Tips for Reducing Mosquitoes

Tips for Reducing Mosquitoes

Here are a few tips to help ward off the mosquitoes in your area.

To aid in the effort to keep your home bite-free, check for mosquito motels around your property. It doesn’t take long to scope out your property to look for potential mosquito hangouts.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

That short, yet succinct statement is true right now in Middle Tennessee. Especially in the area of cicadas vs. mosquitoes.

Since they only come around every 13 years, it seems like cicadas would be the biggest news in the bug world. However, due to a lot of rain and hot weather in April, those pesky pests called mosquitoes are making quite a big bite in the pest popularity contest. Literally!

To fight the bite, The Bug Man offers a mosquito management program during the summer months that is intended to help reduce the breeding and resting areas of mosquitoes around your property. Call (615.217.7284) or email (service@thebugman.us) our office for more information.

To aid in the effort to keep your home bite-free, check for mosquito motels around your property. It doesn’t take long to scope out your property to look for potential mosquito hangouts. Here are a few tips to help ward off the mosquitoes in your area.

  • Dispose of old tires, tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles, plastic sheeting, or any water-holding containers.
  • Clean debris from rain gutters to allow proper drainage.
  • Fill in or drain low places (puddles, ruts) in yard.
  • Keep drains, ditches, and culverts clean of weeds and trash so water can flow properly.
  • Cover trash containers to keep out rain water.
  • Check around outdoor faucets and air conditioner units and repair leaks or puddles.
  • Empty plastic wading pools at least once per week and store indoors when not in use.
  • Make sure your backyard pool is cared for while away from the home.
  • Fill in tree holes and stumps that hold water with sand or cement
  • Change the water in bird baths, plant pots, and drip trays at least once per week.
  • Keep the grass cut short and shrubbery well trimmed around the house where adult mosquitoes may rest.
  • Irrigate lawns and gardens carefully to prevent water from standing.
  • Eliminate seepage from cisterns, cesspools, and septic tanks.
  • Stock ornamental pools with top feeding predacious minnows.
  • Check window and door screens on the home.  Be sure they are in good condition to seal out mosquitoes.
  • Wear light colored clothing, plus long sleeve shirts and long pants for extra protection.
  • Use repellants on skin and clothing while outdoors.

Cicadas in Tennessee 2011

Cicadas

We’re using Llama Font to deliver bad news about the 2011 Cicadas in Tennessee…

Here at The Bug Man, we’re big fans of humor. It’s great to laugh! Because, honestly, some things are quite funny. If laughter is the best medicine, then we’ve got an entire medicine cabinet full of it!

While browsing Twitter today, we stumbled upon a funny little web page called Llama Font. It genuinely cracked us up to think about Tina the llama from the movie Napoleon Dynamite bending to make llama letters.

The creators of Llama Font suggested that their llama letters should be used to deliver bad news…

Bad News About the 2011 Cicadas in Tennessee

Though the news you just read is tragic, don’t be dismayed. Rather, take relief in knowing this good news…

Good News About The Bug Man

If you found this page on Google and really want legit info about cicadas, please read our previous blog post The 13-Year Cicada Set to Invade Middle Tennessee.

Have any questions about cicadas (or any other pest)? Please post a comment. Maybe we’ll answer your questions in Llama Font!

Just kidding. We won’t answer in Llama Font. 🙂

Storm Damage and Termites: What You Need to Know

Storm Damage and Termites

If you experienced storm damage that disturbed the soil surrounding your house and you have a termite treatment agreement with us, please call us at 615.217.7284. A re-treatment of your home is necessary to maintain your agreement and to prevent future termite damage. We will schedule a time to inspect your home and re-treat it.

With the recent damaging weather in Tennessee, many homeowners are cleaning up debris left over from the storms. While it’s not hard to remember to take care of the tree that fell over in your yard because you see it all of the time, checking the soil surrounding your home may be more elusive.

