A QualityPro School Company makes all the difference..

Last week Craig Thomas Pest Control joined many other businesses at Middletown High School for Superintendents of Building & Grounds Staff Enrichment Day. This allows all the local Superintendents of Building & Grounds and custodial staff of Hudson Valley School Districts to gather at once. Classes are offered for the custodial staff along with other activities throughout the day. Local businesses, like us had booths providing insight into services we offer our local school districts.



Craig Thomas Pest Control takes pride providing local Hudson Valley School Districts with their pest control needs. CTPC was the first company to become QualityPro Schools in the Hudson Valley. Becoming a QualityPro School Certified Company means that Craig Thomas Pest Control has taken extraordinary steps to ensure that schools can rely on us. In addition to fulfilling the thorough and in-depth QualityPro requirements, Craig Thomas Pest Control has trained all of its schools service associates and salespeople on specific school IPM techniques above and beyond any state requirements. Taking these steps clearly demonstrates that Craig Thomas Pest Control cares about protecting children in the school environment. By achieving QualityPro School certification we have met qualifications built around five key principles: Business Operations, Consumer Relations, Environmental Stewardship, Technician Training, and School Integrated Pest Management. These qualifications include employing only highly trained, credentialed employees; offering a clear, easy-to-understand warranty and termite service agreement; maintaining a drug-free workplace; advertising truthfully and ethically; and maintaining an up-to-date insurance policy.

Craig Thomas Pest Control in the New Paltz Memorial Day Parade

A little late, but a few of the Craig Thomas vehicles were lucky enough to join New Paltz celebrate Memorial Day in the annual parade down Main Street. Craig's daughters Sarah and Megan are in the following pictures!

Remember: "Let the Thomas family protect your family, like only the Thomas family can."

Homeowners Rank Bug Infestation Third-Worst Threat

Great article! Americans are truly afraid of insects and should not try to treat problems themselves. It is best to leave pest problems to a professional.


Survey Shows Americans Fear Only Fire and Natural Disasters More Than Bug Infestations

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Americans fear bugs – big time. In fact, bug infestations rank just behind fires and natural disasters as one of the most dreaded threats to people’s homes, according to a recent national survey.

There’s good reason to fear these tiny forces of nature: Ninety-five percent of homeowners who responded to the survey said they’ve been the victim of a bug infestation.

And just one of those pests alone – the termite – strikes five times as many U.S. homes as fire and wreaks an estimated $5 billion in property damage every year. That’s more than the combined cost of destruction from tornadoes, hurricanes and windstorms.

Not surprisingly, the termite is America’s most feared insect foe, according to the survey, conducted for BASF Pest Control Solutions. As one third of all respondents said they would be afraid if termites came into their home, the termite is clearly seen as insect enemy No.1, followed by bed bugs (28 percent), bees and wasps (27 percent) and cockroaches (27 percent).

Three major fear factors drive the disgust for bugs: People are afraid they’ll be bitten, that their property will be damaged or that their food will be contaminated. These concerns and others compelled respondents to rank bug infestations as a greater threat than rodents or even floods.

“Insects attack silently, sometimes almost invisibly, which adds to people’s concern,” said Dr. Bob Davis, Chief Entomologist at BASF. “Unfortunately, by the time people realize they have a problem, the damage may already be done.”

When it comes to battling bugs, about half the respondents (58 percent) said they try to treat the problem themselves. But a majority (55 percent) admitted the do-it-yourself approach doesn’t always solve the problem.

“Homeowners who try to fix the problem themselves often end up with failure and frustration,” Davis said. “That’s because most people don’t know exactly what pest they are dealing with and how best to fight it. In fact, the most technologically advanced materials are not available to the general public.”

Licensed pest management professionals have access to these modern insect-fighting agents and are trained to handle them. Proper treatment also usually requires specific tools and techniques for inspection and application of the materials.

Some people seek professional help sooner than others, the survey showed.

About a third of respondents said calling a professional is the best way to deal with a bug infestation. That number grows considerably once self-treatment fails to solve the problem. More than 75 percent of homeowners in the survey said they turn to pest control professionals when the do-it-yourself approach fails.

Many insect problems can be prevented before they start, including infestations of America’s No. 1 pest enemy, termites. For more information about identifying termites, bug infestations or preventing and eradicating insects, consumers should visit termiteinstitute.com, antinstitute.com or saveastud.com

About the Survey

The survey was conducted among 717 homeowners identified in a national probability sample of 1002 adults 18 years of age and older living in private households in the continental United States. Interviews for this survey were conducted by Opinion Research Corporation from April 30 to May 3, 2009. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

About the Crop Protection division

With sales of € 3.4 billion in 2008, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the web at www.agro.basf.com.

BASF - The Chemical Company. We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.®

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 15,000 employees in North America, and had sales of approximately $17.5 billion in 2008. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, or to sign up to receive news releases by e-mail, visit www.basf.com/usa.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals, as well as oil and gas. As a reliable partner, BASF helps its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges, such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has approximately 97,000 employees and posted sales of more than €62 billion in 2008. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

© 2009 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved.

For the actual article: http://tiny.cc/uu6eg

Beware of Ticks

Great article from a newspaper in Virgina about ticks. Take a look:

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/mobile/local_wavy_ticks_20090612


Craig Thomas Pest Control protects your health, home and property against pests, like ticks. Don't give ticks the opportunity - Call Craig!

Reduce Mosquitoes

Every summer there are new horror stories about mosquito-borne illnesses such as
equine encephalitis, malaria and West Nile virus. But there are steps you can take to help keep mosquitoes at bay near your home this summer. Mosquitoes require an Aquatic habitat for the egg, larval and pupal forms of their development to occur. By simply removing water resources in which mosquitoes may develop, you can help make your yard and neighborhood mosquito-free.

