Here’s Your Weekly Pest Control News & Links

Tackling NJ Bed Bugs Is No Easy Task

Battling bedbugs is no easy task, but Heritage Pest Control in New Jersey will be able to properly identify the locations of the bed bug infestations and develop a safe plan of attack against the pests. More…

Bulwark Exterminating Makes Best Of Yelp

Each year yelp.com, a customer review site, recognizes a few select businesses with a “Best Of” distinction. Bulwark Exterminating in Austin, TX was recently recognized as “Best Pest Control in Austin.” More…

Avoiding Springtime Pests in Portland, Oregon

Springtime in Portland, Oregon is beautiful; but one thing that can put a damper on that beauty is a pest infestations. Be on the lookout for Carpenter ants, bedbugs, and rodents this spring in Portland. More…

Brown Widows Moving in on Southern California Territory

Brown Widows have begun to take over the Black Widow spider’s territory in many areas of this country, including Los Angeles. These spiders can potentially be very dangerous. More…

A Texas Sized Stink Bug Invasion

Brown marmorated stink bugs are invading many parts of the Country, including Texas, and are keeping pest professionals busy. More…

Pest Of The Week: Pavement Ant

The shiny black Pavement ant ranges in size from 1/10 to 1/8 inch. Pavement ants move in an intentionally slow motion, and are typically difficult to disturb. These ants are notorious for creating problems under asphalt, or concrete slabs. As they build their shallow nests, they push small mounds of soil out through the cracks; and expansion joints. Nests may also be discovered under debris or objects on the ground, as well as near heat sources in structures; during the colder winter months.

These ant pests are attracted to lights, and as such may find their way indoors; at night. Once inside, worker ants cause a pest control problem, by foraging for food, and feeding upon grease, pet food and any sweet substances; they happen to discover. Outdoors, Pavement ants feed on fruits and the sweet honeydew, produced by common garden pests; like aphids and mealy bugs.

In spring, adjacent colonies fight, producing spectacular sidewalk ant battles.

Related articles

• Spray for Bed Bugs that is Pesticide Exempt Which Kills and Prevents Bed Bugs? SprayForBedBugs.org Reveals this Green Pest Remedy
• Is This The Most Dangerous Spider In The U.K?
• How to Treat a Brown Recluse Spider Bite
• Pests

Anthony Ball

Pest Of The Week: The Arizona Bark Scorpion

Taken at noon, at around 104 degrees. This fellow was a temporary occupant of my garage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Arizona Bark scorpion, is a small light brown scorpion; commonly found in the southwest United States. This scorpion pest is predominately found in the Sonoran Desert, however less toxic species have been discovered; throughout the Southern US. A nocturnal pest, the Bark scorpion prefers to ambush its prey; which often consists of crickets and/or roaches.

Considered the most venomous scorpion in North America, the number of Bark scorpion sting victims in Arizona; is estimated to be in the thousands each year. With that being said, fatalities in the United States are rare (only 2 recorded fatalities have occurred in the state of Arizona since 1968), and limited to small animals/pets, young children; and adults with compromised immune systems.

The venom from a Bark scorpion bite can inflict severe pain, coupled with numbness and tingling; typically lasting between 24 and 72 hours. Temporary dysfunction in the sting area is common and may cause victims to become immobilized, experience convulsions and/or shortness of breath. Due to the extreme pain caused by the sting, many victims describe the sensation of electrical shocks; after receiving a sting.

Bark scorpions, like most other scorpions, are incredibly resilient; and require a focused pest control strategy. In fact, lab experiments have frozen scorpions for weeks; and after being thawed, the scorpions emerged unharmed. Furthermore, during U.S. nuclear testing, scorpions (along with cockroaches and lizards) were found near ground zero; with no recorded adverse effects.

Remember, for scorpion control in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Austin, or San Antonio, contact Bulwark Exterminating!

