Ask a Pest Expert a Question – CKNW radio – August 12th, 2022

Mike Smyth – Host:

Here we go now with our summer pest problems and I’m talking ants, wasps, other assorted creepy crawlies time to talk to the expert. Now Mike londry, owner of west side pest control. One of our favorite guests on the show. Hey Mike, thanks for coming on again.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Hey, good morning, Mike. How are you?

Mike Smyth – Host:

I’m doing great, Mike. So I really like, first of all, I really like the west side pest control ads. They play a lot here on this show and I always get a kick out of them. So let’s play one of your ads here. This is one I, I really like let’s have a listen to it

Speaker 3:

Coming soon. They must eat. Their hunger is never satisfied. RAness unrelenting leaving nothing but hollow destruction in their wake termites, protect your property with Westside pest control, Westside pest control has the tools and knowhow to eliminate your termite problem. Don’t live in fear, Westside pest control.com.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. Okay, Mike, we’re not gonna charge you for that one O okay. That, that sounds like, uh, an episode of the walking dead or something like that. , you know.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Yeah. Well, you know what, uh, to be, to be totally honest, Termites can do a pile of, of damage and, and, uh, and so can, so can carpenter ads. So for a lot of people, the, uh, the destruction and the huge cost associated with it, um, are not something they wanna live through. Um, but, uh, you know, pet control, isn’t always fun. So we like to try and find a little bit of humor in it when we can.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Yeah, yeah, no, they, they are fun ads for sure, but it’s a serious side to it too. Like, fortunately I’ve never had to deal with, uh, termite infestation. How, how common are those?

Mike Londry – Guest:

We actually get quite a, quite a few termite infestations. Most of them are, are located on the north shore, on the sunshine coast, uh, in some areas of port moody. And, Coquitlam essentially places that get a lot of rain and are enclosed proximity to areas with a lot of rotting wood in, in forests and that kind of thing. Um, not as common in other parts of the city, although we do see them throughout Vancouver and other municipalities, most of the termites that we get around here are relatively harmless and in relatively harmless, meaning they’re normally just going after really rotten wood. So having a termite infestation usually means there’s some underlying causes that are actually more important to address than just the pest control needs.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. Mike summertime, pests, like what are the most common calls that you’re getting there for summertime pests right now?

Mike Londry – Guest:

Right now? It is definitely wasps. Usually June, July, and August pavement our phones are ringing off the hook. however, with that, you know, I know we’re in the middle of a normal or a hot summer at the moment. Um, but it was a slow and wet start to the spring and summer. And, uh, and for that reason, a slow start. And I don’t know if we’re gonna see as many pavement ants, as we have over the last five to 10 years this summer. However, the wasps always seem to be waiting. I think summer could start halfway through September and they would be ready for it.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. We’ve got some wasps that have been buzzing around our place lately, too. Now that you mention it. I remember a few years ago they were pretty bad. I went out and I bought one of those, those fake wasp nests, you know? So it, it sort of looks like a cylindrical type shaped thing that you hang up and it looks like a paper wasp nest, and that’s supposed to scare them off. Like they see that and they think like, oh, okay. Some other wasp colony already has claimed this territory. So I’m, I’m outta here. Do those things work?

Mike Londry – Guest:

I think there is a limited amount of science behind it, but from my experience in the field, I have eliminated two yellow jacket nests that were the size of a basketball and were within 15 feet of proximity to each other.

New Speaker:

If you’re gonna go out and spend money in a local hardware store to try and keep the population at bay, the best thing you can do as opposed to buying one of those nests, if you really wanna do that, just go and spend 25 cents and get a paper bag from your grocery store. Your money for 10 boxes better spent on a pheromone wasp trap chemical-free pheromone wasp trap. You can get ’em at most hardware stores and, um, put it up about 20 to 30 feet away from where you want the wasps not to be. You should have an easier time barbecuing and enjoying a glass of wine.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. How about ants? They are a problem at this time of year, but pavement ants, like what, what’s the deal with those?

