News
Giant Rats or Coypu?
To listen to the live discussion regarding giant rats and the rat population throughout the Midlands area between the Managing Director of Midland Pest Control Ltd, Steve Hurley, and Danny Kelly of BBC WM on Thursday 19 April 2010 at 3.45pm:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p009chwr/Danny_Kelly_19_08_2010/
King rat: Two-and-a-half-foot 'ratzilla' shot on estate as super-sized rodents are found in UK
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:38 PM on 19th August 2010
When Brandon Goddard picked up an air rifle and went 'ratting' with mates at a rodent-plagued estate, he had no idea that he would come face-to-face with a 30-inch monster.
The 31-year-old cleaning firm manager today told of the terrifying moment when five huge rats burst out from behind a wall - each about the size of a large cat - and galloped past him.
And he said: 'They were more like "ratzillas" than rats.'
Invasion of the Giant Rats!
By ALASTAIR TAYLOR
Published: The Sun Newspaper 19/08/2010
HORRIFIED neighbours told yesterday how their homes are being invaded by giant rats - including a 30-INCH LONG monster that was shot dead.
The rodents, twice the size of common types, are plaguing an estate in Bradford, West Yorks, often appearing in kitchens and lounges.
It is feared some could be "super rats" from South America.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3102460/Invasion-of-the-giant-rats-in-Bradford.html
The Coypu
The Coypu is a large semi-aquatic rodent which is native to South America. It was introduced to the British Isles in 1929 when fur farms were set up in Sussex, Hampshire, Devon and Norfolk. The farms were sited mainly in lowland areas which are rich in rivers and streams. During the 1930's coypus escaped from captivity and despite repeated attempts to control them, they have adapted well to their new British habitat, breeding extremely successfully in the countryside of East Anglia. Today the Coypu, along with the Grey Squirrel, are a constant reminder of the folly of introducing foreign species into a new country without fully considering the consequences.
Superficially the Coypu and the Brown Rat are rather similar in appearance, hardly surprising as they are both rodents. But the blunt square shape of the coypu's muzzle and it's webbed feet clearly distinguish it, not to mention it's size. In fact it is one of the largest rodents in the world exceeded only by the South American Capybara (more about that later). The picture below highlights some of the differences:
Wasps nests this year
Wasps can be regarded as beneficial insects during the spring and early summer as workers collect insect larvae, which helps control garden insect pests. However, at their peak in August and September with the youngsters reared, the workers turn to the sweet food they prefer and become a nuisance wherever this is available.
It is the ability of wasps to cause painful stings that concerns most people and unlike bees, wasp can sting several times. A single queen wasp begins construction on a nest in early spring, which may eventually house more than 500 adult’s wasps. The queen starts this process by laying up to eight eggs in a small comb protected by several layers of papery material. The queen produces this by foraging for wood fibers which she chews and combines with saliva, to will form new papery layers of the nest.
After four to six weeks the initial workers hatch and continue construction on the nest while the queen continues to lay eggs and increase the wasp population. By the end of the summer, a large nest will have been formed containing male and female workers, together with a number of specially nurtured new queens.
Mice droppings found at Sparkhill takeaway
THE owner of a filthy Birmingham takeaway pizza outlet found to be “riddled” with mice droppings has been given a suspended prison sentence and banned from running a food business.
East Pizza, in Smallbrook Queensway, run by Sharar Abdolahi, was so dirty it was closed down three times, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Environmental health officers from Birmingham City Council saw mice running in and out of the premises eating chips and running up and down the kebab rotisserie.
Read more: Birmingham city centre takeaway pizza parlour riddled with mice
Sparkhill food trader hit with ban and £4,500 fine after mouse droppings found on premises.
May 20 2010 by Kat Keogh, Birmingham Mail
THE owner of a family firm has been banned from running a food business after mouse droppings were discovered on his Birmingham premises.
It is the third time in four years that Mushtaq’s Ltd on Stratford Road, Sparkhill, has been prosecuted for food hygiene offences.
Owner Bashir Ahmed, who has been in business for 40 years, was also fined £4,500 and ordered to pay £1,624 costs after admitting four charges of failing to comply with the provisions of the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 in a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard that Environmental Health officers from Birmingham City Council found faeces among open food containers during an inspection at the Asian sweet and savoury foods manufacturer.
Officers found mouse droppings on storeroom shelves containing open boxes of nuts and chocolate chips during a routine visit on January 19 last year.
They also discovered dirt and grease-encrusted floors and equipment, and spotted workers handing raw meat with unwashed hands while on a second inspection six months later.
National Study Examines Growing Bed Bug Challenge
The scale of the growing challenge posed by bed bugs in the UK is highlighted in the results of a new national study undertaken with professional pest controllers across the country by behaviour-led control experts, Sorex.
Conducted by www.behaviourled.com in early 2009, the study involved a cross section of more than 60 private and Local Authority pest controllers from Morayshire in Scotland to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. More than 80% regard bed bug control as important in their organisations these days with well over half of these rating the pest as very important.
Rented houses and flats clearly stand out as presenting the greatest problems, ahead of residential homes, urban and suburban hotels and boarding houses. Although of relatively lesser importance, over a quarter of pest controllers report treating bed bugs in hospitals and institutions.
Just under 90% of PCOs have seen an increase in bed bug treatment calls in recent years, the Sorex study reveals, with over two thirds of these regarding the increase as significant. At the same time, over 90% are finding bed bugs becoming more challenging to deal, two thirds significantly so. More restricted insecticide choice is identified as the greatest particular current control challenge.
