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Dear Friends,

Here at Horizon, we are always trying to improve our service for you...but we need your help.

As you know, Angieslist.com awarded us for providing our clients with SUPER service in 2009. We are ecstatic about this, but know we can do even better! We want to hear more from you about how you think we can continue to improve our services. If you have a few minutes, please tell us your thoughts! We really appreciate your feedback and value your opinion.

If you are not a client of Horizon - perhaps you have some ideas on new services you'd like us to offer. Please share thoughts!

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Footprints in the Snow

Happy Wednesday everyone! We hope you are staying warm and cozy during this beautiful blizzard.

While we cozy up to our fireplaces inside, many animals would also like to do the same in our attics and garages. If you've recently heard some rattling around in your home and thought that maybe you have unwanted visitors - tomorrow will be the perfect time to check around for some tell tail signs that you have some 4 legged guests by looking for their tracks in the snow! Try and have a look before the sun has a chance to melt the snow so you can see a crisp footprint. You may or may not be able to identify the animal, but you will certainly be able to see where they are entering your house. When dealing with nuisance animals like raccoons and squirrels, the best course of action is to cut off access to your home by repairing the point of access. Not only will this solution prevent future break-ins, but it will also help keep your energy costs down.

Horizon can help with any nuisance animal issues you might have in your home or business. Remember, while they are very cute and cuddly from a distance, they are in fact wild animals. For your safety and the safety of the animals, call a professional for help.

Stay warm!

As small as a quarter or dime...that's all!

When it’s cold outside, like it is today, rodents will be looking for opportunities to get into buildings for food and warmth. Did you know that Rats can get into any building through an opening as small as a quarter, and mice only need a hole the size of a dime? Keep these coins in mind as you think about whether these pests could be putting your home or office at risk. Once inside, rodents will immediately start looking for something to eat and a place to nest nearby their food. Since they prefer areas that are dark and out of the way, cabinets, closets and storage areas are ‘hot spots’: They can have close access to food and not be bothered by us humans. Often times, months can go by before anyone even notices signs of them, such as droppings and gnaw marks!

Be sure there are no openings in your home or office that are bigger than a dime, if you want to have peace of mind from mice this winter. If there are, try to seal them up as soon as possible, so you have a rodent-proof home!

To Do-It-Yourself or call a Pro...

Hello friends and happy Monday to you...


How many of you like to "do-it-yourself?" It seems that more and more with everyone pinching pennies and the infinite amount of info that the World WILD Web provides us, we are more capable than EVER to do everything ourselves. Not only are there endless articles - but YouTube.com provides "how to" videos on pretty much anything you can think of...everything from applying false eyelashes to changing oil in your car. And it's all FREE. But when is it time to draw the do-it-yourself line and call a pro?


Well, we have some interesting news for you today on the do-it-yourself front. Recently a study was released about bed bugs...and we'd love to hear what you think about it. As you may or may not know, bed bugs are extremely costly and difficult to get rid of once they've decided to make your bed their home. They know no boundaries...and there are epidemics occurring all across the states...from New York, to Ohio, to Seattle. They have been found in the dingiest of hotels, 5 star hotels, college dorms, ritzy neighborhoods and beyond. The consensus has always been: if you think you have bed bugs, call a professional immediately - no exceptions. However, a recent study at Rutgers University has revealed a way for people to take care of their own bed bug problems without the help of a pro. They've developed a way to trap the little blood suckers - it costs about 20 bucks - but takes A LOT of patience. Check out what they have to say and please, tell us: What would you do if you had bed bugs? Would you call a pro or would you do-it-yourself?

You can check out the ScienceNews article here: http://tinyurl.com/y8vjwf8


OR read here:


NEW BRUNSWICK (WABC) -- It just might be the solution to the bed bug infestation that's exploded in the city the last couple years. And what's more, you can do it yourself. And the cost? Less than 20 bucks. It may look like an ordinary cooler, some dry ice, some talcum powder and, an upside down pet dish. But one Rutgers professor says when combined these four ingredients can take a big bite out of a bed bug infestation. "It's a very exciting discovery." Dr. Changlu Wang heads up the urban entomology department at Rutgers University . There, he's been studying bed bugs for nearly 3 years. He knows how quickly, even the smallest bed bug can put a bite on a
victim. You can see, in just seconds, it turns blood red as it feeds, then when done after only a few minutes, it scampers away to hide. Leaving behind? Ugly, itchy bites. Dr. Wang's bed bug trap starts with an ordinary pet bowl - turned upside down. But, the key ingredient? Dry ice. Key, because it releases carbon dioxide or C-O-2. "Carbon dioxide draws bed bugs," says Dr. Wang.
"From the room to the bed." We release carbon dioxide every time we breathe. And Dr. Wang says that rings the dinner bell for bed bugs. So how do you build a bed bug trap of your own? First, use any kind of fabric and line the outside of the pet bowl. This will make it easier for the bugs to climb up. Once over the side they get caught in the middle area. Dr. Wang says you should brush
it with talcum powder. That will make it slippier so the bugs can't escape. Lastly, fill a small cooler - or even a coffee travel mug with dry ice and open the top to let a little C-O-2 vapor escape. And place it in the middle of the over-turned pet dish. The best news? Total cost? Less than $15.
Chang put it to the test when we were there. First, he filled the cooler with dry ice and opened the top to let a little C-O-2 escape. And put it in the middle of the upside down pet dish.
Then he set loose about 10 bed bugs and left the room. Just three minutes later, a third of the bed bugs, attracted by the dry ice, started scaling the pet dish's side and falling into the trap. Dr. Wang wasn't surprised, he used the technique in many contaminated apartments. He says after just one night, one trap he used caught 500 bed bugs. "It is a very useful and can be very valuable too because it is very easy to do."
One note, Dr. Wang says in order to be effective, you have to leave the trap in the room alone for as long as a week. That means humans should limit their time in the room since they breathe out C-0-2, and will compete with the trap. Also, put in new dry ice and empty the trap about every 8 to 10 hours. Right now there's no patent pending for this device. But Wang says one of the big pest companies had taken note and might be coming out with it's own at home kit.


Click here to see some short videos on bed bugs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qx751dNw7Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfKCcSPCOQo

For more information - visit www.horizonpestcontrol.com OR give us call at 201-447-2530.

Do Mosquitoes Fly South for the Winter?

It seems a shame that beautiful, harmless butterflies must travel thousands of miles just to reproduce, while measly, disease-spreading mosquitoes (and ticks, for that matter) can hang out in a pile of mud under the ice or inside a hollow log and wait until the next warm day to stalk us as their prey.

One might think that the silver lining in the arctic weather we've been having is that some of those skeeters won't make it through...it just has to be too cold, right? Well, unfortunately, we won’t see any reduction worth noting in mosquito populations come spring time, because they’re incredibly adept at survival.

Many mosquito species live through the winter as adults. Even if the adults don't make it, the eggs, or larvae, can survive in stagnant water. Interestingly, the males never have to suffer the cold. In fall, the mosquitoes mate, and the males die: Only females spend the cold months hidden in protected places, such as underground in animal burrows. When warm weather returns, the females must first find a blood meal (us humans!) to develop her eggs. Just when you're outside enjoying the spring weather, the newly awakened mosquito moms are out in force, looking for blood. Once they've fed, the female mosquitoes lay their eggs in whatever standing water they can find, and the process starts anew.

So, is there a silver lining in all of this? We take comfort in knowing they only live 2 weeks once they hatch...and we know where they hide!

Going above and beyond…because we can!

Performing pest control services in schools utilizing the IPM method of service has become a serious issue in the state of New Jersey since the School IPM Act was implemented in June of 2004. Even though it’s only required by the state of New Jersey for technicians working in schools, Horizon is going to require all of our service personnel to study and pass the Category 13 IPM in Schools exam for certification.

Peter Kollinok, who has been with Horizon for 5 years as a commercial technician, was selected to be our first candidate. He took this assignment very seriously, studied hard and passed on his first attempt….Great Job Peter! If you’re one of our lucky clients to have Peter as your technician, please be sure to congratulate him the next time you see him!

For more information on IPM, please visit our website by clicking on the following link: http://www.horizonpestcontrol.com/quality-assurance.php .

Horizon is a Google Maps Favorite Place!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope this post finds you well!

I wanted to take a minute to announce that there is even more good news for Horizon today! We are officially a Google Maps Favorite Place - and we are so EXCITED about it! Basically, it means that we are a cool kid on the Google Maps search engine....and we have YOU to thank for it! Over the past few months - we have been searched for so many times, we qualified to become a favorite place.

I bet you're wondering how selective was Google in selecting the businesses to receive the decal...and here's what they have to say about it:

"Over 100,000 businesses were identified as Favorite Places, representing less than 1% of the 28 million U.S. businesses. We believe that our standards for selecting businesses are as selective or more selective than other companies which have run similar initiatives."

If you want to learn more about favorite places - you can click on the link below. :)

http://www.google.com/help/maps/favoriteplaces/business/index.html