Ask a Pest Expert a Question on CKNW – April 15th, 2024

CKNW radio April 15th 2024

Mike Smyth: Okay. Yeah, it’s not the zombie apocalypse. It’s just springtime, and that’s when the pests come out to play.

We say farewell to the chilly temperatures. We got the warm spring days have arrived here, and that’s when the insects, the pests can begin to emerge and also possibly enter your home as well. So let’s talk about springtime pest control now with my guest, Mike Londry, owner of Westside Pest Control, westsidepestcontrol.com. Hey Mike, thanks for coming on today.

Mike Londry: Hey, you bet, Mike. How’s it going?

Mike Smyth: It’s going great, Mike. Thanks a lot for doing this and I’m sure this is a busy time of year for you. What are the most common, what’s the most common pest call you get at this time of year? I’m going to make a guess, okay? I’m going to say it’s, is it ants?

Is that the biggest problem people see? Ants?

Mike Londry: Yeah, you got it.

Mike Smyth: Okay.

Mike Londry: It definitely is. Carpenter ants are usually the first ants to emerge early in the spring. We’ll get calls as early as February when you get the odd warm day then. But they are just about in full swing now.

Mike Smyth: Okay, carpenter ants. I mean, there’s a ton of different types of ants in Metro Vancouver, right?

What is it with the carpenter ants? Why are they such a problem?

Mike Londry: So they can actually cause structural damage. There’s a few different types of carpenter ants. The big black ones are the most common that people see. There’s some slightly smaller ones with a red thorax. That’s the middle part of the body and red legs.

Those are actually even more destructive. They’re more commonly found in the Tri Cities and on the North Shore and on the Sunshine Coast. The reason they can be more destructive is they will have multiple Queens, meaning there are Multiple nests areas, essentially, there’s probably areas of structure that have multiple moisture issues that are causing the issue of the ants.

So when we see those, it means you’re probably going to need more than just a pest control technician to fix the problem long term.

Mike Smyth: Okay, and when you say they can cause structural damage, what, do they eat wood or something?

Mike Londry: So, unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t actually consume woods, consume wood.

Termites actually absorb the cellulose and, and, and and live off of it. Carpenter ants, They will excavate their, their their tunnels and their nests within the wood. So over time they’ll excavate all these chambers inside the wood that’s holding up the house and it doesn’t happen in weeks, but over years, they can cause significant structural damage in that beams and posts need to be replaced in order to reserve the structural integrity of the house.

Integrity of the house.

Mike Smyth: Okay, so when you get called out for a carpenter ant infestation, Mike, how do you typically deal with that?

Mike Londry: So our technicians always go out and do a thorough inspection with the homeowner to be to begin with just going out and spraying around the outside of a house is Is at best a band aid treatment for a carpenter ant infestation.

You really need to locate where the infestation The nest sites are there can be satellite colonies as well as parent nests. So it’s important to locate all of those always look for signs of moisture if there’s cracking on the house or if you’ve ever had a leak, like a leak in your laundry room or kitchen or in your or in your roof or hose bib.

Those are going to be the first areas to to, to focus on and and be really slow and look very carefully. Carpenter ants will find many ways to get into into homes. One of the common. Ways that they gain access, especially if someone’s just doing a perimeter spray around the foundation, is overhead power lines.

They will climb up a telephone pole, travel 100 feet, and then enter the structure that way.

Mike Smyth: Oh man, okay. Speaking of Mike Londry, Westside Pest Control, we’re talking about springtime pests in your home. All right, Mike, this is the one that bugs me. We’ve had these in our home. I hate them. Silverfish, they’re ugly.

They’re, they’re nasty looking things. They’re, they’re fast. You try to squish them, they can move really quickly. Mike, how do you get rid of these things?

Mike Londry: Number one is always reduce the humidity. Silverfish need 60 percent or higher humidity in order to reproduce. So although these little tiny insects can actually live for two to three years, which most people find surprising it takes them six months to become reproductive.

And if you can eliminate the conditions that they need in order to reproduce over time, you will slow the population boom of silverfish. Now that said they live for a long time, so in lower humidity, the silverfish will still survive. So the adults are not going to go away for some time. Reduce the humidity.

