Do you remember your Mum saying “Don’t let the bed bugs bite?”

Well bed bugs are more and more common in our cities and with international travel being a leading cause together with our fondness for second hand furniture then the bed bugs may indeed bite!

The size of an apple seed, bed bugs are wingless, oval and flat with a dark chestnut colour especially after feeding on us. This chestnut is our blood and this makes them a particularly disgusting looking creature.

There is no evidence bed bugs transmit disease, fleas caused the bubonic plague that tried to wipe us out in the 14^th Century remember, but their bites can cause localized swelling and cause some discomfort. In addition they can cause some psychological damage to certain people.

Bed bugs are nocturnal, silently feeding on us at night, then hiding in cracks and crevices during the day. There is some evidence that suggests they are building up resistance to treatments so the correct choice of insecticide is essential to a successful bed bug control program. Your Jim’s Pest Control Professional is well aware of any recent developments and will chose a pesticide that works.

However a thorough inspection is essential. Detection will lead to elimination and inspection is the most important part of the entire bed bug control program. Every crack, every crevice, every crease, every nook and every cranny should be poked and prodded and studied.

Small dark defecation marks and actual sightings help to build up a picture of the severity of the infestation. Then the work begins.

Clean and steam everything including beds and bedding and mattresses and carpets and upholstery and clothing. We can help and advise you with this part.

Mattress encasements are recommended and we are also able to supply these to you at competitive rates. After everything has been thoroughly cleaned we may apply special insecticides to certain areas we feel bed bugs may be attracted to.

Unless bed bugs are re-introduced, our comprehensive treatment program will solve your bed bug problem – we even guarantee it.

Please remember – you can do some of the work yourself or we can arrange for everything to be done for you. The choice is yours.

John Paton

Divisional Franchisor

Jim's Pest Control

You own a busy restaurant. I know how much work this entails because I ran restaurants in England back in the late 70s until I entered pest control in the late 80s.

It is Friday afternoon. The mercury hovers around 30c and you are feeling tired after a busy lunch and you still have a fully booked Friday night, a wedding on Saturday and every seat in the place is taken for Saturday night.

The last thing you want to see is a lonely cockroach creeping out of it's safe harbourage on the lookout for food. Squishing it with your foot and wiping it up with a disposable towel you wonder. Are there any more around.

Well the odds are stacked way against you. There are probably hundreds more waiting and hungry - waiting to eat and spread disease and sickness.

I have come across too many hard working chefs who are concientious and work very long hours who provide excellent meals and value and who also try to look after their commercial pest control problems. Most of the time they are unsuccessful.

We will undertake a thorough inspection and employ the latest techniques. We use the best insecticides available in the safest possible manner and we get guaranteed results.

You are a busy foreman in a warehouse. You are blessed with a hard working team who all get on well together. It is time for morning tea. Putting on the jug  you get some cups from the cupboard and notice droppings. They seem too big for mouse droppings. Surely they can't be rats. The girls will be quite alarmed, and probably some of the guys as well.

Chances are they are rat droppings. And chances are some of your packaging has also been damaged. Maybe they are in the roof void and starting to damage electrical wiring. And all the time spreading disease and sickness.

You need a commercial pest control program.

We will undertake a thorough inspection of your premises and set up lockable and safe rodent bait stations with bait only available to professional pest controllers.

Call us now on 131 546. We are fully trained and licensed and also fully Insuredand will work with you to solve your commercial pest control problem.

By John Paton

Divisional Franchisor

Jim's Pest Control

What do ants eat? If we know what they eat then we can target that type of food with baits. The baited food is then taken back to the nest and over time the nest is eliminated. This is an important consideration for effective ant control.

There are two main types of food that ants are attracted to - sweet foods or carbohydrates and proteins or fats and oils. However ants can be attracted to both sweet and protein. This is a challenge for effective ant control.

Ants can also be attracted to different foods depending on how many larvae the nest is supporting. Nests supporting a large population usually requires a protein rich diet such as the fats or oils. Nests supporting a smaller larvae population tend to be attracted to a sweeter diet such as carbohydrates.

Before we can control the ant, we like to identify the ant species so we can try and establish if they are attracted to carbs or protein.

The Singapore Ant is light brown in colour and they are a particular nuisance to us inside buildings. They are attracted to insulation and wiring and like to nest within walls close to electrical sockets. As you can see, an ant control program that works well is essential in this situation.

The Singapore Ant is usually attracted to proteins rather than sweet or carbohydrate rich foods so for a baiting system to work in order to control the ant then we need a protein bait.

The Black House Ant on the other hand prefers sweeter foods but will eat a range of different foods. When we bait this ant in order to control it we use a bait with a higher concentration of carbohydrates.

Baiting is usually a slow process. In order to achieve overall success in ant control, we need to employ other methods as well.

I like to use a special insecticidal dust inside walls and in the roof void and even in cracks and crevices. Once ants come into contact with it then they die shortly afterwards. These dusts cannot be used outside on the ground as they blow away in the wind.

Insecticidal dusts can be used effectively though for ant nests. A fine dust is pumped into the nest and enters all the galleries of the nest. Soon the ants living in the nest are controlled and eliminated.

Surface sprays are also useful for effective ant control. I like to have an external chemical barrier and an internal chemical barrier when ants are entering buildings. A surface spray treatment to the perimeter of the building as well as a surface spray treatment on the inside is also effective for ant control.

We inspect and survey thoroughly before we do anything. This is particularly true in effective ant control. We follow the trails and try to establish where their nests are.

