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Several insects, animals and birds can invade our homes, causing a range of problems. Some are merely an inconvenience while others present a real health hazard. Pests can spread illnesses, cause damage to structures and contaminate food supplies. Controlling them adequately is essential to maintaining a safe and pleasant environment for people to live in..

Pests commonly found in this country include insects such as fleas, cockroaches, ants and wasps, as well as mice, rats, pigeons, foxes, and even squirrels.

Information is included in ‘Common Pests‘ sections below.

Please Note: It is not necessary to have read these sections to complete the quiz.

As a landlord, you would be expected, as far as possible, to keep your property free from pests and in a manner that neither attracts them nor provides easy harborage. The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 is still in force and you could be served with a statutory notice to eradicate the pests if an infestation at your property is causing a problem for tenants or neighbours.

If your property is infested and deemed to be in a ‘verminous condition’ you could also be obliged to have it ‘cleansed’ under the Public Health Acts 1936 or 1961.

These notices could be served on the tenants if it is deemed to be their responsibility, being caused by their lifestyle or actions. If the tenant who caused the problem has moved out, you would be obliged to eradicate the pests before the next tenant moved in. If the problem only became apparent after new tenants moved in, but it was obvious that it wasn’t their fault, you would again be expected to sort it out.

In addition to this, the Housing Act 2004 introduced the HHSRS as a means of assessing the standard of accommodation. See the HHSRS section for more details. One of the hazards to be assessed is termed ‘Domestic Hygiene, Pests and Refuge’. This deals with:

• Poor design, layout and construction meaning that a dwelling cannot be readily kept clean and hygienic
• Access into, and harborage within the dwelling, for pests
• Inadequate and unhygienic provision for storing and disposal of household waste.

If inspectors considered there was sufficient evidence of a problem, they may ask you to rectify it under this legislation.

The main problems caused by pests are:

• Food Spoilage – insects may use certain foods to lay eggs and breed their larval stages. Other pests may nibble at it, rendering in undesirable, or even contaminated.
• Damage to property – rats, mice and squirrels can gnaw through grilles to gain entry, and commonly bite through cables and pipes causing problems with services and installations. Rats have been known to cause major structural damage to residential and commercial properties and to services such as power supplies. They will gnaw through wood and even enlarge masonry openings to gain entry into buildings. In the construction of their nests, they destroy all types of materials and can cause fires by chewing through insulation on electrical wires.
• Illness – most pests create a risk of cross-contamination and infection when they come into contact with food and preparation surfaces or in direct contact with people.

Insects are mechanical vectors of illness, picking up disease-causing organisms on their bodies from one source and transferring them somewhere else. They often feed on rotting food, rubbish or animal faeces then move on to food for human consumption.

Rats and mice can be infected with pathogenic organisms that cause diseases in humans such as listeria, cryptosporidiosis, toxoplasmosis, weil’s disease and whipworm infection.

Birds, particularly pigeons, carry diseases such as salmonella. They can also harbour biting insects.

Many of these pests also carry allergens causing asthma and other allergic reactions in susceptible people.

Emotional distress is another problem. Depression and anxiety are often associated with pest infestations and accumulations of refuse.

Factors to consider include:

• • • Structural defects, such as broken vents to suspended timber floors can enable entry to the dwelling.
    • Rodents inhabit sewers from where they can readily gain access to drains.
    • Damaged or ill fitting doors and windows can provide means of access for rats and mice.. Mice only need gaps of approx 6 mm to squeeze through.
    • Poorly stored food waste will attract pests.
    • Some insects may use waste for harborage, as a site for egg laying and development of laval stages.
    • Service ducts, holes around pipes such as central heating pipes can provide harborage for insects such as cockroaches and tropical ants. They may also provide routes for access between dwellings in blocks.

Practical steps you can take include:

• • • The design construction and subsequent maintenance of the dwelling should enable it to be kept clean, preventing the build up of dirt and dust that could enable organisms to multiply.
    • Areas intended for the personal washing sanitation or for food storage preparation and cooking should be capable of being maintained in a hygienic condition.
    • The exterior of the dwelling should be free of cracks and unprotected holes. Grilles or other methods should be employed to protect breaches of the walls etc where these are necessary such as for ventilation.
    • Spaces such a under floors, roof spaces, service ducting should be effectively sealed off from the living area, although there should be access in case an infestation does occur.
    • Openings to drains should be sealed with an effective water seal – openings into the wc, basins and drainage inlets to waste and surface water.
    • Service entry points should be effectively sealed as should any points in walls penetrated by waste, drain or other pipes or cables.
    • There should be suitable and sufficient provision for the storage of refuse, both inside and when awaiting collection or disposal outside the dwelling.

