Maywood: A Borough Born Along the Railways

Meteor Survivors Turned New Jersey Thrivers

Like many towns in New Jersey, Maywood is attractive to a wide variety of pests, with some preferring residential homes and others attracted to the mayhem (and munchies) of businesses. 

Rats are a common infestation and a study in dichotomy; they’re a nuisance but also fascinating creatures (having one as a pet is quite different than housing one as a pest). They laugh at ultrasonic pitches when tickled and use their whiskers to detect airflow, allowing them to feel objects without physically making contact. This fits with the rodent’s personality, as rats are naturally afraid of new things (which makes them hard to trap). Rats are also afraid of loud noises (like hammering), predators (cats, dogs, hawks, and snakes), strobe and bright lights, and things with strange textures they can’t grip (like slippery floors, aluminum, and mesh wiring). While perhaps not scared of odors, they detest certain smells, including vinegar, chili powder, peppermint, and garlic (even though vampire rats only exist in comic lore).

Cockroaches aren’t as appealing as rats; while someone somewhere probably keeps roaches as pets, it’s not a common practice. They can be just as fascinating, however, largely due to their extraordinary ability to survive nearly anything. Although it’s a myth that they’d survive a nuclear war, they did survive the meteor that took out the dinosaurs. They’re not alone in this: A variety of insects survived this earth-shattering event, as did deep-water fish, amphibians, small mammals, rodents, and reptiles (small omnivores that lived in burrows or underwater were most likely to survive). Some dinosaurs also survived, technically speaking, since birds (avian dinosaurs) persisted.

Ticks were also alive and kicking back then (fossil evidence suggests that ticks fed on dinosaurs, perhaps double-dog-daring each other to feed on the tiny arms of Tyrannosaurus rex). Nowadays, ticks are fond of feeding on people; their saliva contains anesthetics, so their bites often go undetected. Their bites won’t trigger the immune system, either; they don’t produce a swollen, red, or itchy bite that alerts you to the presence of a tick. Instead, they bite subtly, allowing them to get comfy and enjoy a bloody buffet in peace and quiet.  

Termites are ancient creatures, too, dating back hundreds of millions of years. Long before they had your Maywood door frames, subfloors, and rafters to feast on, they ate dead or decaying wood from trees, leaf litter, and fungi. While they’re known for these wood-eating habits, they’re really after cellulose, the main component in wood. When humans eat cellulose, it goes through us as fiber; it helps digestion but doesn’t provide energy. Termites, on the other hand, have symbiotic microbes in their guts that break cellulose down into simple sugars, providing energy these hard workers can use.

Pests might have outsmarted the meteor, but they won’t outsmart us! With years of experience, innovative techniques, and expertise on over two dozen New Jersey species, we tackle infestations of all shapes and sizes.