Peskies Pest Control Montgomery Alabama Podcast

Podcast Transcript: Michael Wienecke 0:23 Hey, and thanks for listening to the Peskies Pest Control Podcast. I’m Michael, and we’ve got Travis here, and we are going to be talking about the fire stinging insect that is in your front and backyard that creates unsightly mounds and just causes lots of problems. Travis, what are we going to talk about today? Travis McGowin 0:47 Well, fire ants, just to put it blatantly for everyone, fire ants is the scourge of most people’s lawns, sometimes the scourge of the structure that you know you live in. They they range everywhere from, you know, East Coast to West Coast, and you know, as far up as, say, Virginia and down towards Florida. So I mean, they’re very wide area that they live in, and that that means that, you know, a large amount of people you know across the globe are affected by these insects. Michael Wienecke 1:22 100% you know, they’ve come in from boxes over centuries, from other countries. I would say just, just like any other pests that we have in the United States, it came from Asia. Travis McGowin 1:35 Yeah. So actually, I was reading about that and the they believe that. I think the red imported fire ant was actually originally from Brazil, Michael Wienecke 1:45 Brazil. Okay, I know, I know other ants have come in from from Asian areas and all the shipping containers and all that. So another fun fact about fire ants, they are called fire ants because when they bite, it is like fire. It feels like fire. Travis McGowin 2:02 Yeah. You know, instantly, when you get when you get hit by one it’s, it’s not some delayed thing, it’s, it’s instant pain. And you know, think it’s estimated that one to 2% of the population in the United States is actually allergic to fire ants, which, when you think about the population of the United States, 1 to 2% that’s a pretty decent sized Michael Wienecke 2:24 chunk. So I’m glad you brought that up. So a couple months ago, we were gardening in the backyard, and I turn around and see my two year old rolling around in the in the grass. Well, he was covered in fire ants from about feet to waist, so ripped his clothes off, hosed him down. He was probably stung. It’s funny, I was about to say bit, and that’s something else we’re going to talk about too. But he was stung about, I would say, 20 something times monitored. Monitored him for any kind of, you know, anaphylaxis or anything like that. Did not have any issues, thankfully. But yeah, they can definitely be a safety concern. Travis McGowin 2:56 My brother has a similar story. When he was around the same age, he actually, he actually sat on top of a fire ant mound accidentally. And to this day, even as an adult, you know, in his late 30s, he is still allergic to him. If he gets stung by a fire ant, he swells up in the side of the sting. And so, yeah, that that one encounter as a child still lingers with him, even as an adult today. Michael Wienecke 3:26 Well, my son loves ants now. He tries to find him wherever he can. He hasn’t been stung again, so we’ll see how that goes. But I I certainly hope he’s not in the same boat as your brother. So let’s talk about what to look for like, What? What? What are fire ants compared to other ants color wise. So you’re looking for more of a yellowish, reddish, brownish color. And of course, the mounds. So the where they nest is going to be those unsightly mounds like we talked about. You know, I’ve got one right now popping up in my driveway between the cracks and crevices of the driveway, leaf debris, rock debris, anything that can kind of give them a good harborage area. Travis McGowin 4:05 And they will shelter up under things too. And here’s the crazy part. You know, people may not realize just how big of a problem and how invasive these insects actually are, but to put it into perspective, those properties that have a significant problem can actually have upwards of 30 to 100 mounds per acre. So that’s that’s a significant amount of ants, when you consider that the average colony size for a decent sized ant colony, and remember, 30 to 100 mounds, so potential colonies per acre and a colony size of 80 to 250,000per colony of ants. Michael Wienecke 4:54 And that’s, that’s one queen colony. Travis McGowin 4:56 Right, Exactly. So, I mean, when you, when you really think. About it, if you had it on the high end of 250,000 ants, and let’s just say you had 80 mounds, you’re talking about 20 million ants in one acre of property. Michael Wienecke 5:13 That’s that’s a lot of ants. Travis McGowin 5:14 Just, just to put it into perspective, right? Michael Wienecke 5:17 Well, that’s why I try to let people know if you have one fire ant bed. Typically, there’s going to be more, whether it’s on your property or your neighbor’s property. But again, that’s a lot of ants. And the crazy thing too, is, is that that queen is producing upwards of 1500 ants per day. Travis McGowin 5:34 Right. That’s a that’s a significant amount of population ballooning in a very short amount of time. Michael Wienecke 5:41 That’s right. So let’s talk about some other we talked about the safety aspect of it. Let’s just talk about the yard. So I know, you know, I’ve got Bermuda grass in the front yard, and I’ve had, we actually just did a fire ant treatment at my house, and starting to see results within about three days. But they will ruin your grass, Travis McGowin 5:59 Right, especially if you you know those people who really take a lot of time and effort on their lawns. You know that you you may have a fertilization or a weed and feed treatment that you do, or that you have someone come out and do on a regular basis. And so, you know you pay to have a nice lawn. You want to enjoy that lawn in your outdoor areas, and then you have something that comes and just constructs this big, huge mound of, you know, dirt or sand, and then it, of course, leaves a dead spot in your yard, you know. And then other other problems with them too. I mean, they can, they can also destroy vegetation, if you have, you know, plants and different things, they can also be detrimental to that too. And I think it’s estimated that fire ants have an actual economic impact of I want to say it was like $6 billion per year from from damage and treatment costs. Total was like $6 billion. Michael Wienecke 6:58 Well, I mean, they have the ability to chew on wires. I mean, if you know, if they want to, you know electrical wires, that’s that’s another one of the biggest routes we see as far as a building, is, you know that AC line going into the building, or those electrical lines, and they just follow that path to reach least resistance, and then they’re in your home or your building. Travis McGowin 7:17 Well, not only that, too. I had a customer that, not long ago, called us in reference to fire ants, because they ended up having a mound that destroyed their air conditioner unit. They had to have things replaced inside. And what happened was, when these ants get inside of these air units and these electrical components of different like I said, not even just air units, but different products. You know, they may contact, some sort of electrical contact, which inflicts a shock on the ant, and that causes the ant to release a like an alarm pheromone or an attack pheromone, and then it just brings more ants. So then you have this huge cluster of ants that are attacking this electrical component that shocks the, you know, the ants in the first place, and they can just cause extreme damage, you know, even up to the point where you might have to replace components of a unit, or a whole unit, which can cost thousands and thousands of dollars for a homeowner. Michael Wienecke 8:14 I’m glad you brought that up, because, you know, same with the, you know, calling each other with the pheromones they do. The same with stinging. So that’s why, in that story with my son, he got stung 20 times, because when one ant stung him, they all released a chemical response to sting at the same time, Travis McGowin 8:29 Right, so, I mean, you know, with allergic reactions, a lot of people may not realize this. They say, Oh, well, I’ve been stung by ants, stung by a wasp, stung by whatever X amount of times throughout my life, I’ve never had a problem, but you can be stung by something 99 times, you know, just as an example, and never have a reaction. But that next time, that 100th time, may be the time when your body no longer has the ability to withstand that. You know that foreign body from a sting anymore, and then you know that can lead to an allergic reaction Michael Wienecke 9:01 100%. Well, we always talk about on this podcast as far as helping people and things that they can do themselves, but I personally would not recommend doing a fire ant treatment yourself. I’ve heard so many customers tell me that they get that, you know, white powdery stuff from the big box store, and two weeks later, you know, they’ve moved over into the left hand side of the yard, where they were in the right hand side of the yard. Travis McGowin 9:24 Absolutely. You know, DIY is great. I DIY a lot of different things, fire ants, or just ants in general, can be something that are that are difficult to just tackle on your own. Because if ants know that something is a killer to them, or something is a danger to them, then they just may up and relocate. So you know, some of these products that I’ve said it 1000 times on this podcast and to many other my customers, is that just because something says it can be used to kill an insect doesn’t mean it should be used to kill an insect. So, you know, whereas, if you. Some sort of drench on a mound with something that says it kills ants, and then all of a sudden, you know, a couple days later, here’s this new mound popping up, you know, X amount of distance away from where you treated the other one, because they’ve just moved. So there’s a lot more to it than just dumping on something on top of a mound or on a

