What Attracts Termites to a Memphis Home

People think that cold weather and the winter season hinder termite colony growth. The fact is cold weather has nothing to do with termites and their desire to forge into Memphis homes. Here are some conditions and factors that may increase the likelihood of a termite infestation.

Termites feed on wood and cellulose materials like lumber, tree stumps, old newspapers and the like. Don’t store these items in areas close to the foundation of homes, it’s like putting out birdseed for birds. Termites prefer old, rotted wood that is easy to gnaw through.
Termites prefer warm, dark places such a crawl spaces that are likely undisturbed. Moist soil around the home’s foundation is an attractant as well, so repair leaky faucets and plumbing. Be sure to inspect your home’s foundation for moisture laden soil frequently.
Inspect and reduce the amount of items like untreated fence posts, scrap wood, stored fire wood, cardboard boxes and the like. These items are all susceptible to invasion by the termites in the Memphis area.

How to Help Prevent a Termite Infestation

While houses do not attract termites actively, when termites find them they are quick to come in. You’ll need to take steps to help avoid an infestation in your home. Normally, termite infestations are only spotted after they’ve become quite advanced. Measures you can take to help prevent an infestation include replacing damaged wood and taking proper steps to correct the termite-attracting conditions that are listed above.

A more permanent solution to preventing termites involves the use of pesticides, which should only be handled by a licensed pest control professional like Rosie’s Pest Control. If you suspect a termite invasion or are looking for ways to prevent one, schedule an inspection with one of our technicians today. You can give us a call at 901-567-3800 or click our online request for a free evaluation.

By Debbie Crawford|2018-02-20T17:57:28+00:00February 20th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Rosie’s, Female Spray Technicians add Attention to Detail

Rosie’s Pest Control was founded on the idea of using primarily female spray technicians. Rosie the Riveter was the perfect symbol of the capable and confident woman so Rosie’s was born!

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of World War II, representing the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who joined the military. Rosie the Riveter is used as a symbol of feminism and women’s economic power. Similar images of women war workers appeared in other countries such as Britain and Australia. Images of women workers were widespread in the media as government posters, and commercial advertising was heavily used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime service in factories.

Katie Fox, our version of Rosie, works hard every day to make sure your homes and businesses are free from pests of all kinds. Rodents, spiders, termites, roaches, ants and all of manner of pests are no match for our environmentally friendly treatments. Our treatments are pet friendly as well. We believe that the female spray technician has great attention to detail and makes residents feel comfortable. If you would like to give Rosie’s a try and live in the Memphis area, call 901-567-3800. We would love to show you how strong and capable our ‘Rosie’ is!

By Debbie Crawford|2017-12-04T18:16:18+00:00December 4th, 2017|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Apartment Association of Greater Memphis Trade Show

On September 20th, 2017 Rosie’s Pest Control participated in the AAGM’s annual trade show at the Agricenter in Memphis. The show’s theme was “greatest show in earth” and Rosie’s participated with a colorful booth and popcorn and candy for the guests. The Apartment Association of Memphis says

“We develop and advocate for apartment industry professionals through education and community involvement.”

Rosie’s is proud to service many apartment communities in Memphis and has a great reputation for handling the toughest pest problems with delicacy and safety. If your apartment community would like to speak with Rosie’s about taking care of your pest control needs please call us at 901-567-3800.

By Debbie Crawford|2017-09-21T20:10:59+00:00September 21st, 2017|Greater Memphis Trade Show, Rosie's Pest Control|Comments Off

Fall is Near, It’s Time to Prepare Your Home or Business
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Fall is Near, It’s Time to Prepare Your Home or Business

Autumn Pest Control, Fall Insects, Memphis Pest Control Firm

Fall is Near, It’s Time to Prepare Your Home or Business

We’re sure you are aware of the problems insects and rodents can create for you and your family. We all have some kind of bug that bothers us, and most of us have dealt with rodents in our walls, especially those of us who have an older house or business. But to understand why fall pest control is so important, you first have to look at the problem. And it’s gross.

Ants and termites are absolutely the home wreckers. Literally. They breach your home’s defenses and build their colonies in your walls. Those colonies feed and burrow into your wood, making enormous pathways through support beams and wooden structures. Many homeowners don’t even see the destruction till it’s too late, and they are looking at thousands of dollars of repairs–assuming they can repair at all.