Links Round-Up

$1 Million Hospital Bill After A Brown Recluse Spider Bite

Here is an unfortunate story about a law student who was bitten by a poisonous Brown Recluse and almost lost her legs. Despite saving her legs, the Michigan woman was burdened with $1 Million in medical bills. More…

Steering Clear of Hornets

Hornets are just fine if they’re outside, pollinating flowers eating other insects. But there are times when hornets just come too close to home. In fact, some hornets are comfortable making a nest around or even in your home, and this is something that cannot be tolerated. More… 

Bed Bug Detection: 3 Bugs That Could Be Mistaken For Bed Bugs

The Eastern bat bug, dust mites, and spiders are all commonly mistaken for bed bugs. To better understand these three pests that are commonly mistaken for bed bugs, click here.

Is Your Birdfeeder Causing a Rodent Problem?

It’s no secret that rodents are attracted to birdfeeders, but it’s not for the reasons you think. To learn more about this issue, and tips from eliminating rodents from your property, click here.

A Stinky Beast — The Odorous House Ant

For everything you want to know about this stinky pest, including treatment methods, click here.

Related articles

• Scorpion Truck Redefines Scorpion Control Service
• Pets & Bed Bugs: Q&A
• Arizona hospital cuts scorpion antivenom price by 80% – Arizona Republic

Anthony Ball

Friday Link’s Roundup

Cluster Flies Overwinter In New England

As the cold weather begins to arrive in much of New England, pests like cluster flies seek refuge inside homes. For a few pointers on preventing cluster flies from entering your home read:

http://www.modernpest.com/blog/cluster-flies-overwinter-in-maine/

7 Ways To Avoid Bringing Household Bugs Into Your Home

These seven steps will help you keep your living space free of pests and their troublesome effects:

http://www.resteasypestcontrol.com/blog/bid/234848/7-Ways-To-Avoid-Bringing-Household-Bugs-Into-Your-Home

Austin Termite Control

Termites are frequently found infesting homes and buildings in Austin, TX. These destructive pests create major problems for homeowners and tenants by actively feeding on timber structures like: homes, buildings, telephone poles, and trees. They will feed on almost anything made of wood. More…

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are looking for warm places to hibernate this winter. For everything you want to know about these natural solutions to pest read:

http://www.advantagetpc.com/blog/?p=120

Fleas Are the Best Jumping Creatures Known to Man

Whilst cat fleas live and suck the blood of cats and dogs unfortunately they have an acquired taste for human blood too, although they do not live on the human body. Fleas generally bite the ankles and hands of people when handling pets or pets bedding but the most common place for flea bites are the lower legs which are attacked frequently when the fleas sense the vibration of people’s oncoming foot steps. More… 

Keep Your Home Mosquito Free Next Summer by Preparing in Fall

There are specific steps that need to be taken this fall to ensure your property will be mosquito free next spring and summer. For all the provisions that need to be taken, check out:

http://www.horizonpestcontrol.com/blog/keep-your-home-mosquito-free-next-summer-by-preparing-in-fall/

Wildlife Exclusion: Getting Ready for Cooler Weather

The fall weather is prompting wildlife like raccoons, armadillos, and opossums to seek food and shelter in U.S. homes. Here are some great preventative measures that can be taken:

http://www.dugaspestcontrol.com/community-news/wildlife-exclusion-getting-ready-for-cooler-weather

Tips To Project Yourself From Being Stung By Yellow Jacket Wasps

Because of wasp’s aggressive nature, many people are stung each year, sometimes resulting in life-threatening outcomes. In fact, Yellow jackets alone are responsible for about one-half of all human insect stings. More… 

Common Las Vegas Ants

The city of Las Vegas has several ant species that can be a nuisance. They also can cause pain from stings/bites; they can spoil your food, and damage and your property. Here are a couple of the most common ant invaders in Las Vegas, NV:

http://pestcontrollasvegasnv.com/2012/10/common-las-vegas-ants/

Pest of the Week

The American cockroach, also known as the Palmetto bug or Waterbug, will grow to an average length of 1.6 inches and is approximately 0.28 of an inch tall. They appear reddish-brown, and have a yellowish margin on the body region located behind the head. Introduced to the United States from Africa, as early as 1625, they are now common in most tropical climates. Human activity and global shipping, has extended this insect’s range of habitation to the Unites States and most world ports.

This pest can travel quickly, often scurrying out of sight when anyone enters the room. In fact, an American cockroach experiment carried out at the University of California, Berkeley (1991), registered a record speed of 3.4 mph (5.4 kph).

