For the average consumer, most pest control companies appear the same. You need to know what to ask and what to expect when you hire a professional to treat those annoying insects on your property – plus how to keep them away.
Cody Smith, owner of Dynamic Pest Control in Mesa, Arizona provides the following checklist to use when selecting a pest control company to treat your property.
1. Is the company licensed? The state licenses pest control companies, while the Environmental Protection Agency regulates pesticides.
2. Does the company have a good reputation? Check references and the length of time in business. Good companies will have a proven track record and will provide full disclosure of treatments, contracts, and safety information.
3. Expect a full disclosure of problem analysis and recommended treatments. Ask if chemical products will be used and what equipment is required during the pest control process. Ask about environmentally friendly options in your treatments, if this is a concern for you. Good pest control companies use pesticides geared to the specific pest problem, making it safer for your family.
4. Decide if you require additional services. Ask if the pest control company can repair window screens and caulk cracks (charges may apply), which can prevent ants, rodents, and other pests from entering the home later. If convenience is your goal, choose a pest control company that offers this type of one-stop shopping.
5. A simple single treatment may not suffice, so understand your long-term needs. Selecting the lowest price for initial treatment, may not be cost-effective over the term of a service contract. Be sure to understand the contents of a long-term service arrangement. Often, only outside treatment is needed as a preventive measure, making your service more convenient and cost-effective.
6. Evaluate the pest control company’s satisfaction policy. Ask if the pest control will guarantee on-time service, provide cleanup services, if necessary, and agree to settle disputes within a specified period of time. Pay attention to the terms of your contract and evaluate how well the company can answer your questions satisfactorily.
7. Evaluate the results. Hiring a company to take care of your pest problem does not mean your job is over. If you believe something has gone wrong with the pesticide application, contact the company. Be a responsible consumer and keep asking questions until your pests are under control.
As an Arizona Pest Control company, we’ve noticed something over the past couple of weeks – the critters are coming out of their winter hideouts! It’s springtime in Arizona, and we humans love the 80° weather (for just a few weeks, of course), possibly taking a dip in the pool, and lathering on sunscreen. But just like you, this is a happy time for pests!
While the mice, rats, and roof rats usually retreat during the summer months, scorpions, crickets, spiders, earwigs, and bed bugs enjoy the hot temperatures.
See a full chart of Arizona Pest Activity.
Keep an eye out and make sure you block any crevices throughout your house that might let bugs in. Check back soon for our next blog, “Preparing for Pests This Spring”.
Have you “liked” us on Facebook yet? We’re posting awesome information, tips, and tricks all the time. You can also follow us on Twitter, where we post little tidbits about pest control and how you can keep your home or business pest free.
Check back soon! Have a great week.
A couple of weeks ago, we asked our Facebook fans “Which pest is the worst?” The results might (or might not) surprise you:
As you can see, I voted for “bees”, but I wasn’t in the majority – most of you voted for scorpions! Look for more polls in the near future.
In the meantime, I wanted to put yet another common myth to rest. Many people have nightmares of thousands of scorpions attacking them all at once, or claim that they have found a scorpion nest in their attic. In fact, every day there is at least one person who types “Do scorpions nest?” into Google.
Trust me, scorpions do not nest. Not in Phoenix, not in the middle of the desert, nowhere. They prefer to stay under rocks and inside holes by themselves. At most, you may see a couple of scorpions at the same time but they are not part of a nest. As nocturnal animals, these guys will crawl out at night to find some food and then return to their underground lairs by the morning.
If you see hundreds of scorpions at the same time, you’re either in a safe environment at the zoo or you need to pinch yourself awake from that dream!
It’s getting hot in the valley, and that means the pests are in full force! According to our Pest Activity Chart, it looks like earwigs and fleas are becoming active this month. With scorpions, crickets, spiders, and other critters already active, what can you do to protect your home and family from these annoying pests? Here is our list of top protection tips:
While this one might seem obvious, your house can have many cracks and holes inside cupboards, cabinets, exterior walls, pipe openings or behind appliances. Turn the hunt into a fun scavenger hunt! You can have the entire family search the house for small openings and cracks that might be letting ants and roaches into the house. It’s the pest control version of an easter egg hunt. When your family has found all of the possible “doors for pests”, caulk them up. You can find a caulking gun at your local hardware store.
When you close your garage door, does a little bit of light peek out of the area between the door and the ground? If so, that’s enough room for bugs to get through! You can find door sweeps at your local hardware store – they’re easy to install, and another fun family project.
Bugs love food. While a crumb may not be much to you, that much food can be a pleasant dinner for an ant. As much as possible, vacuum and mop your house to ensure all of the crumbs and food remnants are removed from your floor. Also, don’t let food sit around on the kitchen counter without being in a sealed container – ants and other critters can sense the available food and make their way up to the source.
