PEST PROSpectives

Keeping Pests Gone: Five Expert Strategies

• Pest Pros of Michigan

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What a relief! Your pest control pros have left - and so have the pests. But, how do you assure those pests won't be back?

In this episode of PEST PROSpectives, Pest Pro Tony Sorrentino tells us how the Pest Pros go about keeping them out.

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Pest Pros of Michigan

PEST PROSpectives is a Livemic Communications production.

Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet is This is PEST PROSpectives from the Pest Pros of Michigan. We're talking about those pesky pests that you may wish not to have in your environs, on your property, in your office, whatever it might be, and the Pest Pros of Michigan experts are ready once again to help us understand that. Tony Sorrentino is back with us once more. Associate Certified Entomologist at Pest Pros of Michigan. Today we're talking about the top five ways to eliminate a recurrence of pests. Hi, Tony.

Tony Sorrentino:

Hey Richard, how are we doing, man, it's good to see you again.

Richard Piet:

Good to see you. This is something we don't want, right? We've discovered a pest. Folks have engaged a pro hopefully like Pest Pros of Michigan to help eliminate that. What we don't want to see is the pest come back. So we're at this point now where we have gone through, let's suppose, your expert process of getting rid of a pest. If we were to focus on five things now to make sure they don't come back, what do we start with?

Tony Sorrentino:

I mean, obviously, killing the pests is going to be your first step, but keeping them gone is the real game. It's about breaking the cycle, and we start there, you know.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, so maybe number one on that list after the problem has been eliminated. Trying to keep it eliminated is to exclude the possibility of them returning, what is called exclusion. What does that mean?

Tony Sorrentino:

Exclusion means sealing up the gaps, cracks and crevices, the structural deficiencies, the part that was overlooked when the builders hung the siding, or where they put the siding corners on, or where the siding sets near the foundation. There could be a gap there, or at the roof vent or a gable vent or a plumbing penetration. We're looking at those door sweeps, little spots that are left open. That might be unintelligible, you just don't even think about it. But next thing you know you've got an open pathway. Whether it's mice, or if it's stink bugs or box elders or, you know, asian lady beetles, they're looking for a place to stack up.

Richard Piet:

And so you want to close the on-ramp? I guess that's it.

Tony Sorrentino:

That's it. If we're eliminating the points of entry, we're taking care of part of the problem.

Richard Piet:

All right, Hence what's called exclusion. Next on the list of ways to keep them out don't give them a reason to hang out.

Tony Sorrentino:

That's so important. We want to eliminate food and water sources and that's huge. It's the leaky faucets, crumbs, pet food left out. Pests aren't picky If the resource is there, they will share. So we got to cut off the invite.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, so those are the things that some tests, just generally speaking, are looking for a nice feast. You leave it out. There it is so. First they get the on-ramp, then they get the feast Boy. You've made it a you know, I don't know a Hilton hotel of stay at your place, which we don't want. All right, so no reason to hang out. Next on the list is something called cleaning up harborage. What does that mean, tony?

Tony Sorrentino:

Whether it's clear inside or if it's heavy vegetation or trees leaning over the bushes, the shrubs are up against the house, or if there's trees leaning over, touching onto the top of the house, that's a freeway for ants and other pests to make access onto the structure. We want to eliminate that.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, we're back to the road analogies again, I guess. But that makes a lot of sense, again, I guess, but that makes a lot of sense If we think about rodents, for example, a tree hanging over your roof with a nice branch provides that perfect harborage or a roadway. It's interesting. I have a small tree outside my kitchen window and I walked up to the sink the other day and it's not a strong tree but it's strong, strong enough, and there, just sort of wavering on a branch, was a squirrel and he's hanging on to this little branch and he's chewing away on the buds of this tree and you or I, in an equivalent distance from the ground, hanging on some weak limb trying to chew on something, would be scary, but not to him. That was harborage, wasn't it? He found his way up that tree and was finding his way to the feast.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yep, absolutely. We got to eliminate that and we make it uncomfortable for them to stick around.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, and squirrels are a little tricky. I also saw a picture of a squirrel this week from a friend who was hanging upside down trying to get to a suet feeder a bird feeder. They're a little fearless, aren't they?

Tony Sorrentino:

And acrobatic, yeah, and it's insane the lengths that squirrels will go to to get onto the house, to get into the house.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, and at least they're large enough that we can see when they're around. If our exclusion is not working and our reasons to hang out are still there and the pests are really small, we might not see any of that.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yep, absolutely. That's why number four comes into play is we want to get on a regular pest control service. If we get on, stay on a regular maintenance plan. Some people will treat no, just give me the one time. One time's good, but it covers you for one time. There's no recurring service that's set up for the seasonal pest pressures as they arise, Like what's happening in the spring with ants and other structure invading pests waking up from diapause, from the overwinter. It's different in midsummer with stinging insects and other seasonal pest pressures, than it is in fall, when we've got spiders and the return of the occasional invaders the stink bugs, box elders, western conifer, seed bugs, Asian lady beetles, all of those structure invinvading pests. They come at different parts of the year, so your one-time's not really going to knock it out. The preventive treatment, the quarterly service, is your best bet because we're targeting treatments that are specifically designed to handle those seasonal pest pressures.

Richard Piet:

And this is pretty common, is it not the idea that you got to check in from time to time, as you say quarterly, because otherwise you may not know that this particular client might have a recurrence Right?

Tony Sorrentino:

That's the fifth part is open communication, and you know, when you're dealing with a professional company, that should be part of the service is open communication. Hey, tony, we got a bunch of earwigs, absolutely. I know we were just out in April, but here we come. So our pest-free guarantee will come back in between services with no additional fee. We want to make sure that we're achieving what you signed up for, and that's a pest-free environment, right?

Richard Piet:

what you signed up for, and that's a pest free environment, right? Is it fairly common that if if someone has a pest problem, they've signed up for a one time deal that they're going to come back to you at some point, you expect to hear from them again? Is that true?

Tony Sorrentino:

Yep, and, and so even earlier today I was on the phone with a client and you know we were going back and forth negotiating. Well, I would think I want to do the one time, and I don't think my husband will let me sign up for the recurring services, and so I took my time. I was really patient. I just wanted to make sure that she was fully educated and that she had all the ammunition and all the receipts that she needed to bring it to her husband, because it was just the same scenario that I was just explaining to you We've got stink bugs all over the house and we want a one time. A one time is going to be good. It's going to knock down some stink bugs, but you're going to be calling me again in the fall, so a little bit of transparency goes a long way. People really appreciate it.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, and in a situation where you are coming back quarterly, you're probably coming back looking around and then everything's caught up and nothing's changed. I mean, I'm thinking generally speaking. You're probably not seeing a whole lot if you're coming back regularly, but if you are, you can jump on that.

Tony Sorrentino:

Right. It gets you to a proactive point where we're not reacting to situations as they arise, before the pests have had time to set up shop and you know potentially cause some kind of damage or discomfort or you know otherwise, just unpleasant nature of having them around is, you know it's priceless. We stop the problems before it has a chance to develop and then persist.

Richard Piet:

Well, think about that. If you've gone once, by the time you hear from them again about a recurrence boy. We don't know how far along that recurrence has progressed, right.

Tony Sorrentino:

Absolutely. And if we haven't taken a holistic look at this and gone through all of the steps, the exclusion, the preventive treatments, the communication, all of the parts that are moving, that make all of this work, if we haven't done that, then I don't know what's going on in your attic or your crawl space. I don't know what's happening in your basement. I'm not sure what's going on at those plumbing penetrations at the back of the house. Anything could be going on. I ain't been there.

Richard Piet:

Right, and maybe it's gone on further than the initial infestation, depending on how much time has gone by.

Tony Sorrentino:

It could have progressed by that point. Maybe we had a rodent infestation and we had rodents that you know deceased inside the wall and now we've got cached dog food that the rodents were stealing from the dog. Now we've got a secondary pest infestation with dermestid beetles or some type of store product pests, and they can't figure out where the grain moths are coming from or the carpet beetles are coming from or any of the dermestid beetles are coming from. Having eyes on it, when your car starts shimmying or making a funny noise, you take it to the mechanic, and people do that regularly anyway. It's the same thing with your house You're going to pay money for maintenance or you're going to pay money to fix it. I mean, it's six of one, it's half a dozen of another.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, boy, that's an interesting thought and really what's happened now is, in addition to these five ways to eliminate the recurrence, we've now sort of tiptoed into territory where we're talking about what happens if you don't Think about what you just described. So a new infestation could breed another, a secondary infestation of some kind. Now you're dealing with two or three or four problems.

Tony Sorrentino:

It could be exponential, and there are what we call critical pests, you know, like termites or stinging insects, or you know. Some of these are part of the general home maintenance plan and some of them are additional services. But, like having eyes on what's most important to most people and that's their home and their family, having eyes on that and helping them to protect that is. It goes without saying that these are the points that we're trying to convey, you know.

Richard Piet:

And here's the main point out of all of that you don't want a recurrence. So one of the main takeaways from our discussion today is there is benefit in having an open line of communication with your pest control company. That's the point to make sure that you do not have a recurrence. So ask about the top five ways to eliminate a recurrence of pests, or just call up the Pest Pros of Michigan and ask them. Tony's already given you a notion for what you're going to hear and the approach that's going to be taken. If you'd like Tony's and his colleagues' opinions on what kind of infestation situation you may be facing, the link is in the show notes, along with phone numbers etc. Make yourself known and Tony and company are ready to assist Tony Sorrentino. Thank you so much. Thanks, richard. Make yourself known, and Tony and company are ready to assist Tony Sorrentino. Thank you so much. Thanks. PEST PROSpectives. Click on it and subscribe where you get podcasts and be alerted when these episodes come available.