Podcast Transcript: Michael Wienecke 0:00 Steve, hey, so today on the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, we would like to talk about solving pest issues without chemical application. So we’re seeing a lot of especially this month, last month, with the amount of rain we’ve had Travis, I think you can, with Montgomery, I think you can attest to that, that it’s just rained every other day, Travis McGowin 0:24 Every single day, and it’s and it’s unseasonable. I mean, realistically unseasonable for, you know, May into June and then even into July. I mean, this is just not something that we typically have. It’s just pretty much downpours and heavy downpours every single afternoon. But, I mean, on a side note, my yard looks great. Michael Wienecke 0:46 Well, I can’t cut my grass, so my yard, it’s cut now, but you know, it’s hard to cut it in the rain, which also leads us to, you know, the whole issue of pests. If you if your grass is, you know, knee high, expect to have some pest issues, Travis McGowin 1:02 Right. So, you know, when you talk about rain and home ownership, the first thing that comes to mind, I mean, when we’re just kind of talking about a broad overview of things and a broad overview of pests and pest problems that you can, you know, potentially solve yourself. I know I can speak for my yard and my house. When I tell you that they’re right off hand, I can think of right now, there’s two pretty much clogged gutters right now on my house. And knowing that clogged gutters mean that it’s got leaf debris, it’s got different tree you know, pine needles, different things from trees, the debris is there, meaning that it’s not draining properly. It’s holding water. So Michael, what? What insects am I having a problem with from my gutters that I have not cleaned because I’ve just frankly, been lazy. Michael Wienecke 1:53 I can think of a few, but the main one would be mosquitoes. Travis McGowin 1:55 Right! So we have a large amount of mosquitoes now. Granted, our houses, our lot is kind of low lying. We do get a lot of drainage off of other lots around ours that comes through our house. So we do get a lot of standing water, especially when it rains day after day after day. If we don’t cut our yard, then we get a lot of standing water. So we’ve kind of remedied that. But mosquitoes, I mean, that leaf debris is going to bring roaches, things like that, that. Yeah, people don’t realize how much standing water is actually left in your gutters when you don’t actually clean them out. And then, you know, mosquitoes can breed in as you know, think the size a container, the size of a bottle cap. So think how much water is actually up there. It’s more than a bottle cap. Michael Wienecke 2:35 That’s right. And I mean, it’s, it’s hard to clean your gutters out when it’s been raining every other day, because can’t get up there and do that. So it’s just been, it’s been a very hard, I would say, two months. Travis McGowin 2:46 It has. It’s just been out of the norm for Alabama. But I’ll tell you one thing that has continuously been coming to my houses or my house, is cardboard boxes with the word Amazon on the side. So we get deliveries every single day. So we take the items Michael Wienecke 3:07 Can we say Amazon? Travis McGowin 3:08 I don’t know. I think we just did. I don’t think it really matters. Amazon, Walmart, their Target. Okay, I got a bunch out of the way. So Amazon boxes are a staple. I see Amazon delivery drivers come through. You know, our area all the time. We’re in a rural area, so Amazon’s really just everywhere. But we pulled the item we ordered out of the box. We throw the cardboard box on the back porch, and Michael, what happens next? Michael Wienecke 3:31 Well, I’ve got the same issue right now. Spiders, ants, millipedes, roaches, silverfish, earwigs, wasps, bees, Travis McGowin 3:43 Small children. Michael Wienecke 3:45 Just about anything that likes a warm environment. Travis McGowin 3:50 Well, not only that, but what happens with all the rain we’ve had the the boxes get soaked. They absorb water. They never dry out, and it just creates this nice little habitat for for pests that, you know, you wouldn’t normally have out there, but there again, we didn’t, you know, throw away the boxes. We didn’t burn them. We just decided we needed to stack them on the back porch. Michael Wienecke 4:09 Well. And that brings up a great topic is, how do they breed roaches when they’re, you know, in a lab, or something like that. What do they use to breed roaches? Travis McGowin 4:18 Oh, certainly, cardboard or other types of paper material. I mean, it absorbs and holds moisture. It’s good cover for them. It packs down good, and it just gives them a perfect environment. Michael Wienecke 4:29 And one of the worst outside termite issues I’ve ever seen was a customer that put cardboard as their weed control. So instead of using the plastic, it’s a, it’s great, it’s it’s eco friendly, but it’s also a great food source, Travis McGowin 4:47 Right, exactly. And, you know, that brings up another thing, not even just cardboard, but talk about things like scrap wood around people’s houses all the time. I see where, you know, I get it in the wintertime. You. If you got a fireplace, a wood burning fireplace, you want that firewood close to your structure. No one likes to run out outside in the cold and try to get a couple more logs for the fire. Totally get that was the same when I grew up, too. But inevitably, you stack wood on the outside of your house and you’re going to have a nice habitat for it. There again, general household pests, things like roaches, earwig, silverfish spiders, black widow spiders, brown recluse. Yes, large cockroaches, like American roaches, are going to love that. And then, of course, a homeowner’s worst nightmare, termites. Michael Wienecke 5:35 Well, and we’ve seen that firsthand. You know, we had a customer a couple of years ago that she was storing firewood in her garage, and found a termite, you know, infestation in the garage due to the firewood, Michael Wienecke 5:46 Right, good point that you don’t even have to have it stacked along the outside of the structure. If there’s gaps, cracks, crevices, you know, damage or cracks in the foundation, they can come up right through that from underneath the house and go straight up into the firewood. It could be sitting in your living room, it could be sitting in your garage, and you could still be susceptible to that. So wood, scrap, pallets, like I said, firewood, any type of boards where you’ve done remodel or construction and you just discarded them out of the side of the house. All of that stuff needs to be moved away from the house. Michael Wienecke 6:19 100% and I mean, when we go to our, you know, a new start, or someone that’s having an issue, that’s something we look for, you know, we’re looking for mulch bags that are sitting right up against the house, that have been sitting there for a couple months, or leaf debris stacks of pallets in the backyard. The other day, a rotten door was in somebody’s backyard. Michael Wienecke 6:42 If you recall you, and I actually went out on a termite inspection. This has been months and months ago that had a crawl space, and you went into the crawl space and lifted a piece of scrap wood under the house, and there were live termites, actually, and eating the scrap wood underneath the house in the crawl space. Michael Wienecke 7:00 Oh yeah, I’ve seen that with wooden ladders. I’ve seen it with pallets. I’ve seen it, you know, having wood under your house in a crawl space is is not a good idea. Travis McGowin 7:07 Well, I like what you said, too, about bags of mulch or different types of ground cover that people use underneath their shrubberies and in their flower beds. I can’t tell you how many times. I mean, we all have good intentions. We’re going to go, you know, we’re going to go to, oh, I’m going to say some more box stores. We’re going to go to Lowe’s or Home Depot or Marvin’s or Tractor Supply, or wherever it is that we go and we shop, and we’re going to buy the mulch that’s on sale. It’s like, Oh, great. I’m going to go get X amount of bags of mulch. We’re going to get this done, and you spread one or two the rest of them. Sit there and sit there and sit there because you run out of time, or you got to go to the ballpark, or whatever it is that eats your time away away from your home. And then I can’t tell you how many times I’ve moved on these bags, and there’s like a gigantic ant infestation all wrapped up inside of these bags because they’ve just sat there. Michael Wienecke 7:53 Yeah, and it doesn’t even have to be mulch bags or wood a ladder. I had a customer the other day having ants all over the property, inside, outside. And they were coming from more than just the ladder. They were coming from a lot of the crape myrtles around, but the ladder was giving them that, you know, that warm environment under, under where the ladder was, was resting on the ground. And they were just going right in the house, between the ladder and the house, Michael Wienecke 8:19 Right, and we’ve talked about ground but people don’t realize, not even just around the, you know, the lower portion of your house, but things that they can do to keep pests, such as, you know, carpenter ants, things like that, off the side of their house is trimming your trees back. Like I I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen these improperly trimmed crape myrtles, or, you know, these large, healthy, grown trees around the outside of the house with the limbs overhanging and eventually touching the eaves of the roof of the structure. You know, just a couple weeks ago, I had two basically back to back calls for carpenter ants from trees and and, you know, one of them was literally the bridge to the house. Was a large limb. The carpenter ants had a nest inside this kind of worn out, hollowed out tree, and the ants were just trekking along, going acro

