Got mice? Or rats?

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Lauralee

This would be the season – rats and mice don’t mind living outdoors when it’s nice out. It’s now, when the weather is starting to cool off, that they start looking for nice warm places to hang out for the winter. You do not want your place to be one of those winter refuges!

Prevention is the first step. If you have holes that they can use to get in, you will want to block those. If you’ve had any construction or renovations done, it’s a really good idea to have another look, even if you’ve never had a problem before! Contractors and builders are very knowledgeable about a lot of things, but pest control is rarely top of mind, and they will sometimes inadvertently leave vulnerabilities.

One thing that sets Cottage Country Pest Control apart from many of the other pest control companies is that we are persistent in our quest for solutions to your rodent problems. We’ll keep looking & blocking access points for as long as it takes, or as long as you’re willing to put up with us. We have cameras (motion-sensored; thermal; endoscopic), glow in the dark baits, and UV lights that help us to figure out exactly what is going on where, and how to fix it. We don’t do maintenance contracts.

Of course we’ll come back regularly if needed – but our preference is to solve the problem so that we won’t be. Nobody should have to cohabitate with mice or rats running freely throughout their living space, business, or restaurant.

Placing bait stations and/or traps is part of an Integrated Pest Management program – but is not, on its own, enough.

If you have mice, rats or other small rodents hanging out in your living space, give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email us at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to help.

well, this is not fun!

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Lauralee

I will get out and back to working – and teaching – but in meantime I’m hanging out in a private room at Midland hospital after several days in the ER waiting to be moved. So apparently the after contractor inspections, termites, and other assorted jobs will have to wait a bit.

Pneumonia is no joke! By the time Ross brought me in, I was pretty much incapable of stringing any words together. Also of too many other things.

Poor Ross….. he’s been taking care of my mom, me, Kali the diabetic dog ; has his hands full.

I’m irked that I’m now so useless, too! Finally decided to advertise, ordered postcards and delivered fifty. Only 950 to go. Yay! I’m being sarcastic there, just so we’re clear. .

I really want to focus on skitters….like as in take jobs away from companies that are using Dragnet every time it kills way more things than mosquitos🦟🦟🦟🦟. In fact they don’t hang out on foliage anywhere near as much as the pollinators, caterpillars, other bugs do. And they’ll tell you it’s fine for the birds. .sure it is – but by poisoning their food sources you’ll have to feed them (and THAT can lead to rats and other problems.)

There is a solution! check out Willd Birds Unlimited hot pepper options. My birds and I love them. Other critters not so much.

They’ll also, I hear, spray right upto the water’s edge, which is a huge nono. The label is clear; pyretherins are terrible for Aquatic life.

I spray to the waters edge too… but no pyretherins at all. I live on Georgian Bay and I have heron, swans, ducks, and an occasional otter hanging around….. and visitors that love to fish and…. there are SO many reasons to take the protection of our water seriously.

That’s why I like the garlic concentrate I use. Don’t love smelling it all summer! It does sneak its scent everywhere. But mosquitoes hate it. Ticks, too!. I do have my mosquito license, so I generally keep on top of any standing water…. if it can be dumped great , otherwise I can treat it. But mostly just spraying garlic regularly, paying attention to the weather (often needs to be done again after it rains)

I limited the number I did quite a bit the last two years, but the plan is to take summers off from teaching, and do pest control full time for the season. Maybe even find time for some kayaking again!

Anyway., the postcards need to go out somehow so will have to see what the deal is with the post office, or find a helper, I guess

And in the meantime I need to get off supplementalary oxygen and iv meds and seriously insulin, even! Blood sugars went crazy … just what I needed!

Got another (much better!) xray done today, Hopefully won’t be too long

And another summer’s in the books….

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Lauralee

And what a busy summer it was!

Kept trying to keep things reasonable – work weekends only (& do the skitter sprays during the week) BUT it just never seems to work out that way.

Thinking that next summer I might just skip the whole teaching thing and focus on pest control full time.

Partly that’s because doing both is just too darn hectic. But even more, it’s because it irks me that so many pollinators are dying unnecessarily.

So – instead of bitching about it, I’m thinking to DO something about it – to spend some time and energy marketing pest control the way I think it should be done.

We can control your mosquitoes and ticks without causing harm to people, pets, water, or pollinators!!

And since it’ll cause me a lot less stress if I can be sure I’m going to have enough work to keep me going and to hire a helper or two, I figure now is the time for marketing the services I intent to offer. I’ll be wandering the streets – hopefully with the older two grandkids and/or other helpers and doing some marketing.

And anyone that signs up for the mailing list by emailing me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com or calling 705-534-7863 will lock in 2023 prices.

