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0:02
Welcome to the volunteer rid a pest podcast. I’m your host, Mike Stewart. And today we have pest expert, Eric gardener from volunteer rid a pest, your pest experts in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Cleveland, Tennessee and surrounding areas. And today we’re going to talk about at the time of this recording, it’s coming up on the winter, fall and winter season. And you know, one of the questions I have for you, Eric is, you know, do I really need wintertime pest control? What type of pests are a problem during this time?
0:33
Well, here’s a common misconception, a lot of people think, well, it’s getting cold, the all the pests are going to die. And there’s just no bugs out during the winter. And actually, that’s just not correct. You know, the insects around that age. And they came back stronger than ever, every winter will have really cold days. But every spring, we still have bugs. So they don’t die through the winner, what happens they find a place to spend the winter and they go dormant. Now, a lot of different paths are a problem, we get calls in January and February for ants, for spiders for lady beetles for stinkbugs. For mice, you know, mice are really more active in the winter, because during the warm seasons, they’re happy to be outside and you know, feeding there’s plenty the food sources are plentiful. In the winter, however, the food sources are not plentiful. So they move into people’s homes. And then they set up residence there. So we get a lot more rodent calls. But those things are active all winter. And many times the problems with ants and different insects you see in April in May, they actually start in November in December when they find their way into your home when it gets cold.
1:43
So you know, what that tells me is that, you know, bugs are a year round problem. And in fact, I remember years ago, one of my colleagues talked to me about the fact that you’re right, the bugs go dormant, and especially like in things like firewood. And he said that, you know, when you bring firewood into your house, if you’re not careful and burn it right away. Those bugs living in that outdoor dormant home, there’s of the bark of the wood, they think it’s springtime, and they come to life, and they’re all over your house. So this makes a whole lot of sense. bugs can be a problem all year long. But here’s another concern of mine as a homeowner. You know, right now at the time of recording this. It’s a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. So why should I think about Pest Control during the pandemic? I mean, is it really safe to have a pest control professional come to my house come in my house? Well, how do you address those questions?
2:45
Well, and that’s an important question, because a lot of our customers are elderly people. And so we want to take care of our customers. So what we do, we take precautions, we’ve issued all of our technicians in 95 masks, and latex gloves, and hand sanitizer. So as they go from one place to the other, first of all, we recommend the insects, the majority of them come from the outside in, there’s some insects you can carry in and groceries like roaches, and different things like that. So it can happen, but most of the time they come from the outside in. So we want to treat the exterior of your home this time of year to prevent these insects from coming in getting under the siding coming in through cracks getting into your crawlspace and overwintering. If we do need to come inside your home, we’re going to put on our gloves, we’re going to use our mask. And we’re going to make sure that we don’t you know, take every precaution we can not to if we have been exposed not to contaminate you. So we’re not going to touch any surfaces with their bare hands, we’re going to have our mask on at all times. So we were going to take very seriously, we don’t want to spread anything we may have been exposed to. But we’re going to limit that exposure as much as we can, but doing exterior treatments and under your crawlspace. So we’re not gonna have any contact with you unless you just absolutely necessary.
4:04
Well, isn’t it true because of the pandemic a lot of the food source for for insects and especially rodents. Example restaurants that are not as busy as they once worth the food supply to the rodents in dumpsters and stuff. and places like that has been limited. So therefore, they’re hungry. They’re cold. So they’re coming to your house. So do you see an increase on mice and rodents and rats? You know, it’s
4:33
really amazing. A lot of things have changed over the last nine months. With restaurants being closed. Like you said the dumpsters are not being used like they were so it forces these rodents and insects to find other food sources. So they have to move and in that migration. You know, we’re getting a lot of calls from homeowners that live adjacent to these little shopping centers or for the restaurants are located and they’re having more of an influx of a lot of different kinds of answers. And rodents. So, you know, as these things forced us to change our habits, then it’s also forcing the insects and the wildlife to change their habits. And so we are getting an upsurge of these types of calls. So yeah, I think it pest control is more important than ever. And as you call a company that, you know, takes it seriously and has the all the PPP they can rpp Rather, they call it, that’s, you know, going to keep us safe, keep us from exposing you. And we take these precautions, you know, it really, we’re not exposing you to anything, and but we can keep these insects out of your home. And that’s very frustrating when you can’t leave your home as much as you’d like to. And you have to put up with insects in it.
5:43
Well, you know, one thing is for sure about this pandemic. People are home, they’re noticing the problems. And pest control is an essential service. Because you don’t want to have any type of bug in your home, whether it be the pandemic virus, or or rodents or insects. And so I’m so glad we have a professional service like volunteer repairs and Eric gardener to be able to help us have a pest free home. How do people get in touch with you, Eric?
6:14
Just give us a call at 6987205 trees can answer all your questions. If you’d like to get someone out typically we can get someone out the same day and get that problem solved quickly.
6:27
Well, thank you again. This has been the volunteer repairs podcast and you have any questions be sure to go to the website volunteer router pets.com and also tell folks about this podcast subscribe to it and all the places where podcasts are able to be subscribed to and listen and these hopefully these pest tips will help you have a pest free home in Chattanooga or Cleveland, Tennessee.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
