Microbee Group Companies
Pest Control Services
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Microbee Group Companies Pest Control Services
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What can we do for you? ....................Four steps to solving your problem:
You phone & we give you a price and book an appointment time convenient with you.
If you need to do anything special by way of preparation, we'll let you know.
The technician arrives, checks out the problem, carries out an appropriate treatment, writes a report for you and leaves.
if a follow-up visit is included in the price, we'll phone you when its due and book it with you.
More detailed information about what we do and the pests we're dealing with is given below
I have an insect problem and would like your help!
I am uncertain what type of insect pest I have and wish to use your free pest ID service
Click one of the following for more information:
Black Ants Pharaoh's Ants Bedbugs Bumble Bees Honey Bees Solitary Bees Beetles Cockroaches Flies Wasps
 Black
Ant
(Lasius niger)These ants are normally found in gardens. They have a single queen and hundreds of thousands of workers. They normally live in the ground, frequently under rocks or flagstones; it is unfortunate for them that patios and paths, nicely bedded on a sandy bed, form an ideal nest site. In the garden, ants search for flower nectar and honeydew. They often "milk" aphids for honeydew and are very attracted to sweet smelling foods. They will often penetrate under the house directly. Ants frequently build nests in the foundation layer and from there penetrate up into the house itself through the cracks will appear in the cement. When they get into the house, it is apparent that they are particularly attracted to sweet things such as jam and sugar. As soon as one ant finds something to eat, it communicates its discovery to other ants near by and very soon there are many ants at the food source. Any food scraps left lying around will become a target for them and once attracted into the house, they can be very hard to stop. Life cycle From early June onwards, fertile males and queens form mating swarms. This usually happens on a hot still day often in late afternoon. All of the nests in an area will throw a swarm at the same time and the air will be full of flying ants. Males and queens will mate mid-air. Shortly after mating the males will die and the queens will forage for a new nesting site. Only a few queens survive long enough to start new colonies. When a new nest is started, the queen will rear the first brood from the eggs which were fertilised mid-air the previous season. She will rear the larvae on saliva until they are ready to pupate; these then become the first batch of worker ants. The colony will grow rapidly, as the queen lays more eggs. The worker ants tend to the larvae, collecting food to feed them and the queen. Why are they such a problem? They are mainly a nuisance species. Large aggregations of ants are unsightly and may damage foods intended for human consumption, carrying bacteria from soil on their feet. In gardens, their excavations around plant roots may cause excessive dryness of the soil. They may also cultivate greenfly, which are also pests, in order to obtain the honeydew secretions that they produce. Flying swarms of mating ants may cause great distress to people who do not know what they are. I have a Black Ant problem and would like your help! Return to Home Page Return to top of page
Pharaoh's AntsThese ants were once mistakenly thought to be one of the plagues of ancient Egypt mentioned in the Bible. This is the reason why they were named "Pharaoh's ants". They are of African origin and have spread around the world along trade routes. They were first noted in Britain in 1828. They prefer buildings with permanent heating and are a serious pest of hospitals and blocks of flats. They like foods with high protein or carbohydrate content and can be observed feeding on dandruff, dog food or cake. They are so small that they can climb up the spiral threads of jar lids and get past poor seals. They also need regular supplies of water and are often first noticed in sinks and toilets where a trail of them can be seen following each others footsteps. Life cycle The workers are extremely small and of a reddish colour. They provide food for the colony and maintain the nests. The queens are slightly larger and there can be several queens in a colony. The colonies can "bud" or split so that some queens and workers can leave and set up a new colony. The workers can raise new queens from brood in a similar way to honeybees. These "bud" colonies are sometimes quite small and they could easily nest in a Biro tube or a pot plant. The colonies move from place to place depending on food supply and carry their brood with them. There can be hundreds of colonies in a building and localised treatments have only a very short-term effect since new colonies soon move in. Why are they such a problem? They carry a number of pathogenic bacteria and these can be left in foodstuffs and on utensils where they can cause food poisoning and other infections. I have an Ant problem, It could be Pharaoh Ants and would like your help! Return to Home Page Return to top of page
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There are many different species of beetle that may cause problems in your property. Common pest species include grain weevils, grain beetles, flour beetles and biscuit beetles which are all pests of stored food products. These tend to be transferred in packaging from infested warehouses; once established they can breed rapidly to produce a serious infestation. They are often found within cracks and crevices within a store and can survive over the winter easily enough, ready to emerge in the spring to cause real damage to your foodstuffs. Carpet beetles are a pest of fabrics and may infest a building from neighbouring properties or by being transported in rugs or carpets imported into the building. Wood dwelling beetles, such as wharf borers and wood-boring weevils, may have been living deep inside rotting wood for years before their presence is noticed. Old furniture introduced into a building may be carrying a source of these beetles, which may then spread to other damp or rotting wood within the property. Life cycle Most beetles follow the typical pattern of egg → larva → pupa → adult, with the length and lifestyle of each stage dependent on the type of species. Adult beetles often prefer to lay their eggs in materials which will provide an easy source of food for the larvae once they hatch e.g. grains, cereals, rotting wood, wool, hair, feathers all contain protein sources for the larvae to use for growth and development. Why are they such a problem? Stored food product pest species, such as grain weevils, grain beetles and flour beetles, cause damage to foodstuff by eating it and may contaminate it with excreta, which may contain disease-causing pathogens. Some, such as wood-boring weevils and wharf borers, cause considerable damage to furniture and wood structures within the building. Carpet beetles can cause damage to carpets, upholstery and other fabrics. I have a Beetle problem and would like your help! Return to Home Page Return to top of page
