Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the weekend. Warriors home improvement show built by bar lumber. When it comes to biggest small projects around the home, Tony Corrie, you've got the know how and the answers to make your life just a bit easier. Here they are. Your weekend warriors, Tony and Corey.
Speaker 2 00:00:24 Hey, welcome to the weekend. Warriors home improvement show built by par lumber. I'm Corey Valdez and
Speaker 3 00:00:30 I'm Tony
Speaker 2 00:00:31 Cookson. Thanks for tuning in with us this amazing weekend. We've got another great show lined up for you. We have another special guest in the studio with us. It's been a long time. The weekend warriors would like to invite <laugh> announce Matt white with the killers in the studio with us. How you doing Matt?
Speaker 4 00:00:50 I'm doing good. How are you guys doing today?
Speaker 2 00:00:54 We're doing well. Tony's microphone is going crazy over here.
Speaker 3 00:00:57 Yeah, I think it's that? Uh, I think it's that lower connection down there. <laugh> it's okay.
Speaker 2 00:01:01 Uh, so anyway, how you been,
Speaker 4 00:01:03 Uh, doing good? Uh, bugs are very prolific out there, so we're always staying really busy.
Speaker 2 00:01:07 The bug business is good. You're so have you ever seen the movie? Uh, what is it called? They or them with rowdy, rowdy Piper.
Speaker 4 00:01:17 I haven't
Speaker 2 00:01:18 He's uh, he, he plays a guy who finds a pair of glasses and when he puts the glasses on, he sees the world for what it really is a bunch of aliens and whatnot. Anyway.
Speaker 4 00:01:29 Nope. I haven't seen that one.
Speaker 2 00:01:30 Usually the doesn't matter,
Speaker 4 00:01:31 Usually the go to movies, AOB, everybody talks about.
Speaker 3 00:01:34 Oh, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 00:01:35 It's uh, it's a good, you should check it out. It's a good movie. Anyway, uh, business is good killing bugs. And, uh, what we wanna talk about today is all the things that homeowners need to know either a things that they can do to prevent some of these critters from getting in their house or B what you guys do and can they just hire you to come out and do it for 'em?
Speaker 4 00:01:57 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:01:58 I'm pretty sure you would. Could you do it for me?
Speaker 4 00:02:01 We do
Speaker 2 00:02:01 The, uh, the killers show up at my house every quarter and, uh, they do their thing. They spray outside, they check for rodents and, uh, they set traps and bait boxes. It's amazing. I don't have any problems with rodents in my house. That's
Speaker 4 00:02:16 What we like to
Speaker 2 00:02:16 Hear or keep we like to keep it that way. Anyway. Uh, so anyway, Tony, um, what are some things that we want to talk to Matt about?
Speaker 3 00:02:25 We, I think we're pretty much just gonna talk about one thing and that is pests, pests, pests, not the kind of pests that annoy you by calling you names or, uh, ignoring your direct instruction. We call those kids, right? These, these are actually the kind of pests that, uh, you don't have to raise. Fortunately. So yeah, we're gonna talk about that. What is, this is, uh, springtime spring is in the air and this is probably, I think that extermination probably gets it's seasonal kind of like different kinds of things that you're focusing on different times of the year.
Speaker 4 00:03:05 Very much so.
Speaker 3 00:03:06 So what is, what is when, when the, when the bat phone rings over at the killers, um, what is on the lips of everyone who wants you out to their house immediately?
Speaker 4 00:03:18 Yeah, this time of year, definitely. It's gonna be small ants. Uh, ants, uh, are just, it just seems like after the, the sun sunshine comes out, they come out of the, the woodwork and they're everywhere, uh, on your counters floors ceilings around the outside, on warm days. But, but yeah, they just, I would say that's probably the biggest one right now. Um, and they will go and be problematic all the way up until October, November, depending on when, what the weather does,
Speaker 2 00:03:43 Man. Oh man. How so? What do you guys do? I guess what, let's talk about a couple things. So a, what can someone do to try and reduce or prevent ants? Is it, is it possible to just get rid of them?
Speaker 4 00:03:56 I mean, you can't totally eliminate them forever. I mean, there's always, you know, circumstances where, you know, depending on the area or, you know, ground or residential area around you, if, if there's, uh, you know, millions and millions or billions of, of ants, we can definitely protect your home from them coming into your house, but you're not gonna be able to 100% eliminate them forever. Right. Uh, but also you, you get other things that are conducive, like, uh, you know, trees growing where branches touch the house, or you might not see it, or notice it up by the gutters, things like that. And it allows ants to track over to the structure without getting in the products that we're putting down around the foundation.
Speaker 2 00:04:30 Gotcha. So for someone to reduce the issue, if they just wanted to reduce ants coming into their house, mm-hmm <affirmative>, what are some of the things that people should think about or, or good practice, I guess?
Speaker 4 00:04:41 Yeah. For, for prac good practice. Best practice is, is definitely what I mentioned. The, the trees touching the house, making sure that stuff's, TriMed back, uh, bushes at the foundation level, making sure they're they're back from the structure. One big thing is we see a lot of times where bark dust people will add bark dust every year. And then pretty soon that bark dust is actually all the way up to the base of the siding. And that allows ants to go, uh, to and from the structure without actually touching products or being on that surface level where we're, where we're actually, ah,
Speaker 2 00:05:08 That's a good point. So, uh, any, any trees hanging over the top of your house, touching in your roof, or, you know, we talk about that all the time, cuz keeping your trees trimmed and your shrubbery trimmed mm-hmm <affirmative> is good for a lot of reasons, but ants is definitely a good one. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 00:05:24 And they travel like in a super highway, you get, I mean you find an ant or some ants, three or four or five ants. You can follow where they're at and just keep following the trail all the way to, I don't even know Timbuktu. You'll never figure out where they're coming from. Well, especially
Speaker 4 00:05:40 With small ants, they can have multiple colonies, uh, and multiple Queens and stuff. So you just have these massive colonies, hundreds of thousands of ants in some cases. And so yeah, you can have those huge trails. Uh, we get 'em a lot around hot tubs. We see people with, uh, ants in the hot tub because the hot tubs warm year around and you can have definitely have activity around if they're in those areas.
Speaker 2 00:05:58 Mm that's good to
Speaker 3 00:05:59 Know. There are the places that you don't want them to be. Why can't an infestations just be in the garage. <laugh> you know, where you don't ever spend any time. Why does it have to be on your dinner plate or in your cup or in the hot tub? I feel like, uh, they, they are just the most pesky those things ants. Um, it's a funny thing I think about ants because there's so many different kinds of ants, big ants, right? Oh yeah. Big, scary ants. Mm-hmm <affirmative> like, you know, the kind you're thinking that thing's gonna bite bite me and leave a mark. Yep. And then these tiny little ants that are, I mean, seemingly not, I mean, if they get in your food and you eat it, you would never know it. You, you just would, they're so small. Right. They might taste a little like,
Speaker 4 00:06:44 Uh, it tastes funny. That's for sure.