Glue traps are a great non toxic way to eliminate them. It’s not going to be immediate, but they like, they like paper, they like glue, any kind of adhesive, so they will be attracted to those. And then Any over the counter insecticide that you can get from your local hardware store to really knock the population down if they’re just driving you crazy is probably the best way to do it.

Obviously, do it safely. Make sure that you can, you can vacate for a few hours. After you apply the treatment but that will make a noticeable difference.

Mike Smyth: So where would, okay, if you, if you’re going to try that insecticide, like you mentioned, like where would you spray that sort of along the walls type, like at the bottom of the floor?

Mike Londry: Yeah, exactly. Along the, along the baseboards. Yeah is the, is is the best. And then, and then, and then try to get, try to get a can with a straw on it so you can get some of the product into where all of the, all of the plumbing goes in, into the wall. There’s usually a little gap left between the drywall and where the plumbing go, goes into the wall.

So see if you can get some product into that wall void. ’cause that’s where it’s quite humid. And they’ll, they’ll. You know, if you can get it underneath harbor and hang out at night if you can get it underneath or behind the baseboards, that’s also really helpful. One thing I would advise against for indoor insect applications such as silverfish control.

Don’t use dust products. They’re going to make a big mess and some people look at them and think, Oh, this is this is healthier. It’s organic. However Sprays once they’ve dried are coming off in microbial amounts that are not going to have any adverse effect on humans and pets but dust silicate products can be inhaled by kids and, and, and pets and, and although they might be greener in the garden, they’re not necessarily healthier for pets and human beings.

Mike Smyth: Alright, we’re talking springtime pest control with Mike Londry, owner of Westside Pest Control, westsidepestcontrol. com. Lots of calls, let’s get right at it here. Reg and Poco, hi Reg, go ahead.

Dave: Hi Mike and Mike, thanks for taking my call. I’ve got a problem with silverfish. Every time I pick up a book to read it or something, the fish come.

They’re all climbing all over the place. How am I supposed to get them out of the books? Do I have to go page by page?

Mike Smyth: Oh no, that sounds bad, Mike. I

Mike Londry: mentioned earlier they do love paper and there’s usually adhesive in the bindings of the books. There can be, so yeah, silverfish are definitely a target. Heat is something that will that will destroy all insects. So one thing that I would Suggest to people you know, as we start to get these warm days, if you have a balcony or, you know, somebody with one, a south facing, a south facing balcony put those books in a, inside of a bag or a box, get them in a Right against the wall outside on a really hot day and and, and, and cook them.

You aren’t going to damage the books, but you will, you will destroy some of the bugs. And then, and then, of course, another option would be similar to what I was describing earlier, you know, remove the books. And and treat the shelf with an over the counter insecticide spray so that any coming and going from the books will cross the residual it should it should still be effective to help knock the silverfish down for four to six weeks after the application.

Mike Smyth: Reg, good luck with that. Jim and Burnaby. Hi, Jim. Go ahead.

Caller 2: Hey, thanks for the call. The topic. I have Two rat colonies in my backyard, one on either side of my yard, and I I trap on a regular basis. I got the snap traps out there. I got a couple live traps. I’ve tried glue traps, and I’m probably getting about, oh, maybe five or six a week.

I mean, on a regular basis. I got a green belt behind me, so I’m assuming I’m kind of fighting a losing battle, but I’ve tried using stuff like Capsian and, and, and, and the Bittrex and stuff, And a bunch of other like peplum oil stuff to try to keep them away from the property But none of that seems to work.

I just seem to be throwing good money after bad and just fighting a constant battle any Ideas on something I haven’t thought of

Mike Londry: mike. I mean, that’s definitely a healthy population Depending on how long it’s been going on if if you’ve been Getting five or six a week for a month. That’s, that’s totally normal.

But if you’ve been getting five or six a week for, for, for months, two years. Two years. Holy smokes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Is there, is there any, like, do you have, do you have bird feeders on your property? Do your neighbors have chickens or bird feeders or anything like that? ’cause those can definitely be, be issues there.

There’s must be a food source nearby for the population to be that.

