Harness the Power of Nature to Stave Off Mosquitoes This Spring

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Springtime means the return of beautiful warm days, landscapes in bloom, and an end to the bitter cold. But with the warmth, rain and humidity also comes the unfortunate return of flying pests, with mosquitoes among the most prevalent and pesky. You want to protect yourself and your family and prevent those itching bites, but you don’t want to use harsh chemicals like common DEET spray formulas, which can come with health risks such as rashes, respiratory problems and upset stomach.
If you’re seeking a safe but effective alternative, look no further than EcoRaider 3-in-1 Triple- Action Mosquito Killer and Repellent. It kills mosquitoes on contact, with over 90% of the flying pests knocked down and 100% killed within 30 minutes, according to a rigorous study by Rutgers University Center for Vector Biology. In addition to combating adult mosquitoes, EcoRaider’s formula also kills mosquito larvae—which are laid in standing water around the house and yard—for up to two weeks with simply one spray.
 EcoRaider has also been demonstrated to effectively prevent mosquitoes from infesting a space. Simply spraying surfaces in outdoor gathering spaces will create an invisible barrier, preventing mosquitoes from entering the treated area so that you can relax and enjoy outdoor time in peace.
 Not only does EcoRaider solve the springtime problem of mosquitoes, but it also kills many other of the most common flying insects, including gnats, houseflies and fruit flies, which can infest the house in the warmer seasons or put a damper on outdoor recreation. And, by harnessing the power of all-natural ingredients, the unique formula can reliably deliver a fatal blow to insects while being harmless to humans, pets, and other animals.
To greatly reduce the presence of mosquitoes around your house and property, here are some handy tips you can incorporate into your pest-control routine:
1.
Eliminate standing water or treat it with EcoRaider – Puddles and other standing water are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which deposit their larvae there. Getting rid of all visible standing water around your property is a great way to prevent mosquitoes from gathering near the house. Alternatively, using one spray of EcoRaider, you can kill larvae that have already gathered in the puddles around your home.
2.
Check for points at which mosquitoes enter the home – Check your windows, window screens, and sliding and other doors for tears, gaps, missing weather-stripping and other holes through which mosquitoes and other pests can enter the house. Make sure to seal those gaps and replace window screens if needed.
3.
Spray property and entryways with EcoRaider – Spraying the outer boundaries of your property (such as along fences), as well as outdoor gathering spaces and points of entry to the home, can be an effective way to reduce the presence of mosquitoes and other flying insects. It can be especially effective to treat outdoor spaces just prior to enjoying them.
4.
Don’t make yourself a target! – Studies have shown that mosquitoes are attracted to sweet floral-scented perfumes and lotions, to the lactic acid in perspiration, to people with high body temperatures and those wearing darker clothing. To avoid unduly luring them near, try to wear light-colored clothing and go without perfumes, and keep a fan blowing if possible—the fan will serve to lower body temperature, keep perspiration at bay, and will make it much harder for mosquitoes to fly due to the constant stream of
airflow.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      So however you choose to spend your free time this spring, do so in ease and comfort by making EcoRaider 3-in-1 Triple-Action Mosquito Killer and Repellent part of your pest-prevention routine. Effectively eliminate mosquitoes and other flying insects, and protect yourself and your family from both the itchy bites and the irritating chemicals in common pesticides by using all-natural, nontoxic EcoRaider this season.

Dorm Room Survival: Avoiding Bed Bugs at All Costs

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Your new bedding and laptop is purchased and you’re slowly packing through your belongings, anxiously counting down the days until you begin the next chapter of your life: college. It’s what you’ve been preparing for for years, but as the anticipation builds, you might be feeling apprehensive. After all, life as you know it is about to change. You’re about to embark on an amazing learning experience, both inside and outside the classroom, but you’re not quite sure if you’re prepared. What could you possibly be forgetting? 

