Addison's 3-in-1

Pillbug Extermination in Toronto

You want…

• To quickly eliminate a pill bug infestation, stop the invasion of this unsightly nuisance in your garden and basement…

• An affordable, professional, honest and warrantied exterminator...

• An environmentally conscious treatment that is safe for the whole family, including your pets…

Here’s what to expect:

• Answers to all of your questions

• A no-obligation quote over the phone in seconds

• Flexible scheduling with 24/7 same-day service throughout the GTA.

• No hidden service fees or follow up costs.

Addison has...

• Decades of experience

• A trusted track record

• All-inclusive warranty

• Comprehensive customer service

• Rigorously trained technicians

• Tried and tested extermination methods

• The safest, most effective insecticides

Key Facts About Pill Bugs

• There are 12 different species of pill bugs in North America

• Part of the crustacean family that includes lobsters and crabs

• Originally aquatic creatures that have adapted to live on dry land

• Require high levels of moisture and humidity to survive

• Burrow under soil or find shelter underneath logs, stones, firewood, planters or mulch around the garden

• Beneficial decomposer species that recycle organic matter into topsoil

• Most active at night time

• Cluster together to prevent water loss

• Not commonly a pest problem, however they can be an unsightly nuissance and may cause problems for garden plants and food crops

Step 1: Pill Bug Heat Treatment

Category:

• Physical

Equipment:

• Handheld heat treatment gun.

Method:

• Direct heat applied locally to areas of pill bug concentration.

Strengths:

• Heat Kills pill bug eggs

• No damage to furniture or home

• Instantly kills all bugs and eggs treated.

• Avoids pesticide resistance.

Weakness

• No residual protection.

• Only kills the bugs and eggs that are visible and accessible to technicians.

• Not sufficient without other complementary bed bug extermination techniques.

Step 2: Pill Bug Powder Treatment

Category:

• Physical + Chemical

Equipment:

• Power duster

Method:

• A fine silica dust insecticide is injected into all crevices and wall cavities through electrical sockets and gaps underneath baseboards.

• Electrical items, such as a power bars, at risk of infestation are also treated.

Strengths:

• Cuts up and dries out the pill bug abdomen

• Because of their need for high moisture levels, pill bugs are vulnerable to desiccation

• Coats the insides of the wall cavities to create a protective powder barrier around your home

• Fully approved by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, safe and non-toxic for humans and animals of all shapes and sizes.

Weakness

• Only suitable for crack and crevice treatment.

Step 3: Pill Bug Spray Treatment

Category:

• Chemical + Residual

Equipment:

• Precision surface sprayer

Method:

• A fine mist of residual spray is applied to areas of pill bug concentration, floors and baseboards, basements door jambs, vents and drains.

Strengths:

• Kills pill bugs on contact and remains active as a protective surface treatment to continue to kill pill bugs as they come out of hiding.

• Keeps your home and furniture protected for up to 6 months

• Fully approved by Ontario Ministry of Environment, safe and non-toxic for humans and animals of all shapes and sizes.

Weakness

•  If used improperly, may promote pesticide resistance

Beware of Discount Pest Control

Low quality or low concentration surface sprays don’t work

• Many budget companies use watered down insecticides with only 10 to 14 days of protection.

• The tip off is when they offer to do a “follow-up spray” two weeks after the first treatment.

• While this may seem extra thorough, pill bugs can remain hidden in a moist damp sheltered area for several weeks

• By this time the budget treatment will have long worn off and the new population of pill bugs will be free to re-infest your home.

• These budget services can breed pesticide resistance in the bugs in your home, making future treatments increasingly challenging.

If you suspect you have a pill bug infestation clear and complete information is the first step to getting rid of them. Here are a few facts, myths, and tips that will help you to make a well informed decision about what to do next.

How to Identity Pillbugs

Pill bugs are a familiar sight in gardens and basements around the GTA. If you lift a stone or log in the garden you are likely to see clusters of pill bugs that have burrowed beneath the soil.

What do pillbugs look like?

• 12-14 mm

• Shiny grey to black, some red or mottled forms are possible

• Pale transluscent streaks

• Dorsoventrally flattened, oblong body

• Angled antennae

• 7 main overlapping armoured plates

• 6 smaller segments at the back of their body which carry many of their functional organs for respiration, reproduction, excretion

• Roll into compact ball when they are disturbed

• Distinct from woodlice or sow bugs in their ability to roll into a ball

Pillbug Life Cycle and Reproduction

• Breeding season from May to September

• Males have an elongated rear pleopod for fertilization

• Eggs are laid inside a brood pouch on the underside of the female

• Newly hatched young survive in pouch for a few hours before emerging

• Broods can range from as few as 5 eggs in colder climates to as many as 156 eggs in warmer temperatures

• First stage offspring are white with six pairs of legs

• After 24 hours develop into second stage

• Third stage occurs at 14-18 days develop an additional pair of legs

• Once females have reached a length of about 7mm they begin reproducing

• Adults live for 2 years

• Females produce 1-3 generations per year

Pillbug Foraging Habits

• Require high levels of moisture

• Valuable decomposer species

• Only considered pests when their numbers escalate in an agricultural area

• Feed primarily on live and decaying plant material

  • Dead material: leaves, wood fibres, grass clippings

  • Live matter: leaves, stems, shoots, roots, tubers, fruits

  • Crops: strawberry, spinach, cucumber, beet, potato

  • Garden plants: hosta, pansies, primrose, daisy, verbena

• Feed after dark when humidity is higher and light is low

• May venture long distances during the night time

• Rarely found very far from buildings

• Some species of pill bug may feed on decomposing animal matter

How do I know if I have a pillbug infestation?