Podcast Transcript: Michael Wienecke 0:03 Hey. So here today on the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, we’re going to talk about crane flies or Skeeter eaters. What are some other names, mosquito Hawk, tarantula flyer. I’ve heard all kinds of names, Daddy Long daddy, long legs, all that kind of stuff. Travis McGowin 0:23 So I feel like in Alabama, it’s getting harder to differentiate between real mosquitoes and crane flies, because I feel like the real mosquitoes are getting bigger. But that’s a conversation for another day. Michael Wienecke 0:35 Well, let’s see, may it rained, I think, every other day. Travis McGowin 0:39 It’s still raining every other day. Michael Wienecke 0:40 Yes, it is still raining every other day. So I think the biggest takeaway from here with mosquito hawks or crane flies are that they are not mosquitoes. They do not bite, they do not cause any issues. Like mosquitoes, they just kind of buzz around and are extremely annoying. Travis McGowin 0:58 Yes, but unlike mosquitoes, they like you said, they don’t bite, they don’t consume, you know, human or animal blood as their primary source of food. And even after, you know, the larva emerge into adults. The adults really don’t even they hardly consume anything before they, you know, do their reproductive cycle and then basically just die. Michael Wienecke 1:22 Yeah, what 10 to 15 days, and they’re, they’re goners, and really, they’re just kind of bouncing around, you know, like we get calls from customers, they’ll say, Hey, I’ve got a very large mosquito I’ve never seen before, or very large mosquito buzz around the house. And that’s typically what it turns into is a crane fly issue, which there’s no treating an adult crane fly. It’s just they fly around, they die, and then they start back over spring to fall, Travis McGowin 1:48 Right, and I mean, honestly, their primary focus, or primary, I guess, benefit to the environment, is that they’re basically one decomposers, so, and I’m going to assume that’s probably more on the larval side, where they’ve, you know, laid whatever eggs are going to lay, the larva hatch and probably feed on organic matter around the soil, decomposing things, probably very much like a termite does, just returning those items into the soil and enriching the soil. Other than the other thing is like just being a food source for other animals, for things such as, you know, fish, other insects, birds, bats and just other animals. I’m sure, probably, you know, lizards and things like that too. So when they emerge in large numbers, and like you said, customer calls, they’re flying around inside your house, because inevitably, once you open the door, they’re going to come flying in. You know, in those times when they’re kind of ballooning in their population, that’s when other animals get to feed on them and use them as one of their food sources. Ecosystem, yep. And it works out. It works out really well for everybody involved. Well, I guess, except for the crane fly. Michael Wienecke 3:01 Except for the crane. Well, let’s talk about the damage that they do cause. So one thing that they can cause damage to the grass, the larva. The larval stage, you know, which, that’s where they spend 90% of their life, is underground. They can destroy root systems and cause a little bit of damage to your grass. Travis McGowin 3:19 Right, and the larva actually look like, I guess you could say little, you know, little worms or or really, really small, thin grubs. Maybe some people would describe them as that, but a lot of people refer to them. I guess because of their they’ve got, like, a darkish brown color. But a lot of them refer to the larva as leather jackets. And like you said, the adults really don’t damage anything, but leather jackets can certainly hurt lawns and gardens. They’ll feed on plant roots. And you know, I’m sure it could either kill kill your grass, or kill your plants, or definitely make your yard, you know, off colored, or something like that too. So certainly could become a nuisance to someone who really likes a very manicured, well watered and lush lawn, or or lush, you know, group of plants in a garden. Michael Wienecke 4:11 Yeah, definitely. I was just lost with my train of thought. So we’re talking about the larval stage. Oh, where they like to breed. So biggest thing is going to be always a water source, major water source, marshes, ponds, they’re always going to lay eggs kind of near that area. That’s going to help those eggs thrive. And of course, you’re going to have a a lot of crane flies during the the spring and fall. Travis McGowin 4:36 Right, and it just depends on what breed of crane fly. There are, you know, here in Alabama, most of the time, like you said, spring into summer, you’re going to get your biggest group of population. But there’s even a European crane fly that will actually start to hatch and grow, you know, from the August to September, sliding over from. Late summer into early fall as well. So, you know, there’s really a large time block when you’re, you as a customer, may actually see them. Just know that they could be different species, but they’re, they’re about the same in terms of what they do, how they act, how they reproduce and that sort of thing. So really, not, you know, not one species to be alarmed about more than any other. I mean, it’s, it’s about the same across the board. Michael Wienecke 5:25 Right, and they all kind of look similar, like you said. But there are, they are size comparison. So I’ve seen some that are almost half the size of what, you know, I guess our standard crane fly, you know, I would say probably, what, two inches long, roundabout. Travis McGowin 5:25 Right, probably on the high end. And I know that, you know, makes people, makes people a little nervous to see that sitting on their wall, or, you know, to come essentially swooping down while you’re trying to walk through a doorway or walk outside. And kind of their erratic flight behavior, you know, may especially scare your kids or something and then they’re walking by em, but certainly harmless, certainly can’t do anything to you, and other than just really being more of a nuisance than than anything. Michael Wienecke 6:10 Well, so I think the takeaway is, is if you see a bunch of crane flies buzz around your house, just watch the ping pong effect, and they’ll go away in about 10 to 15 days. Travis McGowin 6:19 And they are not mosquitoes. Michael Wienecke 6:23 Not mosquitoes, yes! 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Podcast Transcript: Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Today, I wanted to discuss something that seems to have been kind of on an increase in terms of phone calls that we’ve been receiving on our phone lines, messages that we’ve been receiving through our website from customers. So I felt like it was something that needed to be addressed again, and wouldn’t hurt to give you some information. On but today we’re going to talk a little bit about fleas. Now fleas are, unfortunately, a very common pest a lot of people have experience with a lot of people have difficulty with at some point or another. You can have difficulty with fleas if you have pets of your own, and even sometimes, you can run into situations where you have problems with fleas, even if you do not actually own any pets. And I’ll discuss a couple of those situations. But just a couple things about fleas to make you think about the fact that they can actually balloon from a very small problem initially up to something that seems like you just cannot get rid of them. And this is because, for example, if you have pets, dogs, cats, if you have those animals living around your house or inside of your house, a domesticated animal, those fleas typically like to feed on the animal. Not saying that you wouldn’t see a flea in your house. You wouldn’t see a flea on your body at some point or another. It’s definitely possible, but as long as there’s a host food source, such as your pet, to take the brunt of the problem, most of the time, you may go a long time without really even noticing that you have a problem or that your pet has a problem. A lot of times, people discover it, though, when something happens and the pet is removed from an environment, say, the pet passes away. You know, something happens where you have to rehome that pet. You know, just various different reasons why you may no longer have that cat or dog inside your house, but as soon as the food source that pet is taken away, now, all that the fleas have left to feed on, unfortunately, is you so, you know, like I said, a lot of times, it balloons into this big problem, or people don’t even know that they have the problem until it’s a little bit too late. But female fleas alone can lay anywhere between four to eight give or take eggs after each time they feed on your pet or you. And in the grand scheme of things, they can lay somewhere between four to 500 eggs throughout their entire life cycle, and that’s just one female adult flea. So if you have multiple you can see where it could just seem like something that you may not ever be able to get rid of. And that’s not true. There are definitely methods that are successful in getting rid of fleas, but it definitely feels like a mountain that’s a little bit difficult to climb. So let’s talk a little bit about this. What are some ways that we can get rid of fleas? There are a lot of DIY people in the world, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I am on that same Avenue with many different projects around my house that I try to protect into and saving some money and that sort of thing. But if not done correctly, you can actually exacerbate the flea problem and you can actually make it completely worse. You’ve heard me say it on the podcast many times. This will not be the last time I say this. I tell my customers all the time. Just because a product says you can kill fleas with it, or you can kill roaches with it, or any of those pests, doesn’t always necessarily mean that that product should be used to kill that particular insect. So sometimes these products actually have an effect on making the insects seem like it’s worse inside your home, for example, if you use a product labeled for cockroaches on certain types of roaches, like German roaches, and it’s. Wrong style of product, you may actually cause those roaches to relocate to a different room in your house that you never actually had a roach problem in up till that point. And the same can go with fleas as well. So number one, if you want to get rid of fleas, and I tell my customers, is if I’m going to treat their house, this is number one in the discussion where I talk to my customers, you have to get your pet treated for the fleas, and you need to maintain regular flea treatments on those pets. Unfortunately, the way it works, we can certainly treat a house for fleas, but if the host is no is never treated or maybe just given a flea bath and not given some type of, you know, medication from the veterinary office. If there’s not some long term treatment plan for your animal, there’s a high likelihood that those insects will be back and you’ll have a problem again in the very near future. So that’s that’s number one we always recommend to the customer. Hey, please get your animal treated. You know, sometimes it’s a situation where maybe you don’t have a pet, and you move into an apartment, you move into a rental house, and you end up finding that there are fleas and that even though there hasn’t even been a tenant in that rental property or that apartment for months. That’s because fleas can actually lay dormant. Eggs can lay dormant and not hatch for around six months or even longer, sometimes depending upon the temperature and the environment that they’re in. So I mean, you could even move into having a flea problem where you didn’t have pets to begin with, or maybe even in your yard if you had a neighbor that breeds dogs. I’ve seen this before in some of my customers where the neighbor whose yard backs up to my customer’s yard actually was breeding dogs and ballooned flea problem in their