If you’re like most college students and their parents, it didn’t even cross your mind that college dorms can be a breeding ground for pests – bed bugs in particular. The truth is, unless they’ve dealt with a bed bug issue in the past, the majority of the public doesn’t think about these critters, or take the necessary precautions to prevent them. But college dorms allow the perfect conditions for bed bugs to thrive, and more than half of pest control professionals have dealt with bed bug infestations in college dorms. 

It’s likely you won’t suffer from a bed bug invasion, but infestations have been on the rise over the past few years, so we want to help you prevent these pests from overtaking your dorm room and your life. 

What are bed bugs? 

Bed Bugs are tiny insects that live in cracks and crevices that are close to a human environment. They can also be found living in fabric, upholstery, and typically in mattresses, couches, or other pieces of furniture. They can be transferred from room to room (and beyond) on backpacks and even clothing, making it easy for you to bring them into your home or dorm room without even noticing. Since they can be transferred on fabric, your dresser is also a possible hiding spot. They feed on human blood and the first sign of bed bugs is often bites on the body. Their bites can take anywhere from a couple of hours – or up to two weeks to show up.

What precautions can you take? 

Inspect everything. 

Before  you bring anything into your room, check all of the furniture and your baseboards for signs of bed bugs. Be sure to check the mattress and couch cushion seams, dresser corners, and your bed frame, especially if it is made of wood. If your bed has a headboard, check behind it too. Use a flashlight to look into the cracks and crevices. If you see any signs of bed bugs, don’t move your belongings in yet and tell your Residence Assistant (RA) right away! 

Spray you room with EcoRaider Bed Bug Killer.

Whether you see any signs of bed bugs or not, it’s important to spray a non-toxic bed bug killer, like EcoRaider (link to product page), on your furniture before moving in. This will kill any bed bugs that are present, even if you can’t see them, and will prevent them from making your room into their home. Spray your mattress and couch, especially the seams, and then coat your dresser, desk, and baseboards. We recommend you let it dry before putting sheets on your bed or clothes in your dresser, but it’s safe on your skin either way. The spray has residual effects for fourteen days, so we recommend spraying your room every other week.

Keep your room clean and your clothes in sealed plastic bags or bins.

Eliminating clutter gives bed bugs fewer places to hide in your room. By keeping your space tidy and belongings off of the floor, you reduce the likelihood of bed bug transfer and have a greater chance of noticing an infestation early on. If you are able, keeping your clothing in sealed plastic bags will keep bed bugs out too. 

What to do if you find bed bugs:

Tell your RA.

If you find bed bugs in your dorm room at any time, tell your RA immediately so that the university can get started on notifying residents and working on a pest control process. Bed bugs travel and reproduce quickly, so waiting even one day could greatly impact your neighbors. 

Spray your room with EcoRaider Bed Bug Killer. 

The sooner you are able to spray your mattress and furniture, the better. Use the same instructions as above, but be sure you allow the product to dry. In the meantime, wash your bedding and clothing. 

Wash clothes and bedding in hot water, dry on highest cycle.

The easiest way to kill bed bugs and their larvae on your clothing is to wash everything, even clothes that haven’t been worn, on the hottest setting. This is particularly important for all of your bedding, and don’t forget about towels and fabric shoes. If care label allows, tumble dry all bedding, linens, mattress covers and clothing on the highest temperature (140 °F) for at least 30 minutes. This will kill bed bugs in all stages. If you can, we also recommend keeping your clothing in sealed plastic bags until the infestation is under control.

Have you ever suffered from a bed bug infestation before? If so, what steps did you take to eradicate the population? 

Evolution is No Match for EcoRaider

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Cockroaches have been walking the earth for millions of years, for much longer than we have. It looks like they might be here long after we are gone too, but not if we can help it.