Some infestations you can treat yourself, others need professional treatment. More details on specific pests can be found in the subsequent sections.

You should always follow the instructions when attempting treatment with pesticides yourself and if necessary seek advice from a reputable pest control company.

• • Local Authorities may have a pest control section, who should be able to give advice even if they don’t offer a treatment service.
  • British Pest Control Association represents commercial pest control companies and includes a directory of members.
    
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) offers advice on a range of wildlife control issues, including licenses to control normally protected birds and animals. Fact sheets and contact numbers are on their website.
  • English Nature offer advice, particularly on protected species including bats and badgers
  • National societies such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and the Bat Conservation Trust
  • Various local societies exits and details may be found in the yellow pages or libraries etc.

Please note: it is not necessary to have read the following sections to complete the quiz.

Please note: it is not necessary to have read the following sections to complete the quiz.

Description

There are 41 different species of living in the UK. The most common ant to the UK is the Black or Garden Ant. The Black Ant is typically between 3.5 to 5mm in size and dark brown to black in colour.

A smaller species, the Pharoah’s Ant occasionally nests in warm situations, usually in kitchens. This Ant species originates from tropical areas. It was probably introduced to this country in the early 19th century and has survived where it has found suitably warm buildings. Pharoahs Ants are small typically 2mm long and a pale straw yellow colour with a darker head.

Lifecycle and Habits

Common Ants nest in a variety of places, such as lawns, flowerbeds, under paving stones, and in walls. Normally, these places are of no significance to humans. However, sandy soil and the sand used to form the base of paved garden paths or the foundations of houses does attract ants, therefore nests may well be found in these areas. Problems occur when foraging ants begin to invade houses. They are looking for food for the queen and the grubs. This is highly likely if the nest has been constructed beneath the floor of a house. Once a colony develops it can be difficult to get rid of. They live in well defined social groups.

Normally during late summer, winged male and female ants will emerge from the nest to mate. This normally occurs late afternoon, and causes a nuisance to local or passing residents.

Pharoah’s Ants require relatively high temperatures, around 180 – 300°C. They are therefore found around warm areas like central heating systems, hot water storage, ovens and refrigeration motors – anywhere temperatures are likely to be regularly high. Worker ants are the ones usually noticed as they forage for food and water away from the nest. Infestations of Pharaoh’s Ants can be hard to control because the ants can spread by ‘budding’ where groups of worker ants and a queen leave the main nest to form another colony. This happens until there may be many nests in one area, each functioning as separate colonies and needing separate treatment if the infestation is to be eradicated.

What Ants Eat

The worker ants are scavengers and collect seeds, nectar, even dead insects to take back to the nest. They also prey on greenfly, blackfly and other small insects. They will eat human food, particularly sweet and sugary items.

Problems Linked to Ants

Ants are highly organised social insects and although a nuisance, they don’t present a health risk. It is the foraging worker ant that invades buildings in search of food. If a foraging worker successfully identifies a food source, this is communicated back to co-workers, which inevitably results in vast numbers of ants invading the property and contaminating suitable human food sources.

It is unpleasant and a nuisance to find a large number of ants in your home, but they do not transmit any serious diseases. They may well have traveled through unpleasant places before entering the home, however, so food they touch may become contaminated.

Although most varieties of ants are able to sting, they seldom do.

What to look out for

The worker ants are able to communicate information regarding the location of suitable food and water sites to other workers. It is common to see long narrow trails of worker ants moving to and from the nest, to food or water they have found.

Small piles of earth may indicate the location of the nests.

Preventing or dealing with an infestation

Control measures are generally only required when ants are penetrating and/or living in buildings or structures. You should try not to attract them initially, by reducing potential food sources. Food spillage and waste should be cleaned and removed regularly. All stored food should be kept in containers that prevent their access.

If you have ants, steps should be taken to seal all obvious entry points and faults in the structures. This should be supported by the use of residual insecticides to prevent further access.

