Take It Easy

One of the ways you can help reduce the risk of roaches, rodents, and bed bugs in your residence is through basic sanitation and maintenance.

This gentleman wasn't really using his fridge (above) for much other than storage of knickknacks and chachkees.  Cockroaches were enjoying it.  I suggested that he try to straighten it up in between deliveries of takeout.

His bed was full of bedbugs, but his living room (second picture) didn't have much furniture.  Still his recliner did have some bedbugs, and it's an important reminder that bed bugs will tend to congregate anywhere people sit, such as Citi Bikes.

Mice and cockroaches were living in his kitchen.  Plastic bags kept like this tend to attract all sorts of pests.  Obviously, you never know when you're going to need a plastic bag, so I get the impetus behind collecting them.  But just be aware that there's a downside.

I decided not to include any pictures of the bedroom.

Ew York City will be back next week.

Happy Thanksgiving from Ew York City!

We wonder why our walls are covered in flies

When right under our feet

There's a whole Thanksgiving Dinner's worth of food

Remember to check your grease traps regularly and have them cleaned

Ew York City will be back on black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving

Give Thanks

With this being Thanksgiving week, I thought I would put in this picture of a sparrow eating a water bug.

The water bug has been de-legged at this point.  In the picture it's just below the bird.

Just like cats keep mice away, perhaps we can utilize sparrows to keep our cockroach problems at bay.

So the next time you think to yourself, "I hate cockroaches," just remember that there are birds somewhere who are really thankful that they have something to eat.

Ew York City wishes every one a happy and yummy thanksgiving holiday season 2014.

In Dreams, I See You

Does your bed have any folds?

Does your mattress have any creases?

Are there any zippers nearby where you sleep?

Do you ever lay down next to any cracks, crevices, or folds of any kind whatsoever?

Bed bugs.

Bed bugs.

Beating their little drums, marching toward you with their little feet, only looking for blood.  Your blood.

Why do they like folds so much?  Why are they attracted to creases?

The same reason why you and I and fifteen other people squeeze under an overhang on a rainy day: shelter.

Every now and then you should inspect your bed room and say: are there any potential bed bug shelters in here?  Am I inviting bed bugs by having a bed set that is full of cracks, crevices, folds, creases, and such?  Was it really smart to furnish my bedroom with wicker?

Mattress encasements are a good way to reduce the number of potential bed bug harborages your bed has.  Also, monitoring and periodic inspections will help reduce the likelihood of an occasional intruder turning into a mega-infestation.

Interestingly, while you're squeezing next to that person under the overhang or on the public transportation, be aware of the potential for bed bug transference.

Ew York City will be dreaming of you tomorrow.

What's the occasion?

Here's one of our "occasional invaders," in this case a centipede.  This guy was about an inch long.  If you do some research you'll see just how big some species can get. Fortunately, those species are not so common in NYC yet.

In this instance it happened to invade a women's bathroom in a restaurant, and that, of course, is unacceptable.

For the most part these guys won't bother you much.  They prefer cool, dark, damp places, and are probably content to stay in the basement or outside under some trash or clutter or decaying something or other.

If you are seeing them on the main floor a lot, it probably means there's something going on down below, so take some time and check it out.

Also, if a centipede is ever chasing you, you can slow it down by inviting it to play This Little Piggy.

Ew York City will be back on Monday.  Stampede style.

Prime Grime

Trapped.  That's what happens to all your grease in your kitchen.  But is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, obviously it's good, but it's bad because it's so good for pests.  Did you "catch" that?

Ok sorry.

Anyway, clean your grease trap.  Clean it more often than you do now.  Have it serviced as often as possible.  And have your pest management team treat it every single time they come in.

Otherwise you'll be trapped in a world of pest insanity.

Ew York City will be back

Somebody making soup?

Nothing wrong with soup, especially in these chilly months.

But don't leave it sit out over night.  It might end up with some extra ingredients.

Ew York City will be getting steamy tomorrow.

Let's Get Exponential!!!

We actually find this a lot.

Here is a German roach, female, pregnant, 5'9'', 125 pounds, strawberry blond hair, enjoys long walks by the kitchen appliances.

Anyway, she wandered onto a glue monitor, got caught, dropped her egg sac (ootheca is the term, it's that long brown thing almost the size of the roach) and out came thirty something roach nymphs hungry, ready to start life, but unfortunately they got stuck too.

This is a good reminder to us why German cockroaches are masters of their domain:  there are so many of them, some are bound to survive.

Notice how close to the edge some of the babies are.  Is it possible one got off and lived to fight another day?  Absolutely.

So when it comes to German cockroaches, crunch all you want, they'll make more.

Ew York City will be adding to your life tomorrow.

Keep Your Head Down

Have a great weekend from your friends at EW YORK CITY!!!

What's Under Your Fridge, Number Two

I'm not going to have a chance to post tomorrow since I'll be at a conference all day, so I thought I would give you two for one today.  That's nearly unheard of in today's economy!

So what are we looking at?  Well this is also what lurks under your fridge, except that instead of dozens and dozens of water bugs under a residential fridge, here we have a restaurant walk in fridge with pounds and pounds of, well, whatever this is.  There's a clearer picture below:

Needless to say, this restaurant was having a major fly infestation.