Speaker 3 00:06:45 <laugh> tastes a little funny. Um, but they they'll really pose a serious threat, not,
Speaker 4 00:06:51 I mean, ants really don't. I mean, they're not gonna hurt you. They're just more of annoying than, than anything. I mean, getting in your food, obviously we don't want stuff in your, your food. Um, that, that by far I would say is probably the worst problem when it comes to small ants is just that, that contamination of getting in there because they're in those products, uh, where we get that call all the time where, you know, I poured some cereal out into bowl and there's ants all over in it and we get, we get that one a lot.
Speaker 2 00:07:14 Ooh. So going back to that, I mean food, it, what should people be doing when they're taking care of their dishes or food or storage? I mean, should they be, you know, cleaning that up regularly? I mean, has, if you have a problem with ants, I feel like they're in there for a reason. Are
Speaker 3 00:07:32 You saying you're expecting people to do their dishes? <laugh> is that what you're saying?
Speaker 2 00:07:37 Well, in my house, yes, a hundred percent. We expect you to do your dishes,
Speaker 4 00:07:42 But yeah, with the, as far as like trying to secure your food stuffs, I mean, there's certain things you want to, you know, your flowers and, and dry goods, things like that. You can, you know, seal that stuff in containers, cuz that'll help with other bugs, even besides ants, but are so small. It's almost virtually impossible to keep 'em out of everything. Gotcha. But just cleaning is the biggest thing. Keeping the, you know, food picked up off the floor, things like that. And it's hard sometimes with kids, you know, they drop crumbs and stuff and it happens. Or, or even with pets, you know, you get dog food and cat food that are at the floor level where, where answer at, you know, predominantly the, you know, when they first come into a home and, and it's easy for 'em to, to find that stuff.
Speaker 3 00:08:20 Okay. So it, a homeowner decides that they have an aunt problem. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I feel like nine times outta 10, the first thing they do is they go to the grocery store, they buy some aunt bait or we we'll call it Tara because I know it's very common name, go to the store, they buy some TA and they bring it back and they, they squirt it out onto a little, you know, piece of cardboard or something at the place where they saw them. And then, uh, they come back in a week and that little thing of that little driplet is gone and they're like, all right. Yeah, we did it. Look at that. We saved, we saved money cuz we handled it. And then three weeks later, more ants, more TA three weeks later, more ants, more TA. Yeah. And they do that for years and years and they say, oh, I'll tell you how to take care of your ants. <laugh> you buy taro once every couple of months and you just keep putting it out and keep putting it out. And that's how we take care of it. I remember you telling me a story that that's how you hear people tell you, oh, I just handle it myself. But at what point does the homeowner say, I am tired of dealing with these things and just call a professional to come out and handle it.
Speaker 4 00:09:28 It's usually when, you know you get from that, that where you're seeing a few ants here in the, there to where all of a sudden you wake up in the morning and there's, you know, a thousand ants on your counter and te is a boric acid based product. Uh, it, you know, there's a lot of boric acid based baits out there on the market and they'll work for very minimal problems, but they're not gonna eliminate, you know, ant colon that has thousands and thousands of ants. Uh, it just, it takes too long. Um, and that's the benefit of the products that we use now. It is a product that they will track through. It's a non repellent, so they don't detect it. They'll track through it, track it back into the nest. And, and then when they groom in food, share it affects one another. And that's how it affects the whole colony. Um, versus trying to use a bait that they actually have to physically carry back into the colony in food share. Oh
Speaker 3 00:10:12 Right. Sure, sure. Oh, so if they're running around and they're not hungry, you're not gonna kill 'em with zero,
Speaker 4 00:10:17 <laugh> it, it, uh, and also depending on the time of year, um, because they're, they're focusing on different types of foods, different different times of the year, whether it's a sugar based product that they're looking for, or if it's a protein base when they're coming outta the wintertime. So it, it just depends on the time of year also with what what's gonna work better than not work,
Speaker 3 00:10:35 Answer so complex, they are complex and they get inside the house and they crawl around inside the walls and in the cabinets and they hide and hide and hide and hide. Yeah. Until they find that thing they want. And then they come out and you think I'm gonna treat it right here. But the fact is, they're just, they're all over the place. They're everywhere and you have to treat it. So when you put out your product, whatever that stuff is, and you it's undetectable. So they don't have to think it's food, they just walk through it and they take it back and correct. And you do it like a full perimeter, everything all the way around the house and, and even around the baseboards and just everywhere all over so that everywhere, anywhere they go, they, they find it. Correct.
Speaker 4 00:11:13 Correct. Yeah. We're gonna treat around the foundation. We're gonna check and treat crawlspace areas that, that need it. Um, in the inside, it's not spraying the whole baseboard area. It's mainly where the wall and the floor, the, that seam coming together, uh, right along that, that little groove there. And then, uh, most importantly is in, you know, if you're getting ants inside, they're generally nesting in the wall somewhere. So we'll even do some wall injections sometimes. Um, just to get out where the colonies are at that much quicker, rather than solely waiting on them, to track through that product and track it back into the nest. We can get that product into the walls and we have different specialty pieces of equipment where we can, you know, uh, put a real fine mist into the wall. And so it it'll basically fog inside that wall cavity to, to eliminate the colony.
Speaker 3 00:11:50 Okay. So somebody calls the killers, killers come out and they treat for ants because there's been a problem. And the, the exterminator comes out, sees very clearly. Yep. We've got a problem here. We gotta take care of it. We're gonna do our thing. How long is the homeowner expected to wait? Mm-hmm <affirmative> before they call you the next morning? And they're like, Hey, we still have ants that they're not all gone overnight. Um, what, what do, what would you say is the standard amount of time that they allow the, the poison to do the work and get them taken care of? You
Speaker 4 00:12:21 Definitely want to give it a week or two. Uh, because especially when we do that initial service, if we're getting into all the right areas, it can stir the, the ant colony up quite a bit. And so you may over that first couple of days, see more activity before you see less. And then in a lot of cases, you might not see any, but it, it, you want to give it that week or two for the products to work. Uh, but if you're still seeing anything after that, then we definitely want you to call so we can come out and check everything again.
