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The crisp smell of fall in the air, skeletons taking over front lawns, fake spiderwebs draped over entire houses (real ones in my yard since I don't knock them down), and goblins, ghosts, and vampires out in full force—it’s hands-down my favorite time of the year. Naturally, this makes it the perfect time to talk about real-life bloodsuckers. It would be too obvious to list mosquitoes and bed bugs, so I’m going to start with a few other critters that might not immediately pop

Today’s blog post is about this recent article: No, you aren’t in the wrong place, this is still about pest control. But why am I talking about pigs and swine farms? Great question, thanks for asking! When we think about pests invading a facility, we picture the usual suspects: a gap under a door, an open dock leveler, an unscreened vent, or a crack in the foundation. We focus so much energy on structural exclusion—and don't get me wrong, sealing up a building is vital—that w

If you aren't familiar with the Ig Nobel Prizes, they are an annual celebration held by Improbable Research honoring science that "makes you LAUGH, then makes you THINK." As an entomologist—and someone who readily admits to being a bit eccentric when it comes to bug obsession—Ig Nobel season is my second favorite time of year*. Science isn't always about pristine ivory towers; sometimes it’s about looking at strange, seemingly bizarre biological phenomena and asking, "Wait, w

If you scroll through local health department reports, late summer always brings a wave of "red placard" closures. From high-profile venue shutdowns in Florida to resort closures in Hawaii, municipal inspectors are dropping the hammer on commercial kitchens over severe pest activity—hundreds of roach sightings, heavy rodent droppings, and drain flies over prep surfaces. The public reaction is usually immediate outrage. As part of the pest control industry, and having spent pl

I travel quite a bit for work. As a frequent flier, I know how to navigate an airport, where to grab decent food during a layover, and how to get through TSA security without holding up the line. (Seriously, take everything out of your pockets!) Like any form of travel (and pest control), though, there are environmental stressors you just have to deal with. A while back while flying, I learned a term for an airport phenomenon that frustrates me as well as other frequent flier

Lately, I’ve been doing a LOT of work in food processing sites. So of course, I have stored product pests on my brain. And on every other open tab of my browser! This time of year, if you run quality assurance or perform pest control services for a food processing plant, commercial bakery, or distribution hub, late summer brings a very specific kind of headache. It’s August. Temperatures inside non-air-conditioned warehouses are hovering in the upper 80s or 90s, if you are lu

I like chocolate. Specifically dark chocolate, but I’m not turning away the semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies or the milk chocolate morsels in a good brownie. A candy bar or a filled chocolate candy will do just fine. Open a bag and I’ll be there. The closer it is, the faster I am going to find it and eat it, probably a lot of it given the chance! If I have to go to the store and buy it, or spend a few hours cooking it, obviously it’s going to take me longer to get to it and

When most people hear the word "plague," they immediately picture medieval Europe, wooden carts, and plague doctors in bird masks. It feels like an ancient historical artifact. The plague is still very much active today. Yersinia pestis (the bacterium that causes plague) has been quietly circulating in the wildlife of the American West for decades. A recent announcement from the New Mexico Department of Health: a wild rodent in Santa Fe County officially tested positive for

The FIFA World Cup is here, and the numbers being tossed around are staggering. A recent piece by food safety expert Francine Shaw highlighted a logistics nightmare: one host city expects up to 10 million visitors but only has 28 health inspectors on staff. Yep, that’s my city of Atlanta. Let that sink in. Ten million international fans. Thousands of temporary food trucks, pop-up tents, and fan zones. The Atlanta airport has new food stalls in many terminals. All being monito

My cat was playing with a cockroach the other day, just one of the woods roaches that occasionally get in. Of course, I yelled at her (lots of good that did!) and removed the dead cockroach from her mouth and threw it out. Is my precious Max in danger from sucking on a cockroach? Probably not. Cockroaches elicit a definite “ew”, a distinct “yuck”, and a pretty definitive “nope” from most people and for good reason. The conditions they are found in are nasty and disgusting. So

I’m back from an amazing trip overseas. That being said, I have lost all sense of time and I’m a bit jetlagged. So I forgot yesterday was Tuesday. I’m now pretending today is yesterday and getting the blog out. Speaking of time travel, do you know how old termites are? (and yes, all the pictures in this week's blog were taken by me on this trip!) While I was in Kenya last week, in between inspections and other work, I had the privilege of going on safari with some absolutely

It was World Bee Day last week, and that’s a great time to talk about bees. Honey bees specifically. Honey bees are an invasive species. These are sometimes referred to as the European honey bee, the western honey bee, but ESA states the common name is simply the “honey bee”. If you want to get scientific about it, it’s Apis mellifera*, which comes from the Latin of Apis meaning bee and mellifera meaning honey-bearing. There is still a little controversy, but most science poi