You can treat against ant infestations yourself, in the home and the garden. Many household insecticide aerosols are cleared for use against crawling insects. However, their use is only likely to offer short term relief due to the low dosage of active ingredient involved. Boiling water poured on the nest will control any infestation for a short time. Alternatively, other powder and residual insecticides are also available from your local DIY store or garden centre.

To make sure you get rid of the problem, firstly you should locate the nest. This can be done by either looking for small piles of earth or by following foraging ants back to the nest. Once the nest has been located dust the insect powder along ant runs and in any cracks or crevices. Entrances to nests should then be dusted liberally. There may be so many ants in one nests that it is difficult to eradicate the whole colony in one go, so the problem may recur.

If using insecticides, you should always follow the instructions.

Professional help

It may be advisable to contact a reputable Pest Control company, either for advice, or to carry out a professional treatment. The British Pest Control Association has a list of its member companies on its website, for all areas.

Description

Adult bedbugs are 4-5 mm in length, about the size of a ladybird and reddish brown in colour. They have long, well developed walking legs with claws
and prominent antennae projecting from the head adjacent to the eyes.

When a bug has not recently fed, its body is paper thin, and almost red brown. After feeding, the body elongates, widens and the colour changes to a dull red. This apparent change is very noticeable and it may appear that two different species of insect are present.

Lifecycle and Habits

Bedbugs are more common in areas of high population density, normally large conurbations. Holiday resorts, hotels, hostels, and holiday camps have been noted for bedbug infestations. Unlike most other bugs, bedbugs cannot fly and must either crawl or be passively transported in clothing or more probably in luggage, furniture, books or other objects used as harbourage.

Bedbugs normally emerge at night from cracks in furniture joints, bed frames, wallpaper and skirting boards, although they will only search for blood donors when they are hungry. In between meals they spend their time in suitable hiding places in close vicinity to the bed. Feeding normally takes about 10 minutes. Following this, the bedbug retreats back to its hiding place, where it digests, mates and lays eggs until it is hungry again. Although they normally feed every 2 to 4 days, they have been known to live up to 12 months without feeding.

Female bedbugs lay eggs throughout their life, producing about 2-3 a day. As they can live for many months, they can produce up to 400 eggs in their lifetime. The eggs are white and about 1mm long. They are laid individually or in clusters, and are cemented to wood, fabrics and other surfaces in places where the bugs hide. Normally, bedbugs reach their peak numbers in the UK towards early autumn.

The first stage nymphs that hatch from the eggs are just over 1mm long and are similar to the adults, just lighter in colour, getting progressively darker as they get older.

What Bedbugs Eat

The Bedbug feeds on the blood of humans mainly, although other animals such as domestic pets can be bitten. They are able to survive many months without feeding.

Problems Linked to Bedbugs

Bedbugs are not regarded as disease carriers, but their blood feeding can cause severe irritation to some people. The bites can be painful, which give rise to a hard whitish swelling. This can result in loss of sleep, lack of energy and listlessness, particularly in children.

What to look out for

Indications of bedbugs, particularly in the initial stages are not obvious. You may notice a change in your bed, with a few blood spots on the sheets. As the infestation increases you would probably begin to see live insects, blackish spots of excrement and insect skin casts. Bedbugs leave a characteristic almond or mint like smell in rooms where they are active.

Preventing or dealing with an infestation

High standards of hygiene and housekeeping may not provide an adequate method of control if bedbugs are already present, but will reveal their presence at an early stage making control easier. If they are suspected a close inspection of the bed, headboard, mattress should reveal their presence.

A pyrethroid based aerosol sprayed lightly around these areas may help to revel them as they will be driven away from their resting sites and harbourages.

Infected sheets etc should be laundered and rooms thoroughly vacuumed and cleaned. Particular attention should be paid to removing dust, fluff and debris from cracks, crevices, seams of fabric, buttons on mattresses etc.

To eradicate the infestation it will be necessary to treat the premises thoroughly with suitable insecticides including the bed, floors furniture and other harbourages. A professional pest control company should be used as the detection and thorough treatment of all hiding places is a job that requires experience. It is important to employ a professional person who knows what they are doing and in particular exactly where to look for them and where to treat. Also, it is important not to move material from any room that is infested, until the area has been treated.

If you do use insecticides, always follow the instructions.

Professional help

It may be advisable to contact a reputable Pest Control company, either for advice, or to carry out a professional treatment. The British Pest Control Association has a list of its member companies on its website, for all areas.