Here are 15 ways to help keep mosquitoes away from your home:
1. Don’t overwater your yard and garden. Standing water becomes a source for mosquito eggs to be deposited and to develop.
2. Empty bird baths at least once a week and replenish water.
3. Remove standing water from potted plant saucers.
4. Change pet dish water once a week.
5. Change water in kiddie pools or fountains at least once a week.
6. Make sure trash can lids are on cans and not turned over to serve as water reservoirs.
7. Clean gutters on house and make sure water is flowing properly away from home.
8. Fill in mud puddles.
9. Grade land so water moves away from the house and yard.
10. Check tree holes and stumps in yard for standing water.
11. Make sure tire swings and any old tires are emptied of standing water in the yard.
12. Rain barrels for catching rainwater should be screened at the surface to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.
13. Cover all trash and recycle receptacles with tight-fitting lids to prevent water inside.
14. Add bubblers or fountains to small decorative lakes or fish ponds to keep the water
surface constantly rippling so that mosquito larvae are drowned at the surface.
15. Keep swimming pools drained or covered during off months, and treated properly during the summer season.

If your outdoor activities still being invaded by unwanted guests, Call Craig. We offer green treatments to help reduce the amount of pests, while protecting your health, home and property.


Article featured in our Summer 2009 Pest Gazette

Great Article from USA Today

Your Health: Bug control goes beyond the spray can

When a bunch of pesky flies got into insect expert Art Antonelli's house, he did not reach for a can of insecticide. Instead, he got out a fly swatter — and his shoes, which he used to walk outside his home to look for the source of the sudden fly infestation.

He found it, under his house: "I had a dead rat and a dead possum," say Antonelli, an entomologist at Washington State University's extension center in Puyallup. He called a pest control company to remove the dead animals and then closed up openings that were allowing critters into the crawl space.


CHEMICALS: Skip commercial cleaners for those made from pantry products
His fly problem was solved and the use of a pesticide was averted — something that experts say still happens too infrequently, even among health-conscious, organic-food-buying, environmentally aware consumers. "When there are insects in their homes, there are some purists, but not many," Antonelli says.

"The biggest abusers of pesticides are consumers," says Dini Miller, an urban pest management specialist at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg. "They see an insect in the bathroom, and most people will want to empty half a can of Raid until the last leg stops moving."

Carolyn Randall, a pesticide safety educator at Michigan State University in East Lansing, agrees: "People tend to panic when they see one ant or one earwig," she says. "They reach for chemicals too quickly or call a pest control company too quickly."

Pesticides for home use are carefully reviewed for safety by the Environmental Protection Agency and are not highly toxic to humans, Miller says. "But you never want to use more than you need."

Antonelli says: "If you follow the label absolutely, you can have peace of mind. ... But the label has no eyeballs. It can't see if you point the nozzle the wrong way and spray it in your face." And it can't observe, as Antonelli once did, a woman running through her house spraying multiple doses of insecticide at a single airborne fly.

Here's how to keep your own home (relatively) insect-free without dousing it with chemicals:

•Keep outdoor insects under control. This does not mean bombing your yard with pesticides or getting one of those bug zappers (they kill lots of beneficial insects, Antonelli says). Instead, limit outdoor breeding grounds, Miller advises. Insects love wood piles, tarps, kiddie pools (especially the moist underside) and mulch. If you must use mulch, keep the stuff at least six inches from your foundation, she says.

•Keep outside insects out. Repair screens, caulk cracks, replace inadequate weather stripping and outfit door bottoms with tight rubber sweeps. If you can, Miller says, avoid lighting up doorways at night: That attracts insects, which attract spiders, which are then happy to come inside.

•When an insect gets in, don't panic. Most are harmless: They don't bite or carry diseases, Miller says. And most are easy to kill. Miller endorses stomping, vacuuming and, for those kitchen counter ants, spraying with soap and water.

•Trace the enemy to its source. Those ants on your counter top may come from a nest in a rotted porch column; fix that and lose the ants.

•When you do use pesticides, choose carefully. Read labels to make sure the product is intended for indoor use and the pest in question. You may need to try more than one. For example, ants may ignore one bait but find another irresistible.

•Know that some problems require professional help. Those include bedbugs, termites and, in most cases, cockroaches (which are a major cause of allergy and asthma symptoms), Miller says. Contact your state's cooperative extension service for more information. (Find one at csrees.usda.gov/Extension.)

Sometimes, it is best to leave bug problems up to the professionals. If a pest control problems becomes too much to handle, call the speedy, professional, green team at Craig Thomas Pest Control for all your pest control needs. Visit our website at www.callcraig.com or call 800.255.6777 for a free estimate and inspection.

Article from:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2009-05-10-bug-spray_N.htm#uslPageReturn

Hudson Valley Green Fair Success

April 25-26, 2009 the Hudson Valley Green Fair was held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. This is the first year Craig Thomas Pest Control participated in the second annual event. The Fair was designed to help everyone learn how to “go green” and be environmentally friendly.

Craig Thomas Pest Control takes pride in offering environmentally sounds services and natural products to combat your pest control problems. CTPC may implement steam cleaning, exclusion, baiting, heppa filter vacuums and when necessary our organic line of products, called EcoSmart. For more information on these products: www.ecosmart.com. CTPC takes pride protecting your health, homes and property against pest.

Thank you for everyone who came to the Green Fair (I know it was hot) and stopped by our booth. Below is a picture of our booth at the fair and me (Sarah).