Speaker 3 00:12:44 Do you, you feel like that, uh, when you go out to a, just any job site, whatever it is, um, that it's generally pretty straightforward and not oftentimes, wow. I've never seen this before. How often do you end up at a, at a place where you're like call reinforcement, this is gonna take everybody
Speaker 4 00:13:02 There. There are those, I mean, where, I mean, after doing this for what, 28 years now, it's, uh, there are still times where you run into stuff where it's like, wow, I've just never seen this many and this house, or whether it's aunts or roaches or bed bugs or, but it's, uh, it happens every year. There's, there's a house that comes along or two that are just, just blows you away with how, how, how much activity they're having
Speaker 2 00:13:24 And how people let it get that far. Absolutely. Right. Like how, how could you not know? You have 15 billion ants in your crawlspace? How would you not know this?
Speaker 4 00:13:34 Well, it goes back to what you were saying about a person putting out Tara every year. And we've had that story where Tara works great. I've been using it for 20 years. It's like, well, that just tells
Speaker 3 00:13:42 Doesn't
Speaker 4 00:13:42 You've had ants in your house for 20 years.
Speaker 3 00:13:44 Yeah. Right? Yeah. It's, it's almost like, it's almost like putting food out for stray cats. You got stray cat problem in your neighborhood and you figure that they don't have a home and you don't want them to starve to death. So you put food out and you can't figure out why the cat, problem's not going away. You keep feeding these ants <laugh>, you know, and they, they know that there's whether the they're taking it back and it's killing some of the ants or whatever, but they still know that there's food there. So they're still gonna keep coming back. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:14:13 So what, uh, so ants, we've talked a lot about ants. Yep. What are, what are some other insects that are problematic in our area? In the Pacific Northwest?
Speaker 4 00:14:25 Yeah. Yeah, definitely. The, I would say the next most common pest, um, it's probably a toss up between spiders and the, the box elders and stink bugs. It's more so not that they heard anything. I mean, they're just more annoying or people are phobic when it comes to, to bugs in their house, you know, especially spiders people get really freaked out about spiders, but annoying would be box elders and, and stink bugs.
Speaker 2 00:14:48 Yeah. The stink bug thing, man. Oh man. What can you do to get rid of those?
Speaker 4 00:14:53 It it's one of those where it it's hitting a lot of the cracks and crevices around the outside of the house, around the gutters, the Eves, uh, depending on your siding, uh, there can be a lot of gaps, especially vinyl siding is one, that's very susceptible to a lot of bugs getting in and around and behind it. And so those hitting all those little cracks and crevices is a big thing for, for the stink bugs. Usually the first thing, when people first have their experience with stink bugs is they go up and smash it. And then that's where they figure out where the, the name comes from. Oh yeah. Where, because they smell horrible.
Speaker 2 00:15:21 They do smell horrible in box elder bugs, I think get mistaken a lot for stink bugs. They do. I see that all the time. My, my kids, they say, oh, there's stink bugs, but they're box elder bugs. Yeah. And it's so funny because there's specific trees on my property. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> where you go up to the tree during the summer months and they are just covered. Yep. In these box, elder bugs. Is that pretty common? Do they love one or two types of tree?
Speaker 4 00:15:48 Well, it's, they're usually going after it's called honey do, but it's like basically aphids and other bugs on those trees. So we see 'em a lot on maple trees. Um, anything that's gonna be associated with those aphids and other bugs, cuz that's what they're going after for food sources. And so that's why you'll see, you know, thousands of 'em on some trees out there, but then when the sun comes out, they like to sun themselves on your house. So you get 'em on that, that south or, or west side of the house a lot in the afternoons. Yes they
Speaker 3 00:16:12 Do. They are definitely sun bathers.
Speaker 2 00:16:15 Absolutely. <laugh> absolutely.
Speaker 3 00:16:16 It's terrible because yeah, they will blanket the entire side of the house. They will. And you can't do anything. You can't open the door one time in like 50 of them go in the house
Speaker 2 00:16:25 <laugh> are they harmful to the trees or to the house? I mean, do they eat wood fiber or anything like that? Is it, should people be worried about their structure with those
Speaker 4 00:16:34 Bugs? No, they're just more annoying. Uh, they're not gonna cause any structural issues. Uh they're just, again, one of those bugs that they're just,
Speaker 2 00:16:42 Just
Speaker 4 00:16:43 Annoying. There's so many of them and I've had homes where you walk around the outside and they just, they are all over you. And, and so it's just one of those things where it's, it's just the annoyance of it. More than anything
Speaker 2 00:16:51 Stink, bugs are kind of the same way. They they're pretty docile. They don't do anything. They, to me, they just sit there. But when they take off, they get that really loud flight. You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 00:17:01 Definitely. Wings can definitely hear 'em. Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 00:17:03 It's like clacking loud wing pattern and uh, yeah, like you said, they, they, they stink so bad. I, I have a story. I'll tell you real quick. Uh, BEC and, and I know that they taste as bad as they smell. Oh, <laugh> uh, I accidentally had one land in my water and I didn't realize it. And I took a big gulp of the water <laugh> and it was like, Ooh, spit it all out. And uh, yeah, they, they taste gross. <laugh> that's for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:32 Well the getting it into tight little spaces is their thing. They love to be warm. Oh yeah. And so they're in the, they're in your window frames, you know, mm-hmm <affirmative>, if you've have your open your window for the first time and you just find 'em lined up in there in the edge of your window frame, absolutely. Your siding
Speaker 2 00:17:50 And they get in those cracks and crevices all
Speaker 3 00:17:52 Cracks and cracks camp. Yeah. Finding some warmth that it's just, they're absolutely terrible. I remember you told us a story on the radio years back, um, about how difficult they can be to kill, because they're just super resilient.
Speaker 4 00:18:07 It's they're like a little armor. They're a little, you know, the, the surface of them. And, and so, yeah, they're a little more difficult to kill, but they've come out some great products the last few years, and that does a, a much better job, but, uh, at knocking down the numbers and again, it's one of those bugs where you're not gonna be able to treat and never see another one again, but we can definitely get it to where the you're not getting thousands of money outside of the house.
Speaker 2 00:18:27 Yeah. Like in the gutters, I'll see. 'em a lot up by the gutter line. Mm-hmm <affirmative> just hanging out up there by the thousands. Yeah. So if I get that problem, I'm gonna call you. <laugh>.
Speaker 4 00:18:35 Absolutely.
Speaker 3 00:18:36 Yeah. The, I think that, uh, the real, the real reason why there's so few people doing the job that you do <laugh> is because, uh, those calls, when somebody says I've got a swarm of bees in my backyard and I don't know how to deal with it, that that's the one, that's the one that's no fun to deal with. I, I, I mean, I've had face to face experience with bees that really want
Speaker 2 00:19:01 Hornet. Yeah. Hornet, you gotta be careful.