When we treat for pest or termite control, we establish an exterior barrier outside your home. Anytime the soil surrounding your house is disturbed, your home is at risk for pest invasions. If you add a deck or a sun room without adding pest protection, you may be involuntarily inviting bugs to join you for dinner. You may see a resurgence of ants or spiders after you do some landscaping. Or, termites may begin meeting for a feast inside your home after a night of bad weather.

If you experienced storm damage that disturbed the soil within five feet of your house and you have a termite treatment agreement with us, please call us at 615.217.7284. A re-treatment of your home may be necessary to maintain your agreement and to prevent future termite damage. We will schedule a time to inspect your home and re-treat it.

Please call us if you have questions about how home improvements, storm damage and landscaping affects pest control. If any of your friends or family has damage that disturbed the soil around their home, please ask them to check in with their pest control company. If they don’t have pest protection, their home may be at risk.

Storms are hectic. Cleaning up after storms can be overwhelming. We are here to help you keep your home protected.

The 13-Year Cicadas Set to Invade Middle Tennessee

The cicadas are coming!

The cicadas are coming!

The cicadas are coming! You may have heard rumors that the dreaded 13-year cicadas are emerging this year in Tennessee. It’s true. They are coming between April and June.

You may have heard rumors that the dreaded 13-year cicadas are emerging this year in Tennessee. It’s true. They are coming between April and June. It is predicted that they will appear when the ground temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Several have been spotted in the area already. In no time, there will be thousands of them!

What exactly are the 13-year cicadas? And why are they coming out this year? Don’t they come out every year? What makes this year special? What’s the difference between a 13-year and a 17-year cicada? What’s the difference between a cicada and a locust?

Cicadas are known for their beady little eyes. Contrary to popular myth, they are not blind. They can see just fine. However, fine eyesight does not prevent them from flying onto humans occasionally.

There are several different types of cicadas. You’re probably familiar with the annual cicadas that come out every summer, typically called dog-day cicadas. The rarer 13- and 17-year cicadas are growing underground all the time, feeding on nutrients in trees, but only come out after they’ve fully grown (after 13 or 17 years). The difference between a 13-year and a 17-year cicada is that one species simply takes four years longer to mature than the other.

When the 13-year cicadas appear and make a loud racket, it’s called an emergence. After maturing and growing into adulthood underground for 13 years–they are ready to emerge above ground and begin mating. The loud sound that you hear comes from the males. It’s their mating call. The females hear the mating call, find the males, mate and then lay their eggs in tree branches. Check out this informational page from The Tennessean for more details.

The reason the cicada emergence is so loud is because millions of cicada babies grew into adulthood underground together for 13 years. Then those millions appear above ground singing together in a shrieking chorus, ready to mate and create millions more babies. It’s an ongoing cycle.

The 13-year cicadas sing loudest during the hottest parts of day. They do sing at night, but not as frequently or as loudly. If you hear singing at night, it’s most likely a cricket, katydid or frog.

At The Bug Man, we don’t treat for cicadas because treating them with pesticides has proved ineffective. Other than producing a loud and annoying noise, cicadas are not harmful to humans. They don’t attack or sting. They don’t destroy the wood in houses.

However, if you have young trees growing in your yard, it’s recommended that you cover them with bird netting or cheese cloth, or to delay pruning until the cicadas have left because female cicadas cut and pierce the branches of young trees, making the trees weak.

Also, if you were planning on any outdoor painting project this summer, perhaps you should reschedule to another time because flying cicadas might ruin your paint job.

Although cicadas are often called locusts, they are not synonymous. Locusts are short-horned grasshoppers. Cicadas are an entirely different, plant-sucking creature.

The 13-year cicadas are a mysterious thing. Many people don’t understand this phenomenon and will respond in fear. If this blog was helpful and informative to you, please forward it along to your friends and family. Hopefully knowing more about cicadas will help you endure their courtship choruses.