A new study from Purdue University found that German cockroaches are becoming immune to powerful and popular pesticides, making it virtually impossible to control the population. Scientists claimed that during the study as the cockroaches were exposed to certain insecticides, they not only developed a resistance to one insecticide in question, but to other insecticides as well. Once a cockroach develops a resistance, it can pass it to its offspring. With female cockroaches breeding an average of 200-300 babies in their lifetime, it’s only a matter of time before these insects become essentially insecticide-proof.

What does that mean for us?

Treatments for cockroaches will need to evolve too, with new efforts to include trapping and vacuuming. Additionally, improving sanitation, will help to control the cockroach population.

But here’s the good news: When our non-toxic EcoRaider Roach Killer was tested in a Rutgers University study, it killed 95% of roaches just 24 hours after application, far surpassing the control.

In another study from Semco, EcoRaider was tested for repellency on German cockroaches. Again, EcoRaider Roach Killer proved to be far superior than the control.

Our Roach Killer is not only the most lethal substance on the market for German cockroaches, but it also provides a 30-day residual of roach repellent once it is sprayed.

5 Most Common Types Of Household Pests In The United States

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Household pests can be a problem in every home; every neighborhood; every city, and every country. Insects and pests in one form or another have been around since before the beginning of mankind, and show no sign of leaving the planet anytime soon. Household pests come in all different sizes, shapes, and species. Here’s a look at five of the most common pests we encounter here in the United States:

Ants

Some ants are so small you can barely see them. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Here are some species of ants in the United States: pharaoh’s ants, pavement ants, ghost ants, garden ants, fire ants, carpenter ants, bull or bulldog ants, black house ants, and Argentine ants. While some are destructive, they are all creepy, crawly nuisances. Covering up food when not in use, whipping up sticky messes, treating apparently nesting areas outside, and ceiling obvious entry points can help control and save your home.

Bed Bugs

This is a pest problem that has come to light more and more lately, and can present an infestation problem in not just low-income areas or establishments that have seemingly countless visitors on a regular basis, but in high-end stores, luxury resorts hotels, well-known gyms, and ritzy homes. Bed bugs ride around town on clothing, in luggage, in purses – and when they can’t ride, they crawl. Their bites look similar to mosquito bites but they leave behind telltale signs on furniture, draperies, rugs, bed linen, and mattresses that let you know they’re bunking with you.

Mosquitoes

One would think that a creature that can carry and spread diseases like the Zika virus, malaria, and the West Nile virus should have been eradicated from the face of the earth. As pleasing as that would be to some of us, mosquitoes do have their own little place in the whole ecosystem being the main food source for some larger species. That doesn’t mean they have a place in and around our homes, however. At least partial control is available through insect repellents and insecticides, cutting back tall grassy areas, eliminating standing water, and wearing the right kind of clothing when you’re outside to avoid bites. This is another species that has somehow lasted millions of years.

Rodents

In the minds of many, rats are worse than mice but in the minds of others, a rodent is a rodent. No one wants either one of them in their house. Rats can devastate a home. They can undermine retaining walls and hillsides by burrowing through them. They chew cables carrying electricity which can cause a fire. They chew through walls and floor joists and damage the insulation in your home. Mice have equally destructive habits through feeding and nesting and are known, like rats, to spread disease. Some are so small that they can slip through almost unperceivable cracks and crevices.

Cockroaches

Just the name invokes shivers, the hair standing up on the back of your neck, goosebumps… you name it. These are some of God’s most disgusting, vile, and despised creatures. And for good reason. They have been around since the beginning of time and will be here long after humans are gone. That doesn’t mean, however, that they have to take up residence in your house! Would you believe that researchers have determined that certain cockroaches have actually developed personalities? It’s what may help some adapt to change and survive more than others. Worst of all, cockroaches bring disease: allergies, viruses, fungus, roundworm, tapeworms, dysentery, and food poisoning can all be attributed to cockroaches.