Speaker 4 00:19:03 There's a big difference. You
Speaker 2 00:19:04 Gotta be careful how you say bees. Uh, we actually have had listeners, um, and rightfully so. Uh, we, we were knocking on bees and, and I, I think the problem is they get classified altogether Hornets, right. And wasps and all of those, you know, the bad ones, they, we just call 'em bees. Right? So we were talking on the show about how bad bees are and how to get rid of 'em and how to kill 'em. And when the fact of the matter is bees are good for the environment. You don't wanna harm bees and Hornets and wasps are, but what we really want to call you about, correct? What is the difference?
Speaker 4 00:19:39 Well, the, the big difference is, you know, your honey bees are gonna actually produce their pollinators. I mean, all the bees are pollinators, but the, the honey bees are producing honey. And they're what we need for crops. And, and a lot of different things in our, in our life. Whereas when we're dealing with Hornets and yellow jackets, it, it comes down to more of a safety issue. Um, cuz when we're going out to treat for Hornets and, and yellow jackets was it's because they're in areas. A lot of times people have kids or, or pets. Right. And so it, again, it comes back to a safety issue. Uh, whereas with the honeybees, if they're just, you know, flying around as a swarm in the backyard, that's one of those things where we can refer out, uh, beekeepers to come out and collect those if, if they're available to come out and get those. But that's not something that we generally would treat for. Uh, because bees just in a swarm where they're following a queen, if you just let, 'em do their thing, they're gonna usually move on to another area as long as they're not getting into your structure. Uh, but if they're just hanging on a tree, that's not anything that you want to treat for because they're usually gonna just move on. You just stay outta that area for
Speaker 2 00:20:32 A while. Yeah. And bees seem to be like, if you don't bother them, they don't bother you. Absolutely. You know, wasps and Hornets and yellow jackets, that's a different story.
Speaker 4 00:20:39 They can be definitely more aggressive, especially the, the Hornets, the bald face. Hornet's probably one of the more aggressive ones that we deal with. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:20:44 Tony knows bald face Hornets. Well <laugh> yeah. <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:20:47 I'm, I'm not reliving that story. I have nightmares every time I talk about it <laugh> but
Speaker 2 00:20:51 I keep seeing these videos online and on America's funniest videos and stuff like that, where people walk outside with these cans, double fisting cans to go after the Hornets or whatever the nest and you just see 'em start swatting in the air and running for their life. Yep. It's all too common. And, and I don't wanna be that person <laugh>. I mean, I try to inspect around my house pretty regularly. I'll I'll walk up and look in all my Eves. Yeah. And if you get 'em, when they're small, when you get those little nests that are just starting to form and they're only about an inch or two yeah.
Speaker 4 00:21:21 Little paper nest,
Speaker 2 00:21:21 Little paper nest I'll tackle those. I'll get rid of those, I
Speaker 3 00:21:25 Think. But when it's the size of a basketball, you've decided it's gone too far.
Speaker 2 00:21:28 Oh yeah. Time
Speaker 3 00:21:29 Matt white with the killers.
Speaker 2 00:21:31 Jump on
Speaker 3 00:21:32 Your, jump on your computer and go to killers.net and just say, I need some help come out here and help me
Speaker 4 00:21:37 The killers.net
Speaker 2 00:21:38 Killers. Yeah. That's how I do it now. I mean they show <laugh> they show up every, uh, every quarter. It's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:21:45 I, I think that, um, trying to deal with pests in, uh, in a way apart from just calling a professional to come out and take care of it, mm-hmm <affirmative> for me, for me is just a waste of time and effort and money and um, you know, leave it to the pros. How many times have you heard somebody say that? Just leave it to the pros and that is the way to do it. I, I need to probably have you come out and inspect my place years ago when we talked to you, you would come out and do a, a free estimate. What, how does, what does it cost to get somebody to have you come out and just check out their situation? See what's going on? Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:22:23 Still the same. Yeah. If you have any issues or concerned about stuff, uh, you just call us and, and we send the, the inspectors out to take a look at it and they can go over. If you need a service or what services are available for whatever issues you're
Speaker 3 00:22:33 Having. I can't imagine why anybody would not take advantage of such a, such a, a fine offer. That's absolutely the way to go.
Speaker 2 00:22:43 That's how I met Matt. He personally showed up at my house. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:22:47 I
Speaker 2 00:22:47 Remember. I thought I had, yeah, I remember that story. Silver fish. I thought I had silver fish,
Speaker 3 00:22:51 Christmas story. We have to take a quick break, but we're gonna be right back with Matt white and the killers. You're listening to Tony Corey, your weekend warriors. Don't go away.
Speaker 1 00:23:06 You're listening to the weekend. Warriors home improvement. Joe built by par lumber. Now here's Tony and Corey.
Speaker 2 00:23:19 Hey, welcome back to the weekend. Warriors home improvement show. Thanks for staying with us today. We've got Matt white from the killers pest control in the studio with us. He's our local pest killer <laugh>
Speaker 4 00:23:32 Re resident bug guy,
Speaker 2 00:23:33 Resident bug guy. You come in here and tell us, uh, all the stuff that's going on. Uh, if you haven't already go check out our Facebook and Instagram and YouTube channels, you can go find
[email protected] and, uh, we'd love it. If you subscribe to all our stuff, we're videoing this right now. We're actually putting that in our YouTube channel for our, uh, video podcast. If you wanna see what we all look like. <laugh> uh, anyway, uh, so Matt, before the break, we were talking about ants and bugs and all that stuff, but the real problem right now seems to be rats and RO just rodents in general.
Speaker 4 00:24:10 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:24:11 Is that what you're seeing? Yeah,
Speaker 4 00:24:12 The last couple of years we saw a pretty significant increase and especially the rat population, um, you know, with COVID, a lot of restaurants are closed and those rest, the rats were usually used to go into the dumpsters and, and getting food in those areas. And so when you had a lot of restaurants and stuff closed, a lot of those rodents ventured out into the residential area. So we definitely saw in residential areas around some of those commercial areas, a lot of increases in, in rodent populations.
Speaker 2 00:24:36 That actually makes a lot of sense. So the, the rats were just venturing out cuz they couldn't get their dumpster food. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 00:24:42 <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:24:42 Gross. Dumpster
Speaker 2 00:24:45 Food, dumpster food. Well, I remember years ago it was chicken coops. That was the thing. Oh yeah. The, the urban chicken farmer yeah. Became such a huge thing. And people were putting chicken coops in their yard and building them and all of that stuff, which is amazing for rats, right?
Speaker 4 00:25:02 It, it is. Yeah. And they're still the, the urban chicken coop is still, uh, alive and well, and that's definitely added to an increase in the road in the last couple of years. I mean, we're doing last year. We did twice as much rodent service as we did the year before. So it's not even just like a little bit of an increase. It's a lot of an increase, uh, in, in the amount of activity and the, the amount of equipment we're having to put out and, and, and usages and stuff. And it, a lot of it goes back to those chicken coops. Um, people still feeding a lot of birds and squirrels and, and you know, which is fine. You can feed birds and squirrels just don't let an inch of feed build up on the ground for, for the rats to get into.