“When you treat for bugs, will it hurt my pet”

Will bug treatment affect my pet

One of the things we get asked most frequently here at The Bug Man is, “When you treat for bugs, will it hurt my pet?” This is a common question deserving of a clear answer. In short, when pest control products are prepared and applied properly according to label specifications, they will not hurt you, your family, or your pet.One of the things we get asked most frequently here at The Bug Man is, “When you treat  for bugs, will it hurt my pet?”

This is a common question deserving of a clear answer.

In short, when pest control products are prepared and applied properly according to label specifications, they will not hurt you, your family, or your pet.

Join with us now in a sigh of relief and a smile of appreciation. And, please read on to learn more.

The Bug Man takes great care in following the safety and application instructions for the products that we use. We measure the amount of product necessary for each pest control service and apply it specifically to a targeted area. We do not spray your home or workplace frivolously. There are some instances where we must use a technique called fogging, but that’s the exception, not the rule. Also, on the service tickets for our customers, we note how much of each product we apply.

In some treatment situations, we will request that pets and people vacate the premises for a particular period of time.  This is generally only required for flea and bed bug treatments.  Most other times, Felix and Fido can stay cozy on the couch.

We are a Quality Pro company. What that means is that we adhere to certain guidelines:

* Employee background checks

* Drug-free workplace

* Our technicians wear uniforms

* Customer service

* Stewarding the environment through following directions on product labels, applying products properly and disposing of products safely

We love information and education at The Bug Man. If you have any questions about blogs, bugs or anything else, please, let us know. You can post questions and comments on our blog, Facebook or Twitter. Or you can call us at 615.217.7284.

Stink Bugs on the Rise in Middle Tennessee

Stink Bugs on the rise

When considering the odoriferous occasional invader that is the stink bug, they can be described much like Mr. Grinch:

“The three words that describe you are as follows, and I quote, ‘Stink, Stank, Stunk!’”

Tennessee, as well as 32 other states in America, are dealing with the rotten reality of stink bug infestations.

Tennessee, as well as 32 other states in America, are dealing with the rotten reality of stink bug infestations. Unfortunately, because they secrete a smelly liquid when threatened, even a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole won’t help.

Stink bugs have already been reported in the Middle Tennessee area. Some species of the bug attack crops and can cost farmers millions of dollars in damage. Other stink bugs only attack the noses of people who happen to step on or disturb them.

To prevent stink bugs from entering your home, make sure you seal around windows and doors with silicone-latex caulk. Also, patch any holes or replace any damaged screens on windows, porches or doors. Vacuuming an affected area may help, as long as the vacuum bag is disposed of properly and not left inside to release the nasty odor.

The National Pest Management Association warns homeowners this week that the bugs’ growing populations are likely to make infestations significantly worse this year. “This season’s stink bug population will be larger than in the past,” says Jim Fredericks, director of technical services for NPMA.

If you encounter stink-stank-stunk bugs in your home or work place, do not squash them. Call us at 615.217.7284 or email service@thebugman.us. We’re happy to help you defeat those mini Mr. Grinches!

The Buzz on Bees and Other Sting Things

The Buzz on Bees

“Killer” bees. Yellowjackets. Wasps. Nests. Allergies. Pain. Do you feel the fear? Honeybee, carpenter bee, bumble bee… How do I tell them apart?“Killer” bees. Yellowjackets. Wasps. Nests. Allergies. Pain. Do you feel the fear?

With warmer weather comes more bug activity, including bees and wasps. In this season, there are many different kinds of stinging insects flying around your home, car and work place. But you may not be able to tell those insects apart–especially if you swat at them fiercely or run away.

Through this blog, we’ll try to teach you a few memorable points about a few of the stinging insects active in your neighborhood. However, this explanation will not be exhaustive. If you’re seeing insect activity, please call us. We’ll come out and identify–as well as try to remove–the wasp nest or beehive from your property.

Carpenter Bee

Though carpenter bees don’t pose a public health threat. They do have the potential to damage wood through the building of their nests. Sounds a lot like termites, huh?