Mike Londry – Guest:

Yeah, so they live underneath flat structures. They basically live between a solid object and soil. Their favorite is sand with a little bit of moisture. Richmond is notorious for having lots of them because most houses are right at ground level. There are slab-on grade and there’s a really high sand content directly underneath the house. And in addition to that, a lot of people have heated floors, so their populations continue to grow throughout the winter time. But what people typically see at this time of year out on their back patio, whether you have patio pavers, or paving stones or cracks in the driveway. You’ll start to see sand piles coming up. That’s the ants excavating sand from beneath the tiles to make room for nests. If you notice some ants, who are out venturing out for food, they’ll likely venture indoors. And as soon as one of them locates food, they leave a scent on the ground so that others will follow the Congo line all the way to the source, and that means soon there’ll be lots of them in your kitchen.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Welcome back. Mike Londry is my guest west side pest control. Uh, always a super popular guest full phone board here, Patricia in Vancouver. Hi, Patricia, go ahead.

Speaker 4:

Hi, good morning. Could you please tell me what to do about fruit flies? They drive me insane.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Oh yeah. Fruit flies. Me too. Mike, go ahead.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Yeah, it’s that time of year when they’re, plaguing everyone. There’s a few lingering around my kitchen right now. They’re one of those pests that you really need to stay on top of this time of year. Most people are in fact seeing fruit flies. However, the majority of the year drain flies are often mistaken for fruit flies. Do you have fruit out on the counter in a bowl, Patricia?

Speaker 4:

No, I have them covered with a tea towel, but yesterday I opened up my garbage bin and they came swarming out of the thing. So,

Mike Londry – Guest:

Another thing I was just gonna recommend. I know that our city is great in promoting composting and I think that’s, that’s fantastic, but if you’ve got a little compost bin, the place that you want to keep it, at least from May through September is your freezer not under the sink. So all food waste, everything should be going into a compost bin that sits in your freezer at least until the early fall. Without that decaying organic matter, they’ll have nowhere to hang out and will move onto somewhere else.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. Let’s go to, okay. Sorry, Patricia. I’m just gonna in the interest of getting as many callers, I’m gonna move on here. Okay. Good luck with that one Tristan in Vancouver. Hi Tristan. Go ahead.

Speaker 5:

Hello?

Mike Smyth – Host:

Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 5:

Hello, Tristan from Kelowna.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Oh, Kona. Okay. Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 5:

No problem. I got a good one for, uh, uh, kids call him Rollie pulley, but they’re also known as like pill bugs or whatnot in the garden. They eat everything, the strawberries, they just there’s like a bunch of them in my garden and I’m not sure how to get rid of ’em

Mike Smyth – Host:

Mike.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Sure. So this is one of the times of year when, when some of the things that we can dust and sprinkle around around gardens can actually be, be helpful. The rain usually washes them away. So in the spring there’s really not much use, but things like diatomaceous earth or cayenne pepper are things that you can sprinkle around those, those garden beds. Cayenne pepper specifically will also deter, not just insects, but animals. Diatomaceous earth will probably work better for the insects and it won’t do any harm to your organic vegetable garden, it won’t do any harm to the plants.

Mike Smyth – Host:

So, so for the Cayenne pepper, will you just like sprinkle it on the ground?

Mike Londry – Guest:

Just sprinkle it around the perimeter of the garden bed. If you have rats or raccoons coming around, the trick to doing it is to actually apply the natural spice immediately, because if a raccoon has been coming around for the last two weeks, they’re are going to just ignore the smell. That’s the same for any pest issue, you should get on top of it right away. So they’re not habit, so they’re not, they’re not conditioned to, uh, coming there all the time.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Dave and south Surry. Hi, Dave, go ahead.

Speaker 6:

Yeah. Hello. Um, I have a rat problem or a potential rat problem. I live in a, a townhouse complex and, um, we have had rats inside. Um, and we, in my instigation, we have about, uh, 10 of those. Um, what do they call them? Bell labs boxes. And I was using, uh, a Jaguar. We go through a bucket of that about every year. And, um, I’m not sure what to do now. We’ve tried traps and they don’t work. Uh,

Mike Smyth – Host:

We just

Speaker 6:

Team debate.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Mike, what do you think?