Rodents creep into your walls to chew on wires, and dine on sheet rock. So, besides being a nasty, hairy, disease carrier, that crawls through your food drawers, they can also create problems with your electric, phone, internet, and television wiring. These problems are hard to track down and can be very costly to repair.

Pesky fall intruders also bring in viruses and disease. The not so lovable cockroach loves bacteria and decay. When he is done slinking his shiny brown body through the sewer pipe, he is happy to crawl into your flour bag, or over the silverware in your drawer. The worst part is, many times you don’t even know it. Your children get sick with the flu, and you think it is just the season, unaware that the problem is being brought into your home by a brown and icky fall invader.

Biting insects, like: spiders, wasps, fleas, and ticks, love a nice warm place to spend winter. They get you while you’re sleeping. They bite you while you’re relaxing in the back yard. They get you while you’re cozy in your favorite chair. Insect bites are worse in fall, because there are more of them, kind of like Custer’s last stand.

Then, there are a whole slew of pests that are just plain irritating, like: stink bugs, crickets, silverfish, centipedes, cluster flies, lady bugs and more.

In fall, bugs and rodents are looking for a place to hibernate over the winter. And they can turn your happy home into a horror film. That’s why pest control is so important in the fall. One of Rosie’s Pest Control’s technicians can treat your yard, and set up devices that watch for harmful insects, like termites. They can prevent many bugs from even getting into your home. Our professional technicians have training on how to seal your house, and can spray the outside of your home, especially in hard to reach places, like the roof line and third story window frames.

Please don’t live in fear of bugs and rodents. All it takes to keep to get your home or business ready for fall, we can handle! You have enough to worry about. Leave your bug worries to the Rosie’s professionals.

By Debbie Crawford|2017-09-21T20:08:55+00:00September 8th, 2017|Autumn Pest Control, Fall Insects, Memphis Pest Control Firm|Comments Off

Rosie’s Pest Control began from Pugh’s Earthworks Pest Division

Lawn and Landscape Magazine’s August issues features an article of how Rosie’s Pest Control began. Three brothers began Pugh’s Earthworks 20 years ago. Four years ago they expanded their services to include pest control and rebranded the company as Rosie’s Pest Control. You can read all about how it started here, in the August issue of Lawn and Landscape. The Pugh brothers pictured below from left to right, Tim Pugh, Michael Pugh and Mark Pugh.

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T19:26:56+00:00August 14th, 2017|Memphis Pest Control Firm, Pugh's Earth Works, Rosie's Pest Control|Comments Off

Is it a Waterbug or a Roach? Memphis Pest Control

Waterbug or Roach?

It’s true, people refer to many cockroach species as waterbugs, but the real water bug is a water based insect classified under the order Hemiptera. Water boatmen and water scorpions are some of the pests that dwell in water. They use their legs to paddle through the water. Members of the Gerridae family, such as water striders, pond skaters and water spiders, are also forms of water bugs. However, instead of using their legs as paddles, they make use of surface tension to stay on top of the water.

What we see in Memphis are Roaches!

Most of what people in the Memphis area see are Cockroaches and they are adaptable insects. Although they gather in warm, moist areas, they are not aquatic. Cockroaches are scavengers who devour any organic food they can find. These pests usually are nocturnal and hide in crevices during the day. Cockroaches are capable of spreading human disease and triggering allergies and asthma. They are attracted to food sources indoors and require a science-based solution tailored to each home to best control them. Contact Rosie’s Pest Control for help with these hearty critters. Roaches, in the Memphis heat, will look to gain access into homes and businesses alike for relief from the heat and to lay their eggs. If you are seeing them, alive crawling or laying on their back, there is a nest somewhere close.

Rosie’s will come out and inspect your home for entry points. They will also treat the area with a people and pet friendly product that kills roaches and their eggs.

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T19:35:15+00:00August 1st, 2017|Memphis Pest Control Firm, Rosie's Pest Control|Comments Off

Top 10 Most Dangerous Animals

Top 10 Most Dangerous Animals in the World

10. Cape Buffalo, it’s found in Africa and is responsible for killing more hunters on the continent than any other animal.

9. The Cone Snail is found in warm waters around the Caribbean and Hawaii near reefs and rock formations. They have harpoon like teeth that make them one of the most venomous of all snails.