Due to their large size and slow development, local pest control advises that large infestations of these insects are not common within houses. However, during certain times of the year, the American cockroach may enter a home seeking warmer temperatures and food. The American cockroach is a scavenger that feeds on decaying organic matter and is particularly fond of fermenting foods. They are most common in basements, crawl spaces, cracks/crevices of porches, foundations and walkways.

Anthony Ball

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.

A few years back when I was still teching I went to a customer home in Georgetown, Texas to do their regular service, as I was walking around the back of the home I noticed what looked like blood along the pavement I as moved further around I came to find out their dog was bleeding. I immediately did all I could to reach the customer finally getting a hold of them thanks to a neighbor of theirs. The Mrs. was able to get home in time to get the dog to the vet and save the dog.  When I came back for the next service she explained to me that the dog had been bitten by a rattle snake and thanked me for trying everything to get in touch with here and not just leaving, during that entire service I was scared that the snake was going to bite me, so it took me 40 minutes to do a 20 minute service because I was so cautious. Then when I went to get the ticket signed she commented that it took me longer than normal so I explained why that was.  Then she told me they had already killed the snake as they found it in the dog house. Doing what I did that day is a direct action taken by me due to the influence of my managers and the owners of the company.  To be honest, since I have been at bulwark exterminating I feel that I have grown in ways I never imagined due to the way the company treats its employees and its customers.

Robert Morales Jr

Austin TX

In July of 2004 I came to this company with an understanding that Bulwark was a customer service company first and pest control company second.  Little did I know they actually meant it; on my second day of on the job training here in Austin Texas I was paired up with Silvestre Loera.  He made the day great, but he stressed how it was important to start your day on time and get to your first house promptly.  He also showed me after that the first service you could go get breakfast tacos, which I thought funny due to he was stressing right before to be on time. As the day went on he proceeded to provide great customer service to every customer we serviced.  I was thinking wow, great company, I made a great choice coming to work here.  Then we came to a customers house where Silvestre gave new meaning to customer service.  I was standing at the door beside Silvestre when we rang the door bell.  What happened next seemed very strange to me, but not at all to Silvestre. A man answered the door wearing nothing but a hand towel around his waist, hairy chest and all showing to Silvestre and myself. I was ready to walk off but Silvestre talked to the man as if nothing were wrong and proceeded to listen to the mans every need.  He even offered to go inside and treat if needed, which the man did require. I was taken by surprise that the customer service mentality at this company was that deep, because to be honest that was my 7^th overall day at bulwark and I was ready to quit. Overall the experience is one I won’t forget and says a lot about what is instilled in the employees at Bulwark by the owners, managers, and technicians.

Robert Morales Jr
Austin Texas

My name is Roger James and I’ve been a technician for Bulwark for four years now.  I am a team leader and service the community of Steiner Ranch which is in Austin, Texas.

My wife and I used to live in California before we made the decision to move out to Austin, Texas.  I never realized how beneficial my experience in California would be for my job until I started working for Bulwark.  I have ended up meeting so many customers who also used to live in California.  This has helped me gain their trust and loyalty because I feel that we can identify with the many differences between both states.

One family comes to mind this past summer.  I was actually spraying a regular customer’s lawn when a man quickly approached me.  He said that he saw my Bulwark truck and hoped I could help him out.  He went on to explain that his family had just moved here from California a couple days ago and they had large fire ant mounds all over their front and back yard.  I ended up servicing the inside and outside of their home that very day paying special attention to the ant mounds.  He decided to sign up for a year’s contract with Bulwark before I left that day.  It was nice for him to hear that I could relate to what they were going through.  You see, the fire ants in California are nothing compared to the fire ants here in Texas. The first time you get stung by a Texas fire ant- You too will want to call Bulwark for HELP!!!  He also asked me if it were true that scorpions actually come into houses here in Texas.  After I let him know that this is possible, I went on to further explain that Bulwark treats their customer’s houses in order to help prevent scorpions from coming in.