Caller 2: A couple years ago, we eliminated the bird feeders and stuff like that. We got rid of two of the fruit trees. But I mean, even during the winter, right? Right through the winter, I’m still catching five a week.

Mike Londry: Oh man. Okay, okay. Wow. Okay, so there are, so there are, there are some, there’s a, there’s a machine that we use.

It’s mostly for commercial sites when you’ve, you’ve, you’ve literally just got tunnels and tunnels and burrows and burrows and, and like literally hundreds of, of rats. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a CO2 device. And it’s called the Burrow RX. It’s not something that you want to be, Working out a lot more money for, but pest control companies including ours this might be a good application for that, for that issue, because, yeah, it sounds like a losing battle to me as, as well.

We do free inspections too, so you might just want to have a professional come out and, and take a look at the situation. If nothing else, get a second opinion on, on sort of what’s happening and maybe where some of the pressure is coming from.

Mike Smyth: Hey, Jim. Jim, maybe you should get a cat. Jim. Yeah. You got a cat?

No. I don’t know, would that, would that help, Mike? I mean, my neighbor has an outdoor cat, and I, and I see this cat on patrol around the hood. And I’m like, I’m always, I’m always happy when I see this cat. And this cat’s around, is on patrol. Does that make any difference?

Mike Londry: A hundred percent. Yeah, that’s, that’s biological pest control.

It’s the best, it’s the best kind if if you’ve, if you’ve, if you’ve got a cat that isn’t habituated to to eating out of a, out of a bowl and nowhere else, then you’re, you’re definitely going to be doing better than somebody who doesn’t have one.

Mike Smyth: Jim, good luck with it. Dean in Victoria. Hi, Dean. Go ahead.

Caller 3: Hi, Mike. I got pavement ants and I’ve had the exterminator out once and it did pretty well. Kind of knock them back for a bit, but I’m getting a lot of activity and a crack under my fridge and and I know this Because they push out all the dead ones overnight So we we’ve used the exterminator already and they put some Some chemicals down and all the baseboards and it does seem to kind of corral them But still in this one area and apparently they’re coming up through the foundation I’d love some some ideas.

Mike Londry: Mike. Sure. First question. Do you have heated floors?

Caller 4: No heated floors. Nope.

Mike Londry: Okay. All right. This can be a big issue. Pavement Ants thrive. If you have heated floors and is it slab on grade? Are you is your floor the same the same level as the floor? Is outside.

Caller 3: So that’s a yes. And it’s a floating floor.

And so I’m quite sure underneath my my vinyl planks. It’s like a highway for payment ads.

Mike Londry: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So no surprise to you. Probably then Richmond is one of the most challenging areas for us. And for homeowners, simply because it’s the perfect environment. Pavement ads essentially live in moist soil, they love sandy soil the most between that and a solid object a tree, a rock, or in the case of, you know, what we’ve built everywhere, homes, driveways, sidewalks.

So it is going to be a continuous battle for you. If the sprays aren’t working, you’re probably going to want to see if something can be injected into the floor. Another thing that would be advisable if they haven’t already done this is, I would be trying a variety of baits as well.

Some you can purchase from from a harbour store. The nice thing about the baits is they will be taking it back to the nest. You want to make sure that the active ingredients are actually.

Mike Smyth: Okay, we continue with the battle against household pests. This is the time of year when the pests become more active.

They enter your property, enter your home. Mike Londry is my guest, owner of Westside Pest Control, westsidepestcontrol. com. Two 604 280 9898 is the number. Star 9898 on your cell. Jasper in New West. Hi Jasper. Go ahead.

Caller 5: Hey Mike and Mike I had a question, not for me, but my aunt, she’s got this constant battle with stink bugs and also seed bugs that come in her balcony and window, she has a South facing apartment and there’s lots of trees nearby.

Mike Londry: Mike, these are becoming a definitely an issue. It’s a fairly new thing to [00:15:00] to, to homeowners and also pest control companies. Partly because as. Professional controllers, we are limited by what products we can use because there are few products that have stink bugs on the label. So one of the things that you definitely want to focus on is where they’re overwintering.