Speaker 2 00:25:35 Gotcha. Yeah. We had birds bird, uh, feeders out in our yard. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and we actually developed a rat problem under our shed. Not so much in our house, but under our shed. And, uh, you guys put some bait boxes around it, which is what we needed. Uh, but even the, your guy, your technician told me, he's like, well, if you really wanna get rid of them, you gotta get rid of this bird, bird feed. Uh, cuz it was right there and that's what they were chowing on.
Speaker 4 00:26:01 It's definitely one of those things, that's a contributing factor. Um, but you have a lot of people that really enjoy their, their birds and their squirrels. And, and so it's, it's one of those things where you just gotta to limit the amount of, of food. Um, if you don't feed 'em, that's great. I mean, that's, that's a perfect world for us, but, but we know people still do.
Speaker 2 00:26:18 Sure. Well, I mean, yeah, people, I mean we like looking at the bird feeders and the, the feeding, the birds it's um, I love it. But
Speaker 4 00:26:25 Stick with hummingbird.
Speaker 2 00:26:27 Oh, there you go. <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:26:28 There you go.
Speaker 2 00:26:29 Yeah, there you go. It's not a bad idea.
Speaker 3 00:26:30 No solid food <laugh> they can be hard to get them to come around. Sometimes they can. Yeah. And not, they're just not, uh, everywhere. I've I've had, uh, hung a, a hummingbird feeder or a couple of hummingbird feeders out of my outside my house house and, and it never, but then sometime I saw one out there and I thought, oh, it's time to put, you know, some sugar water in the hummingbird feeder and I they're there or they're not, but they're not just always around.
Speaker 2 00:26:56 Absolutely. I know there's some tricks to it. I, I remember reading how you have to put the hummingbird feeder near a shady Bush so that they can go rest and sit down in the shady Bush, cuz they're not just gonna be hanging out in like the bright, sunny areas. They're they're they're they come in and feed and then they go back to the Bush, they come back and feed so
Speaker 3 00:27:15 Interesting. Oh yeah. I wish it was that difficult for me to get, um, moles and gophers <laugh> to come to my house. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:27:22 You guys don't do that.
Speaker 4 00:27:23 Right? We don't. Yeah. We're uh, it's one of those things that, uh, it's a very specific thing to, to trap and treat for those guys. And so we, we let the guys do it that, that do it all the
Speaker 2 00:27:34 Time. What about larger roads? Like raccoons and possums and
Speaker 4 00:27:38 Again, just different licensing. So we that's a wildlife and so you have the live trap, a lot of that stuff. And so we just, we leave that to the guys that do the wildlife trapping and, and stick to the, the smaller critters, like mice and rats.
Speaker 2 00:27:48 So if you have squirrels or, you know, bigger things like raccoons living under your house, let's say you're not the, you're not the company we need to call somebody else that does
Speaker 4 00:28:01 Trap tell me that is wildlife trapping. Gotcha.
Speaker 2 00:28:02 Okay. That's good to know. Yeah. I haven't had that yet, but I actually work with a guy who's had some serious squirrel problems under his house. They were digging the squirrels literally were digging under the foundation.
Speaker 4 00:28:14 Oh yeah. They'll definitely do that.
Speaker 2 00:28:15 He, he made everything else, you know, squirrel proof and they said, oh screw you. And then just dug under the foundation. Yeah. It was crazy.
Speaker 4 00:28:24 Rats will do that too.
Speaker 2 00:28:25 Oh, they
Speaker 4 00:28:26 Will.
Speaker 2 00:28:26 They will. My wife said that and I thought she was crazy.
Speaker 4 00:28:28 No, it's uh, it's definitely, we've seen that a lot. If the, if it get the population of rats gets bad enough, usually they're gonna go through your foundation vents, the easy access branch. Right. But if the, they, if they, if we seal those up and, and it's a severe problem, or if there's chicken coops nearby, uh, we definitely see a lot where they'll, they'll turn right under the foundation
Speaker 2 00:28:45 Footing. So you mentioned foundation vents. How does somebody prevent rats from just making that easy access? Mm-hmm <affirmative> I mean, I see it all the time where the cable person will come out and they'll just, punctu your holes right in there and run their little cable and they don't care <laugh>, you know?
Speaker 4 00:29:02 Yeah. We definitely it's getting better because there's so much wireless stuff now for when it comes to TV and audio video stuff. And so we don't see that as often, but I mean, there's still still some companies running cable and stuff. And so that is in the past, that was always one of the big things. They would just punch a hole and, and leave it bigger or just knock the whole screen out. And that definitely allows rodents to get in there. And so you just have to, as a homeowner, watch making sure those foundation vent screens are, are secure, um, or have us come out and check 'em. Uh, we we're happy to do that. That's a, another service that we provide is, is fixing those foundation vent screens. If they're broke out for, you know, whether it's from a person doing it or critters doing it, um, they can definitely be fixed. And
Speaker 2 00:29:39 It's not as easy as just filling it with great stuff foam. Yeah. Right. <laugh> I mean, I've seen that. I mean that doesn't stop them at all. Does
Speaker 4 00:29:47 It? It does not. No, there foam is a good thing to, to show where there's activity because rodents will chew right through it. So it definitely, it definitely will show you where the activity is, but it's not gonna seal up your house.
Speaker 2 00:29:57 Gotcha. It's good to know. You hear that people don't be sprayed, great stuff, foam filling up all your vents. <laugh>
Speaker 4 00:30:03 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:30:03 That's smart. Um, so the primary way that you eradicate a mouse or wrap problem is through setting traps.
Speaker 4 00:30:13 Well, it starts with the, the foundation vent. Exclusion is first and foremost, we start with exclusion. So ceiling up the house so that they can't get back in. And at that point then yeah, trapping on the inside and then installing bait stations around the outside for either monitoring, you know, we have products that we can use to just monitor for any activity, but we also have the BAS that we can use. That'll actually kill rodents as well.
Speaker 2 00:30:33 That's good to know what, so how would somebody know? You know, obviously you, if you see rats in your home, that's one thing mm-hmm <affirmative>. But I mean, I have had rats in my house,
Speaker 3 00:30:45 In the house,
Speaker 2 00:30:47 Not in the house, but in my crawl space. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:30:50 And
Speaker 2 00:30:50 You guys came
Speaker 4 00:30:51 Out, that's in the house. <laugh> to me
Speaker 2 00:30:52 Close enough.
Speaker 3 00:30:53 I mean, if I'm sitting on my couch watching TV and a rat runs across my foot, I'm gonna freak out. That's
Speaker 2 00:30:59 What I'm saying. I'm
Speaker 3 00:31:00 Gonna lose it.