Ridding your home of these pesky creatures will likely mean killing some in the process. That’s too bad, but it is unavoidable in many cases. Few of us feel bad about it, truth be told. There are safe ways to get rid of insects and other pests in the home. Green methods of pest control are already in existence and new eco-friendly methods are springing up every day. Talk to us if you are having trouble with pests, and can’t seem to find the remedy you are looking.

How To Avoid Bed bugs During Your Hotel Stay

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It’s hard to find a hotel these days that hasn’t had a problem with bed bugs. It’s up to you to learn how bed bugs spread and how to protect yourself. Reduce the risk and decrease the chances of bringing bed bugs home as an unwanted souvenir. As soon as you check in, the potential of a bed bug infestation begins. Here are ways they spread, and ways to avoid bed bugs while staying in a hotel.

How Bed Bugs Spread

While there is no way to ensure you won’t bring home a bed bug from your vacation, taking a few precautions will certainly help. Bed bugs usually travel to a new destination in suitcases or on clothing. Once a visitor has unknowingly delivered the bed bugs, they quickly spread around the room and lay their eggs. Bed bugs love the warm and safe seams of a mattress, the dark interior of luggage, and folded clothing.

Bed bugs hide inside suitcases, so the first step to avoid bed bugs is to protect your luggage even before you leave home. Start by using a sealed luggage liner. Your clothing offers bed bugs lots of hiding places, so sealing them inside a plastic liner will prevent bugs from getting in.

How to Avoid Bed bugs

When you enter your hotel room, do not immediately toss your luggage on the bed or lie down. Set the luggage in the doorway and quickly inspect the room for any telltale signs of bugs. Pull back the corner of the fitted sheet and check the folds, seams, and corners of the mattress for bug shells, fecal matter, or eggs. Open the drawers of the bureau. If you find any bugs, call the front desk immediately and ask to be moved to another room. Examine that room before agreeing to stay there as well. Don’t put anything in the drawers or on the bed until you’ve done a thorough inspection.

Frankly, one of the best ways to avoid bed bugs is to leave your luggage in your car. Just bring in a change of clothing and your toiletries and leave everything in the bathroom. If you decide to bring your suitcase with you, consider keeping it packed and in the bathtub. Bed bugs are unable to climb the smooth porcelain sides of the tub and are unlikely to infest your luggage there.

After you return home, be sure to leave your suitcases, clothing, and even the clothes you’re wearing outside. Don’t allow the possibility of a stray bed bug to get in the house. Keep everything in tightly sealed garbage bags until you do the laundry. The warm or hot water wash cycle and heat from the dryer will kill any eggs or bed bugs that may be lurking in your clothes.

Finally, thoroughly inspect your suitcases. Look at the seams, folds, and zippers for any signs of bed bugs. Like your laundry, tightly seal it in a plastic bag until you can treat it with a bed bug spray. With just a little work, you can avoid bringing bed bugs home from your vacation.

How To Tell Bed Bug Bites Apart From Mosquito Bites

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Insect bites of varying origin are uncomfortable no matter where they spring up. The really irritating locations can be on your stomach, your ankles, or behind your ears. Distinguishing between the two most common bites, that of the mosquito and the bedbug can be difficult. And once you find the bites, what do you do about preventing further annoying bedbug bites and mosquito bites? There is a way to tell the difference and there are certain precautions and steps that one can take to do their best toward the prevention of future issues typically presented by mosquitoes and bedbugs.

Understanding Mosquito Bites

A typical mosquito bite usually presents with a reddish, raised welt on the skin. The area around the welt can be warm to the touch and the bite itself will be itchy. The welt can increase in size after the initial bite, but after time the welt does go down, leaving behind an itchy red dot.

To keep mosquitoes at a minimum, cut back any tall grassy areas and eliminates any standing water. Both of these attract mosquitoes. If you must be outside during dusk or dawn, which are peak mosquito times, use the most effective insect repellent that you can.