yard, which kind of spilled over into my customer’s yard, where they were getting bitten, eventually even transferring into my customer’s house, which was a big problem. So get your animals treated. Encourage your neighbors, friends and family, to have their animals treated so that they don’t have flea problem. But that’s only the first step. So at pesky we have an awesome Flea Treatment Program. I have yet to come across a time where we employed this program and it did not work for the customer. It’s very effective. We’ve got a lot of experience doing it, and we treat every single house the same way when they have a fleet problem. So initially, what we go in and do we make sure that the homeowner, family members, pets, all of those things are out of the house at the time of the treatment. And the very first thing that we do is come in with a vacuum, and we have a pest control vacuum, a special one designed specifically for that purpose. And basically what it does is upon pulling those insects and those eggs and even some dirt and dust and all with it, upon pulling those up into the vacuum and actually locks them inside of a bag where the debris sits to where they cannot actually get out, and they’re not loose inside the vacuum container or anything like that. So basically it pulls it into this bag where we’re able to then take that bag and dispose of it in a manner where it’s not going to reinvest the customer’s property. And so we vacuum all of the floors. It doesn’t matter if it’s got carpet on it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a rug. It doesn’t matter if it is a hard floor, wood floor. Doesn’t matter. We vacuum all those surfaces, because even the smallest gap, crack, crevice in a floor or in a carpet allows for fleas to hide, and it also allows for harborage areas for those fleas, egg eggs. So we also vacuum upholstered furniture as well couches, chairs and kitchens or dining rooms, recliners, Ottomans, anywhere where those fleas can be, anywhere where those eggs can also be attached to. We vacuum all of that stuff. After that, we come in with a two part liquid treatment. Now this is another important reason why family and pets needs to be out of the house, because this product needs time to be applied, and then it needs time to dry. Now, once it dries, it is considered okay to contact, so that two part liquid treatment actually has two different active ingredients that we use, the first being an adult decide or a pesticide that’s actually going to kill those adult and younger fleas that it comes into contact to but the neat thing about it is this is that the second ingredient has a more long term life cycle breaking effect, and that’s called an IGR, which stands for insect growth regulator, hormone. So those two ingredients come. Cobbled together and applied in the problem areas where you have fleas, does amazing work and getting getting rid of those fleas. Now I will tell you, most people, when they come home from my testimonials, where I’ve spoken to customers after the fact, say that they see instant results. That’s because we have vacuumed up a huge amount of the population, and then we’ve also liquid treated. However, you have to consider this, it’s a little bit of a more long term game to get rid of fleas, because, like any insect, fleas lay eggs. Any insect that lays eggs has larva inside of it that are completely protected from the effects of pesticides. There’s not any pesticide on the market that can penetrate inside of the egg of an insect, and that specifically also goes for fleas. So sometimes these products actually cannot affect an insect, larva or egg, until that egg hatches, and then, once it does, either they contact the adulticide, and it actually kills the the in the recently hatched flea, or it contacts the growth regulator. And what that IGR does is it inhibits a larval or nymphal stage insect, like a flea, into inhibits it from being able to grow into an adult, biting egg, laying flea, so eventually it breaks the life cycle. What I like to tell my customers about the Flea Treatment is that once we are done, you can roughly expect that product to continue to work, you know, as long as it’s applied. But I like to tell them to help us out for the next seven to 10 days, that post treatment instruction is going to be number one. We don’t want to that, or, excuse me, we don’t

Call Ryan Greer with ServPro of Montgomery, Alabama! Click Here! Find ServPro of Montgomery, Alabama on Facebook! Click Here! Visit ServPro of Montgomery, Alabama online! Click Here!   Podcast Transcript: Travis McGowin Hey everybody! Welcome back to the Peskies Pest Control Podcast! Today we’re doing another one of our local business spotlights, where we highlight one of our local companies in the area that’s doing great things, reaching out, helping people. And today I’m excited to have on the show with me, Mister Ryan Greer, who is with ServPro of Montgomery. Ryan, how are you this morning? Ryan Greer I’m good. Travis, how are you? Man, thanks for having me on. Travis McGowin Yes, sir. Well, welcome. We appreciate you taking the time out to join us. So let’s get started. Tell us a little bit about yourself and maybe how you came to be with serve pro of Montgomery? Ryan Greer So I’m born and raised here in the Tri County area. I was in retail for a long time, and my daughter was born. And you know, when you have younger kids, you really retail life is very difficult on on on children. So have conversation with with her mom, and we prayed about it a lot. Asked God to open the door for us. And a couple weeks later, a friend of mine called and said, Hey, man, there’s a company here locally named ServPro that is needing someone in the Autauga County area. I know you’re from Prattville. Think you’d be great for it. What do you think about coming in and interviewing for it? So that’s how I ended up here. Travis McGowin Awesome. Well, sometimes same things just work out in the best way that they possibly can. So that’s great. So how long has ServPro of Montgomery actually been servicing the local community of the River region? Ryan Greer Yeah. So as you, as you may know, ServPro is a franchise, so there’s so we’re 2,200 locations nationwide. Our ownership group here has been in, it’s a family business, has been in the area, Montgomery, Tri County area, since the mid 80s. So coming up on 40 years now, pretty good, pretty good chunk of time. Oh, wow. So they have seen a lot of things happen in in 40 years. But that’s great to know. You know, I know you see ServPro logos and a lot of different places you see them, you know, at sporting events, you see them on the television, just in general, commercials. And it does make you think of a large company, and it is however, you still have that local ownership, that franchise ownership, that gives it that real personal touch, and that I think sets, sets it apart from some of the other, you know, larger companies as well. Travis McGowin So what else sets ServPro apart from from other companies? Is there anything that ServPro does to give back to the communities or to really help in local communities? Ryan Greer Yeah, so we, you know, there’s a lot of great companies out there. One of, one of my main focuses is actually community involvement. You know, we do anything from a lot of the local the golf tournaments, you know, there’s, there’s, we’re pretty involved with the hospitals Baptist Jackson, both. We’re involved with the Y pretty heavily involved with YMCA, really, anything that that I can be involved when community wise, is something I’m going to jump with the chance to be involved with it’s just something very close to me. So that is, that is hard, one of the wonderful things I get to do every day, Travis McGowin Right, and that’s a lot of great organizations and places that you listed there, so that’s really cool that ServPro is kind of has their hand in helping out with that. So for those unfamiliar with ServPro and what it does, kind of, kind of give us a list. What does ServPro of Montgomery do, as far as a range of services that you guys typically do offer to people in need? Ryan Greer Yeah, so we, I tell everybody, we, as far as commercially or residentially, both, we can handle anything above the slab. Of course, our bread and butter is going to be the water fire and the mold mitigation. Travis McGowin Right. Ryan Greer But we actually have a construction department here. Not all ServPros have it, but we’re looking that we have one here locally, that we can handle anything from sheet rock to paint to flooring to roofing, framing, all that good stuff. So yeah, anything above the slab we can handle. Travis McGowin That’s awesome. So you guys don’t necessarily have to subcontract anything out. You keep it all in house, and you get it done. And that homeowner, that business owner, is only dealing with, you know, one group, one company, instead of having to go through a whole bunch of different subcontractors and groups. I’m sure that makes a lot more easy and streamlined for the customers. Ryan Greer Yeah, it seems to. Now we do, we do sub subcontract, some things. We’ve got people in house that can handle, you know, the flooring removal and all that. But like you said, you know, it’s very important to to be involved through the process the entire way. We don’t have, you know this company that that comes in and and, you know, the customers got three, four or five different people they’re dealing with. They deal with us, and we handle everything from top to bottom, from beginning to end. Travis McGowin Awesome. Well, what are, what would you say in your experience of working with ServPro, what would you say are the most common types of emergencies that you have seen you know in your work there. Ryan Greer Yeah. So day to day, like I mentioned earlier, water mitigation is a huge part of what we do every day. Unfortunately, there are a number of water sources coming into your home that people just don’t realize anything from a hose on a dishwasher or a refrigerator line that that creates all that ice that we just can’t live without. You know, of course, your your shower pan leaks, your and more in the summer, we see air conditioner leaks where the drain may get clogged and and, you know, overflow and kind of flood. And that’s the water part’s going to be what we deal with more than anything else. Travis McGowin Okay, so walk us through that process. So you you receive a call from someone who’s having that type of issue, whether it’s their home or whether it’s their business, and you know from the time that they pick up the phone and they call ServPro of Montgomery. You know what’s the process from the timing