Common Insects Pests & Vermin | How We Get Rid of Them| EBS

Listed in the menu left are a number of the most common insect pests and vermin we regularly provide pest control services for in and around Greater London.

If yours is amongst them, click on it for outline information on how we remove these problem pests.

Below is summary information for each pest, plus some others that are either less common which you may be experiencing, including:

Harlequin Ladybirds

Common Clothes Moth

Cluster Flies

If the pest in your property doesn’t appear to be listed, remember these are only the most common ones. We’ll happily come along to identify your pest and control solution for you.

1. If your problem is caused by pest birds, such as pigeons or seagulls, please visit pest bird control

 

Pharaohs Ant - 1.5 - 2mm long, yellow-golden brown in colour. A tropical pest that was imported to the U.K. Lives indoors where it is warmer and prefers a high protein diet, such as meat, cheese, nuts, dead insects and blood. CANNOT be treated successfully with insecticide but needs a 2-3 month baiting programme for established colonies. 

 

Fruit Fly - 3mm long, light yellow-tan adults, usually have distinctive red eyes. Egs laid in rotting fruit and the like. Adults straightforward to knock down with correct pest control insecticides. Good cleaning is vital to achieve control.

 

 

House fly - White, 1mm long eggs are laid in moist decaying matter - rotton foodstuffs, wet pet food, manure etc with up to 500 or so eggs hatching out to maggots (larvae) over a 3-4 day period. Transference of disease bacteria onto food or food surfaces cause sickness & diarrhoeh amongst others. Good hygiene is key to treatment, teamed with exclusion, eg insect screens, destruction with fly-killers and localised insecticidal treatments.

 

Lesser House fly - 2mm white eggs laid in semi-liquid matter, especially animal dung. Easy way to identify this pest species is its habit of flying in erractic square or triangular patterns below light sources. Flykiller machines not to be considered effective against this species.

 

Bed bugs - Adults up to 6mm long, red-brown colour, darker and fatter after feeding. A common pest in th U.K. generally considered on the increase. Blood spots on bed linen teamed with itchy raised spots on the body in the morning is likely to be bed-bugs. Don’t delay inspection and treatment  if they are suspected - Infestations spread quickly. Treatments for most infestations would include thorough insecticidal sprays only however heavier pest infestations, perhaps with insects living inside the mattress or soft furnishing may result in disposing the item or perhaps using a heat treatment bubble to kill them off 

Cockroach - Two species common in the U.K. - Common cockroach(pictured), dark brown-black and 25-30mm long and German cockroach, 12-15mm long and light-mid brown in colour. German cockroaches are most common in kitchens, boiler rooms because they prefer higher temperatures. Common cockroaches often sourced from waste pipes and found in cooler, damp areas. Good hygiene practices, good building structure, thorough inspection to find all sources and insecticidal gels or sprays will rid them.

Fleas - Cat and bird fleas are the most common species in U.K. When you notice the itch from their bite does not have to be where the insect is living because of anasthetic in saliva which wears off after a time. Flea larvae are hard to find but active and look like very small maggots. Can live for many months without a feed, emerging when footfalls nearby are sensed. Insecticidal spray treatments to carpets, furniture etc is usually enough to  remove them, teamed with boil washing pet bedding and anti-flea treatments to pets (not insecticides) Pest bird infestation will be a source of these pests also.

House Mouse - 7-9cm long body, large ears and eyes relative to head size. A hole where you can fit a biro pen, a mouse can go through. They are incontinent, defacating and urinating on the move. Excrement looks like small black grains of rice. If you see these, food surfaces must be disinfected before use as urine dries clear so you can’t see it.

As with all rodents, ever-growing inscisor teeth means they constantly gnaw to keep them in check. Damage to furniture, wiring etc is common. Baiting, building proofing and good hygiene will control, but they reproduce rapidly and in numbers.  In ideal conditions, a single female can produce up to 100 young over a one year life span.

Rats - Adult grows up to 40cm body length, blunt face, small ears and eyes relative to head. Droppings 5-10mm long, usually black and banana shaped. Rat gnawed holes average 50mm in diameter - Jaws stong enough to chew through mild steel. Often hiss and jump-attack if cornered. Black rats very rare in U.K., usually only around dockside. Brown rats commonplace, living outdoors, or in basement or storage areas. Single female, ideal conditions can have 30-50 young in an average one year life span. Baiting, building proofing, good hygiene will control.