"But we clean and clean and clean."

"Did you ever dig under this walk in fridge?"

"Oh, we didn't know stuff went under there."

Not just stuff, my children, but years worth of decaying organic matter that smells like a sewer system in a fourth world country.

The restaurant staff was literally, by that I mean literally, standing around us with their jaws hanging open as we dug out this smut with our screw drivers.

Needless to say, the fly problem got a lot better by the very next day.

So what can we conclude about this?

1)  Even if you think you know, you do not know, until you do know.

2)  Admit that you need a fresh set of eyes every now and again to check your place out.  Teach your staff to clean using third eye vision, the mind's eye.  Learn that your problems aren't just the ones you can see.

3)  The earth is alive.  Water and organic matter are essential to life.  If you have water and organic matter in a kitchen, it's going to be full of living creatures, some that you can see, and some that you can't.  Are you okay with that?

Ew York City will be wrapping up a long week on Friday.  But Sunday's coming.

What's Under Your Fridge?

Someone called me and said, "I saw a roach crawl under my fridge."

A quick inspection with my flashlight on my hands and knees tipped me off that there was a "situation" under this man's large kitchen appliances.

So in preparation, I laid out a bunch of glue traps (about 25) and then I applied a flushing agent under the fridge.

All I had to do was sit back and watch the madness.

Dozens of the fastest, juiciest, and biggest American Cockroaches (Watah Bugs) come racing out from underneath the fridge.  Wow this was so exhilarating.   It was intense.

A couple things we learn from this:

1) Even if you think you know, you do not know, until you do know.

2)  Don't just jump in.  Make preparations.  Use some strategy.  If I would have just gone in hard under the fridge without any backup, these people would still be chasing water bugs around the house and finding them in baby's crib.

3)  We live in a beautiful and magical world, full of mystery and awe.  Will you embrace it?  Or will you catch it on a glue trap and throw it away?  Probably the latter.

Ew York City is crawling up your leg again soon.

It's a Cold Cruel World

I'm going to revisit this picture on a subsequent post, but I just want to get random here for una momenta.

1,2,3, "Random!"

The city has a policy that New Yorkers not feed pigeons.

Choosing not to feed something is called "starvation."

New York City's official policy is that we practice the starvation of pigeons.

Obviously, you can't feed pigeons without feeding other birds, so the policy is this: practice the starvation of birds in NYC.  When you see a dead pigeon on the street or sidewalk, it's very possible it died of starvation.  Starvation is a very painful way to die.

Why starve birds?  To fight rats.

So I say all that just to remind us of the reality.  It's not pretty.

And you're a New Yorker.

And an Ew Yorker.

See you tomorrow.

Don't Ask Alice

Every now and then I get creeped out.

Look at the size of these rat burrows (those are my two fingers on the left, I'm wearing gloves.)  Large is the appropriate word, either to describe the number of rats (plural) that are using this burrow, or the size of the rat (singular) that is using it.

In either case, I could fit my whole arm down this thing, but I'm not sure I'd get it back if I did.

However, the size of the rats is not the issue, nor is the precise number of their population in NYC.

The issue is that they prefer to live close to human beings.  They wouldn't be content to have their own island paradise away from us.  They like being near enough to people so that they can take advantage of all of the great garbage we produce.

So in these pictures, just a few feet away from these bushes are some stroller moms, out for a picnic with baby.  And baby is eating animal crackers.  And the crackers smell so good.  And so does baby's face.

Ew York City will be back the day after today.

Frying Friday

Anybody see where our frying pan went?

Oh, it's under the stove sitting in a pile of rotting food and pest conducive conditions.

Oh... Well what about the rice cooker?

Have a nice Friday from Ew York City.

'Cuz I'm Gappy!

Sometimes I think the rats pay off the contractors, something like, "Hey, here's some cash to make sure the doors you install have plenty of gap room underneath.  We just need an inch.  Take care of this for us."

This is actually the front door to restaurant downtown.  How in the world are we supposed to keep rodents and hobbit children out of your establishment?

Fortunately after much blood, sweat, and screws, we were able to get door sweeps attached to these doors which have done much to help.  But ain't nothing like the real thing baby, and if the original doors had been installed more strategically, well that'd be just peachy.  Peachier.

Ew York City is crawling under your door tomorrow.  Crush us.

Jimmy Jam Pipe Collective

I may sound like a broken mP3 file, but these pipes are just totally insane.

This a perfect design to capture food debris and garbage.

The only way to solve these sort of situations is to have regularly scheduled deep cleanings.

My dad used to say, "Only brush the teeth you want to keep."

You've got to have your team get back in here, face down in the muck, and pick out this garbage and clean out this smut!

Otherwise, the flies the flies the flies the roaches and the flies.

I'm serious.

Ew York City will be crawling through your area code soon.

Drain me

Yes, this is a nasty picture.  But it's your drain.

"Really?  That's a drain in my restaurant?  I don't believe you."

Well how would you know if you never get down and check it out?

"(Humble silence.  Deep soul searching.  Remorse and repentance.)"

And that, boys and girls, is today's episode of Ew York City.

We'll be back.