start to the time that whole situation is is done? Ryan Greer Yeah, so I’ll just take, for instance, if you call me on my phone, first thing I’ll do is I’ll get some information from the homeowner, as far as just basic information, do you know where the water is coming from? What kind of flooring is involved? How many rooms has it gone into? Has the water source been stopped? That’s that’s one thing. It’s very important, because I’m not going to send a a crew out, not going to dispatch a crew out the water source hasn’t been stopped, because it’s not going to do me any good to start, you know, sucking up all the water and drying everything out when the water continues to come in, they just, it builds a bill, and it’s just, we choose not to do it that way. So we want to make sure that water source is cut off first. And then the next thing I’m going to do is, I’ll, I’ll call one of our I’ll either call our office. Kind of tell them what’s going on. I’ll speak to our project managers, give them a heads up on what’s happening, so they know what to load on the vans, and we’ll go out to the home and assess it that way and get our eyes on it. That starts the whole process to go from there. Travis McGowin Awesome. All right, so I know you mentioned, you know, when we were talking earlier about some of the service offerings that ServPro of Montgomery has fire, water, mold remediation, that sort of thing. What are, let’s, let’s talk a little bit about the mold. So what are some common misconceptions that people have? You know, maybe they’ve discovered that they have a mold problem in their house. You know, is there. There’s some things, mistakes, maybe, or misconceptions that people have about it. I mean, obviously we know molds not healthy to be around, right? Yeah, Ryan Greer Yeah. One of the most, I think, one of the biggest things that we that we see, is somebody will see some microbial growth, and the first thing they do is they run to Home Depot and they get a certain product that says, You know what? You know, it handles it 100% effective and all this. And come to find out, they, you know, they spray it on there, and they wipe it down, and they come back a month later, five or six weeks later, and not only is it still there, but it’s come back, and it’s come back stronger than it did before. First thing we want to do is, you know, call the professionals, kind of just so we can come out there and get an eyes on it and kind of go from there. That’s got to be the the biggest misconception is, you can just spray whatever you want on it, and it’s going to go away and everything’s going to be fine. Travis McGowin We have that same kind of misconception on our side in our industry with pest control. There’s a lot of times where folks go to a chain store, whether it’s Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart, and they go to the pest control aisle and they see something that says, you know, eliminates cockroaches. And if you’ve ever had a German cockroach infestation, which I’m sure in your work with ServPro, you’ve probably seen some pretty nasty ones here and there, but you I always tell people, yes, there are things on the market that will kill cockroaches, but should they be used to kill cockroaches? No, they shouldn’t. And I’m sure that pretty much every industry that has any portion of a DIY market has that same problem. We see it a lot, though, but, you know, other than than those main, like you said, bread and butter type things like firewater, mold remediation, are there? Are there any other specialized, more, like niche services that ServPro offers, you know, biohazard cleanup,

On today’s episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, Travis was joined by local real estate agent Michelle Rawls! Together, they discuss Real Broker, real estate in Montgomery, Alabama, and how you can prepare to buy a home or sell your existing home! If you would like to contact Michelle, please click one of the links below! Call Michelle! Click Here! Visit Michelle Rawls on Instagram! Click Here! Visit Michelle Rawls on Facebook! Click Here! Podcast Transcript: Travis McGowin Hey, thanks for joining us today on the Peskies Pest Control Podcast. As you know, if you’ve listened to our podcast any amount of time, we do an occasional Local Business Spotlight where we talk to either a local business owner, a local business representative from our area, just to kind of hear what they’ve got going on and hear about their business and what it is they do and how they can help our clients too. Today, I am lucky enough to have with me Miss Michelle Rawls, who is a REALTOR with real broker. Michelle, how are you today? Michelle Rawls I’m fantastic. Travis, it’s so good to be here. Travis McGowin Yeah. Thank you for joining us today. You know springtime is on its way in, possibly Alabama is so unpredictable with its weather, it has so many ups and downs. But from what I understand in our previous conversations that you and I have had, that’s kind of when the real estate market starts cooking. Am I right? Michelle Rawls You are absolutely correct. We are starting to see an influx of movement on the in the market, on the MLS. So we’re about to head into our spring season where we’re going to start seeing some more inventory. So I’m really excited. At the moment, I’m just planting seeds and nurturing those seeds, because I know that by springtime, we’re going to start seeing a lot more movement. Travis McGowin Awesome. Well, so kind of paint the picture for us, what got you into real estate, and how did you eventually find your way over to Real broker? Michelle Rawls Sure, so I lived abroad. I graduated from AUM with business degree, and I went overseas and worked for a couple of years, and COVID brought me back to the States. Well, I have a background in sales, and I love sales, so it just kind of seems like a really great fit, and it’s really taken me to a lot of cool places, so I’m really, you know, I’ve really enjoyed it, and the fact that I get to help clients and first time homebuyers is just super rewarding as well, Travis McGowin Awesome. So give us a little about yourself here. You know, beyond enjoying sales and enjoying real estate, what are some things that you like to do, your passions, your hobbies, things that you do outside of work, Michelle Rawls I love to travel. So I’m super passionate about traveling. I i feel very proud to say that I was able to step foot on all seven continents, and I’ve been to like a bunch of different countries all over the world, and even domestically, here in the US, it’s beautiful. So I love road trips and catching flights and, you know, experiencing different festivals and hiking. I love the outdoors. So I’m, you know, very active outside. So when I’m not selling real estate, I’m, you can find me, you know, in the woods or traveling or just spending time with friends and family. Travis McGowin Awesome. Alright, so you like to, you like to make your rounds all over the world. That’s pretty cool. Michelle Rawls Yeah. Travis McGowin So tell us what makes real broker stand out from other real estate companies in, you know, the Montgomery area where you’re at, and what are some of the advantages that real broker brings with you to the clients that you guys serve. Michelle Rawls Sure, so real broker is one of the fastest growing companies in North America, and because of that, the access of training is top notch, and I think that as an agent, it’s super important to continue learn and sharpen your your skills. And that’s kind of what you know sets you apart from the competition, is just being able to negotiate and how to handle, you know, tough clients and tough markets. So I love the fact that my brokerage provides the training. They also have incentives with, you know, commission splits revenue. It’s publicly traded. So if you want to utilize that, it’s a great way to make additional money. There’s opportunities for leadership, if you want to start a team or if you want to sponsor another agent. So I love how there’s just different facets of it that can provide more income than, you know, some other agencies could could do, Travis McGowin Right, It sounds like there’s a lot of opportunity, a lot of growth, and a lot of great resources there for you, as well as your other you know, other agents that you work with. Michelle Rawls Absolutely and you know the CEO and the leadership board with real is just incredible and inspiring. And I think that good leaders, you know, produce other good leaders. So I just feel really supported where I’m at, and just the wealth of knowledge that I’ve learned and received has just been incredible. It’s, I feel like it’s really elevated my career. So I’m, you know, very happy that I’ve made, you know, the choice to be working with real broker. Travis McGowin Awesome. So in my current life, I have only ever went out and purchased a home one time, which is, which is currently the home that we live in. It was for sale by owner. It was kind of a very unique experience, especially being the very first home that my wife and I purchased. And like I said, we’re still in that house today. But thinking about that, thinking about the individuals that you represent as sellers or buyers, what are some common mistakes that you see maybe first time home buyers make, and maybe, what are some tips that they could do to avoid those mistakes? Michelle Rawls I guess to get started, Alabama is a buyer beware state. I always tell my clients, get a home inspection. You want to make sure that you really understand you know, what you’re getting into in terms of how the house functions, and maybe could prevent, you know, issues and having repairs done on the front end. So I always tell my clients, get a home inspection. That’s number one. And then another big thing to look out for as a you know, if you’re looking to purchase your first property is have a good lender. I tell my clients that real estate is a team sport. So, you know, really working with a lender to kind of help with the financing, and then, you know, I help negotiate the terms of the agreement, but just having a strong team of, you know, an agent as well as a lender to support you, I think, just like relieves a lot of stress that purchasing a home can can provide. So I really advocate for, you know, just building a good team. Travis McGowin Awesome. Yeah, we always tell our clients, you know, definitely get reputable, thorough inspections done. Of course, like you mentioned, Home Inspections, of course, our company, WIRs is our company does many, many wood infestation reports, because I always talk to my clients about it this way, your home is most likely your most