We often get calls from people who feel they are being bitten by something in their home. Sometimes the cause is obvious, but in other cases, we may not be able to find the source of the bites. In warm weather months especially, people are bitten when outside (from chiggers, mosquitoes, thrips, etc.), but the
VIEW MOREWhat are booklice? We have some old books that belonged to my grandfather and I just noticed that the pages look sort of chewed on. My Internet search found “booklice.” Are they the ones doing the damage? I couldn’t find any bugs in the books. C.F., Boston, MA I don’t think it’s booklice that are
VIEW MOREBut Hidden Pests in Your Home Won’t Be Sleeping for Long! The one constant about weather in New England is that it’s always changing. December 2013 was probably one of the coldest in decades. Remember the polar vortex? It had already taken a firm grip on most of the country at this time a year
VIEW MOREMy son told me something I didn’t know. I thought all little insects had to go through a resting stage to become adult insects. He learned in school that some insects don’t ever become a pupa; they just grow up without that step. Is that right? B.P., Ayer, MA It’s true that not all insects
VIEW MOREWe found a bag of rye flour that was full of very tiny bugs that my friend identified as grain mites. Are they going to infest our house? M. M., Atkinson, NH Grain mites are not a problem that we often see in homes; they’re more of a bulk grain storage pest, so you might
VIEW MOREIn the pest control industry, we call them total release foggers, or TRFs, but you call them “bug bombs” or “foggers.” I’m talking about those pressurized aerosol cans that many folks think are the only way to get rid of just about any kind of pest. The “bombs” are set off to fill an area
VIEW MOREWe’ve had a drain fly problem for months and months. We see them in both bathrooms. I know enough to know that they are apparently coming from the sink or tub drains. What I don’t know is how to get rid of them. Heavy-duty drain cleaners don’t work at all. What else can we do?
VIEW MOREThe answer to this question seems obvious to me. Why do we spend more time indoors in the winter? It’s cozy, dry…and warm. Pests like that, too. They’re perfectly happy staying outside when the weather is nice and there’s plenty of food. But when it’s miserable outside, pests look for warm, dry places to spend
VIEW MORECarpet beetles and clothes moths are our two main fabric pests. The damage that they leave in woolens, other fabrics, hides, and furs can look similar but there are some other clues that they leave behind that will tell you which pest is the culprit. While adult carpet beetles are often seen wandering around a
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