the trap. The rats already know that the trap is safe or at least they think it is, and is a great place to receive a treat. They will easily grab for the bait without a second thought. Of course, you may be wondering what rats like to eat. Well, many people have tried all kinds of things for bait. Cheese is not the best bait! Many people state that peanut butter and even pop tarts do a much better job.

You can use a large variety of traps – ones that will kill the rat or others that will only trap the rat so you can release it. One thing to remember though, if you release the rat back into the field nearby it will find its way back. Rats also bite, so be very careful when releasing it back into the wild.

When you decide on the trap, you prefer you must learn the instinct of rats. They normally travel into your home by way of the baseboards. They like to stay out of sight and do not like walking across a room, they will stay as close to the walls as possible. You need to place the traps close to the wall and of the way of small children and pets. The best places to place traps are behind the stove, the refrigerator, under all the sinks, behind the washing machine, and possibly behind the commode. Yes, rats are looking for water as much as food and there are rats large enough to drink out of the commode just like your dog.

If you would prefer to keep the rats out of your home instead of trapping them, they you need to find the way they are coming in and blocking the hole. You can fill in all cracks and crevices from the walls to the basement to the attic to ensure the rats will not be able to find away into your home.

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