A-Z of Pests

ANTS Lives: walls, lawns, small spaces with moisture
Eats: sugary foods
Risks: loss of stock, infestation and contamination, painful bites
Treatment: Professional assessment of the ant type is crucial for correct treatment

BED BUGS Lives: in wallpaper cracks, mattresses, and crevices
Eats: human blood, oter mammal blood
Risks: ill-health, itching, burning welts
Treatment: crack and crevice treatment plus residual insecticide

BEETLES Lives: in warehouses, foodstores and food factories
Eats: flour, cereals, bran, litter from chicken houses, meat scraps
Risks: disease, food contamination, loss of stock
Treatment: broad spectrum industrial insecticides, ULV treatment

BIRDS Lives: roof spaces, barns and lofts, attics
Eats: cereals, seeds, seedlings, crops, grains
Risks: loss of stock, reduced yield, nesting damage, disease from droppings
Treatment: pest entry prevention, culling programmes

CLUSTER FLIES Lives: hibernates in walls over winter, lives in roofs and attics
Eats: earthworms and waste food

COCKROACHES Lives: anywhere relatively sheltered, under fridges and freezers, under cupboards
Eats: waste food
Risks: food contamination, rapid infestations
Treatment: integrated approach including traps, gels and residual insecticides

DEER Lives: in woodland
Eats: cereal crops, above ground vegetable crops, nuts
Risks: significant loss of crops, fence damage
Treatment: effective fencing, humane shooting by military trained marksman

FRUIT/HOUSE FLIES Lives: anywhere rotting food is present
Eats: rotting organic matter
Risks: food contamination, disease, significant loss of stock
Treatment: treat larval breeding area with professional insecticide, residual insecticides

MICE
Lives: barns, houses, cellars, warehouses, sheds, outbuildings, anywhere dry and safe
Eats: mostly grains and cereals but will gnaw at most things
Risks: food contamination, significant loss of stock, damage from gnawing on electrics etc
Treatment: traps and baiting with a regular regime of testing and assessment

MOLES
Lives: in burrows underground
Eats: worms and invertebrates
Risks: damage to lawned and grassed areas, loss of crops, injuries to stock animals
Treatment: trapping, professional gassing, shooting

MOTHS Lives: in warehouses and foodstores
Eats: cereal grains, fruit and nuts
Risks: food contamination, significant loss of stock
Treatment: ULV for large infestations, professional insecticides, residual insecticides

 POULTRY MITES Lives: cracks and crevices in poultry houses
Eats: blood
Risks: weak birds, reduced egg numbers, poultry anaemia
Treatment: thorough fogging insecticide treatment whilst shed is empty or dessicant spray whilst birds are present.

RABBITS
Lives: in underground burrows in or near woodland
Eats: young vegetation, leafy crops, cereals,
Risks: loss of crops, greatly reduced yields, disease
Treatment: trapping and professional gassing, ferreting, shooting

RATS Lives: small enclosed spaces
Eats: prefers grains and cereals but will also take eggs and chicks, waste food
Risks: serious risk of fatal disease, death to humans and stock animals
Treatment: treat nest to kill the queen and remove once all have died

SQUIRRELS
Lives: in nests in woodland
Eats: nuts, seeds and grains
Risks: very destructive to property, damage to electrics,
Treatment: trapping is most effective

WASPS Lives: in roofs, lofts, soffits, cracks in walls
Eats: waste food, sugary foods, other insects, wood
Risks: stinging attacks, swarming, wood damage
Treatment: treat nest to kill the queen and remove once all have died.