Painting and staining the wood on your house may help prevent carpenter bees because they prefer to nest in untreated wood. However, they will occasionally make themselves at home even in treated wood. If you discover carpenter bees, we will assist you in treating them, and recommend having the holes filled or repaired.

Bumble Bee (not to be confused with Honeybees)

These bees have quite a fuzzy appearance. However, don’t let their apparent softness fool you, because bumble bees can sting more than once. In defending their nest, bumble bees will chase any threatening thing (that means you) a considerable distance.

Dealing with bumble bees can prove tricky because they defend their homes so aggressively and can sting multiple times. Please don’t try to take care of a bumble bee nest on your own. For your own safety, let us help you.

Honeybee

These little buzzers only sting once. That’s good news if you ever come in contact (literally) with one. Unfortunately, a honeybee sting is one of the most painful stings. Like bumble bees, honeybees chase invaders of their nest for a relatively long distance.

Taking care of a honeybee nest is the same as taking care of a bumble bee nest. Consider the safety that comes from a professional pest management company and spare yourself the stinging.  If we find a honeybee nest, we recommend contacting a beekeeper to have them relocate the hive.

Though they can harm you, both the honeybee and bumble bee are beneficial because they help in the process of pollination.

“Killer” Bees

By the way, don’t worry, because “killer” bees aren’t active in Tennessee. However, if you visit Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada or Texas, you would find them there. The name “killer” bee is applied because they attack as a group, which causes more damage to humans. If someone is highly allergic to bee stings and gets attacked multiple times by this species of bee, the person may die of an allergic reaction, if left untreated.

Yellowjacket

Wrapping up today’s little list of sting things is the yellowjacket. Getting stung by a yellowjacket can cause an allergic reaction. Over 500,000 people are sent to the emergency room every year because of stinging pests like these.

Yellowjackets often hang out at BBQs and picnics near the sugary beverages and meaty meals, or by trash cans and recycling bins. Remember to properly dispose of your meats and sweets. Overall, proper trash disposal is very helpful in pest control.

If you suspect yellowjacket activity, call a pest professional.

Those are your bug basics for today. Thanks for reading!

Ant Season, Termite Season

Ant and Termite season

Tell me folks, is it ant season or termite season?

Is it Bugs season or Daffy season?

“Duck season!”
“Rabbit season!”
“Duck season!”
“Rabbit season”

Remember Looney Toons? Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck used to argue back and forth about which hunting season it was. And ol’ Elmer Fudd was befuddled by all of the crazy commotion.

Similar to Bugs and Daffy, it’s the time of year where you could find yourself saying:

“Ant season!”
“Termite season!”
“Ant season!”
“Termite season!”

In our previous blog, we talked about how ant-like bugs swarming in your house can actually be termites. To help you identify termites easier, check out the information below:

* Winged ants have two pairs of wings. The front pair is larger than the hind pair. Termite wings are the same shape and size.
* Ants have antennae that appear to have elbows. Termites have short, straight, beaded antennae.
* Ants have long, segmented bodies. Termites have short, stubby bodies.
* Both pests vary in size and color.

When you encounter pests in your home, don’t be befuddled. Call the The Bug Man. We will help you identify exactly what “pest season” it is.

Where do all the bugs go when it is cold out

Bug behavior during the winter

Someone asked me the other day what our company does in the winter when all of the insects die in the cold. Huh? No, silly! The insects don’t all die in the winter! Basically, they migrate, overwinter, or hibernate. Really, they are not much different than people. Take a playground, for instance. You don’t see any families there right now. But, that doesn’t mean that they all died. Lol. They’re home playing video games and drinking cocoa. But, come spring, that playground will be crawling with kids expending all of that pent-up winter energy. Bugs will do the same this spring. Until then, they often choose to hibernate and overwinter in, under and around people’s homes. That’s where we come in. 🙂 Here’s a great article I found on insect behavior in the winter from the Smithsonian Institution.

Where Do Insects Go in the Winter?