Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

National Cockroach Race Day is Wednesday, Jan. 26th.  To honor this absolutely fabulous day, Bulwark Exterminating is sponsoring its first ever #RoachRace on Twitter.  What exactly is a #RoachRace you ask?

It’s actually quite simple.  Sponsors (Contestants) will claim a specific cockroach species.  German Cockroach.  Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.  American Cockroach. Etc, etc.

Sponsors will then be assigned a corresponding hashtag. #BulwarkGermanRoach. #BulwarkHissingRoach. #BulwarkAmericanRoach. Etc, etc.

That assigned roach hashtag  will be coupled with the hashtag #RoachRace

Now comes the race.  Contestants will have the task on Wednesday to see how many tweets and retweets they can get with their assigned hashtag.  The contestant with the most mentions of their hashtag…wins!

What’s the prize?  Well, since we’re not really in a position to take bets and disclose odds and spreads and stuff like that, we’re giving away one of @tshirtSEO’s famed and highly coveted t-shirts.  These shirts were recently featured on ABC’s Now@9 morning show in Phoenix.

All sponsors will receive a Roach Pest Control t-shirt, featuring our super cool roach logo.  We’ll also throw in a 10-pack of glue traps from PestProJoe.com.  And of course they will get lots of props, mentions, and thank you’s.  This is all stuff money can’t buy, folks!

And if you happen to be in the Phoenix area, we’ll even treat you to a nice lunch.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow us on twitter and like us on facebook.

A twitter buddy of mine mentioned recently that she was having spider problems in her house.  All right. No biggie!  Then she mentioned that the “conkers” she was using to fend off her little friends weren’t working like everyone had told her.

Conkers?  One, what’s a conker?  And two, how do they battle spiders?  I was going to get to the bottom of this, stat!

I asked my new twitter friend, Joanna, who is actually based in England, the scoop on these conkers that she mentioned.  She shot me back a couple of links.  Come to find out conkers are the nuts that come from horse-chestnut trees.  These trees are mostly native to specific parts of Europe (which explains why I had never heard of them).  It has long been believed that if you leave conkers around your doors and window sills, they act as a natural deterrent to spiders.  While there has been no scientific evidence that conkers are effective form of defense, some believe that the conkers need to be a fresh batch in order to give off the appropriate odor to do their job.

Here in America there’s an old saying that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”  While speaking to The Telegraph, Stuart Hine of the Natural History Museum in England gives us his own ryhme…

“Conkers does ryhme with bonkers!”

I am a 5th Generation Arizonan; which is increasingly rare in this state because of the population growth over the last several years. So, I am not sure what it is like to live in a state like Kansas during tornado season, or what it is like to live in Florida during hurricane season or what it is like to live along the San Andreas Fault. I imagine, however, that it is similar to how I have always felt about living in Arizona with the Arizona Bark Scorpion, I have never thought much about it.

I spent a summer in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands during hurricane season when I was a teenager and remember going through the preparations for a hurricane, including, buying bottled water, food and lumber to protect my parent’s home and to prepare for hunkering down during the storm. It didn’t seem out-of-the-ordinary because everything on the island stopped for the days leading up to the hurricane’s landing; and once the events occurred, for the most part, everything went back to normal. It was almost ritualistic for the natives in St. Croix.

Back here in Arizona, the closest thing we have that compares to a Category 5 Hurricane is probably a micro-burst during a particularly bad monsoon, perhaps even causing a flash flood; not quite the same as a massive hurricane. One of the next most dangerous things you might have to worry about as a resident of Arizona is our very own Arizona Bark Scorpion. The bark scorpion is considered the most dangerous scorpion in the United States and is also considered deadly; though victims of fatal stings usually have other underlying health issues, are either very young or very old, or are allergic and usually die due to complications from anaphylactic shock.

Perhaps I am in the minority here in Arizona but I neither check my shoes before I put them on nor do I shake my bed covers before climbing into bed to make sure that there aren’t any scorpions lying in wait to poison me with painful neurotoxin. Well, it seems that maybe I should have been more careful because as I was cleaning up for the Christmas holiday, I picked up a cardboard box of Christmas presents that I just brought home from my in-laws (who must not keep up with their pest control). When I picked up the box, I put my pinky finger on a scorpion hiding under the box and for a brief moment, I could feel the scorpion trying to wiggle free and I dropped the box immediately; however, it was too late. The scorpion had injected me with its powerful neurotoxin and I felt an immediate pain in the middle of my pinky finger on my right hand. The sting felt like someone had poked me with a needle all the way into my bone. I quickly grasped my finger and squeezed tightly and the pain began to ease but the damage had been done and my agony remained. Once I let go of my grasp and in the ensuing moments, the venom began to travel up my arm. First, I felt the pain on the top of the back side of my hand where I could see the veins under my skin. Then, some moments later, I began to feel the neurotoxin work its way to my wrist where each time I felt my pulse, the pain seemed to grow stronger. Moments later, I felt it in my arm and then worse on the inside of my elbow. As I continued to work in the garage, I even felt the pain reach my shoulder. The pain was pretty strong during those first few moments but not strong enough for me to feel like I needed to go to the hospital. (However, many people, including real world sources, recommend that you do go to the hospital after being stung by a scorpion.) After several minutes, the pain was quite tolerable though very uncomfortable. My entire arm had the sensation of when your leg or arm falls asleep. I have heard it referred to as pins and needles and that is an accurate description.