We also advise you on hygiene and sanitation matters as they can attract scavenging ants. Crumbs on preparation surfaces and wet surfaces in dry weather can attract ants.

Ant control is a challenge for most people and with your cooperation together we can achieve success.

Give Jim's Pest Control a call on 131 546. You can also send an online enquiry through as well. We are your trusted professionals who are fully licensed, trained and Insured for your peace of mind.

By John Paton

Divisional Franchisor

Jim's Pest Control Australia & NZ

Wasps are considered pests to us because they can sting us and cause us some anxious moments when they are flying around us on a Summers Day. This is especially true when there are small children around.

But actually wasps perform some valuable functions. Although much of the pollination that happens on Planet Earth is done by bees, some species of wasps help pollinate as well.

They also eat insects that cause damage to our crops such as caterpillars and assorted beetles and bugs. They can also control fly populations as well. Wasps also eat Spiders some of which are poisonous and a threat to us.

Most Professional Pest Controllers have a special affinity with the insects and rodents they control. Now this may seem strange but when we are controlling Cockroaches for example we "think like a Cockroach" When we control termites we also "think like a termite" The same applies for rodents and ants.

However think of the poor wasp. We don't need to think like a wasp. Their nest or at least the entrance to their nest is normally highly visible.

I have been involved in Pest Control since 1989 and some Jim's Pest Control Franchisees even longer. We all have our own stories we relate. During the mid 90s I was in New Zealand running a successful Pest Control Company. I was called to a wasp job and the nest was located on a roof of a bungalow.

Safely harnessed with a carabena and rope I clambered up and made my way towards the nest. I was immediately struck by multiple entry points along the roof ridge extending almost 3 metres.

I thoroughly dusted each entry point and asked the client if I could get into their roof void to check out the nests. Now these are the times you wish you had a camera. There weren't multiple nests but one long nest extending over 3 metres long and a half metre extending down from the inside of the roof. There have been other documented cases of very large wasp nests in the world and the record holders invariably come from New Zealand for some strange reason.

Although they may be troublesome during the Summer Months, think of the many benefits that wasps give us. However If you do spot a nest in and around your home it really is best to leave it to a trained Professional.

All Jim's Pest Control Franchisees are trained and licensed and carry extensive Public Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance.

With the safe and effective wasp eradication programme we carry out, the wasp has no chance of survival.

By John Paton

Divisional Franchisor

Jim's Pest Control Australia & NZ

Why are Cockroaches considered Pests?

Cockroaches have been around a lot longer than humans - the earliest Cockroach fossils date back 350 million years! We on the other hand have been around for only 200,000 years.

However Cockroaches are considered Pests to us and this is due to a number of factors.

Unfortunately, we have contributed to their pest status by providing them with wonderful breeding grounds and by helping to transport them around the world on our ships and on our airplanes.

Now consider this incident. A few years back, in one of our major cities, over 2 million Cockroaches were found living in a 2 bedroom unit. This unit was empty at the time and was an excellent breeding ground. The Cockroaches had shelter, food, warmth and moisture.

Obviously that unit was unfit for human habitation until a thorough sanitation and treatment programme was carried out but we are still leaving ourselves vulnerable to a variety of health problems if we leave a cockroach population unchecked.

You have gone to sleep. You had a party and a great night was had by you and your friends. The dishes have been left out and there is left over food on the kitchen counter.

The house is in darkness. Slowly a couple of German Cockroaches emerge from their safe habourage. Tentatively checking out your kitchen surfaces they come across the food. Soon your kitchen is covered by scores of German Cockroaches as they gorge on the food.

Now this is the disgusting part. They vomit on the food and your surfaces. Their droppings mingle in with the food and get caked onto your surfaces. The food and your surfaces are contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria which could make you and your loved ones sick.

German Cockroaches can live in and around grease traps and sewers and all that filth and pathogenic bacteria can be traipsed into your kitchen as well.

You wake in the morning. Bleary eyed you make some buttered toast and pour some milk into a dish of cornflakes for the kids. Your surfaces and your food and your cutlery and crockery are probably all contaminated.

You smell something not quite right. Within feet of where you are standing there could well be scores of German Cockroaches safe in their harbourage waiting for darkness and another feast. You are actually smelling the odour given off by their secretions from their mouth parts and their cuticles or outer covering.

You might even spot a lonely German Cockroach pushed out of the habourage by it's mates due to overcrowding. If you see this happen, then you many have a serious infestation. And you might be justified in feeling annoyed or even fearful at the sight of it.

One of your children may have an allergy to Cockroaches. You have been to the Doctor and tests have been conducted.  Although testing procedures are comprehensive in trying to find out what your children are allergic to, nothing is foolproof and if you can eliminate a German Cockroach population, then this is one less thing to worry about.

Although rare, there have been documented cases of people bitten by Cockroaches. This usually occurs in extremely cramped and confined conditions where humans and Cockroaches co-exist - and normally on ships at sea.

As you can see, the Cockroaches that enter our houses are certainly considered Pests!

You will need to call upon a trained and licensed Professional Pest Control Technician.

At Jims, all of our Franchisees are trained and licensed and Fully Insured with Public Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance. We work to the highest Industry Standards and are fully compliant with the relevant Australian Standards.

A thorough inspection is essential and we will freely give you advice as to how we can work together and combat your Cockroach problem to ensure your peace of mind.

And remember - All of our work is fully guaranteed.

By John Paton

Divisional Franchisor

Jims Pest Control Australia and NZ

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