No commitment, no deposit required.

If you concerned that I’m going to spam you with email, I can safely promise I don’t and won’t do that. Up until now, I’ve stuck to one email a year. Thinking to double that now, with taking the summers off – but still – that’s only 2 emails per year. And absolutely no sharing of emails either.

So – – – ? What have you got to lose? A millisecond off your time to lock inn 2023 pricing just in case you decide you want your family, renters, and guests to enjoy the outdoors without the constant annoying whines.

Of course we are still here!

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Lauralee

But Google has disappeared us. I am not amused.

I’m still going back and forth with them, but for the time being, I can’t get a single blessed customer support person that can, apparently, see reason. They just keep telling me that we don’t qualify to be on the map. Which is fine by me!! I’m not TRYING to be on the map, I’m trying to show up in Google search. That’s all.

They say that businesses that go to customer’s homes can appear in Search, which is all I’m trying to do, but apparently, that’s not something they comprehend. I wound up in the Map side of things and all they are concerned about is making sure we don’t appear on the map. Round and round in SO FRUSTRATING circles we go.

I never thought I’d hate Google the way I do right now.

But anyway, we are still here, and available to solve your pest problems in Barrie, Orillia, Elmvale, Tiny, Tay, Port McNicoll, Severn, Gravenhurst, Parry Sound, Oro, and so on and so on….

These days that’s mostly mice, rats, and bedbugs, but still some carpenter ants around. Apparently, they are making some adjustments to their behaviour these days, perhaps as a result of climate change? I’m sure there will be research reports on it sometime soon.

If you’re looking for environmentally responsible pest control, give us a call or text 705.534.7863. Or you can still reach us via ccpestcontrol@gmail.com because apparently, we do exist there.

Checked your trees today?

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Lauralee

Well, they’re here – spongy ldd gypsy moth caterpillars are up in the leaves eating as of this week. Jessa and I are a little annoyed that they have reached the leaves before we managed to get everyone that wanted a spray for them done – darn rain!!

We’ve been able to do a few things this weekend, but nowhere near as many as we could have if the weather would have just cooperated!! SO annoying!! But it did mean that we were able to spend some time troubleshooting around squirrels and mice at one home in Tiny. I was pretty darn proud of myself at that one – usually it’s Jessa that finds things but this time I did it!! I found a mouse nest mostly by smell. And then I topped that off by – just as we were about to leave – noticing a (very) split beam that answered the question of how the heck the squirrels got in. Yay me!!

Solving mysteries is a fun part of this gig.

Anyway, just today we saw caterpillars eating in the leaves in Victoria Harbour, Bracebridge, Midland, and Tiny – basically every place we went whether it was about those or not. Was very satisfying to stop by some of the trees we sprayed proactively. No holes in the leaves, no caterpillars…. just as we wanted.

Too late for proactive now – we’ll have to switch to spraying up into the leaves as well as just ’round the trunks – but still able to make a huge difference in how much damage they’ll do and how much (or how little) mess you’ll have to deal with.

We’re pretty booked up right now, and the weatherman is STILL not cooperating too well!! But we are most definitely trying to get to everyone that is outstanding right now. Next weekend is Robin’s Point – if you’re here to sign up for that, there’s a link in the menu bar at the top or you can click right here: Robin’s Point Form.

If you need help with your spongy moths though – or with any other pests you didn’t bring into the world yourself, please do give us a call and we will do our very best to get there and solve it for you just as soon as we can.

Lauralee

Spring 2022

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Lauralee

Another year already! Time flies when you’re having fun.

And I have been having rather more fun than I expected to when I took on this pest control gig. I always did like a challenge. And problem-solving. And learning.

So, in spite of the fact that I’m way too old to be crawling under houses or climbing ladders, I do it anyway (only when Jessa isn’t around to do it for me, of course)!! Don’t know what I’m going to do when she quits on me – now that she’s fully licensed, too, she doesn’t need me for anything, really. Well, except for answering the phone, booking the jobs, ordering the supplies, and paying for everything. Okay, so she ~might~ need me for a bit longer! But it would definitely make a lot more sense for her to be finding bed bug jobs in Oshawa and/or Durham Region and skip the drive.

Anyway …. since Jessa is only available weekends, and working just weekends isn’t going to work for much longer, I’m going to have to find a weekday helper as well. Possibly more than one if the LDD moth caterpillars stick around. Which they likely will, although I think that this should be the end of it for a few years. Lots and lots of eggs out there, just waiting for the warmer weather….. but this year we’ll be ready for them. And, hopefully, the virus that eventually wipes them out will be that much more prevalent.