They’re usually getting in around cracks in the siding. They love vinyl siding because it’s easier to enter. Then then houses that are made of stucco and and other products. They also like to just hang out in things like patio umbrellas. Pretty much any place they can find to hide near the structure.

And yes, it’s usually on the on the south side. So Yeah, there isn’t, there isn’t, I, one of the, it’s gonna sound crazy, but when you start seeing them in the, in the spring, right now, I just spotted one in my house yesterday, just vacuum them up you know, I love, I take spiders outside and save spiders and other [00:16:00] insects, but when it comes to stink, stink bugs, just vacuum those suckers up.

Mike Smyth: Okay, Jasper, good luck with that one. Paul in Victoria. Hi, Paul, go ahead.

Caller 4: Hi, Mike. I have a problem with moss in a beautiful Persian wool rug, and they, apart from vacuuming, which I do on a regular basis, what can I do? They’re eating away at the rug.

Mike Londry: So there are, there are a few companies that That offer that offer heat treatments.

Some people can actually bring portable heat chambers. Some companies do. It’s not a service that we provide, but some companies can bring portable heat chambers to you or you can bring items to them. That would be my suggestion. I mean, it’s kind of like, it’s kind of like dry cleaning. the rug.

Essentially, you’re killing anything that’s living on the rug by heating it up, but not damaging the rug itself. So long as the rug isn’t wet before the [00:17:00] before the heating process happens. Depending on how long you’ve been dealing with it and how much patient patients you have. I was speaking earlier to using heat to kill off to kill off other insects.

If you have, if you’ve got a driveway or a vinyl deck or something that gets really hot in the summertime that might be enough to do it. So if you’ve got the patience to wait for that, try that. If you don’t have the patience and want to spend money, then get rid of it sooner. Try a heat treatment with a local pest control company.

Mike Smyth: Paul, thank you for the call. Jim and Burnaby. Hi, Jim, go ahead.

Caller 6: Yeah, I’m just curious about one of the most despicable vermin of them all. They sneak up upon you while you are sleeping and feast upon you, and then they sneak back to wherever they were hiding, possibly the mattress or wherever. You never hear about them in, you know, pest control commercials or anybody talking about them.

Are they extinct or, you know what I’m talking

Mike Smyth: about? Are you talking about

Caller 6: bedbugs? Precisely, or is that a [00:18:00] specialty type thing?

Mike Londry: Okay. They’re far from, they’re far from extinct. It’s not an insect that we treat, but I have treated them before in the past. I was at Pest World this last year and hearing about another surgent’s with the The tropical bed bug that seems to be an issue.

A lot of people might have heard it in the news around the Olympics in, in France in, in, in Paris. Yeah, they, they are a huge issue and still a big nuisance. We do have some more tools in our toolbox that we didn’t a few years ago. There is a product that pest control companies are using now called APPREHEND, which is biological pest control and That is always the best it’s healthiest for the occupants, and believe it or not, it works so much better than the chemicals that most bed bugs have now become resistant to.

Caller 6: Oh, I know the scourge, the scourge of hotels and motels, you know, they’re master hitchhikers, so they get around. Hmm. As you know, creepy.

Mike Smyth: I wish, I wish they were [00:19:00] extinct. Jim, thank you for the call. Squeeze in one more. John and Burnaby. John, you got 30 seconds here, okay?

Caller 7: Okay, I’ve got a serious mole problem on my front lawn.

I’ve had it for about three years. I’m at wit’s end on how to deal with it.

Mike Smyth: Okay, moles, Mike. We got 30 seconds here for you to answer them.

Mike Londry: Moles are, eliminating moles effectively is an, is an art form, and it also requires the the cooperation of all of your neighbours. The moles will, are, are, they’re not just your moles, they’re everyone’s moles on the block.

A R G mole removal, his name is also Mike is your best bet of someone to contact to effectively eliminate your moles.

Mike Smyth: Mike, it’s a busy time for you. Thank you for taking the time. We always get a ton of calls when you’re on. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mike. Thanks for listening to the Mike Smith show podcast.

Can’t wait for the latest episode to drop. Tune into the show [00:20:00] live from nine to noon on nine 80 CKNW. Want to reach out to me personally with a question or comment, send me an email, mike at CKNW. com. Thanks for listening.