#1 Ticks

Ticks are bad almost everywhere in the spring. In Raleigh they’re really really bad. If you have kids and pets or if you spend much time in the yard you know what I’m talking about. We’ve heard from more than one resident of Raleigh this year that they’ve found three ticks on them after spending time outside.

#2 Carpenter Bees

They start to come out in March. They’re in full force all through April. They start to subside in May. They’re carpenter ants and what starts as just a few can become a severe infestation. We put them at number 2 only because they don’t suck you’re blood.

#3 Clover Mites

What are those tiny reddish brown dots around my window and in my tub? That’s the question we’ve had a lot of this spring. The answer is clover mites. They love to infest the sunny warm spots of the home – and they were especially bad this year.

#4 Ants

Ants don’t rest any month of the year. However, they really got to work this spring. The worst were the little black ants, who’ll do almost anything for a little sugar.

This last month a majority of pest infestations in the Raleigh area involved one of the following five pests.

#1 Mice

Although mice are a year round pest they can get worse in the winter. It seems that when it begins to drop below freezing overnight the mice begin to seek shelter in warmer garages, and if given the chance they’ll infest in attics, inside homes, and in the walls of homes.

#2 Boxelder Bugs

The boxelder bug can be a real invader in the cooler months. As soon as November you may start seeing these pests congregate on the south side of homes. This can continue throughout the winter especially on sunny days.

#3 Bedbugs

Since Bedbugs are an interior pest they don’t care what time of year it is. However we did notice an increase in Bedbug calls throughout the month.

#4 Silverfish

Silverfish is consistent pest in winters. Be sure not to run humidifiers too often during the winter. They love the humidity and will reproduce even more quickly with more humid conditions.

#5 American Cockroach

The American Cockroach was on our list in October but remains in the top five. They love to infest the garages, wood stoves, and within the cracks and crevices of a home. If you’re seeing this pest you’re sure to have more than you’d like to believe.

Fire ants are popping up in neighborhoods all across the Raleigh-Durham metro and they are only getting worse. They don’t seem to be too big an issue until you or your child gets attacked by a colony of these aggressive and pain inflicting pests. Many homeowners get creative when they conclude the fire ants have got to go. Some pour boiling water on the mounds, some rake the mound flat, and others try gasoline. Of course any of these make the issue worse in a matter of days. Even treating the mounds with fire ant products from the store seems to make them spread. Why?

The Incredible Fire Ant Queen

The answer to fire ants resiliant behavior is their queen. She is often hidden deep in the ground. Worse yet, sometimes their are two or three of them in a colony. When a homeowner pours something toxic on the ant mound the workers start to die. Infact it seems to be effective almost over night. Then, a week or two later after a good rain the homeowner notices another mound and sometimes two or three mounds pop up near by. Usually within a twenty foot radius of the original mound. How does this happen?

The Queen is Truly Incredible

Even if you killed every last fire ant worker and solier and only three queens survive you’ll have 60,000 fire ants in just ten days. That’s right each fire ant queen lays 2,000 eggs per day. The ants are often doing their work 24/7 under ground and often the mound won’t “pop up” in the yard until after a good rain. So how do we control fire ants? You got it.

Stop the Incredible Queen

Oh I forgot to mention that fire ant queens can live six years. Combine that with how busy they are laying eggs and you can conclude that you’ve got to stop the queen. When our technician comes to your home that’s exactly what they do. They will place the right amount of baits at the right locations insuring that the worker ants will take it down to the incredible queen. The best part is it doesn’t kill the colony as quick as most pesticides wich gives the queen and colony plenty of time to eat before they conclude what a terrible idea it was. Maybe even cooler is the fact that the queen becomes infertile within about 48 hours and the worker ants are gone within a week. For every queen that is stopped that’s about 60,000 less fire ants in a yard each month. Okay an even cooler thing, we treat these mounds as a courtesy for our customers at each treatment year round.

