Sarah Mills: There are always things for which we should be grateful
Sarah Mills says that even in tough times, we all have things we should be grateful for over the Thanksgiving weekend.
People in Saskatchewan should be careful not to bring any uninvited visitors home this Thanksgiving weekend, they could be hard to get to rid of.
Cockroaches are lurking in homes and businesses, hitch-hiking across Saskatchewan in second-hand items, backpacks, furniture, and appliances.
Read more:
- How to deal with wasps, plus the benefits of garter snakes in Sask.
- Maple bugs are harmless, but here’s how to get rid of the pests
- Saskatchewan home and cabin owners warned to seal out bats before winter
Shaun Sherwood at Poulin’s Pest Control says the critters reproduce rapidly, laying dozens of eggs every three weeks.
“The problem is you end up with the ability to find mutations which make the insect resistant to the products that we’re using on it now.”
Sherwood, who has been in the industry for more than four decades, said that his company takes several calls a day.
He recalls when pest control was inexpensive, but now clients spend $3,000 to $5,000 for multiple treatments.
“What we’re running into is, over the last 25 years a number of products that we had registered in Canada have gone away through deregulation. We’re in a situation now where we only have two really decent products to use against cockroaches.”
Sherwood says these products have either lost effectiveness or become harder to use over time.
He’s calling on the federal government to speed up approvals and remove barriers to other safe yet more effective products.
“We need PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency) to not take three to five years to do an approval. Most of these products that we’re looking to get have already been given EPA numbers down in the United States. We need the cost of the regulatory process to come down so that companies that are manufacturing these can be interested in bringing them up here,” Sherwood said.
“If you’re giving me five years to make my money back before I have to give my formula to anybody who wants to make it, I’m not interested in coming here.”
He’s urging Ottawa review its patent laws.
Prevention and treatment
Saskatoon-based entomologist Muhammad Zawar says second-hand items carrying cockroaches can infect homes.
He suggests inspecting goods like appliances and furniture outdoors, saying the cold exposure around -5 C can kill cockroaches at all stages.
“Whatever you are buying, put it in the garbage bag outside on the deck. You can buy glue boards for just two, three dollars from Canadian Tire, Walmart, or Home Depot. You can put those in the bag, and any cockroach hiding in there will want to come out and get stuck on that glue board.”
Zawar says to locate and expose colonies behind dishwashers, stoves, fridges, cabinets and drywall gaps, and treat them directly, but total prevention is difficult.
Sherwood says people unknowingly carry roaches from place to place, which leads to callbacks and more infestations.
Read more:
