Strange creatures
Tuesday 23rd of November 201001:24:00pm
It’s been a hectic few months but things have now settled down a little, hence another blog!
I was recently asked to visit a clients home to assess what they described as a severe beetle infestation. I explained that I thought it peculiar for such activity at this time of year (early November), as the main flight season ends around August, however it was local, so we arranged an appointment.
Upon arrival at the property it was immediately apparent that the origins of the house predated its late Georgian facade, which was confirmed by the presence of earlier internal planked doors, the inglenook fireplace and its chimney stack.
We viewed both the bathroom and master bedroom which were apparently suffering from the same problem.
Fresh emergence holes caused by the deathwatch beetle were evident on the surface of an exposed oak principal rafter within the bedroom. The client remarked that an earlier audible “tapping” sound had ceased.
This was a pretty straight forward diagnosis, the fresh flight holes only appeared where the timber was embedded into masonry, which had provided an environment suitable for sustaining the beetle activity. The tapping noise is synominous with the deathwatch beetle, which the adults use to locate one another prior to mating.
In brief, we recommended a targeted application of chemical preservatives and a period of monitoring in order to assess the development of the infestation. If activity was found to have significantly increased, it may then be necessary to administer the chemical deeper into the wood.
This hadn’t prepared me for what I assessed in the bathroom, where dozens of “insects” were roaming around the ceiling. On closer examination, after using a hand held magnifying glass, it was quickly established that these nymph-like creatures weren’t wood boring beetles.
So what was it, well I made a hasty retreat back to the office were | further examined the specimen and was able to make the positive identification (thanks to the internet), as the nymph of a brown-banded cockroach.
Of course everyone in the office began to itch and scratch at the thought of these things, in fact two weeks after the assessment I’ve begun to itch again whilst writing this blog.
I always associated these pests with squalid kitchens, so you can guess my dread at breaking this news to my house-proud client.
I got a better reaction than could be expected when I advised the client that they now needed to engage the services of a pest exterminator.