Speaker 2 00:31:01 Well, are there clear telltale signs for someone to know that if they have mice or rats or something living in their house,
Speaker 4 00:31:09 Usually the, the two biggest things I would say obviously is if you see droppings is gonna be one of the big things that let you know if there's road and activity, but like you mentioned, sitting in your chair, watching TV at night, that's rodents are active at night. And so a lot of times we'll get people calling, cuz they heard scratching sounds where the rodents are chewing and that's usually one of the telltale signs.
Speaker 2 00:31:28 Gotcha. They're making their nests and trying to dig up through the floorboards.
Speaker 4 00:31:32 <laugh> chew to
Speaker 2 00:31:32 Rock, get in your kitchen.
Speaker 3 00:31:35 So do, if they're, if you've got mice or rats or whatever, if you've got them in the walls. Right. And they're scratching from inside the walls, do they, they are they always on the move? I mean, they don't just hang out right in that one little section of wall. Right. They're they're moving around all the time. They're gonna find their time down in the crawlspace and up in the walls and all over the place.
Speaker 4 00:31:55 Correct? Yeah. They're just scavenging around looking for food sources. Um, if you have insulation in the walls, they can screw up through that insulation back and forth, you know, depending on how the, the home is put together, uh, there's usually always little gaps or spaces or if there's holes drilled for, uh, electrical stuff, they'll get through those holes from smaller rodents and stuff and or crawlspace. There's always access points around plumbing and things like that.
Speaker 3 00:32:16 This is what you need to do. And, and I want royalties for coming up with this idea.
Speaker 4 00:32:21 <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:32:22 You need to develop like, um, a predator. You need to develop a predator that silently moves around in and through the house and under the house and just eats mice. There
Speaker 4 00:32:35 Is it's called a cat. Oh, a
Speaker 3 00:32:37 Cat
Speaker 2 00:32:39 Invent a predator. I mean, what mad scientist.
Speaker 3 00:32:43 I was imagining I was imagining something robotic actually, you know, like
Speaker 2 00:32:48 A, like a, like a Roomba, like
Speaker 3 00:32:49 A transformer or something, you know, that climbed in there and did all the
Speaker 2 00:32:53 Thing, a rat Roomba just runs around. Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 00:32:56 Scooping 'em up. So
Speaker 2 00:32:58 <laugh> yeah. Here's the question. So you said, uh, an electrical wire, you know, usually when I see an electrical wire in a wall it's tiny. I mean that hole is like maybe a half inch in diameter. How is a mouse getting through a wire hole? It
Speaker 4 00:33:14 D it just depends on who's drilling those holes. I mean, a mouse, if they can get their head through that little gap or that hole, they can get their body through. It'll just their, the way their body and the bones are designed. They can compress themselves down and, and go into those really small holes. That's why you can see there's videos and stuff. You see rats where this, the gap underneath the door where a rat will come up to that during you're like, oh, there's no way he's gonna get under there. And you just scrunch right down and roll right underneath it.
Speaker 2 00:33:37 So a rat, how big is a rat skull?
Speaker 4 00:33:41 Uh, I mean, obviously they vary depending on how, how old they are. Um, but usually you can configure about the size of a quarter 50 cent piece, a rat can easily get through
Speaker 2 00:33:49 That. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I've seen rats in my backyard, uh, before, and I'm not kidding you. The, the length of that thing with the tail, it was probably 1820 inches long with the tail.
Speaker 3 00:34:02 Oh my goodness. That's huge.
Speaker 2 00:34:03 It was a massive rat.
Speaker 3 00:34:04 That's like a
Speaker 4 00:34:05 Nutrient. Yeah. Most of the ones we're dealing with are the smaller, the juveniles. Uh, but we definitely run into some of those, the big grandaddy rats in some of the, the older
Speaker 2 00:34:12 Buildings. Yeah. Crazy. What, give us a story. What is the worst rat problem you've seen lately?
Speaker 4 00:34:20 Well, I there's a, I mean, there's so many, but, uh, I would, the one that kinda sticks in my mind, there was a, a house we looked at in downtown Portland. And I was actually out there during the day. And it was a house that they were gonna be tearing down to put in some bigger buildings and stuff. But the, the road and droppings in the basement were about two to three inches deep. And so there was just rats and during the daytime running everywhere. Oh my. And so, and we happened to be downtown that night for dinner. And so I took the family over to look and there was just rats running everywhere around the perimeter of this structure downtown.
Speaker 2 00:34:52 Unbelievable.
Speaker 4 00:34:53 And I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better since then. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:34:55 My
Speaker 3 00:34:56 Probably not. I can't even imagine. So if you do a house, let's say we're talking about a one story and it's a 1500 square foot house. Right. How, how many, how many traps or do you, you call it traps or Bates or whatever those
Speaker 4 00:35:09 Well, the bait stations go around the outside and then the, the actual snap style traps that we do, they go in the crawlspace.
Speaker 3 00:35:15 And so those, how many traps would you put out to, you know, to secure one full house?
Speaker 4 00:35:21 It really depends on what we find when we do that initial inspection. If you know, depend on the amount of droppings we're seeing in the crawl space, we'll kind of dictate the amount of, of traps we put in. There's no set amount. It just depends on what we find once we get out there, same thing for around the outside of a house for the bait stations, you know, for if there's chicken coops on property or at a neighbor's adjacent property, we're gonna put out more, whether it's around the foundation or the perimeter fencing, uh, to, to help protect it as much as we need to against whatever the amount of activity is.
Speaker 2 00:35:47 What if someone has small animals like cats or small dogs? Is that something that they should worry about with those bait stations? Well,
Speaker 4 00:35:54 The, the bait stations that we're using are, uh, it's kind of a hard plastic locking box. And so you'd really have to pry, 'em open to get 'em open, and they're also built with a paver block inside. So they weigh about 10 pounds or so. So most dogs are not gonna mess with them. And we always try to put 'em in outta the way areas too, to, if there is pets on site that are
Speaker 2 00:36:11 Dogs, they can't get in there. So they can't get in and get the food. Correct. At all. Correct.
Speaker 4 00:36:15 Okay. Yeah. Have little key to open 'em up.
Speaker 3 00:36:16 It's like a little black box, like 12 inches by 12 inches, maybe four inches tall. I see. Feel like I see those all over the place.
Speaker 2 00:36:23 Oh yeah. In my backyard,
Speaker 3 00:36:24 Commercial buildings and you know, all over the place, I've
Speaker 2 00:36:28 Got a few, you've seen 'em in my house. And
Speaker 3 00:36:29 So they go through there and they eat whatever's inside there. Correct. And then that's, that's, that's the they're done for after that, correct?
