Pests We Treat Before & After Photos

Recently, I was sent to a home in Jackson, NJ that had a troublesome mouse infestation. Mice will commonly enter homes through gaps, cracks, or openings around the foundation to gain access to the crawl space or basement, and from there, travel through wall voids throughout the home searching for food and water. More often than not, they wind up foraging for roof debris in the kitchen and find hidden harborage areas, often where there is heat like around ovens and under refrigerators around the motor housing. 

Here, after discussing with the homeowner, where mice were spotted, I moved out the oven from the wall. There were extensive droppings and an opening around the gas pipe providing the mice with easy access into the kitchen. I sealed the opening around the pipe with hardware cloth and also placed mouse bait stations behind there. Mice will travel in the same pathways alongside walls. Inevitably, they will enter the stations enticed by the tempting bait. Soon thereafter, any mice that visited the station and consumed the bait die. 

After finishing up with the kitchen, I entered the crawl space to determine how the mice were first gaining entry into the home. While down below, I placed more bait boxes right below the kitchen to catch more mice before they even had a chance to venture into the living spaces above. While inspecting the interior perimeter of the basement, I found openings around the crawl space vents that were more than enough for mice to enter. I sealed these openings to prevent new mice entry into the home. With the perimeter entry points sealed and bait stations to deal with any mice already inside, I’m confident that it will not take long for this rodent infestation to be completely resolved. With rodent activity, we schedule a two-week follow-up to reinspect, replenish bait as needed, and determine additional treatments, if necessary.

After noticing a large number of fruit flies in his sink room, this customer in Metuchen, NJ called Cowleys for help. During our inspection, we noticed that the fruit flies were hovering around one of the floor drains. As we got closer we noticed that there was some food debris sticking out. With the owners permission, we unscrewed the covers and discovered that the floor drains were loaded with food & liquid debris and fruit flies! This was were the fruit flies were harboring. 

First, we applied a liquid application in the floor drains and scrubbed them out with our heavy-duty scrubbing brush. This product removes the bad bacteria from the drain, which is the breeding ground for the fruit flies. Next, we applied a bio-foam solution that removes the organic build-up, odors, and scum in the drains. As a precaution, we repeated this process to ever single floor drain in the area. Lastly, we applied a fly bait, which will exterminate the adult fruit flies.

I arrived at a home in Fords, NJ to inspect for possible rodent activity in the attic. The homeowner, who was hearing light “pitter-patter” noises in the wall voids and attic at night, suspected a mouse infestation. 

I’m often asked why attics such a popular location for mice to live and breed. Well, from their perspective, this “penthouse” location offers everything that a mouse could ask for in a home — it’s warm, dry, small, dark, safe, and out-of-the-way. Also, there is little human traffic up there. Other than using the attic to store clothing and other household items, a home’s occupants rarely venture up there, so mice have the place all too themselves. Attics also offer mice a ready supply of comfy insulation that they use for nests, and there are a virtually infinite number of nooks and crannies to explore and hide in. 

Once mice infest the attic, they not only destroy expensive insulation with their droppings and urine, but they can also chew on electrical wires, creating a potential fire hazard. Mice in the attic are a health hazard for the entire home. While mice may live in the attic, they are scavengers that venture throughout the entire home in search for food. And they inevitably find their way into the kitchen where they bore through cereal boxes and other cardboard containers, contaminating food and spreading disease. Mice are especially attracted to homes where pet food is left out all day. For a mouse, there is nothing better than a continuous supply of food left out in the open for the taking. 

While in the attic, I observed several areas with the most obvious sign of a mouse infestation: distinctive pellet-shaped mouse droppings. A single house mouse can deposit up to seventy-five pellets daily. Multiply that by a dozen or more mice and it doesn’t take long for these filthy droppings to accumulate. I also observed rodent burrows, those little tunnels and runways, in the insulation. Finally, during my inspection, I look for potential access points. In this attic, there were gaps and open voids around electrical lines and pipelines, giving them easy potential entry points.

I started my treatment by setting a tracking powder inside all rodent burrows, pathways and entry points. Mice may hide in the attic, but they have to leave in order to feed. Mice come into contact with the tracking powder because these creatures of habit use the same runways and entry points over and over. This potent powder, which adheres to a rodent’s fur and paws, is ingested when the rodent grooms, killing them soon thereafter. I also sealed and patched the rodent entry points with copper mesh. Finally, I set up rodent bait and snap traps in the attic. After finishing my interior service, I moved to the outside of the home, inspecting for possible entry points. I found a large potential rodent access point around the A/C unit lines going into the home. I sealed that opening and treated around the area. Finally, as an extra precaution, I set up some exterior rodent bait stations.

I explained my findings and treatment to the homeowner. He was pleased that he was well on his way toward having this troublesome mouse infestation permanently resolved. 

This Woodbridge, NJ homeowner had a mouse infestation in her basement. We set up a baiting system, and, fortunately, there was no indication that there was still an active infestation. However, mice and other rodents are messy home intruders, and they left behind a toxic mess of fecal pellets and urine stains. We completed a thorough clean-up of the basement, sanitizing and deodorizing the area. 

After completing the cleanup, we returned to remove unsightly stains left my the mice. Mice not only leave urine stains, but they also leave behind runway tracks (rub marks). Mice have poor eyesight, and they facilitate movement by hugging walls as the travel. The mice memorize these routes and rarely stray, enabling them to run rapidly along a path, even in the dark. Over time, they leave a faint, dark trail of body oil and dirt. 

We also replaced a rotted piece of fascia under the rear slider that was an entry point for the mice. For long-term rodent control, it is critical to exclude them by blocking all of the known entry points.

The homeowner could not have been more pleased. She was happy to have her basement back with no more “reminders” that there once was a rodent infestation down below.

During a regular treatment service of this customers home in Colonia, NJ, we spotted the beginning of a wasp nest on the soffit, right next to the back door. As we closely inspected these stinging insects, we were able to identify them as paper wasps. Paper wasps received their name from the paper-like material out of which they make their nests. They are semi-social stinging insects that usually have brown bodies with yellow or reddish markings. A sting from a paper wasp can be extremely painful and can cause allergic reactions in some people.

For treatment, we grabbed our extendable pole, attached an aerosol product to it, and liberally treated the nest. This product rapidly neutralizes the paper wasps. Moments later, we removed the nest, disposed of it, and then applied a liquid residual application to the soffit. This will prevent the paper wasps, as well as other stinging insects, from returning to this area and build another nest.