Post your tips in the comments section below. Maybe you have some tricks that you have found to prevent slugs outside? Anthill removal tricks? Let us know below.
“Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!”
Unlike termites and other pests that spend time within the walls and dark places of your home, bed bugs live in the same furniture where you spend most of your life. Remembering that, it’s even more important to prevent or remove these bugs from your home. To do so, it takes a lot of inspection and checking to look for signs of infestation and then treating the infected area.
Although the name suggests otherwise, bed bugs aren’t confined to the perimeter of your bed. They can also spend time in sofas and electronics. If you have reason to believe your home has bed bugs (bites, visible eggs, etc.), look throughout your home for additional eggs. The bed bug eggs can be placed in molding or even within outlets. With an increasing number of infestations across the country, it’s always best to be proactive by continually cleaning your home and sealing up crevices.
If you see eggs or live bed bugs, use rubbing alcohol to kill them instantly. With eggs, be sure to use some sort of an abrasive tool such as a cleaning brush to make sure the eggs are completely exterminated.
Mattresses should be steamed if there is reason to believe that they may be infested. Usually, infected mattresses should just be thrown away because of the difficult removal process.
In most cases, it is best to call your local pest control expert to remove and treat a bed bug-infested house since they can be sneaky and hide in very small places.
We get this question a lot. Spring just passed, so termites have started new colonies. One of their colonies could be in your yard or home. Here are some ways to tell if your residence or office may have been infested:
During a professional termite inspection, your technician will be able to provide you with more evidence of termites. Be warned, many of the treatments sold in stores will not take care of the long-term problem!
If it turns out that you do have termites, ensure they are exterminated by following these steps:
Termite presence can remain undetected for many years. To confirm whether or not you are dealing with termites, you should hire an expert to inspect your home.
Ants and termites aren’t as closely related as you may think. Termites are actually more closely related to cockroaches than to ants, but many people mistake termites and ants for each other. They do, however, have very similar behavioral practices.
If your home has been infested with termites, you will not typically see them because they live underground, but if you see a winged bug that you think might be a termite, this list may help you determine if you need to call for a termite inspection.
When you see an ant or termite swarms, it is typically because they are attempting to start a new colony. The two can be very similar in color, so look for these other traits to be sure what you are dealing with. Termites damage about 600,000 homes in the U.S. per year, so make sure it’s not happening to you!
“One in five Americans has had bed bugs or knows someone who has, and 80 percent are afraid of encountering them in hotels, according to a survey by the National Pest Management Association.”
There are many articles in the news this summer about bed bugs infesting homes and public locations across the entire nation. Here are some important tips:
Some progress is being made in the extermination process of bed bugs now though. The insecticide Propoxur is known to be highly toxic to bed bugs, but it is currently banned because it is thought to be too harsh a chemical for use indoors. Ohio Representative, Dale Mallory, is currently fighting for the ban to be lifted on this chemical. Cincinnati is the “bed bug capital,” and many residents feel something needs to be done to prevent further infestation.
If you think you may have bed bugs, call us immediately! (480) 964-0145
Bed bugs can not only be annoying, but they can also cause minor health issues and can potentially leave a company in ruins. Some hotels spend almost $1,000 to remove a bed bug infestation!
Is your home or company at risk for bed bugs? Many hotels and colleges are at risk, and before there was no way to protect themselves from an infestation. Infestation recovery insurance is being newly introduced to these companies in order to protect them from loss due to a pest problem. This insurance doesn’t prevent from getting bed bugs obviously, but having it may protect a company from suffering a great loss of income after an infestation goes public. Some policies are even covering the cost of eliminating the bugs altogether.
The bed bug population has grown exponentially in the past few years, reaching every corner of the country. This is due to the outlawing of DDT, and international travel, and these bugs have also developed an immunity to certain poisons.
If you think your home or your company may be at risk for bed bugs, call us today at 480.964.0145. The sooner you catch the problem, the less severe the infestation might be.
And don’t forget the check begbugregistry.com to check if there have been infestations in your area.
Over the past few months, we have been monitoring the Bed Bug Registry to watch for infestation outbreaks throughout the entire country. Right away, you’ll notice that most of the infestations are occurring in the Northeast part of the United States, but many are still appearing in Phoenix and Tucson.
Notice anything unusual with the map above? (Each red dot indicates an infestation at an apartment or hotel.) It appears that the infestations are aligning with our highway system in Phoenix! If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. A good amount of travelers from other states use our highway systems and tend to make use of the hotels that are right near the highways. When they arrive, some tourists bring their bed bugs from out of state which spreads the pest’s reach.
What can you do to protect yourself? Before you check in to a hotel, check the registry to ensure there have not been any recent infestations. Avoid the hassle of dealing with bed bugs!