expensive investment across the board, more than vehicles. You know, they’re they’re usually your most expensive investment. So I always say don’t cheap out on your home, because you will regret it later on down the road. Michelle Rawls Absolutely do your due diligence, and that is including inspections, whether it’s your WIR or home inspection or septic inspection, you’re absolutely right. Travis McGowin Right, so thinking about it from the opposite side, not from the buyer’s side, but from the seller’s side. What are some tips that you might would have for someone who’s getting ready to, like we said, spring’s coming, the market’s going to heat up, uh, someone’s interested in selling their home. What are some some tips, maybe, that you can recommend to get their house ready to list and and maybe get them the best price for their home Michelle Rawls Absolutely. So, you know, with working with me, for example, I use professional photography when listing properties, I feel most of the time, people are bringing the deals to me, the houses that they like, and that’s just, you know, pictures really create an idea of what, you know, they’re they’re getting. So having professional photography, I think, is super important, just especially because it’s on Zillow and realtor.com and then, as well as, just like, make sure you’re maintaining everything. You service your HVAC, if you need to, you know, do any service items on the front end, make sure that you declutter. So have a yard sale. Get rid of a bunch of stuff that you know you’re not going to need. You know, make sure all the light bulbs are the same. Like, just little, little tweaks can make some big changes as well as, like, you know, it also is good selling point. You know, the fact that you’ve done this or maintained this system is really good to have done prior to listing your home, Travis McGowin Right, and, you know, it’s like that old saying, a picture is worth 1000 words. But not only that, a first impression is everything. I think that’s vastly important. I like, like the reference about the professional photography. I really feel like that is a huge ordeal that you should that you should go ahead and spend the money on, because I even myself, have Zillow on my phone. I’m not looking for a home actively. But there are times when I’ll drive by somewhere and go, Oh, wow, that house is for sale. I wonder what it looks like inside. And I guess just really being nosy and just really putting your best foot forward to make that first impression, whether it’s whether it’s an open house, whether it’s an online listing, it really does make a difference. So what would you say? How important is it for a client to work with a local real estate agent, as opposed to trying to navigate it on their own? Michelle Rawls Absolutely. So we’re trained as agents, you know, to negotiate, to advocate, um, you know, p

Podcast Transcript: Travis McGowin Thank you for joining us again for another episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast. Today, we have a very special topic to talk about. Wildlife, and not just any wildlife, one that causes so many problems, so much frustration, and it’s just an overall nuisance to a lot of homeowners, and that wildlife is squirrels. Now, just recently, if you’ve been following along with our YouTube channel, you would have seen that I posted a video where we were actually trapping squirrels at a customer’s house here in Deatsville, Alabama, this customer woke up Christmas morning to some crazy noises going on inside of their kitchen. They’ve got an older home. The layout is a little bit different than what you might would typically see nowadays when people build a new build. So inside their kitchen, they actually had a kitchen cabinet that, when you open the doors, actually showed their breaker box. So the breaker box for the electrical wiring in that portion of the house was hidden behind this old kitchen cabinet, but the breaker box wiring actually went straight up into the attic, so there was no buffer zone. There was no enclosure that hid these wires from view, so when the squirrels made entry into the attic, they were able to come straight down through the wall void, following the wires and right into the customer’s kitchen cabinet. So imagine yourself waking up on Christmas morning to enjoy that time with your family, only to have pure and utter chaos from a rodent running around inside your kitchen, knocking things over and just making a mess. Thankfully, the customers were able to open a window in an adjacent room, using a broom or some other item inside the house, they were able to shoe that squirrel to that room and get the squirrel to leave the house out of a window. But if you’ve ever listened to any of our wildlife discussions or podcasts, you would know that that, unfortunately, is not the end of the potential problems that are going to be caused by squirrels. So before we dive into our inspection and how we would handle this problem, let’s talk a little bit about why squirrels or any other road in our wildlife would be an issue inside of your home, whether that be the living space, the attic space, the crawl space, wherever they may be. So since we’re talking about squirrels, if they make entry into your home, there’s always the potential for them to gnaw or chew on things, and that’s true with virtually any rodent on the planet. So for squirrels, rats, mice, doesn’t really matter. They’re always going to be chewing on something. And one thing that they always seem to search out and find that they always enjoy chewing on is electrical wiring. Why is that a problem? Because it’s electrical wiring. Definitely don’t want to have a house fire start somewhere in your home, in your attic from a rodent gnawing on those wires. It’s extremely important if you have a rodent issue, to get those animals out of your house as quickly as possible. So that’s kind of the worst case. But on top of that, you have the general mess that they make in your attic. They constantly go about throughout the day, foraging for different things to eat. They bring those items back and they store them in your attic. They eat on them in your attic. This can cause a huge mess. And not only that, but there’s the waste that comes from these animals pooping or peeing and just making their general home up there where they don’t need to be. So there’s several problems, but we’ve been able to help. For example, this customer in Dietz, Ville, Alabama, rid their attic space of these rodents. So after they called us, we set up an appointment. I went out there personally to inspect the property, and while I was on site inspecting the outside of the home, I could actually hear the rodent running around in the attic space close to the eaves. I could hear that rodent inside the attic. So that helped me pinpoint a couple of entry points around the house. If you watch our YouTube video, you’ll see that the gable vents on the side of the house actually are supposed to have a mesh wiring that keeps insects and rodents and different things birds out of the attic space, but still allows for ventilation, and there was just a gigantic hole in this attic Gable vent. I. Allowing these rodents to climb up the side of the house and directly into the attic. So we came back, we placed some traps, and there’s a little bit more detail in that YouTube video, if you’d like to see the type of traps that we used. We placed some traps over those entry points with bait on them, and lo and behold, we caught a squirrel. So you may be saying to yourself, Okay, I can do this. I can find the entry point. I can set a trap. I can catch a squirrel. What next? Well, once you catch a squirrel or whatever wildlife it is that’s getting into your attic, we always recommend resetting that trap or those traps. You want to ensure that you’ve caught everything that’s been going in and out of your attic that’s been making a home inside of your home. You want to make sure that you catch it before you ever seal them up. Sealing up a live rodent inside of your home, whether it’s there again, the living space, the attic space, the crawl space, can cause problems. That rodent, that wild animal, at some point, is going to try to get out of that space where they’ve now been closed into. We’ve seen where rodents have chewed from the attic space into the living space of the house through sheetrock, and just caused lots of damage and chaos. So we definitely want to try to make sure that we have trapped everything before we ever tried to exclude and keep these animals out. So once you’ve trapped and ensured that you’ve kept all the animals out, that’s when we take over with exclusion. So what we did for this customer is, once we ensured the truck the squirrels were caught, we took hardware cloth on the outside of the house, and we were able to mount it to the outside of the house, still allowing for that addict to be ventilated properly, but keeping out rodents, keeping out different larger insects and birds, or anything else that wants to try to make its way up into that attic. So one other thing that I would like to also add is about the laws, the legal aspect, the stipulations of being able to trap wildlife, and of course, specifically here in the state of Alabama. So all of trapping and wildlife laws all go through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and they typically will issue permits for organizations, companies like ourselves, for homeowners and individuals to be able to do trapping the legal and appropriate way. So you want to make sure that if you are going to use a company that they are legally allowed to use trappings methods for controlling wildlife, controlling nuisance wildlife, and always check with your local laws and statutes before you attempt to handle any kind of wild animals, there may be some that are protected species. There may be some very specific ways that you are or are not allowed to trap these animals, and a couple of other things to touch on too. In reference to those laws in the state of Alabama, you are not legally allowed to transport a wild animal inside of a vehicle. You’re not legally allowed to take one of those wild animals across county lines. You’re also not allowed to transport them across major waterway drainage areas either. So you’re kind of left with one or two options. You can either let the rodent go, let the squirrel go, or you can either use a trap that dispatches or kills that squirrel on site, or you have to kill the squirrel on site as well. And they’re very particular about the methods that you’re supposed to use for doing that as well. So I say all that just to basically point out that you need to make sure that you’re checking with your wildlife officials to make sure that you’re doing things the right way, the legal way, ethically and humanely as well. So I hope that this shed some light on what it is that we were able to do for that customer, in reference to getting them rid of squirrels in their attic and ensuring that those squirrels never come back and attempt to take up residence inside of their attic ever again, as well of some of the ethics and laws behind making sure that you do this the proper way, if you have any other questions, we would absolutely love to talk to you. If you’re having a rodent or wildlife issue, we would love to assist you. As long as you are in our coverage area, we would be more than happy to come out and take a look to see what it is you’ve got going on. If you would like to see our YouTube video about this topic, CLICK HERE!   