In the meantime, though, if you are concerned about the caterpillars, and want to protect your trees, we can help with that – and the earlier the better. If we treat your tree trunks early in the spring, before or just as the leaves are coming in, we can use far less product in a more targeted way, and solve the problem before it starts.

And that is the way we prefer to do pest control around here: the environmentally responsible way.

We’ve already got quite a large number of jobs lining up for early spring – if you are interested in being added to our schedule, the sooner you contact me the better. I’ll try to get a sign up form added here in the next few days – but in the meantime, feel free to email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com, or text/call me at 705-534-7863 and I’ll pencil you in.

Not sure whether you’re going to need treatment? Have a look at any trees in your area. Do they have eggs sacs? What about your home or cottage? Some areas that we’ve seen have an alarming number. If you’re able to reach and remove them, there’s still time to do that – but otherwise, we are happy to help.

Winter is on its way

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Lauralee

Personally, I do not approve. Especially this year, when the garage is so full there isn’t any room for my poor car. It is going to have to stay out in the driveway and be cold and covered with yuck!

Hopefully we’ll get it sorted by the time I have to start driving in to school again. That won’t be until January, so …. it could happen.

It’s unlikely. We have a lot of ~stuff~ in need of new places to be. But it could.

Anyway – we have time to worry about that. For now I’m just worrying about getting what absolutely has to be done, done. My mom’s stuff is arriving early in November, and we need to have the rest of our stuff out of the area we’ve renovated for her. Most of my ~stuff~ is up in my office (aka the attic) or at my store (still not open but I have plenty of inventory). Ross’s, on the other hand, is still in there. All of his glass and supplies currently have no place to be, and all the tools he’s been using are all over the place. So chances are, all of that will go out to the garage. I don’t think my zoom-zoom is going to get in there any time soon.

Oh well. These days I drive the SUV a whole lot more than my own car, anyway. It is a lot better at getting in and out of the places some of you guys have your cottages. There are some very steep and/or narrow and/or muddy roads throughout our area. But you know that already.

Anyway, as you might expect at this time of year, most of what we are dealing with is rodents. We don’t do raccoons or skunks for the most part; Jessa and I don’t have the experience for that and Ross isn’t into coaching us. So – rats, mice and squirrels.

Lots of rats, mice, and squirrels. Thank goodness for toys. Ross was better at being able to just spot where things were getting in and out than I am – but I am way better at collecting toys than he is. We’ve added a bunch of toys to our toolkit to help us to figure out where critters are getting in.

Of course, we can still just treat the problem …. in some places where it’s just not practical (or cost effective) to find and seal up every access point, we can use traps or bait, and come back as needed. But our preference (unlike some of the other companies) is always to prevent and solve your pest problems – managing is a last resort.

Still got one more set of assignments to mark so I guess I’ll have to leave showing you Jessa’s nifty bedbug shot till next time. There you go – something to look forward to!

In the meantime, if you have mice, rats, squirrels, or unidentified furry critters in your home, cottage or business in Tiny, Tay, Simcoe or Muskoka, you can reach us at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com, or by calling 705-534-7863. Jessa has her own M – F business in Oshawa and I teach 3 days a week and do the gramma thing the other two, so we work almost entirely weekends right now, though, just so you know.

Quick fly by

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Lauralee

Yep, we’re up and running, albeit in a Ross-less way … he’s still around and occasionally even answers the phone, and he’s telling us all what to do and how to do it, but not going out on calls these days.

As you probably know, the weather has been particularly not cooperative … not rain so much, but wind, at least along the water, which is, of course, where people need spider sprays most. But we’re starting to book them – tentatively, weather permitting – so do give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com.

And now I’m off to spend the day with my grandson. Tuesday is my favourite day of the week! Have a good one 🙂

Lauralee

It’s Cottage Week!

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Lauralee

For us, I mean. Even though we basically live in a cottage anyway, we still look forward to going away to another. Since pest control is SO seasonal – except for mice and bedbugs – we don’t really get ALL that much time to enjoy it. And going away is better because we don’t go alone.

My girls will come up for a visit – not a long one because they work too much, and Ross’s daughter and her family come too. Lots of fishing, losing at euchre, and this year, a new baby!!!

So ….if you’re looking for help with whatever is irking you, we’re sorry, but we’re away. The good news is that it’s only a week – we’ll be back on the 24th and Ross will be totally ready to take care of your pest problems whatever they are.

If you need advise or want to book an appointment for as soon as we’re back, please do feel free to email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com – I’m sure I’ll have to let others have a turn at holding Noah once in awhile.

Cottage Country Pest Control

Environmentally Responsible Solutions

Tag Archives: tay