THE CAST: Our Home Infesting Bug Hunts stars The Pest Predator and its prey: home infesting bugs like cockroaches, carpenter ants, odorous house ants, and predators like spiders, even though predator infestations are best ended by hunting the infestations they feed on.
BLURB: Customers laugh when we tell them we hunt bugs. We’d laugh too, but that response is a sad testament to the state of The Pest Control Industry. The literature in every book about ending bug infestations says the best practice is to inspect (hunt) and find the source of the infestation before applying pesticides. Yet almost every company in The Industry still sells reoccurring applications of pesticides, usually selling the pesticides as “green” claiming that the neurotoxin pyrethrins (synthesized chrysanthemum) they drench your home in are “natural and safe for babies and pets.” The question of its toxicity is important, but it’s also a red herring. Instead of engaging the heated debate about pesticide toxicity, we like to emphasize the fact that reoccurring preventative pesticide applications don’t work. The Industry will say otherwise, but we learned (from our many years working in The Industry) that applying pesticides preventatively to protect your home like a barrier or an eco-shield is as effective as chanting and throwing magic bug killer pixie dust around your home hoping to ward the evil pestilence away. It’s funny when you think about it. They’re claiming they can kill and or repel bugs before they’re present. Even magic bug killer pixie dust will keep bugs away if they’re not there to begin with, and repelling (let’s say) the ant populations around your home only pushed them out for a while, setting you up for a monster infestation when you decide to stop paying good money for magic bug killer pixie dust. It’s funny, but it should also make you angry. The Industry sells millions of Americans on the con called “preventative treatments” each and every day.
If magic still exists in our modern world, this is it.
SERVICE SYNOPSIS: Each of our bug hunts have their signature service storylines, but the goal of all our bug hunts is to end The Infestation. That process generally follows a classic narrative arch with a beginning, middle, and an end. The length of your personal service storyline will depend on the size and strength of your infestation. Typically our odorous house ant hunts require 1-2 hunts per season (usually only one); heavy carpenter ant hunt infestations can require 2-3 hunts per season and another hunt the following season to ensure total elimination; a new roach infestation can be knocked out in one service fairly easily, but a heavy infestation (especially in an apartment building that’s infested) can limp along for a long time.
We don’t apply synthetic pesticides for non-infesting pests, especially beneficial predators like spiders, beetles, and centipedes, but we do offer thorough cleans for small flies (especially in restaurants) and spiders. We also don’t apply pesticides for non-infesting bugs that enter your home, become trapped, and die on their own like stink bugs and box elders. Oh and we also don’t apply pesticides for panty/clothing moth infestations, because The Infestation won’t end until the breeding sites are identified and removed from your home.
No matter what, we’re happy to inspect The Action in and around your Homefront, give you our read of it, and write you a custom action plan for ending (or coping with) whatever engagement you’re having with the urban wilderness.
COSTS: $145 – $185 for initial bug hunt, $65-$85 for follow ups depending on how close you live to our farm in Boring, Oregon
The Pest Predator is more than your typical brandname cartoon. It’s a live action character.
That means, we trigger it when we perform the actions of its character. When you watch our human host Jake unsling their flashlight like Han Solo and crouch down to get a better look at The Action beneath our feet, then you’ve met The Pest Predator.
Here’s a few photos from it’s perspective…
Odorous House Ants during The Great Migration (usually the second long stretch of sun in spring) >
Here’s what a house ant infestation looks like when you find the nest. These guys were living under insulation in an attic:
Here’s what we mean when Predator says, “Ring around the bait means it’s working.” That will have an effect for sure!
This is not a hobo! The reason why humans have to hire pest control companies is, we’ve exterminated so many of The Earth Show’s natural predators. An infestation is an ecosystem that’s collapsed due to lack of predation.
The best way to clean spiders (and their webs) is a vacuum cleaner. I recommend a batt operated backpack vacuum. It will make you feel cool like you’re one of the Ghostbusters. Vacuums are also great for sucking up paper wasps, stink bugs, and box elders. Spiders are especially good at fleeing from pest control technicians who spray your home with repellant pesticides. I can’t count how many times I watched spiders repel to safety (on their own web lines) the moment I tried to spray them with pesticides.
Using a vacuum cleaner to thin spider populations isn’t only about following some sort of whacky hippy belief system to save the earth from the evils of pesticides. It’s simply the best practice for controlling spiders.