The post Keeping Squirrels Out of Your Montgomery Alabama Attic! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Why do I have this problem? Fruit flies are invading Montgomery, Alabama Homes! They infest your home when they find rotten fruits, vegetables, and other foods that are past their prime. We are all human and sometimes we may accidentally shove food to the back of the pantry or shelf. Over time, when the food spoils, this can create a great food source for fruit flies to consume. What can I do to get rid of Fruit Flies? Fruit flies can balloon into a huge problem rather quickly! One adult fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs! This can lead to a massive infestation in as little as 10 days!At Peskies Pest Control Montgomery, we recommend these simple steps to help control fruit flies in your home:Locate and identify the source of the infestationCheck food storage areas such as the pantry or cabinets in your kitchen where forgotten food may have been hidden from view. Remove spoiled food itemsImmediately dispose of the spoiled food in an exterior garbage receptacle. Do not keep the spoiled food inside your home. Keeping the food inside an interior waste receptacle can cause the  infestation to continue.Trap remaining adult fruit fliesTrapping the remaining adults will ensure that no further eggs can be laid on any other food in your home, thus, eliminating the infestation! Commercially available fruit fly traps are available at most grocery stores or, you can make your own using a simple mixture of apple cider vinegar and dish soap!Using these simple steps, most folks can rid their home of pesky fruit flies.Of course, if you still cannot seem to get rid of the fruit flies, we are always here for you! Give us a call today! (334) 595-9055Not having an issue with fruit flies? We can handle all of your pest control needs! Click Here! Follow Us on Instagram! The post Fruit Flies Are Invading Montgomery Alabama Homes! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Michael Wienecke So today here on the pesky pest control podcast, we are going to be talking about my favorite subject, roaches, not just any Roach, the largest roach in Alabama, not in the world, Travis McGowin but before we now we dive off into the bug stuff, let’s acknowledge the obvious. It’s been a while. Michael Wienecke Yes, yes. I completely just forgot about that. Yeah, yes. Well, Travis McGowin it has been a while, yeah, but for those of you who do listen on a regular basis, we apologize, but it has been a while. Things have things have been wild around here. The bugs have been non stop, and so we had to take a little hiatus, and now we are back. Yes, Michael Wienecke it’s a lot harder to do everything you know than you’d think. So, Travis McGowin right? So anyway, American cockroaches, let’s talk about them. Yes. Michael Wienecke So American cockroaches are in your house. It’s becoming fall, and they are going to find their way in through holes in the wall, holes in the brick, pipes, vents, tree branches touching, you know, the side of the house to let those guys bypass any products or anything like that to get into the house. Travis McGowin I mean, I haven’t seen any in my house. You said they’re in my house. Well, you Michael Wienecke just said you had a smokey brown roach in your house that was Travis McGowin off record. We didn’t want to talk about that. That was off record. Much Michael Wienecke harder to control, much harder to control. Yes, Travis McGowin so, yeah, the American cockroaches. And I tell a lot of customers this, the American cockroaches like to live underneath pine straw, underneath mulch vegetation areas. So they’re very typical to see them around the outside of your house where you’ve got landscaping, and they like to eat under that dead and decay that layer of dead and decaying vegetation up underneath all of that landscaping material so they can make a nice little home for themselves. And typically, they don’t usually want to come inside and they don’t usually want to infest a person’s house. But there are exceptions in the fact that sometimes they mistakenly wander their way in, Michael Wienecke or they just weasel their way in because it’s a nice dry spot, and it’s been raining for five days straight, Travis McGowin right? And I also think, too, that sometimes with gaps, cracks and crevices around the house, whether it’s doors, windows, anything like that, that you end up, you know, at night, you got light coming through those gaps, cracks and crevices. I don’t think that helps your I don’t think that helps your calls either when trying to keep them out. No, 100% Michael Wienecke I can remember as a kid, I was watching TV one day with my window open, and an American cockroach flew right in and landed on the TV and scared me after death. Going straight Travis McGowin for the light makes you, makes you think about those commercials that they used to have where you’re sitting there watching it looks like a regular, normal commercial, and then this bug goes and crawls across the screen and always looks so real, like you want to throw something at the TV? No, I know. I wonder if they were ever liable for someone throwing it, throwing something at the TV and breaking a TV, and like, you know, had to pay for somebody a new TV. Oh, I Michael Wienecke almost broke my TV. So, yes, I can say that. But no, that that’s, that’s a great point. Turning off your lights at night. That’s going to stop any attraction to, really, any bug. I mean, spiders, because you’ve got your flying insects flying around that that that light. But roaches, you know, that’s our topic. So we’ll stay on topic. Roaches typically like to infest the lower portion of a house, like crawlspace, or, I’m not going to say infest. They like to gain entry to occupy, yes, I like to gain entry to crawl spaces, basements, like I said, the underside of houses, due to, you know, higher moisture content, much better. Survival, survivability, survivability, yeah. Travis McGowin So we know where they like to go. We know what they’re searching after. Let’s talk about a couple things that maybe you know you can do to prevent that. We’ve talked Michael Wienecke about it before. Try to keep your bushes, your branches, anything touching the the roof line or the side of your house, because you can put down product after. Product. If that Roach is crawling a tree, and that tree is hanging the the roof or touching a window, or it’s just going to be easy access for for that little guy or a little girl, Travis McGowin right? They can circumvent right over anything that you or that your pest control company, that your technician applies, that they just have a route to go around it or over it. Michael Wienecke Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, like, we’re talking about roaches right now, especially American roaches, because it’s fall, that’s when they start really getting into people’s homes again. You know, the pine straw around the house, just keeping everything nice and dry, trying to divert water away from your house, is going to stop them from feeding on that organic matter up under the pine straw and around the mulch, Travis McGowin right and some other common entry points that we can talk about sealing up, you know, HVAC entry points, where your HVAC lines go into the house a lot of times, there can be gaps right there. You can also seal up around vents. If you have a crawl space, you can seal up around those vents, you know, but you don’t want to block any airflow. You want to make sure that you have good ventilation and airflow inside the crawl space, too, gaps and cracks around plumbing. I know sometimes we see houses where there’s some master drains that are exiting the outside of the house that maybe aren’t buried underground, or have some other kind of plumbing or drainage pipes coming in and out of the structure somewhere or another. So sealing up any of those access points can keep you free from American cockroaches as well. Click Here to See This Podcast Video! Are you looking for Pest Control? Click Here! The post Keep American Cockroaches Out of Your Montgomery Alabama Home! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Michael Wienecke Hey, so today on the pesky pest control podcast, I’d like to focus on termites. Termites are something we do a lot of we see a lot of termites, small jobs, big jobs. And today I’ve got my friend Jay Campbell with me. Jay, it was funny, because whenever to Jay’s house and talked him into let me do a termite inspection, got up under there and found the, probably the worst one of the worst termite claim damages I’ve ever seen. So Jay, tell your story, man. Jay Campbell It was bad. It was bad. Well, I’ve got a crawlspace. I’ve got a crawlspace house and I never go down there. That’s the problem. And so, you know, when I was young, I bought the house and everything and I let my termite bond lapse and, you know, didn’t have termite. What would you call it like a termite bond Michael Wienecke where the termite protection? Jay Campbell Yeah, it didn’t have the Sentricon and all that kind of good stuff. You know, so younger dogs, just let it go. You started your business and everything. And I was like, Hey, man, come on out. Check it out. And everything. And you know, I had to get under there to where do you kind of crawl? Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. Michael Wienecke It’s always good. It’s always good when a homeowner comes under there with us, because I’m like, Man, you can experience this. Yeah. Great. Jay Campbell So got up under there. And I’d had some water damage. I think there’s Michael Wienecke water down. Yeah, we started noticing a lot of mold. And yeah. Jay Campbell So it was a lot of moisture and everything, you know, know what I know now that drops in the termites. And yeah, it was bad. It was really bad. When you’re doing your tap test, or whatever, you could take a screwdriver, just drive it to the side of the, you know, through the side of the home, you know, two by sixes or two by eights or whatever they were, yeah, in the floor joists and everything. So yeah, it was bad. And then we ended up you know, having to tackle the situation, you know, so it was bad. Yeah. But we got it though. Michael Wienecke I remember we were sitting there when you when we found out you know, you were telling me about the boat you’re about to buy? I mean, you might you probably gonna have to hold off on the boat. Yeah, I had a lot of plans. there with that. But yes, yes. But it Jay Campbell was it was, you know, it is what it is. And you know, that’s what learned a lot. I’ll say that learned a lot. So yeah, it’s crazy. Well, Michael Wienecke so as far as having a termite bond, I mean, do you think you would ever not have a termite bond termite coverage on another house? I’ll Jay Campbell never do that again. Yeah, I mean, honestly, you know, tell me that, because if you did have if, you know, correct me if I’m wrong, if you have the termite bond, and that happens, the company covers it. I think Michael Wienecke maybe it depends on the type of coverage you have exactly. A repair bond if you have a retreat only retreatment only bond. Yeah. Jay Campbell So, yeah. So yeah, word of advice. Get your bond. Michael Wienecke Well, so, um, walk me through the process of repairing it. I think it’s amazing that you repaired your own house. I mean, you know, you literally took the initiative to tear your floors up, and I mean, just walk me through that. Jay Campbell Well, I had a guy come out, there’s actually a buddy of ours. He’s actually a friend of mine. Now here originally your friend. Yeah, buddy of mine. Yeah, Greg Kane, good guy. He come out and looked at it and everything and, um, you know, gave me a quote and everything and I was like, a little bit steeper than I wanted to go you know, and you know, that you know, this obviously, but you know, I work on cars for a living and I talked to my wife and everything and I was like, you don’t really want to spend that money or should I just try it myself, you know, if I can rebuild a total in the backyard in the shop at home, surely I can do something with the house and everything and I got a lot of friends and construction and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, people that I can bounce ideas off of, you know, like, I have a concept of how to do it. Yeah, it’s like a hey, what would code code thing to do here so that way whenever that date does come sell the house and you know, am I in the right in my going down the right path of fixing it and everything so Michael Wienecke I’m good Josh. Yeah, Jay Campbell Josh you know at the end there’s a lot of people I’ve talked to a lot of people with my bad my bad he knows a lot actually learned a lot that he that he knows a lot about that type stuff and I didn’t realize that Yeah. So yeah, got with dad. He’s got a bunch of friends I’ve talked to my good buddy Josh. I’ve talked to people at work but no friends and you know, they got people and also it was kind of like a and YouTube you know, we were talking about YouTube. Yeah, definitely YouTube a bunch of stuff and yeah, just got in there and just did it just started small and worked my way into it and obviously pulled the floors up and everything and I don’t think I sent you pictures but so the biggest reason I had to jump on it pretty quick was you know Benji was being born. Yeah, he found out we were pregnant. Everything is like, let’s talk I want to get on it now. Right? Right. Um, I don’t think I ever showed you pictures but in his room which you know where it’s at, yeah. The termites that ate into the sub floor itself. It was within a foot of the actual main beam of the house like the main I guess you I call it beam but but main Michael Wienecke structure? Here’s some structural damage. Jay Campbell Oh yeah, it could have it could have went about another foot, it would have been really, really, really bad. Michael Wienecke Well, that’s why I wanted to bring you on here. Because I mean, this is that house is the worst case I’ve ever seen. And I don’t I don’t mean to be mean. I get it. It’s like one of those things. And the cool thing about it was, and I was thinking about this, and I was like, you know, I really started my company. And it was like, what, two years three? I think it was like, after two years, we started doing termites. And your house was like the fourth or fifth house that I kind of inspected. You know, did all that training all that book, we’re looking at all these pictures, and I’m secretly screaming like, yes, you’re excited. Jay Campbell I can see it all over your face. You’re excited. Which I mean, it was cool, though. You know, it was Yeah. So the whole time being like, Hey, man, I gotta get I gotta get pictures. Don’t Don’t Don’t judge me. All right. Yeah, it was. So it was the fourth or fifth house. Michael Wienecke It was somewhere around there. I mean, you know, I was I was extremely green. And like I said, Do it try to do everything I could do to learn without actually getting in the field and getting out there and finding something like that? Jay Campbell Well, that was probably what once in a lifetime, maybe not once in a lifetime, Michael Wienecke but it’s a that’s a rare. It’s hard to find a termite, you know, infestation that completely tears down, you know, almost, really the front side. I mean, and we’re talking the room size was like 203 100 square foot Jay Campbell room. Yeah, things like a 10 by 12. And it was Michael Wienecke on their wall side of the window. You Jay Campbell had or had his room. But then if you it was like his room, but then it was like, in the living room as well. So it was he was there the whole front side of the house. Yeah. So it was bad. Yeah. But then to come to find out there was another water leak, too, that I saw that brought him in, right on the front side from the porch, you know, you know, I’m talking about what the porch came up. So I think that’s what brought them in, originally. Yeah, well, it’s funny. It was it was one man tear of it. She when she you know, obviously, we’re serious and our relationship, so she kind of started staying more at the house and everything. And at that time, it was my daughter for him. Yeah, yeah. Jay, what are these bugs? Oh, no, baby. I think that’s just please dance. Michael Wienecke You remember? Yes. I do remember that. Jay Campbell I was like, oh, no, it’s all good. Well, then the next year, they came back. And I was at work or something. And she looked it up. That’s when I sent you a picture. So what are these? Like? Do those are? What are you calling warmer? Warmer? Yeah. Oh, Lord, then I think that’s when you came out shortly after that. Yeah. If it was in the sheet rock in the in the two by fours and the walls and the floor joists in which you got the pictures, everything. It’s in the, like, the big window frame and the header in the header? Yeah, almost to the to the roof and everything it was? Yeah. Michael Wienecke Well, that’s why I’ve been so excited to bring you on here because it’s, it’s awesome. Getting your perspective because like you own a home, you pay for that home, you worked hard for that home. And to understand, you know, I would never not have a termite bond on my house. Obviously, I know a guy so yeah, but it’s just it’s that important, because that process you went through if you don’t mind? How much were the quotes that you were getting to repair your home house. Jay Campbell I’ve had a couple people come out in the highest now. I think the highest now there was some damage in the back as well. And I think all together. Like 50,000 That’s the quote you were getting. Yeah, I got a $50,000 quote. And then I had a guy just for the front side was like 30,000 I think it was Oh, wow. Yeah. So it was pretty expe

Request a Wood Infestation Report (WIR)! Click Here! Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama, with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other […] The post Wood Infestation Reports in Montgomery Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

  Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. […] The post Attics Are Winter Havens for Pests in Montgomery Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Michael […] The post Blow Flies Are Filthy Insects Trying To Get Into Your Montgomery Alabama Home! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Michael Wienecke Hey, so today I want to talk about powderpost beetles. And if you have ever experienced powderpost beetles, then you know exactly what they do they leave a fine frass powder on the floor, it’s normally white, yellow, and that is the signs of powderpost beetles. Travis McGowin You know, a lot of […] The post Powderpost Beetles Can Infest Wood in Montgomery Alabama Homes! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Learn more about the Sleep Soundly Sweepstakes! Click Here! Michael Wienecke Hey, so today on the podcast we want to talk about something we’re doing kind of a Christmas giveaway. It’s called the sleep soundly sweepstakes. And what it is, is it’s a free heat treatment to anybody that applies, wins the contest, and they […] The post Bed Bugs And The Sleep Soundly Sweepstakes in Montgomery Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Michael Wienecke Hey, so today we’re gonna talk about the house mouse or otherwise known as the common house mouse. We have some pretty cool video today, we’re going to show you a little bit later. But I just wanted to go into detail on kind of the what to look for signs of infestation, […] The post Mice Are A Winter Pest Problem in Montgomery Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Travis […] The post Ants Work as a Team in Montgomery Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Travis […] The post Raccoons Are Invading Montgomery Alabama Homes! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Michael […] The post Bats Are Making a Mess in Montgomery Alabama Attics! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Peskies pest control podcast right here in Montgomery, Alabama with your host, Travis and Michael. We do this podcast as a community service for the river region. This includes Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka,  Pike Road, Auburn and any other surrounding areas for people just like you. Michael […] The post Squirrels Are Damaging Montgomery, Alabama Homes! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control Montgomery.