Giant Rats or Coypu?
To listen to the live discussion regarding giant rats and the rat population throughout the Midlands area between the Managing Director of Midland Pest Control Ltd, Steve Hurley, and Danny Kelly of BBC WM on Thursday 19 April 2010 at 3.45pm:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p009chwr/Danny_Kelly_19_08_2010/
King rat: Two-and-a-half-foot 'ratzilla' shot on estate as super-sized rodents are found in UK
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:38 PM on 19th August 2010
When Brandon Goddard picked up an air rifle and went 'ratting' with mates at a rodent-plagued estate, he had no idea that he would come face-to-face with a 30-inch monster.
The 31-year-old cleaning firm manager today told of the terrifying moment when five huge rats burst out from behind a wall - each about the size of a large cat - and galloped past him.
And he said: 'They were more like "ratzillas" than rats.'
Invasion of the Giant Rats!
By ALASTAIR TAYLOR
Published: The Sun Newspaper 19/08/2010
HORRIFIED neighbours told yesterday how their homes are being invaded by giant rats - including a 30-INCH LONG monster that was shot dead.
The rodents, twice the size of common types, are plaguing an estate in Bradford, West Yorks, often appearing in kitchens and lounges.
It is feared some could be "super rats" from South America.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3102460/Invasion-of-the-giant-rats-in-Bradford.html
The Coypu
The Coypu is a large semi-aquatic rodent which is native to South America. It was introduced to the British Isles in 1929 when fur farms were set up in Sussex, Hampshire, Devon and Norfolk. The farms were sited mainly in lowland areas which are rich in rivers and streams. During the 1930's coypus escaped from captivity and despite repeated attempts to control them, they have adapted well to their new British habitat, breeding extremely successfully in the countryside of East Anglia. Today the Coypu, along with the Grey Squirrel, are a constant reminder of the folly of introducing foreign species into a new country without fully considering the consequences.
Superficially the Coypu and the Brown Rat are rather similar in appearance, hardly surprising as they are both rodents. But the blunt square shape of the coypu's muzzle and it's webbed feet clearly distinguish it, not to mention it's size. In fact it is one of the largest rodents in the world exceeded only by the South American Capybara (more about that later). The picture below highlights some of the differences:
Wasps nests this year
Wasps can be regarded as beneficial insects during the spring and early summer as workers collect insect larvae, which helps control garden insect pests. However, at their peak in August and September with the youngsters reared, the workers turn to the sweet food they prefer and become a nuisance wherever this is available.
It is the ability of wasps to cause painful stings that concerns most people and unlike bees, wasp can sting several times. A single queen wasp begins construction on a nest in early spring, which may eventually house more than 500 adult’s wasps. The queen starts this process by laying up to eight eggs in a small comb protected by several layers of papery material. The queen produces this by foraging for wood fibers which she chews and combines with saliva, to will form new papery layers of the nest.
After four to six weeks the initial workers hatch and continue construction on the nest while the queen continues to lay eggs and increase the wasp population. By the end of the summer, a large nest will have been formed containing male and female workers, together with a number of specially nurtured new queens.
Mice droppings found at Sparkhill takeaway
THE owner of a filthy Birmingham takeaway pizza outlet found to be “riddled” with mice droppings has been given a suspended prison sentence and banned from running a food business.
East Pizza, in Smallbrook Queensway, run by Sharar Abdolahi, was so dirty it was closed down three times, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Environmental health officers from Birmingham City Council saw mice running in and out of the premises eating chips and running up and down the kebab rotisserie.
Read more: Birmingham city centre takeaway pizza parlour riddled with mice
Sparkhill food trader hit with ban and £4,500 fine after mouse droppings found on premises.
May 20 2010 by Kat Keogh, Birmingham Mail
THE owner of a family firm has been banned from running a food business after mouse droppings were discovered on his Birmingham premises.
It is the third time in four years that Mushtaq’s Ltd on Stratford Road, Sparkhill, has been prosecuted for food hygiene offences.
Owner Bashir Ahmed, who has been in business for 40 years, was also fined £4,500 and ordered to pay £1,624 costs after admitting four charges of failing to comply with the provisions of the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 in a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard that Environmental Health officers from Birmingham City Council found faeces among open food containers during an inspection at the Asian sweet and savoury foods manufacturer.
Officers found mouse droppings on storeroom shelves containing open boxes of nuts and chocolate chips during a routine visit on January 19 last year.
They also discovered dirt and grease-encrusted floors and equipment, and spotted workers handing raw meat with unwashed hands while on a second inspection six months later.
National Study Examines Growing Bed Bug Challenge
The scale of the growing challenge posed by bed bugs in the UK is highlighted in the results of a new national study undertaken with professional pest controllers across the country by behaviour-led control experts, Sorex.
Conducted by www.behaviourled.com in early 2009, the study involved a cross section of more than 60 private and Local Authority pest controllers from Morayshire in Scotland to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. More than 80% regard bed bug control as important in their organisations these days with well over half of these rating the pest as very important.
Rented houses and flats clearly stand out as presenting the greatest problems, ahead of residential homes, urban and suburban hotels and boarding houses. Although of relatively lesser importance, over a quarter of pest controllers report treating bed bugs in hospitals and institutions.
Just under 90% of PCOs have seen an increase in bed bug treatment calls in recent years, the Sorex study reveals, with over two thirds of these regarding the increase as significant. At the same time, over 90% are finding bed bugs becoming more challenging to deal, two thirds significantly so. More restricted insecticide choice is identified as the greatest particular current control challenge.