Mike Londry – Guest:

There are properties in Vancouver that, that we deal with, residential and commercial that have ongoing rodent pressure. It’s just because of the mild climate that we, that we live in Vancouver is unfortunately not likely to ever change in that respect. So the best thing that you can try and do is protect the structure itself. And for that, it’s going over the perimeter of the structure with a fine tooth comb to try and find potential access points. If they’re rats and they’re getting into the structure, there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to keep them out, even mice, we can keep out, but rats, absolutely. Whether it’s us or another pest control company, as long as you find a pest control company that specializes in doing exclusion work to prevent them from coming in, they should be able to fix the problem.

Mike Smyth – Host:

So, so you’re saying what, there’s no way to eradicate them,

Mike Londry – Guest:

Not from like an entire neighborhood, but you can certainly keep them out of the structure.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Okay. Let’s go to Craig in north Vancouver. Hi Craig.

Speaker 7:

Hi, Mike. Uh, I have that exact problem you were talking about with the cement pavers, the ants and the sand. And I I’ve heard of like Borax and sugar don’t know how friendly that is, but wonder what you would recommend,

Mike Smyth – Host:

Mike.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Yeah, absolutely. That is, that is an effective, that is an effective tool. Funnily enough, even though it sounds more organic from a pest control standpoint as a licensed company, because there is no such licensed product, it’s not something that we’re permitted to apply, and you definitely wanna be cautious about how you apply it. My suggestion would be to either create a lockable station yourself or go and spend a few dollars and buy a lockable mouse bait station and apply the bait inside of that. So the worst is really, a mouse or, likely an insect. That’s gonna be able to gain access to it and put it in some inconspicuous places where kids and pets aren’t gonna be able to get to get ahold of, but in terms of its efficacy, yes, I have heard of, of customers having some, some reasonably good results with, uh, um, with some elimination payment ants, however, can number a hundred thousand underneath those, those pavers. So what you really wanna try to do is get treatment into the ground. So any product that you can apply through a straw to actually get into the nests is gonna be your best bet,

Mike Smyth – Host:

David, on the line in Surry. Hi David. Go ahead.

Speaker 7:

Yeah. Hi Mike. Um, we live in a, a fairly new townhouse complex two years old, uh, all finished base month and we have a Millipede problem. And I mean a big Millie PED problem, uh, getting maybe 40 or 50 a day in the basement.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Ugh. Oh man. Mike.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Millipedes are similar sow bugs in that they require a lot of moisture and they’re gonna be living between the soil and the foundation of the house. When it rains too much, they still need oxygen, but there’s none in the ground. So they look for the next place to get some, and that’s usually getting through cracks in the foundation, tiny cracks around doorways windows, etc. They get essentially flushed in and then what happens is once they’re inside, there’s not enough moisture so they usually dry up and and die. The best prevention for those types of insects, which unfortunately is really time consuming, is to pull the baseboards off, go around the window and door frames and apply caulking or silicone to physically prevent them from being able to get in. Otherwise, your best friend is a vacuum. Any types of sprays or powders, isn’t gonna cut it, because they’re already gonna be in the structure and they’re gonna be dying anyways.

Mike Smyth – Host:

Oh, oh man. That sounds, that sounds a tough situation. Good luck with that one. David, one more call Peter and Abbotsford. Peter, you gotta go quick here. Go ahead.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. My issue with moles, how do I get rid of

Mike Smyth – Host:

Them? How do you get rid of moles? Mike moles

Mike Londry – Guest:

Call, call my friend, Mike, who comes to my place from ARG mole removal. I tried doing moles in my first year of, of pest control. We can do everything, but moles are an art form. You want a mole expert, ARG mole removal is your, is your best

Mike Smyth – Host:

Bet. How, how bad can those infestations get Mike? We got 30 seconds here.

Mike Londry – Guest:

Well, the problem is, is a mole. Doesn’t really differentiate between one property and the next. And when you see a mole hill, the MOS have actually likely, already moved on to another location. They spend their entire lives underground and they, those, those, those Hills are created when they run into a rock or a stick or a root or, or a wall and then, and then take on a new direction. So they are, uh, yeah, yeah. A huge challenge. Good luck,

Mike Smyth – Host:

Mike. Thank you for coming on today. You be.