Speaker 4 00:36:35 Yeah. We can put, uh, Bates for, for rodents. So we can also put some snap style traps in those stations as well.
Speaker 2 00:36:40 What about having something die inside your house? Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you get this question all the time. You know, they get in there,
Speaker 3 00:36:50 They eat the bait, they eat the bait, they go back to bed and
Speaker 2 00:36:53 Then they die in inside the walls of your house. Does that mean, is that pretty normal?
Speaker 4 00:36:57 It's not normal. I mean, that's why we start with exclusion to, to try to limit that possibility. There's, you know, rodents are, they're, they're smart. They'll find a little gap or an access point. If that maybe we don't see or something, or it's a hidden one. And so if we're we're doing what we can correctly, uh, the exclusion is gonna stop 'em from, you know, being able to get easy access in and out. So that's why we bait outside trap insight. So hopefully we don't have them die someplace that we can't get to 'em if they've eaten the bait.
Speaker 2 00:37:22 Gotcha.
Speaker 3 00:37:23 How often do you come across a situation where a rat has got caught in a trap and died and then been eaten or maybe half eaten by something else that's down there? Well,
Speaker 4 00:37:35 We, we definitely, definitely see that it's not even that it's eaten by something else it's eaten by other rats. So it's, uh, we definitely see that. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:37:41 That's gross. Okay.
Speaker 4 00:37:42 They'll eat anything. That's
Speaker 3 00:37:44 Terrible. That's definitely terrible. Um, okay. So how long do you wait after setting traps in bait stations? How long do you wait before you come back and, and check, or do you need the homeowner to call and have you come back? Yeah,
Speaker 4 00:37:57 Usually with traps, if we're setting traps in the crawlspace, cuz we know there's been activity down there, we're gonna usually give it, you know, 3, 4, 5 days, maybe a week again, depending on what's the amount of activity that we, we start with that we judge is in that crawl space. Cuz you want to give them a little bit of time to become used to the equipment. They may be a little adverse to traps or something new in their environment initially. So you want to give 'em a little bit of time to, to get used to that. Um, but then again, depending on the amount of activity you're starting with, it could be, you know, three or four checks over that first 60 days, depending on the activity.
Speaker 3 00:38:26 And does the trap like a traditional mouse trap? Does the trap have bait on it too? Or is it just the trap?
Speaker 4 00:38:32 It's just the trap and attractants, and we have a lot of different attractants that we use. Oh,
Speaker 3 00:38:35 Okay. You spray it with something that makes it
Speaker 4 00:38:37 Yeah. There's some different gels and stuff that we use that are, has an attractant in it to, to draw rodents in or you know, the guys will find, you know, or, or if they're in there feeding on something at the house, you know, we've had, you know, the guys using, you know, slim gyms and, you know, cereal, if a rat's going after something in the structure, we'll sometimes utilize whatever that is in the traps because that's a food source they're comfortable with.
Speaker 2 00:38:58 Right. I mean, why, why would they eat some gel sitting on a plastic trap if there's a slim gym right. In the kitchen. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:39:05 Exactly. Which just right there. I, I, I can see the slim gym. I know it's there. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 00:39:10 Yeah. One of the newest ones we've come up with is, uh, mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is one that they go after a lot cuz of the proteins and the mayonnaise.
Speaker 3 00:39:17 Really amazing. Interesting. Yeah. We, uh, you know, I see, um, little tiny, tiny mice, the tiniest little mice mm-hmm <affirmative> um, periodically at work, you know, not, not when I say periodically, like once, you know, every six months or something early in the morning or late in the, in the afternoon, you see one in the scary through the shadows or something like that. But um, but never anything of, any kind of size, certainly not a rat. I can't even tell you that I've seen a rat with my eyes and you know, well
Speaker 2 00:39:49 The, the only reason I saw the one in my backyard was that because it got in one of the bay boxes and it was still alive. Yeah. Kind of, kind
Speaker 4 00:39:59 Of a little tipsy. Was
Speaker 3 00:40:00 He dragging his back, left
Speaker 2 00:40:01 Leg. He was hanging out. He looked like it looked drunk. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:40:05 <laugh> yeah. We get those calls a lot where people say, well, there's a rat, not moving too much in our backyard. Can you guys come out and grab it? And so we'll come out and pick those up.
Speaker 3 00:40:11 Yeah. Yeah. So you go out to a job and you find full traps and drunk rats and stuff and you collect them. Mm-hmm <affirmative> what do you do with those things? You have a, like a pet cemetery back at the, at the lab where you, you know, what do you, what
Speaker 4 00:40:26 Do you, no, those can be dis discarded in the, in the garbage. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 00:40:31 Anything under a certain amount, anything under a certain weight, I suppose.
Speaker 4 00:40:34 <laugh> not the big, not the big ones like Tony was talking about. No <laugh> yeah. The,
Speaker 2 00:40:39 The 40 pounders, the, the nutrient I've seen pictures on the internet of people, you know, pulling pictures of nutrient and saying, oh my goodness, look at this huge rat. Oh yeah. Cause they do, they kinda look like rats. They do, but they have webbed feet. They're totally different.
Speaker 4 00:40:53 Big, big water rat. Can
Speaker 3 00:40:54 You remember a time where you went out to a call, which was a routine call, it was ants or it was mice or something like you go to a routine call and then find something that you weren't expecting to find like, you know, a giant Ana condo or, or something
Speaker 4 00:41:07 <laugh> no, nothing, nothing too crazy. I don't have any crazy stories on that. One. Haven't ran into any snakes for fortunately,
Speaker 3 00:41:13 Oh, snakes are terrible.
Speaker 2 00:41:14 Our snakes, uh, a concern in our area.
Speaker 4 00:41:18 Not, uh, again, it's more so people being phobic, um, we don't do any really treatments and stuff for 'em. Um, because I mean, there are, there are a lot of like little garter snakes around, but, but it's not one of those that's gonna hurt. It's more. So just people that are like spiders they're freaked out about snakes. People, you know, know don't like spiders,
Speaker 2 00:41:33 What kind of spiders?
Speaker 3 00:41:34 Yeah. We didn't really, we kind, we kinda GL
Speaker 2 00:41:37 Over spiders. Spiders. Yeah. I wanna know because I've talked to people who have swore up and down that they've seen black widows mm-hmm on their property Wolf, spider brown recluse, you know, these deadly, deadly spiders. Is it common?
Speaker 4 00:41:51 Not like brown clus, definitely not a common one in our area. You know, people are moving from the south. They can definitely bring them in, but it's not something that's native to our area. You're not gonna see. 'em very, I mean, I've never seen one in 28 years, black widows. We definitely get 'em on occasion, but there's also some that's called a false widow. It looks similar. Uh, but a lot of people call because it's a shiny black spider and think it's a black widow. And again, I've only seen him a few times over all the years. Um, probably the most common one that we get that, that, uh, Ken bite is in people's homes is a yellow sax spider. I mean, it's just a tiny little spider, you know, quarter to a half inch, uh, wide when with the legs all spread out and you get those up along the ceiling lines.
