Look out for the following pests which may be lurking around your warehouse this summer:

Rodents

Messy, noisy and destructive, rats and mice are notorious pests at commercial properties of all sizes. Even if you can’t always see them, you might hear them scurrying, squeaking and making gnawing sounds around walls and roofs, especially in the evenings and early mornings. They leave behind droppings which resemble dark grains of rice.

We find that baiting is the best way to manage a rat infestation.

Flies

If you’re seeing too many flies, it’s a serious sign that food safety and compliance are at risk, especially since flies can contaminate products instantly.

In a large warehouse, watch out for them breeding near loading docks, bins, and areas with food residue. Look for fly activity near delivery entrances, waste compactors, and any wet floor drains.

We recommend installing high-quality commercial flying insect control units to manage the population and protect your stock.

Stored product pests

Well known for spoiling dried food products, stored product pests include cigarette beetles, warehouse beetles, flour beetles, sawtoothed grain beetles, lesser grain beetles, grain weevils and pantry/Indian meal moths.

You’ll see their silken webs and larvae crawling inside packaged food and around storage areas, and sometimes winged adults will even fly.

They are best treated with fogging and fumigation techniques using food safe insecticides.

Ants

Ant trails in a warehouse are less about a line to a specific food item and more about colonies thriving inside the building’s structure, like within wall voids or under large equipment.

They can damage packaging and contaminate food stock by nesting in hidden areas. Instead of following the trail outside, you need to find their internal nesting spots near utility points or staff kitchens.

Ant infestations are best managed using strategic, professional-grade ant baits and barrier treatments to eliminate the source of the problem.

Cockroaches

Seeing just one cockroach in a warehouse means you likely have many more hiding where it’s warm and damp, especially inside machinery, equipment motors, or utility ducts.

This is a major issue because they carry pathogens that can contaminate inventory. In a serious infestation, you’ll find cockroach droppings and shed skins in these concealed spots.

Cockroaches are best managed by getting professional help to target these hard-to-reach harbourage areas with specialised baits and treatments.

By controlling the temperature and environmental conditions inside your facility, you’ll reduce the chances of pests thriving by maintaining lower moisture in the air and removing unwanted sources of moisture.

Consider using air conditioning, fans, ventilation, dehumidifiers and desiccants in parts of your warehouse which might be at higher risk of humidity.

Ensure that windows and doors and other gaps are properly sealed, walls and roofs are well insulated and consider installing vapour carriers to reduce moisture from the ground if needed.

Regularly inspect your facility for plumbing issues, such as leaks in pipes, drains, taps, gutters and even your roof, and fix them as quickly as possible.

Waste is a key attractant for pests, and so following a strict waste management plan at your business is essential. This should include:

• Having enough waste storage capacity
• Using robust plastic bags that won’t leak
• Safe and easily accessible bins
• Large sized, sturdy bins with well-fitting lids, such as hook or skip bins
• Cleaning your waste storage areas regularly
• Avoiding storing old cardboard boxes

For a warehouse pest management program in a workplace to be effective, encouraging all workers to be proactive in identifying early signs of an infestation and taking the right preventative action steps can make a huge difference.

When implementing a pest control strategy, it’s important to train your staff to understand compliance standards, how to maintain a workplace that discourages pest activity, including when and how to report pest sightings.

At Allstate, we offer expert, tailored advice to businesses just like yours and provide pest training programs to guide your employees.

If you’re a busy warehouse or facilities manager, the hassle of handling a pest outbreak is the last thing you need, not to mention the devastating effects it can have on your business. This is where acting early on summer pest prevention for warehouses is key.

At Allstate, we’ve successfully helped commercial and industrial properties achieve and maintain a high standard of protection across many sites and suburbs across Adelaide since 1986. Our team of highly qualified and trained pest technicians offers rapid response support for tailored advice and safe, modern and discreet pest treatments to keep your business compliant and running smoothly every single day.

Mosquitoes can lay hundreds of eggs in just a spoonful of stagnant water. So if you have pools or bodies of water around your home and yard, they could be harbouring more mosquito eggs than you could imagine.

This can include bathtubs, ponds, paddle pools, water tanks, pot plants, pet bowls, puddles, bird baths, buckets and gutters. Even objects such as wheelbarrows and trailers can hold water if left outside without a tarp cover.

We suggest using netting or screens to protect over water storage vessels or emptying excess water where possible.

Inspect your plumbing, such as drains, pipes and taps, for water leaks on a regular basis and fix them before they create another breeding site.

With so many potential entry sites, we have some key mosquito prevention tips for your home.