Today, several hours later, the pain in my shoulder and most of the pain in my arm has already subsided. My finger is a different story. I believe that the pain in my little finger is best described in this manner…have you ever had a Novocain shot while visiting the dentist? My finger feels like I have had an overdose of novocain in my finger. I do have motor control over my finger but it seems a little sluggish. When I touch my finger gently against my other fingers, I hardly feel the touch yet I consistently feel the tingling. If I really put pressure on my finger it hurts severely and even though it feels like it is swollen twice its normal size, I can’t actually see any difference in size.

Interestingly, the sting never made me feel like I needed to stay home from work or change my plans whatsoever but the pain continues even now, eighteen hours later, to affect just about everything I do. I cannot type with my pinky nor can I use the mouse without putting my pinky finger in the air as though I am about to drink some tea at my daughter’s tea party.

A few days later:

When my wife was having her last baby, there was a chart on the wall with the numbers 0-10. There were also pictures next to the numbers that indicated levels of pain.

Even on the first day, immediately after the sting occurred, the pain level was only a 5 or 6. I continued to bring in the presents from the garage but I was careful not to touch anything with my finger. On day two, as I was writing this description, the pain was slightly less acute in the 4-5 range but still affected how I worked and went through my daily routines. On the third day, most of the pain was gone but my finger was still numb and by day 4 or 5, all of the pain had completely subsided. However, it took a few more days for the numbness to completely dissipate.

Overall, I would have to say that being stung by a scorpion is quite a bit less frightening than I thought it would be. I have learned a lot from this process and the research I conducted after having been stung. I am happy to share my thoughts and feelings with you in hopes that you learn something too.

I hope you enjoyed my article,
Brian Farr
@briangfarr

One morning I was going out to start my pest control route in Austin Texas, and my 1st service had requested to be called 30 min prior to going. I called her at 7:30 and told her I was Randy with Bulwark Exterminating and this was her 30 min courtesy call before I come to her home at 8 o’clock to do her pest control. She apologized and told me she was running late to take her daughter to school but she really needed to have a inside treatment done for scorpions  but she wouldn’t be home till after 8:30 or so. I told her no problem, and that I could go there and treat her home on the outside and would wait for her to get back home.
When I arrived at the home I knocked on the door just to make sure no one was there, then started to spray the house. While spraying the home I was checking for wasp nests and spider webs to see if any needed to be taken down. After spraying the home I checked and baited the two rat boxes at the back of the home and then walked the yard and baited the fire ant mounds. She arrived home at 8:35 and then I went inside and did an inside scorpion treatment. I left home at 9am. Took me an hour but the customer was very happy with her service.

Great Holiday, Back to work!

What does 2011 hold for the pest control crowd?

Well despite the best efforts of pest control companies world wide, bugs and other annoying critters have yet to be exterminated. Yes the fight between man and nature goes on. Party is over back to work… work hard party hard.

2011 Predictions:

How unoriginal? Blah, blah, blah… who really cares? Like I can’t go get my own crazy eight ball. Anyways… Here is what you can expect from the bug world in 2011…

• 1- The pest cycle of breeding, invasion and survival will continue…. so ants, spiders, roaches, a scorpions will be making a come back this new year in about April.
  
• 2- Bed Bugs will continue to spread. I am guessing that Las Vegas will move up the red list for bed bugs this year.
• 3- St. George will see some snow.
• 4- Phoenix Suns will not win a NBA championship. (Ditto that for 2012)
  
• 5- Tulsa will see some green grass, and a few butterflies that we will not target.
• 6- Microwaves will become the object of an EPA label as not organic pest control.
• 7- Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris will finally face off, right after congress balances the budget.
• 8- And someone will finally find a Bulwark Exterminating YouTube video funny enough to sneeze it into viral awesomeness… Might I suggest this one: Bulwark Exterminating – Tech Love
• 9- Houston will see a hurricane hit land.
  
• 10- Andrew Luck will not be a lucky catch for the Charlotte Carolina Panthers.
  
• 11- Lastly, that someone will appreciate this not being a top 10 list and get the reason that it’s 11 without asking why.

Yep. There are few of those predictions that are 100% solid… But unlike our pest control services, there is no 100% money back guarantee on these. (probably why we should just stick pest control)

Feel free to add your predictions to our comments below….. And the crystal ball says we will have 0 comments.