During one hot summer in Austin, I was performing first time services for new Bulwark customers and training a new technician.  It was getting late in the week and the two of us had performed several first time services, so I told the trainee to get started on the outside and I would go inside, talk to the new customer, and get started performing the inside service.  I expected the trainee to come inside after doing the weephole screening and power spraying the perimeter, but after about half an hour, he had not yet come inside.  I explained to the new customer that I was going outside to check on my partner and that I would be back inside in just a few moments.  The hose was on the reel in the back of the truck, the weepholes were already meshed, but the trainee was nowhere to be found around the outside of the home.  I didn’t want to start yelling his name and cause any of the neighbors to question the professionalism of the technicians working for Bulwark, so I decided to finish the inside service, and think about where the trainee could have gone.  I completed the interior work and explained to the new customer, what I had done on the inside, what products were used and how they worked.  After thanking the customer and in the process of walking out the door, the customer said very calmly and nonchalantly, “make sure the dog doesn’t follow you out the gate, she has a habit of escaping” and the customer followed me out into the yard.  As we walked, I recognized the trainee, sweat dripping off of his face and petting a little dog in the yard.  The customer then told the trainee, “I’m surprised you two are getting along, she’s quite an escape artist, anytime someone comes into the yard, she gets out”, to which the trainee replied, “oh no ma’am we pay close attention when there a pets in the yard, we would never let anything happen to someone’s pet”.  The trainee and I left the home and hopped into the truck and asked him, “where’d you go, I was looking for you?”  To which he replied, “That little dog got out when I was reeling up the hose, so I tried to catch her.”  “I have been running all over the neighborhood for that last half hour.  I couldn’t pick her up and carry her the three blocks back here because I’m allergic.  So I caught up to her and fed her my sandwich to get her to come to me.  I took off my belt and made a leash and the two of us walked back to the house right before ya’ll came out.”  We laughed for a few minutes and I offered to buy him a Gatorade and something to eat.  As we pulled into the parking place at the convenience store, there was an unmistakable “LOST DOG” picture and poster in the store’s window from one of the previous escapes by his new friend.

Russel Shoffner

Branch Manager Austin

I’m Gabby, and have worked for Bulwark Exterminating for over three years now as a Customer Service Representative. One of my many duties entails calling and scheduling customers. There is this one particular customer that called in on September 25^th 2007. This customer has been a loyal customer of ours since 2007. She has requested to have a specific technician to do her regular service and that is Roger. He is known in our office because of all the great compliments we have received from various customers. Roger services a well known gated community in the Austin, TX area. One of the great things we hear from all his customers is that he bends over backwards for our customers. Which I agree he really does.  If I could estimate there is about 30 additional customers who request Roger as well. So those customers are known as “Roger Only” customer that’s how popular he is in our office. So on that day in September the customer who was scheduled to have Roger out there that morning and got a notice left on her gate that stated her mailbox was full! She called the office to inquire what that meant. I then informed her that when we called her to let her know about the scheduled service, her voicemail was full and therefore she didn’t know about the appointment and left her gate locked. She then requested not only to have Roger go back and perform the regular service but to also delete her messages on her voice mail because she didn’t know how to do that. I explained to her that I couldn’t schedule that because that is not Roger’s area of expertise and she would have to contact her phone service provider for that. She insisted on getting Roger back out there, so I did. She continues to be a “ Roger Only” customer and I wouldn’t be surprised if Roger did go back and perform her regular service and also deleted her messages for her because again Roger always bends over backwards for his customers.

My name is Roger James and I’ve been a technician for Bulwark for four years now.  I am a team leader and service the community of Steiner Ranch which is in Austin, Texas.

It seems like everyone is cutting corners financially these days.  One of my favorite families from Steiner Ranch shared with me that the father of their household had to take a pay cut from his work.  They ended up having a family discussion about where they should cut corners.  It was either their gardener or me.  I’m happy to say that their final decision was to keep Bulwark.  Too bad for their gardener.

I always try to go that extra mile when it comes to customer service.  Many times I take in customer’s trash cans or spend a little time asking how they are doing.  It is very important to me that I take an extra five minutes at each customer’s house in order to develop rapport and trust.  With the number of customers that want my service exclusively, I would say that my skills are paying off.

Our staff for Bulwark in Austin meets twice every month and always encourages the topic of Customer Service.  It helps to hear other tech’s stories in order to pick up tips here and there.