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I had an amazingly good picture sent to me recently for identification and I realized I haven’t talked about these little insects* on the blog yet.   There are millions of springtails in the soil. They are tiny so most people will never notice them outside. There are over eight thousand species worldwide wide but most scientists will tell you that is a huge underestimation. It’s just that no one has identified the rest yet. They get the name “springtail” because many species

I have a lot of google alerts for words relating to pest control. I typically skim through, look for any scientific articles and quickly delete. Then this one caught my eye.   Ugh, here we go again, I think to myself. And yes, here we go again.   Now, I get it. Pesticides are scary, especially when you call them “poisons”. Yes, they are intended to knock down the pest. Yes, some are poisonous (ingested). Yes, we want to make sure only the target animal is impacted by the pest

Sometimes pest problems are relatively easy to manage. One or two visits, some targeted treatments, sanitation, and exclusion recommendations, and presto! Problem solved! Then there are the times it isn’t so easy. Particularly when it seems the customer is working against you.   The other day, I was at a location, let’s say it was a bookstore. (It wasn’t, I’m trying to protect the innocent here!) Now, as I was browsing through the bookstore, out of the corner of my eye, I saw

In my last job, I had to take “media training” and one of the first things I learned was never use the word “pesticide”. They recommended “treatment” or “product” or something else along those lines. Why? Why shouldn’t we say it? Mostly, it’s because people have a bad image of pesticides, and there is a negative reaction.   The problem with that…pesticide is not a dirty word. It’s part of a well laid out integrated pest management plan. Anyone who’s had considerable pest issu

It’s October and that means it’s my favorite season of the year: spider season! Living in Georgia (USA), we are still under siege from the invasive Joro spider . It is actually a very pretty spider that builds big orb-shaped webs. While these are beneficial (I am pretty sure we had next to no mosquito issues this summer because of all these webspinners), they are very abundant. People don’t like them near their structures, and there is the “ick” factor of walking through one

I’m inspecting a food facility this week and there’s always something interesting that you find. So this week, let’s talk about...

Someone posted a link to this article , and I kind of laughed it off and went on with my morning. My brain kept going back to it, though,...

I was recently asked to write an article on “natural” pest control. I almost didn’t. It’s like talking about “safe” pesticides or...

The Black Plague ravaged Europe starting in the 1300s, with some estimates of 60% of the population being killed. It’s a great history...

Because I am constantly researching pest control, I am always looking up information on pesticides. Sometimes I am looking for a specific...

This episode marks my five year anniversary. That’s officially five years of weekly (ranting) writing about all things urban pest related...

I fly a lot for work and for fun. I’ve been flying since I was about three. Aside from being locked in a metal tube with 100 people you...