You’re about to move to a new apartment. You do your homework. Ask all the right questions, and have finally decided on an apartment. It never occured to ask if the apartment covers bedbug treatments. You’ve never seen a bedbug and thought they only existed in nursery rhymes. Plus you’re clean and the management already told you pest control would be covered by the apartments. So there’s nothing to worry about right? Very, very big wrong.

Bedbugs are the nightmare of Apartments in Raleigh

I wish everyone about to rent an apartment could listen in on just one of the many conversations I have with Raleigh residents who have had this nightmare crawl into their bed. These residents don’t sleep well and soon leave their apartments for hotels or homes of friends and family. The worst part, the apartments don’t take responsiblitly for the bedbugs and often don’t take care of it until it gets out of hand. I’ve given quotes to many apartment complexes and to be honest the lowest price has ALWAYS won. And you know what happens when the cheapest pest control exterminator in Raleigh comes out to treat the neighbors apartment? That’s right, they go to all the surrounding apartments. The problem is bedbugs have become quite resiliant to most of the treatments available. So the treatment might repel them but won’t kill’em all. Infact, we tested one of the most popular bedbug treatments in the industry and saved the bedbugs. Four days later they were crawling around as alive as any bedbug.

Advice to Raleigh Residents

So if you are about to rent an apartment be sure to ask, “Will you cover the cost of a professional bedbug treatment if needed?” If they say yes, be sure to get that one in writing. And incase you need extra motivation remember that a three bedroom apartment costs $800 on average for the first bedbug treatment.

Each season brings a new variety of pests. It’s good to know ahead of time what pests to excpect. In this way we can be proactive and treat for certain pests before they become an issue. As the month of October comes to an end I want to make mention of the 5 pests that have been worst this month.

#1 The American Cockroach

Wow has it been an incredible month for these little buggers. We have been getting a very unusually high call volume and quite a few new customers because of the american roach.

#2 The Little Black Ant

Yes, this ants name is the Little Black Ant. And although not quite as popular as the American Cockroach they still have made quite a fuss.

#3 The Earwig

With an unusually strong showing this October the Earwig has made a very strong showing.

#4 Fleas

Although not as strong a showing as last October Fleas are of course always a pest in Raleigh, NC this time of year.

And #5 Spiders

This would be limited to the wolf spiders that seem to invade garages and homes as nights begin to cool, but we’ve also seen even a Black Widow wonder in from a garage on the first night to drop below 40. Make sure those doors are sealed tight!

There you are standing in your kitchen when you hear your little two year old say, “Bug, bug.” You look down to see a creepy dark spiny spider slowly crawling straight toward your child. Just before you smash the spider you notice some type of pattern on the back of the spider and wonder, “Was that a young black widow?” So let’s discuss how to identify the small black widows and what to do to prevent them.

Immature Black Widow Picture

If you search for an image of an immature Black Widow online you’ll get all kinds of results. Many of these results are inaccurate or even a different type of spider all together. Here I’ve inserted an image of a black widow that emphasises the defining characteristic of Black Widows: the pattern on the abdomen. Many people mistakenly believe that if there isn’t a red triangle or hourglass it isn’t a black widow. The truth is immature black widows and male black widows have a variety of patterns. And where there are immature black widows and male black widows there’s bound to the be the dreaded adult female widow. Now notice the pattern on this widow. Remember the pattern may vary, however a spiny brown to black spider just smaller than a dime or even larger than a quarter can be an immature black widow or adult male black widow. They go through 4 to 9 stages of growth and each stage has different coloration and patterns. I’ve found the give away is the spiny legs and white dots on the brown body.

Alchemy Pest Control wants to keep residents of the greater Raleigh, NC area up to date on what pests are in season and how to prevent an infestation. Please subscribe to the blog for frequent updates, green tips, and great promotions. In addition we have lots of great information about our pest control services and our termite services. If you have any additional questions drop us a line and we’ll be happy to answer your question in a post. Have an urgent question? Feel free to give us a call anytime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, and we’ll be more than happy to help. Oh and if you like any of the articles you read please share them with your friends.