Understanding Bedbug Bites 

Often noticed during early, waking hours, bedbug bites can look a lot like mosquito bites but frequently appear in groups of three to four. No known diseases are associated with these bites and they don’t itch on everyone. Stress and anxiety, however, do tend to go hand in hand with bedbug infestations. No one wants bedbugs in their home or the stigma that goes along with them. If you do notice bedbugs in your home, there are a number of remedies with which to combat them.

To check for bedbugs, look for reddish or dark brown spots of blood on mattresses, headboards, furniture, inside tables, behind hanging picture frames, in electrical outlets, seams of curtains or carpet, box springs, and bed linens. It is possible to pick up these nasty creatures in other public areas and bring them home with you so be on the lookout. Always check hotel rooms as these are the likeliest places to find the kinds of infestations that may inadvertently end up in your home.

Of course, the main objective is not to be bitten by any bug of any kind at any point in time. Knowing full well that this is a lofty if not unachievable goal, hopefully, this has helped you determine whether you have a bedbug problem or are just being terrorized by those pesky mosquitoes again – and what to do about it either way.

Seattle-Based DESC Uses EcoRaider® to Control Bed Bugs in Homeless Shelters

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Bed bugs are a tough problem to deal with in any scenario. But in public shelters bed bugs can could potentially cause the homeless to move away from using the facility, giving it a bad name.

Sondra Nielsen, Director of Facilities and Asset Management for Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), wanted to avoid that situation when she started realizing that synthetic chemicals were unable to kill bed bugs in her shelters because a resistance had been built up to them.

DESC is a nonprofit organization of nearly 600 professional staff, board members, and community volunteers fighting to serve every aspect of Seattle’s homeless. According to Nielsen, once the pesticides were unable to solve her problem she turned to EcoRaider based on a referral.

“It’s been huge for us, it’s been tremendously huge for us,” said Nielsen. “EcoRaider was recommended to me by Dr. Fang Zhu at Washington State University and I then asked our pest management company Eden Pest Control about it and they were preliminarily using it in some locations already.

“But based on Dr. Fang Zhu’s research showing it was very effective against bed bugs I was convinced it would make sense to use EcoRaider and in the end, we would have to perform fewer treatments and save money by using it in our shelter environments. That’s exactly what happened, EcoRaider eliminated the bed bug infestation in our main shelter and two of our smaller shelters and although periodically we have hitchhikers we do not have infestations.”

As Bed Bug Operations Manager for Olympia, Washington-based Eden, Michele Cruzat has been focused on controlling a pest infestation that has been penetrating just about every type of customer sector – from hotels, hospitals and apartments to senior-living centers, residential homes, and apartment complexes.

The strains of bed bugs were completely resistant to pyrethrins and pyrethroids, leaving Cruzat without a solid bed bug solution until she continued using EcoRaider.

“Using EcoRaider made a huge difference for us,” Cruzat said. “We were using conventional chemical products – we tried many things and none were getting it under control and we were treating every two weeks. Once we started using EcoRaider we saw a difference immediately.

“I’d say within a few weeks we a drastic reduction in the bed bug population. We haven’t seen a bed bug infestation again in any shelter – at this point we are spot treating every two weeks with EcoRaider and it’s working incredibly.”

According to Cruzat, who has crews covering much of the Seattle and Olympia markets, her technicians are so convinced that EcoRaider is the product of choice for eliminating bed bugs that it has become part of regular protocol.

“EcoRaider is great to use in sensitive areas. With most products, you can only use them in cracks and crevices but with EcoRaider you can use a broad spectrum – you can spray full areas and that’s super valuable to a pest technician. We love the product.”

EcoRaider, available online and at distributors throughout the country, quickly kills bed bugs on all stages without adversary environmental effects. The product, named “the most effective bio-insecticide for bed bugs” by Entomological Society of America-published lab data in the Journal of Economic Entomology, offers PMPs a variety of benefits. Its uncompromising field performance comparing to leading pesticides are proven in recent report by USDA IR4 Public Health Pesticide Program.

EcoRaider offers ready-to-use, naturally derived bio-insecticide that can be applied anywhere bed bugs are found without restriction. EcoRaider can be used in various sensitive environments, including schools, health-care facilities and public spaces.

For more information, visit https://ecovenger.com/ or call (201) 751-0011. Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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EcoRaider® Announces Ron Wyandt as West Coast Sales Representative

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Reneotech, manufacturer of EcoRaider botanical insect control products, announces the hiring of Ron Wyandt as West Coast Sales Representative.

Wyandt, a full-time sales representative with 14 years of experience working for pest control distributors, started working with the New Jersey-based manufacturer in January. He lives in Sacramento, California and will cover Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Missouri, as well as his home state.

“Ron brings a wealth of experience, integrity and connections in the structural pest control industry to support the growth of EcoRaider,” said Todd Zon, vice president of Reneotech. “We are pleased to have him join our growing team and look forward to great results from his efforts.”

Reneotech has two products designed for professional pest control, EcoRaider RTU and ER-22 concentrate. Both products are used by Pest Management Professionals as an efficient and green solution that delivers both a quick kill and strong residual for bed bugs and other pest control needs.

About EcoRaider
EcoRaider is the only natural solution that kills bed bugs with 100 percent efficacy. EcoRaider has no signal words, is 100 percent natural, and is safe for children and pets – making it the ideal protocol product for every green program and it can be used in various settings, including schools, health-care facilities, and public spaces.

Ron can be reached at ron.wyandt@ecovenger.com. For more information, visit http://ecoraiderpmp.com/ or call 1-800-338-0212. Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“Thinking” Like Bed Bugs Will Help You Kill Them Effectively

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One of the things that our customers bring up to us the most when calling in for orders is the question: “How do I eliminate bed bugs completely?” The answer: “It’s not easy.” To rid your home of bed bugs once they’ve arrived, you need to make sure you use the right tools and employ the right methods.

An article in Pest Control Technology magazine written by Dr. Michael Potter of the University of Kentucky recently pointed out that people need to “think like a bed bug” in order to try to prevent and kill bed bugs. It provides some tips to help us to determine some best tactics when fighting bed bugs. As Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military strategist widely credited as the author of The Art ofWar, stated around 512 B.C: “to defeat the enemy, you must know the enemy.”

Like a lot of things in life, getting the proper perspective is important in being able to get a handle on how to address a situation. In this instance, it was about how to learn more about bed bugs and how to better control them.

Dr. Potter’s article discussed tracks of individual bed bugs in a laboratory test arena. Bed bugs cover a lot of ground at night even when not stimulated by a host (top image). Note how they tend to follow the edges of the test arena. Movement is more directed when a heat source warmed to human body temperature is provided (bottom image). (Haynes et al. 2008, PestWorld)

What does this mean when treating for bed bugs?

It means that treating the edges, joints and seams offers you a better chance to kill bed bugs than simply treating the surface. Some typical areas that need to get sprayed: baseboards, carpet edges, joints, seams and edges of sofas, chairs, mattresses and bed frames.

Once bed bugs find a host, they tend to move directly toward it because they know there’s a meal. So spraying around sleeping areas 1-2 hours before bed time will reduce issues of biting and kill more bed bugs. Treat around your mattress, along the legs of bed frames, and anywhere your bed touches the floor … that will increase the chance that bed bug getting in contact with EcoRaider liquid, which is the key to kill them.

EcoRaider is a proven green product that had the best performance against bed bugs of all natural products tested, according to an independent study done by Rutgers University. Pest Management Professionals (PMPs) are trained in how to kill bed bugs, but for consumers, you need to “think” like bed bugs.

There is another short cut, that is to download the treatment instruction and watch the demonstration video before treatment. Both are available by clicking here.

To read Dr. Potter’s full article, click here.