Low Toxic Materials

Green pest management practices include using low toxic materials.  There have been recent advances in chemistry that have yielded materials with extremely low toxicity to pets and humans.

Some of these materials are called IGRs which stand for Insect Growth Regulators.  These IGRs are usually specific to a certain pest's biology.  The IGRs help control insects only by affecting how they reproduce or prevents the insects from moving onto the next stage in their life cycle.  Therefore, population of pests are reduced over a period of time.

One of the products we use works by disrupting the neurotransmitter function of targeted insects.  A multi-functional chemical known as octopamine handles many of these functions.  Because birds, fish, dogs and humans don’t have octopamine receptors, we are not affected by this unique process. 

Baiting is another product that has a low toxicity.  The bait can be put into places that minimize exposure due to being able to put it into cracks and crevices or directly where the pests are located.  It is especially good with ants.  The ants will go after the bait and then bring it back to the queen.  Once a queen is killed the rest of the colony will eventually die off. 

The pest control products we use for ants include fipronil which is the active ingredient found in the leading flea medication applied to pets.  Another ingredient, imidacloprid, is a synthetic nicotine derivative with lower toxicity than nicotine itself.  The Environmental Health Coalition found no reports of adverse health effects to humans or pets from imidacloprid products.