Self-closing external doors not only save you time, but they are also useful to keep pests out of your home.

As the most obvious entry points for opportunistic mosquitoes, windows and doors can easily be fitted with screens to stop pesky mosquitoes from making their way inside.

Mosquito screens are also useful for rainwater and septic tank openings, which are popular breeding sites.

If you enjoy outdoor dining and entertaining consider screening off an undercover outdoor area such as your pergola, balcony or courtyard to minimise the number of mosquitoes joining you.

Though mosquitoes are very capable fliers, they will have trouble battling the stronger air currents generated by fans and air-conditioning units. Improving the flow of air will also reduce displaced moisture and reduce humidity.

Mosquito control treatments and devices are available from hardware stores. They are best used for treating a small mosquito population rather than a severe infestation.

Mosquito traps

These are most effective when baited with carbon dioxide.

Electronic mosquito killer devices

Use a combination of UV light, carbon dioxide and emit certain pheromones which attract not only mosquitoes, but often other beneficial flying insects such as moths as well.

Insecticide sprays

Fast acting and containing pyrethrin or pyrethrin derivatives, insecticide sprays can be applied to outdoor areas, including non-flowering and non-edible plants in your garden, as well as indoor areas. They can also be used as chemical barriers at access points around your home, such as doors, fly screens and windowsills.

At Allstate, we use the following two methods to control a mosquito outbreak, tackling the problem right at its very source:

Adulticides

Airborne with the ability to disperse over a large space and can target large outbreaks quickly. Our techniques include:

• Fogging

Generously applied to affected areas during dusk and dawn, when most mosquitoes are out and about, fogging machines create a thick, misty “fog” effect, penetrating hard to reach areas and remaining active on surfaces for 2-3 days. They are useful for enclosed areas in residential, industrial and commercial settings.

• Residual barrier treatments

For a longer lasting effect on smaller areas, up to 6-8 weeks, residual barrier treatments are recommended as a more targeted approach to mosquito control. They are suitable for outdoor areas including walls, foundations, eaves, fences and even shrubs and foliage.

Larvicides

Targeting a mosquito infestation where they breed, larvicides interfere with the development of mosquito larvae to reduce the population of mosquitoes. They are effective on larger bodies of water in your yard, such as ponds.

When and where fleas are most active

• Fleas survive best in warm humid environments (such as pet fur)
• They breed in the warmer months
• Larvae can survive by remaining dormant in colder months or when they’re waiting for a suitable host

Is it a tick?

Fleas and ticks can look similar, but Paralysis Tick bites can cause a life-threatening paralysis in pets. This means that being able to identify a Paralysis Tick from a flea can be critical to the survival of your pet, so here’s how to tell:

• Fleas have wings and can jump, while ticks are wingless
• Tick bites give a characteristic “bullseye appearance”: they will burrow themselves to the skin when they bite, so the affected area becomes red. If you look closely, you’ll also notice a fainter red ring surrounding the affected area
• Adult ticks have 8 legs, newly-hatched ticks have 6 legs, and adult fleas have 6 legs

They can spread serious diseases

• Typhus: Typhus is transmitted from rats, cats and possums to people and pets, via fleas. This results in fever, nausea, cough, stomach pain, rash and body aches
  
• Tapeworm larvae: A tapeworm infection can be transmitted from rodents to humans or pets via fleas. One famous example (but fortunately now very rare) is the Bubonic plague. This condition causes nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weight loss and an overall feeling of weakness.

Their bites are uncomfortable

• You may experience skin irritation, itching and mild swelling around the bite mark
• The bites trigger allergies, and may result in hypersensitivity to repeated bites

Outbreaks can occur quickly

• A single female flea can lay up to 2000 eggs in its lifetime
• Eggs only take 2-12 days to hatch

Once you have a confirmed a flea problem, you can immediately take action to try and control it before it becomes more severe. Alongside cleaning and maintaining infested areas and removing other pests, there are more targeted approaches you can take:

Treat your pet

Consult your vet for flea treatment options and recommended products, including combing, tablets, and applying solutions and powders to their fur. It can also be worth considering treatment for tapeworm infections.

Chemical treatment

There are many commercial products available. Remember to wear gloves, long sleeve protective clothing and a face mask and store away children’s toys and water and food bowls for pets before applying.

• Surface spray indoors and outdoors where pets frequent
• Use flea bombs
• Repeat treatments as flea eggs may take a few weeks to hatch
• For severe infestations, or if there is also a rodent outbreak, contact Allstate Pest Control