Bedbugs in Cottage Country

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Lauralee

Bedbug and eggs in a small hole in a bedframe. Picture taken by Jessica Batryn.

We sure are getting a lot more bedbugs up here any more. It used to be they happened mostly when families hosted visitors. Now it seems to be a whole lot of short stay renters that are bringing them. We’re getting multiple calls a week these days!

SO unnecessary though! If you going to offer up a cottage for short terms rentals (or long term for that matter) – there are things you can do to protect your property – and your pocketbook!

There’s a new product that can be used as a preventative – it’s a lot cheaper to prevent than to treat, honest!
There are certain types of bed frames that make a lot more sense than others.
And there are mechanical aids (such as proper mattress covers, moats & monitors) that can be used too.

Treating often costs $1000 & up (plus HST) – prevention costs about $200+ materials.

And guess which one involves the fear of bringing home hitch-hikers? And/or bad reviews and lost revenue?

If you have rental properties in Tay, Tiny, Muskoka, Penetanguishene, Port Severn, etc – basically up to about Parry Sound (but sometimes beyond) – and (NEW!!!) now in & around Durham as well, we are happy to help. Give us a call at 705-534-7863, or email ccpestcontrol@gmail.com and Jessa and/or I will be 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.

Summertime, summertime…

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Lauralee

…and things are starting to slow down just a little bit. I just looked at my course calendar and discovered that next week is Study Week already!!! Time flies when you’re getting old!

Things are starting to slow down a bit for pest control now – mostly because people are waiting to see what happens with the dratted gypsy moth caterpillars, I think. If they’re almost done being caterpillars, might not be worth spending the money to kill the rotten things, right?

Which it could be, if it’s only the caterpillars you’re trying to eliminate (or at least reduce the numbers). Me, I’m leaning towards it still being worth doing because every dead caterpillar is one less to participate in the next part of their life cycle. And because the residual that is left behind after we spray is effective against the moths as well, so that means, presumably, they will go someplace else to lay their eggs, which means that there will be less to start with next spring. In theory!

SO – we can treat for gypsy moth caterpillars. For most places in our coverage area, that will cost about $225 (plus HST) – if you have a lot of trees in the immediate vicinity that you need done, it may cost more. If you are considering it, here are some things you should know:

The product we use is one that can also be used for spider sprays – we tend not to do that because it can leave more of a film on windows than our regularly preferred option, which dries clear. Of course, we generally try not to hit windows any more than necessary, but it happens. This one, however, includes gypsy moths and their caterpillars on the label, so it is a better option right now.

According to the label, the product provides residual protection for up to 90 days BUT the bigger they are the longer it takes. SO even after spraying, you will likely still see caterpillars, just not as many.

We do not have a helicopter! Or a magic wand, either. We spray as high as we can safely spray given our equipment and the situation. There are a number of things that impact how broadly and how high we can treat, including weather conditions, proximity to water, and how reasonable – or not – your neighbours are. We’ll do our best to solve your pest control problem(s) but not at risk of harm to the fish/water or to people (no matter how miserable) or pets.

If you’ve got tree-eating caterpillars, carpenter ants, bedbugs, spiders, mice or rats, give us a call at 705-534-7863. Or better yet, email me at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com, and I’ll get back to you even faster.

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

Welcome Back

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Lauralee

Here’s hoping everyone made it through another year of pandemic unscathed!

We’re about ready to get up and running again. That will look at bit different, now that Ross is retired – I’m hoping he’ll still answer phones for us and do some scheduling but he says no …. we shall see. Pretty sure a messed up shoulder doesn’t preclude doing the phones, right? Sure does make one feel older though. Especially with the pandemic on top.

Anyway – we’re still here, and looking forward to providing you with environmentally responsible pest control when you need. We are, however, somewhat reducing our offerings – unfortunately, we are no longer able to provide service for ~bigger~ rodents & critters. We’ll still do mice, and offer advice and guidance where we can for others – but we’re not trained for rooftops and unless/until something changes, we’re not in a hurry to get trained either!!

So – mice; ants (big, little & in between); spiders; fleas; roaches, and my personal favourite, bedbugs – what am I missing? I’ll have to add to the list as things come up.

We are not doing mosquitoes & ticks yet – but we’ll be working on that so that we can do it legally & effectively.

Got lots of work to get done, and a whole lot of steps, yet, also – but some quick answers to most often asked questions.

When will we start spraying?

When the weather settles a bit – generally that’s been end of April, early May – but if we can get going earlier, we will.

What areas do we cover?

All of Tay & Tiny. Orillia, Brechin, Ramara, all that fun stuff. Midland & Penetang, of course. Beyond that, we do during the busy season, but we try to avoid anything past Parry Sound or Gravenhurst-ish. Not because we have anything against you guys, but because the only way we can do that further stuff reasonably is to bunch them up with others along the way. Same goes for going any further south than Barrie – except for family, anyway!

Will you come give us a quote?

