Q. My aunt gave me a cedar chest that she’s had since she got married. If I store my wool clothes and blankets in there, will the cedar protect them from clothes moths?
VIEW MORE
Q. We’ve been having a real problem with house flies inside our house! I know that they are found around garbage and dog poop outside, but where are they coming from inside? I keep a tight lid on my kitchen garbage can and we actually see them mostly in the dining room near the windows. Can you tell me where they’re breeding?
It’s almost that time again. Your home is starting to look pretty attractive to certain outside pests like the Asian lady beetle (or lady bug) and the brown marmorated stink bug. When the weather starts to cool in the fall, these pests look for warmer places to spend the winter. If you’ve had to share your home with lady beetles in the past, you’re not alone, but there is help.
VIEW MOREGood question, right? If you think about it, you’ll realize that many insects must be able to hear. What about those noisy insects that chirp or have mating or territorial calls? Crickets, cicadas, and katydids obviously can hear each other. That’s what their “singing” is all about.
VIEW MOREQ. We have an annual problem with what we think are boxelder bugs. Every fall they end up in the house. Last year, we vacuumed up over 100! Why are they coming inside?
VIEW MOREQ. After my mother died, I went to Atlanta and brought many of her things, including an oriental rug, to my home. When I was vacuuming the rug, I noticed that some of the yarns were falling out. When I turned it over, I found two whitish worms and a lot of webbed tube-like things stuck onto the bottom of the rug. What are these and are they eating the rug?
VIEW MOREQ. I cancelled my quarterly service with another pest control company because the smell of the stuff they used made me sick. Do you use anything less toxic?
A. Actually, the odor of a pesticide has nothing to do with how toxic it is. But many people do associate odor with toxicity. They feel that the stronger the smell, the more toxic and the more potentially hazardous the pesticide.
VIEW MOREQ. We’ve had a problem with cockroaches. I don’t know if I’m seeing the same cockroaches that I started with or if these are new ones. How long do insects live anyway?
A. Some insects only live for hours; some insects live for years! There’s a huge range in life expectancy from one insect species to another. A German cockroach can live from 3 to 6 months (unless it meets up with an effective pesticide, or a predator, or a shoe!).
VIEW MORE