If you see a single pillbug in your home or garden, it does not mean that you have a full blown infestation throughout your home.

If you begin to see large clusters of pill bugs inside your home, it may be time to consider a professional pest control program.

Pill bugs are normally only considered a pest in agricultural settings or when they start to find their way indoors in large numbers.

Where to Look for a Pillbug Infestation

• Search any dark, damp, cool and sheltered place in the garden or basement

• In the basement:

  • around drains

  • around water pipes

  • under stairs

  • underneath boxes

  • behind washing machines

  • in corners of unfinished earth

• In the garden:

  • Inside piles of leaves

  • Inside piles of grass clippings

  • Under planters

  • Under firewood

  • Under bricks or stones on the soil

How did pill bugs get into my home?

• Get into homes mostly through cracks and insecurities in the foundation

• May be carried into the home on planters, firewood, in soil or on gardden furniture and tools

• Pill bugs avoid extreme heat and dryness as well as frost and freezing

• Make their way into basements to avoid weather conditions

• Cannot survive temperatures below -5ºC

What do pill bugs eat?

Pill bugs are a valuable decomposer species that break down organic matter to be further broken down by funghi into fertile soil.

Pill bugs do most of their foraging for food after dark when temperatures are lower and humidity is higher.

• Feed primarily on live and decaying plant material

  • Dead material: leaves, wood fibres, grass clippings

  • Live matter: leaves, stems, shoots, roots, tubers, fruits

  • Crops: strawberry, spinach, cucumber, beet, potato

  • Garden plants: hosta, pansies, primrose, daisy, verbena

• Some species of pill bug may feed on decomposing animal matter

How serious is a pillbug infestation?

Pill bugs are very rarely considered a pest that requires professional treatment.

Only in agricultural production facilities do these bugs have the opportunity to inflict levels of economic damage that would call for pest management.

Pill bugs normally cannot survive in residential homes for longer than a few days because of lower humidity levels indoors

• Serious agricultural pests if they begin to infest a greenhouse, farm or garden

• Productive decomposer species that recycle organic matter into soil

• Do not spread pathogens or bacteria to humans

• Do not bite or draw blood from humans

• Do not infest food preparation or food storage areas

• In a residential setting pill bug treatment should only be undertaken if basements are severely infested

How can Addison help prevent a pill bug infestation?

Since pill bugs are such a common pest in the GTA, being proactive is the key to ensuring an pill bug-free home and garden.

Give us a call today for more information or to schedule same-day pill bug removal in seconds.

Addison’s pill bug service includes a comprehensive earwig inspection and prevention plan:

• a 360º perimeter inspection of the interior and exterior of your home and garden

• identification of potentially vulnerable access points

• exclusion of the any entry points with spray foam and steel wool

• pheromone baited professional sticky traps to monitor pill bug activity

Can I prevent a pill bug infestation on my own?

• Very susceptible to drying out: If they are kept below 50% humidity they will die within a day

• Eliminate their congregation areas under floor boards, in tree holes and in any moist and dark enclave

• Elevate all items that are directly on the ground to prevent moisture from accumulating under objects

• Do not overwater your garden

• Eliminate moisture from basements with dehumidifiers

• Seal cracks and crevices in foundation

• Vacuuming all live bugs in and around your house

• eliminate piles of earth and debris that could offer shelter

• Inspect the home and garden to uncover their breeding places

• Remove piles of organic matter close to the home like leaves grass or food waste

• Seal all screens, eaves, weather stripping, dryer and exhaust vents

• Many commercially available traps available to monitor and reduce numbers of earwigs in the garden

How can Addison help eliminate a pill bug infestation?

• Our goal: remove an infestation as quickly as possible and keep your home pest free for good

• Combine three pest-control techniques applied on a single appointment on a single day

• Guarantee the effectiveness of the treatment to eradicate the infestation completely

• No pest control method is perfect

• With three-part treatment, each method compensates for the shortcomings of the other

• Yields quick and dependable results to eliminate pill bugs

• Every treatment accompanied by preventative and monitoring measures

• Ongoing protection against future infestations

• Prevention includes:

  • Thorough inspection

  • Entry point sealing

  • Identifying and eliminating feeding sources

  • Sticky traps and other monitoring techniques.

We’re proud of our 4.9/5 rating on Google! Here’s what one of our happy customers says about Addison Pest Control

I called Addison Pest Control on Saturday to inquire about the cost of spraying my shared basement apartment to get rid of house centipedes and pill bugs. The cost was well within our budget and the employee I spoke to over the phone was polite and informative answering my many questions, so I called back the next day to schedule for them to spray Monday afternoon.

There were some challenges on the end of myself, my roommates and my landlord all coordinating our schedules and other logistics, but Jesse and Ella were helpful and courteous throughout. I was very happy with the speed and quality of their work, and their communication made me feel confident in the process. Thanks!
Flora D.
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