Speaker 4 00:42:28 A lot of times in your, you know, kitchen or living room areas, uh, very, very common. Uh it's by one of the more common ones that we deal with in and around homes, uh, that can be problematic. Not that it's gonna hurt you. It's just an annoyance again, it can cause a little bit of a bite if it gets you. Um, but usually spiders are not gonna go after people. They bite in a reactionary, you know, if they're, you know, you're stepping on 'em or, you know, pushing on them on something that's usually when they're gonna bite, they're not, they're not gonna go after a person.
Speaker 2 00:42:53 Gotcha.
Speaker 3 00:42:54 I mean, I, I know that I have had when I was young, so it's hard to say, but I, I have had, you know, wake up in the morning and I got like six bites up my legs, starting at my ankle and you know, all the way up. And uh, I don't know, somebody told me it was probably a spider just, you know,
Speaker 4 00:43:09 Or bed bugs or <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:43:11 Let's take a second and talk about bed bugs.
Speaker 3 00:43:14 That's the worst. This is the worst. I, I have the hardest time dealing with this actually
Speaker 2 00:43:17 Are bed bugs, super common.
Speaker 4 00:43:19 Uh, definitely, you know, more common, you know, probably 15, 16 years now we've been dealing with bed bugs. Um, it's, it's one of those where if you've never had them, it's when you do get them, but people just get freaked out because it's, it's a bug in, in the area that we're, you know, the, we wanna be the most secure our bed
Speaker 3 00:43:37 And yeah, we're the most vulnerable right there.
Speaker 2 00:43:39 Absolutely. Can you, can you get rid of them easily? Is that an easy
Speaker 4 00:43:43 Job? It's not an easy job. Can you get rid of 'em? Yes. It, it definitely takes a few treatments. Uh, we used to do three treatments for those guys. Uh, but again, it goes back to just being very meticulous in getting into all the little cracks and crevices, uh, even more so than any pest that we deal with bed bugs. Take that more meticulous, uh, treatment because you just have to be very detailed in all the areas you're getting into
Speaker 2 00:44:02 Bed bugs are something people probably would never be able to handle themselves.
Speaker 4 00:44:07 It it, yeah. It's successfully. Yeah, absolutely. And, and it's, it's amazing. Just talk about different, crazy stories where people will call, oh, I've got bed bugs and, and by the time, you know, one of our inspectors gets out there. They've moved furniture out of the house and, and done all these crazy things and, and thrown stuff away. And then they actually show us the bug when we get out there. And it's a carpet beetle <laugh> cause the carpet be, they think the carpet beetle larva looks very similar to what a bed bug does and it's a completely different treatment and not nearly as invasive.
Speaker 2 00:44:34 Gotcha. Well, let me ask you this. So with bed bugs, let's talk about some of the myths and some of the, the things that people probably don't know, do they only reside in beds?
Speaker 4 00:44:44 No, no. They'll get anywhere in a structure. You can get 'em in couches chairs anywhere and you can get 'em by just going to somebody's house that has them picking 'em up on, on your body or your clothing and stuff and bringing 'em home. But it's one of those things I tell people it's more about being unlucky than anything because you're most likely not gonna get 'em, but there's always, there's always that chance. There's a chance if you travel or go to a motel or a hotel,
Speaker 2 00:45:07 What's the sure sign to know that you have them or don't,
Speaker 4 00:45:11 Uh, usually it's the bites. Um, most people react to the bites, but there are some that don't react to the bites and those where we get some severe infestations because they just don't know they're there. Uh, but usually you're gonna start to see bugs or you're gonna get those itches and stuff, and that's gonna be that telltale sign where you get little red dots and things from the bites, how
Speaker 2 00:45:27 Big are bed bugs? Like what is the actual size of them?
Speaker 4 00:45:30 So the, the adults are gonna be roughly a quarter of an inch in size. Uh, but the first stages and the eggs are, I mean, you almost can't see 'em unless you're really looking for 'em. I mean, they're tiny 30 seconds of an inch. I mean, very, very tiny.
Speaker 2 00:45:42 Wow. I didn't know they were that small. I, and I didn't know adults were that big quarter inch.
Speaker 3 00:45:48 I feel like everything that I've seen and heard about them was always in large quantities and never, you know, in small quantities. Right. So just seeing one or two is less common. I feel like I've heard than finding them, you know, all packed into the corner of some piece of furniture or something. Correct.
Speaker 2 00:46:07 Well, those little red spots, don't you explain what those are?
Speaker 4 00:46:11 Yeah. The little, like if, uh, you're rolling over at night and you smash a, you know, bed bug you'll, you'll get those little, little blood spots on your, your sheets and things like that. Or the droppings from a, from a bed bug, uh, you'll get almost like a little star that, uh, develops in the, uh, material, the fibers and stuff, because the dropping adheres to those fibers and you get those little stars, kind of a blood star from the droppings
Speaker 2 00:46:33 Gross.
Speaker 3 00:46:34 That is absolutely the grossest thing ever.
Speaker 2 00:46:37 <laugh>. If I had bed bugs in my bed, I would probably just burn it.
Speaker 3 00:46:41 I, if I had bed bugs in my house, I would burn my whole house.
Speaker 4 00:46:44 Oh, that's happened before.
Speaker 3 00:46:45 That's absolutely. That's the
Speaker 2 00:46:47 Grossest thing. People, people doing
Speaker 4 00:46:48 That. Oh yeah. People just try everything or they'll put too many bed, uh, bug bombs off in their house and you know, there's pilot lights and their houses. Oh, we've, there's all kinds of crazy stories like that.
Speaker 2 00:46:59 Yeah. So I guess the takeaway here is call, call the killers,
Speaker 4 00:47:04 Absolutely.
Speaker 3 00:47:05 Call the killers, pest control, or go to the website, the killers.net. Absolutely. And, uh, and, and you will just simply come out and handle the problem.
Speaker 2 00:47:15 Last thing got about 20 seconds. Where are your guys and gals located? Look, where are your service areas?
Speaker 4 00:47:22 We have, uh, three offices, the, the Portland Metro area, uh, our office in Southwest Portland. We have, uh, office in
Speaker 5 00:47:28 Salem, uh, down in Southeast Salem and then we have an office over in Lincoln county in Newport.
Speaker 3 00:47:33 Very nice. Awesome. Thanks Matt so much for being with us. This has been another episode of your weekend warriors. So right here on the weekend warriors radio network have a great week.
Speaker 6 00:47:47 Um,