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The Biology of Honey Bees Honeybees have three distinct castes or types. The Queen is the only fertile female in the colony. She has no pollen baskets on her rear pair of legs and her mouthparts are more rudimentary than those of the workers. Her main function is to provide the colony with a constant supply of new bees. The Workers are all female. Their bodies are modified to carry out the different jobs which they will do throughout the course of their lives. They have a tongue like a floor-mop to suck up nectar with, combs on their legs to get pollen out of their fur and baskets on their hind legs to carry it in. They also have plates under the abdomen which produce wax and a sting in the tail to defend the colony with. The Drones are the male bees and they are produced solely for the possibility of mating with a queen. They are only produced in the spring and early summer. The bee starts off life as an egg laid by the queen in the bottom of a cell. After a few days it hatches into a small grub. The worker bees feed it with royal jelly produced by glands in their heads. It gains weight rapidly and after a few days its diet is reduced to include some honey. When it is ready to pupate it stretches itself along the cell which the workers cap with a slight dome of wax. During the pupation process the adult shape forms and when it is ready it chews through the cap and emerges onto the surface of the comb. For a while it feeds and rests and then it starts to clean cells. For the next few days it patrols around, rests, feeds and cleans cells. By the third day it has started to help cap cells and on the fourth day it will also tend brood and eat pollen. Until the tenth day it will spend a lot of time capping cells, building comb and tending brood but most of its time will be spent resting or patrolling. Gradually it spends less time tending and capping and starts to go out for short orientation flights. Then it starts to follow the dances of foragers and to go out and forage for nectar and pollen itself. Finally after a short six-week life in the summer, it dies of old age or exhaustion. If it dies within the hive another worker will drag its body out and carry it away a short distance. Colonies reproduce by swarming. When they decide to swarm, the workers produce queen cells for the old queen to lay in. Some days before they are due to hatch a large number of the workers stop what they are doing and fly around the hive in circles in a column about thirty feet high. The queen flies out to join them and the whole swirling mass moves slowly away. They settle on a tree and form a cluster the size of a football. From here scouts are sent out to look for a suitable new nest cavity. Dozens of potential holes will be looked at and returning scouts will dance recruiting dances on the cluster to encourage other bees to come and look at the cavity they have found. Eventually when a consensus is reached the whole swarm moves off to take up residence. The workers produce wax and a new set of combs is made. Once the cells are ready, the queen starts to lay again and the new colony establishes its self. Return to Home Page Return to top of page
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Solitary BeesThese are species of Bees which live alone. The most commonly known are Leafcutter, Mining and Masonry Bees. The lifecycle of all solitary bees is very similar and is roughly as follows: In the spring, the males hatch first and hang around nearby sometimes feeding on nectar or pollen. A few days later the females hatch and quickly mate with a nearby male. The male dies and the female goes on to dig a tunnel, provision it with balls of pollen and nectar and lays an egg on each ball. The Leafcutter lines its nest chambers with leaves and they are often responsible for the semi-circular bits missing from rose leaves. Mining bees select a dry and well drained area of soil and partition their nest chambers with mud walls. After a few weeks the females die and then the whole cycle repeats the next year. Mining bees and masonry bees are similar in size to honey bees and many people mistake their nest sites for swarms of honeybees in walls or in the ground. Honeybees never nest in the ground and if they do nest in a wall, they will only use one or two entrances not dozens. There is little evidence that masonry bees cause long term damage to walls although their presence is often used as an excuse for re-pointing being needed. The use of fleeces for soil warming traps, mining bees in their fibres and they should not be used were groups of mining bees are known to live. Solitary bees are either incapable of or very unlikely to
sting humans. The reason is that if they sting you; they will probably die
themselves and thus loose the chance to reproduce. A Honey-bee on the other hand
is one of tens of thousands on non-breeding worker sisters in a hive and she can
afford to sacrifice her life to defend her colony and indirectly her
genes. The information on this page is deliberately simplified to try and give a clearer general overview. Return to Home Page Return to top of page
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There are many different species of fly that may cause problems in your property. Common pest species include fruit flies, cluster flies, common and lesser house flies. Fruit flies are usually found near decaying and fermenting food sources. Cluster flies are associated with soil and damp leaf litter, usually living outdoors and only entering buildings in autumn when the temperature drops. Houseflies are usually associated with food sources, often rotting, and/or manure; they may be active indoors throughout the year, especially in warm houses. Life cycle Adult flies prefer to lay their eggs in moist, putrefying material which will provide an easy source of food for the larvae once they hatch. Most flies follow the typical pattern of egg → larva → pupa → adult, with the length and lifestyle of each stage dependent on the type of species. Why are they such a problem? Again, this depends on the type of fly involved and their habits. Some species, such as cluster flies, are merely unsightly and do not pose a significant threat to health. However, some types, such as house flies, carry diseases (for example dysentery, gastroenteritis and tuberculosis) since they constantly move between food and refuse/manure, carrying pathogens with them on their feet. I have a Fly problem and would like your help! Return to Home Page Return to top of page
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