Wasps - In spring and early summer, wasps catch insect pests in gardens to feed their larvae. End of summer is when wasp nests start to break up with queens leaving the nest. Worker wasps then feed solely on sweet substances, fruit, jams, sugars, nectar etc - this combined with quite probably several thousand wasps in one nest is when they become a real nuisence to people.

Queen wasps over-winter, workers die off. Queen wasps don’t usually use the same nest repeatedly. Treatment by fully protected professionals is recommended. Wasps that feel threatened or attacked (eg, by swatting or insecticide) release a pheremone that attracts the others - you can quickly have hundreds perhaps thousands around you and that is really not a good place to be!

Cluster Flies - They are slightly larger than house flies at about 9mm long. Thorax is dark olive/grey with fine golden hairs that easily rub off. THe abdomen has irregular light and dark grey areas.

These insects lay eggs in the earth around worm burrows in the spring which hatch out and feed on the unfortunate worms in late summer or autumn.  They then look for places to overwinter which commonly includes property - loft spaces, disused buildings or rooms are commonplace.

Their numbers indoors cause the nuisence. Again in spring when the sun shines again, they emerge from hibernation, agan in large numbers to go lay more eggs.

They cannot be prevented with insect screens because they crawl through structural holes and gaps. Sealing gaps around window/door frames, pipes, fascia/soffit boards and the like will help deter them. 

Treatment can include insecticidal spray treatments to windows and frames, usually with an insecticidal fog or fumigation to voids to knock them down in numbers and allow the pesticide to permeate through cracks and crevices.

Common Clothes Moth - Adult moth is about 8-10mm long with golden yellow wings that have a satin sheen to them. Larvae are a creamy white with a brown head. These larvae feed on clothing, carpets, furs etc where the protein ’Keratin’ is present. The adults prefer darkness or very low light. It’s usually the male seen flying around, females are bigger and prefer to crawl or hop about with both hiding when disturbed.

Larva sometimes build silken tubes or flat sheets, under or within which they feed. For pupation, a silken case is built about 10mm long. 

Treatment for light infestation would include cleaning of all infested and suspected infested clothing, curtains etc teamed with insecticidal spray treatments.  Heavier infestations or where delicate clothing, fabrics, rugs, soft furnishings etc are involved may be best suited to heat treatment which will kill of insect life without damage to materials  

Harlequin Ladybirds - Colour variable from pale yellow to orangey-red to red to black with orange-red to black spots. Brought into the UK in 2003-04 and now spreading from SE & Anglia across and up England. Larvae are black with a prickled back and orange-red spots, six legs and small caterpillar shaped

The feed on aphids and other insects, including larvae and eggs, as well as pollon, nectar and sugary liquids.  They do not sting or bite. They are not recognised as disease carriers.

In sensible numbers, they can be the gardners friend in the summer months but their diet will include smaller resident ladybirds and butterfly eggs  which is not ideal. In Autum they look for places to overwinter, which includes domestic homes and property.

Pheromones released attracts other Harlequins which causes them to sometimes appear in great numbers indoors. which is when they achieve pest status by causing distress and leaving sticky black droppings. In numbers, some damage may be caused to wallpaper, curtains etc.

If you can, look to get rid of the ladybirds yourself - a vacuum cleaner works well. Be aware that the reflex blood they emit when threatened (the yellow goo) smells vile and may stain certain fabrics. Using a cloth soaked in spirit vinegar and wiped over surfaces where they are congregating (eg, sills, window frames, walls indoors) is likely to help as it will wipe out the scent trails they leave each other to follow.

If required, professional pest controllers can treat external walls (or internal walls if perhaps a shed or similar outbuilding) with a residual insecticide (notably sunnier south facing walls are most attractive to these insects), with localised treatments indoors to cracks and crevices. Sealing gaps around windows, masonry, meshing over airbricks etc to deny them entry in the first place is optimum.

I’ts important to avoid confusion between these insects and our native species, which are often smaller and won’t be causing the same problem as we don’t want to harm them.

http://www.harlequin-survey.org/recognition_and_distinction.htm Follow this link for more detailed information on Harlequins including identification.

1. Should you require a free survey and quotation for control, email HERE or call 0845 094 0845