Not usually. But we’re pretty darn good at giving quotes by phone or email, and you really can’t lose. If we get there and find out we quoted too high, we lower the price. If we get there and find out we quoted too low, we honour that price, but let you know that if we have to come back, the cost will be whatever. The only time that doesn’t apply is if/when we show up and discover that a) people have grossly misrepresented the situation or b) they keep adding on additional services they didn’t mention up front – but you would never do any of those things, so that won’t be a problem, right? Right!

What if I pay cash?

No problem. Just let me know upfront so that I raise the price accordingly. Coincidentally, but 13%.

The price is the same no matter how you pay though. And while I’m on that subject, no, we don’t do credit cards. We love email money transfers though. Those can go to ccpestcontrol@gmail.com. Cheques & cash are okay too.

Such a fun time …

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Lauralee

So … business is challenging this year – and then some!

Ross injured himself falling off a ladder and is feeling his age these days …. finding out the hard way that the older you are, the longer it takes to heal.

The plan is for Matt to take over – but that is complicated by COVID and other issues.

Here’s hoping things get back to relatively normal soon!

Ants and mice and critters, oh my!

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Lauralee

It’s a very odd year. Still the normal stuff for this time of year – spider sprays and carpenter ants, mostly. A LOT of carpenter ants.

But we are also still getting so many calls for other pests – pests that aren’t usually a problem until fall. Mice are the biggest; we have had about 3x as many calls that include mice infestations as we normally would by this time of year. I guess conditions were good for overwintering this year, and maybe even for having increased numbers of litters.

We’re also getting a lot more wasp calls than usual; those seem to be mostly in Tay and Muskoka – and apparently Victoria Harbour as well, as I seem to have some of my own! I’d better call an exterminator, eh?

Even though we’re pretty busy right now, we’re still getting to most things within a few days, so if you have pest problems anywhere in Tay, Tiny, Midland, Penetanguishene and/or surrounding areas, give us a call at 705-534-7863, or drop us an email at ccpestcontrol@gmail.com.

And just so you know, the guys are all aware of the actions they need to take to keep everybody safe, and are traveling with masks, gloves and sanitizer to be used as needed.

Weather watch

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Lauralee

So much unpredictability this season!

wind The weather is not cooperating! Or perhaps more accurately, the weatherman is not cooperating. IT would be ever so much easier to plan the guys’ days if we could believe whatever the weather people posted.

Supposed to rain but it doesn’t; not supposed to, but it does. And always, always, it seems, wind, wind, and more wind. Which is a pain. Actually, both wind and rain are a pain.

Wind, because it makes it too hard to control the direction and placement of the spray. Exterminators are responsible for controlling their product, and if it’s too windy to do that well, it’s too windy for spraying. There are minor variations, though; if you are on/near water, the amount of wind that can be tolerated becomes far less.

Rain is a pain also – but not for the reason you might think. Rain is a pain because it causes people to worry that the spray will be all “washed off” if it should happen to rain after it’s applied. Fortunately, rain doesn’t actually cause the micro-encapsulated product to break down. Once it’s on, it’s pretty much going to stay there until the light breaks it down.

We don’t typically spray DURING a rain, but that’s because most people won’t ~BELIEVE~ if we do and they’ll whine until they get a second spray.

Fun fact: Exterminators have to be able to do all kinds of nifty math to figure out how much product to add to how much water to get the most environmentally safe mix to give you the result you want. They even have to be able to calculate how much water or product they have to add to an existing amount in the sprayer to change it to make it a different application mix and all that fun stuff.

There is NO benefit to us to spray your place if we know the product is not going to work; why would we even do that?! Really, we don’t want to have to come back to do the job again. That would waste your time, energy & resources – & ours as well!

That is most assuredly not what we are about!

Still here, but….

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Lauralee

Wow… I haven’t written a blog since we got back from the cottage last year! My bad…

Anyway, we are still around, but at this point doing the social distancing thing, since both of us have health vulnerabilities and would prefer to avoid the whole COVID-19 thing. So, aside from some advice over the phone if you’re lucky and catch him at a non-grumpy time (not today! he’s misplaced one thing and broken another; this does not make him cooperative at all). Pretty sure they’d better not skip Jeopardy again!

Sad when pretty much the only thing to look forward to is a half hour of Jeopardy but hey, it does give our day a little bit of structure. Haven’t really cared about being stuck at home up until now, except for the fact that I don’t get my weekly grandson cuddles!! But as of right now, my schoolwork is done – nothing more to do but upload their final marks into the main system tomorrow. And then I’m off until the end of May and pretty sure that is going to go a lot slower when I’m not working.

I’m actually pretty unhappy that I’m not teaching at least one course this semester … I was really getting into the whole remote learning thing, and have all kinds of ideas for things I could do better. But no such luck. I’d pout but that that would only make Ross even grumpier. If we’re stuck together for who-knows-how-long probably better not to irk him too too much.

Anyway…. all’s well, more or less. Hope you & yours are all staying safe and healthy wherever you happen to be waiting it out.

Cottage Country Pest Control

Environmentally Responsible Solutions