Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

You may call them winter pest. You may call them holiday visitors. We call them seasonal invaders. They are the bugs and insects that strike when the cold weather approaches.  These winter visitors seek the warmth and comfort of your beautiful home.  Crawling in every crack and crevasse they can to escape the pending winter. They include pests such as spiders, crickets, centipedes, millipedes, springtails and mice.  All of these pests are known to invade your home during those months that most people consider to have low pest activity.

It is true that many pests die off for the winter, or go into hibernation, or retreat to their winter forts, such as ants.  But there are many pests that would rather not take a winter vacation.  Instead they fly, crawl, or jump to the more tropical weather provided by the shelter you know as your house.  For this reason, residential pest control shouldn’t be skipped for the winter months.  There are in wall treatments that can be done, or other exterior fortifications that should be applied to keep your home bug free all year long.  Skipping service for a few months could mean that spring cleaning will be even more intense.  And in certain areas, like Tulsa, OK, this letting down of your bug guard could mean letting in the local brown recluse.  And fall is certainly still high scorpion activity.  Is it really worth risking your family’s safety by letting your pest control maintenance slip for a month or two?

Ideally, you should continue to have your home treated even when you believe that all the pests are taking a winter break.  Just like cleaning out your garage, its best to keep it clean and not let the clutter biuld up again.

Scorpions are particularly active this time of year.  Why?  Because it is mating season and birthing season.  Luckily scorpions only give birth once a year.  Unlucky that they can give birth to over 100 baby scorpions!  And as interesting as it might be to see all of those baby scorpions hitching a ride on the mama scorpion’s back, you certainly don’t want that mother load entering your home and dropping off her little spawns all over your house!

Mother Scorpion with baby scorpions on back. Scorpions are unique among pests because scorpions give live birth. They do not lay eggs like most. Instead the mother births the live babies and then carries them on her back until they are mature enough to fend for themselves.

Scare tactic? Yes, but it the truth!

Just read the following email:

I’ve had a major issue with scorpions this past couple months. Been in my house for 5 years and this is the first time I’ve seen any scorpions. Am currently using ****Competitor****’s pest defense but haven’t seen any improvement. Maybe looking to change companies. I’ve been fighting them myself with a blacklight at night. I tend to kill about 1-2 a night and have also killed a mother with babies on its back. Needing some peace of mind since I have 2 small children.

Charles – Mesa, AZ

Charles has every right to be concerned.  Scorpions can be very dangerous, especially to small children as their bodies may not be able to metabolize the scorpion venom.

This cry for help was sent to us yesterday:

I am tired of dealing with these creepy crawlers.I live in a apartment and we have reported our several incidents to our front office they have sent their own pest control company but they have done a poor job even after their second visit in a three week span we still continue to kill scorpions around our house. I am in desperate need of some relief!

Arturo – Phoenix, AZ

And Niki from Las Vegas wrote the following:

Hello, We are finding very lively scorpions in our home almost on a daily basis. I believe them to be the bark scorpion. We have had a regular exterminator and I have advised him of the problem but what he is doing does not seem to work. Do you have a solution?? I am finding very small babies now which I don’t think is a good sign. thank you.

Niki – Las Vegas, NV

Is there a pest control solution to scorpion problems?

We believe that there is a pest control solution available for scorpion problems.  After many hours and treating over 20,000 scorpion infested homes across the US, we have developed scorpion control. That’s right, its not a pest control solution its a scorpion control solution.  When you’ve got scorpions search for scorpion control service.

Learn more about SCORPION CONTROL.

After a recent visit from an exterminator declaring they were indeed infested with bed bugs the Wilmington Fire Station threw out mattresses, upholstered furniture and carpets, anything that might be housing the bed bugs.   And these little blood suckers cost more then a few drops of blood.  The total cost to the fire station was over $5000 between the loss of the furniture and the pest controller’s bill of $800+.

ABC reported on the matter first.  Also citing a CDC saying bedbugs are up by 500% over the last few years.  Considering that bed bugs had been virtually eradicated from the US over 20 years ago, that number doesn’t do the Bed Bug epidemic justice.

Fortunately doctors still have not found any serious health risks associated with bedbugs or the spread of disease through bedbugs.

Interesting points specifically about this bed bug case – Was it really necessary to throw out all the furniture?

Perhaps not, but throwing away old mattresses that need to be replaced anyways will certainly help cure a bed bug problem.  Perhaps consumers should consider the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

And prevention is easy.  A proper mattress cover will thwart any attacks made by bedbugs on your resting place. Yes, it really is that simple.  No need to pay $300 per room as some exterminators quote for bedbug treatments.

Get a mattress cover today so you can rest easy… pun intended.

While going through our emails today, I found the following to be entertaining…

We have a townhouse in Wakefield Plantation. How much would it be to have the house sprayed indoors and out. Our roommate is a smoker and when he comes in and out he lets bugs in. Email is preferred contact.

Jessica C.

ZIP Code           27614

I guess I never thought about what additional damage a smoker can do to destroy one’s comfort.  It seems perfectly logical that a anyone that is frequently opening and closing the door would be opening and exposing the home to potential invasion. So it seems we could conclude that smoking is bad for bug prevention.

A few do it yourself pest control tips, try to stop the flow of bugs created by your smoking friend.

1- Lighting – Yellow bug lights are available.  While these lights do not repel bugs the yellow spectrum attracts fewer bugs. Simply put, these lights are more difficult for bugs to see since bugs can see blue or ultraviolet light.  Or you can try lighting the area from a distance, meaning buying a stronger light and keeping that light away from the entry point.

2- Candles – There are bug candles that you can buy that will repel some bugs, but not all bugs.  Studies indicate a 24% to 42% decrease from Citronella.  Candles may also combine other herbs and natural ingredients, such as rosemary, lemon, thyme, clove oil, eucalyptus oil, geranium, mint oil, and peppermint oil.

Thanks for the email Jessica, I am sure we can help control the bugs, but we can’t do much about the smoking or flying pests that come in and out with the smoker.  But I hope these tips help in further controlling bugs around your home.

Note – While a pest control professional can do little to eliminate flying insects, a regular pest control service can help cut back on flying pests in your home and around the yard.  Ask your pest control professional what treatment options he has for eliminating flying pest nests and harborages.  Proper IPM will help control and limit this pests.