Description

Booklice are tiny grey insects. They are soft bodies and rarely exceed 6mm in length. Normally, they are about 1.5 – 2mm in length

Lifecycle and Habits

Most species are found in natural habitats such as animal nests, tree trunk crevices, under bark, and on leaves. However, they are also often found in warehouses, food manufacturing premises, museums, retail and domestic premises.

They are particularly common in humid environments as they prefer damp conditions. Humidity in domestic premises can be caused by new plaster drying out, condensation due to inadequate ventilation in the kitchen or property, or even leaking pipes.

Booklice live for approximately 6 months and can lay up to 200 eggs in their lifetime.

What Booklice Eat

They can often be found in and around food cupboards, as they like to feed on dry goods such as flour, milk powder, sugar and semolina. They will also feed on the mould caused by humid conditions.

Problems Linked to Booklice

Booklice are common but harmless household pests. They rarely cause damage by feeding and are virtually harmless in small numbers. Larger infestations may cause damage to more delicate materials such as books and furs.

The major problem is that they can contaminate raw or processed foods. Contaminated products must be identified and destroyed, a costly and time consuming process.

What to look out for

Although small, they can be seen in the area that they are feeding.

Preventing or dealing with an infestation

Prevention through good hygiene and adequate ventilation is a better method than simply using household insecticides.

Always keep foodstuffs, cereals and similar products in cool, dry and well – ventilated places. Clean out cupboards regularly, and always make sure they are dry before putting the contents back. Make sure the area is well ventilated before boiling water and/or using the washing machine or tumble drier.

If they do appear, remove and dispose of all contaminated food straight away. Check and clean your cupboards and storage areas. Food cans and bottles should be fine, but make sure that there are no insects hiding under labels. Treat the area with a good household insecticide, which is suitable for use near food.

Because of opportunities for the infestation to return, booklice are typically very difficult to treat and control using household insecticides. The most effective method of control is to ensure that the premises are thoroughly cleaned, aired and dried.

If using insecticides, always follow the instructions.

Professional help

It may be advisable to contact a reputable Pest Control company, either for advice, or to carry out a professional treatment. The British Pest Control Association has a list of its member companies on its website, for all areas.

Description

There are several species of carpet beetle prevalent in the UK. The most common species are the varied carpet beetle and the furniture carpet beetle. In both species, adults are normally between 2-4mm in size, and have a varied pattern of white, brown, and yellow spots or scales on their back. Mature larvae are approximately 4-5mm in size, and have a series of dense tufts of bristles and hair located on each side of the rear end of the body. These bristles give rise to their common name of ‘woolly bears’.

Lifecycle and Habits

Carpet beetles thrive in conditions where they remain undisturbed, for example beneath carpets, around skirting boards, and in wardrobes.

A female carpet beetle normally lays approximately 40 eggs, which take just over two weeks to hatch. The larvae will live and feed for a period of 7-10 months. Following this, the larvae then turns to pupa and an adult beetle will emerge approximately one month later. Adults, however, will normally only live for a period of 2-6 weeks.

What Carpet Beetles Eat

Carpet beetles can cause major damage to textiles or carpets. Larval forms of the carpet beetle can cause considerable damage to keratin-containing products such as wool, furs, leather, silk and dried animal remains. Occasionally, food products of animal origin will also be attacked, such as cereals and fibres.

Problems Linked to Carpet Beetles

Carpet beetles are a major pest to textiles, carpets or other materials they feed on. Central heating systems ensure stable temperatures, and wall-to-wall carpeting allows breeding to occur undisturbed.

They do not present significant health hazards, but in some cases, larval hairs can cause skin irritations to those exposed to large numbers.

What to look out for

They can be seen, but the presence of one or two does not necessarily indicate an infestation.

Preventing or dealing with an infestation

The wandering habits of these insects means they frequently infest wide areas, making them difficult to control. To begin with, the source of infestation must be traced. This could be found in old nests, animal remains, wool based lagging, soundproofing, wool base furnishings, or debris that has accumulated between floorboards. All infested material should be removed and disposed of where possible. Insecticide treatment is vital where infestations are intensive. This will ensure that all larvae are killed.

When insecticides are used, always follow the instructions.

Professional help

It may be advisable to contact a reputable Pest Control company, either for advice, or to carry out a professional treatment. The British Pest Control Association has a list of its member companies on its website, for all areas.