8. Golden Poison Dart Frog It’s found only in South America. It’s brightly colored and it’s poison is so strong that it can kill 10 grown men with the poison of only one frog.

7. The Box Jelly Fish is found in waters off Australia and is likely the most venomous marine animal.

6. Next on the list is the Puffer Fish or blow fish. It lives all around the world especially in Japan, China and the Philipines. It’s toxins are found in the skin, muscle tissue, liver and kidneys. They must be prepared very carefully when getting ready for human consumption.

5. Black Mambo is a snake found in southern and eastern Africa. It is highly venomous and can grow up to 14′ long.

4. Salt water crocodiles are next and found in the Indo-Pacific region around India and Vietnam and all the way up to northern Australia. They can get huge, as big as 23′ long and weigh more than a ton. Their bite power can rival that of the T. Rex.

3. Tsetse Fly, a tiny creature that’s the size of a common house fly. It’s found in at least 36 countries in Africa. Their terror lies in the parasites they spread. Toxic pathogens are the cause of African Sleeping Sickness.

2. The Mosquito, it’s number 2 on the list of most deadly animals in the world. They top the list due to the sheer amounts of deaths they cause each year from pathogens they carry. There are more than 3 thousand species worldwide and cause at least 725 thousand deaths each year. Diseases they carry include Malaria, Encephalitis, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, West Nile virus and the Zika virus. Mosquitoes afflict 700 million people per year. More than 1/2 of the entire world population is at risk for mosquito borne diseases. Memphis is one of the areas with very high mosquito populations. Please let Rosie’s Pest Control help keep the mosquito population under control in your area.

1. And the number one most dangerous animal is…..Humans! Deaths from war alone is somewhere between 150 million and 1 billion throughout history. It’s a no-brainer that humans are the most dangerous animal in the world.

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T20:54:27+00:00July 7th, 2017|Dangerous Insects, Mosquitoes, Rosie's Pest Control|Comments Off

Odd and Interesting Bug Facts by Rosie’s Pest Control

Odd and Interesting Bug Facts

For every human on our planet, there are about a million ants.
The queen of a certain species of termite can lay 40,000 eggs every day.
It takes almost 100 Monarch butterflies to weigh an ounce.
House flies can taste with their feet as they have taste buds on them.
A House fly lives for about 14 days, only.
Mosquitoes have killed more humans than all the wars in history, put together.
Termites eat through wood two times faster when listening to rock and roll music.
A bee may fly up to 60 miles in one day when looking for food.
All insects on earth would outweigh all animals if they were put on a scale.
Bed bugs can live for several months without a blood meal, which means they can live in your furniture for a long time while waiting for human contact.

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T21:03:37+00:00June 12th, 2017|Memphis Insects, Memphis Pest Control Firm, Mosquitoes, Pest Control Memphis|Comments Off

Why Do Mosquito Bites Itch?

Memphis is having a hard time keeping it’s mosquito population under control.

Memphis is terrible this summer for mosquitoes because of good amounts of rain. Although city technicians in Memphis have been spraying the city lately this actually does very little to keep mosquitoes from your yard and areas. It is such a broad spray that it helps very little.

Why does the mosquito bite itch so badly?

In the bite process, the mosquito injects some of its own saliva, which contains an anticoagulant that prevents your blood from clotting around the proboscis and trapping the insect. The histamine also causes your blood vessels to enlarge, creating the wheal, or swollen bump, around the bite. There are products that can help the itch but your best bet is to prevent the population growth as best as you can. Call Rosie’s today and get on one of our monthly plans. Easy and affordable!

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T21:06:27+00:00June 7th, 2017|Memphis Insects, Memphis Pest Control Firm, Mosquitoes, Rosie's Pest Control|Comments Off

Termites Are Swarming

Background about why termites swarm.

Thousands of winged termites swarm from their nests that are underground in the spring. They have one goal: to find a mate and build a nest, and then to establish a new colony. Huge numbers of males and females are produced in underground colonies in late winter and early spring. They are placed in specific locations in the nest (near the soil surface) and remain there until the time is right to leave. They may wait for several weeks, and have to be fed and groomed by nestmates. This same scenario is played out in other colonies in the Memphis area – that’s important.

The purpose of swarming is for colonies to ‘exchange’ females and males for mating. Weather conditions are used to synchronize the release of these reproductive members of the colonies. The termites wait for very calm winds (less than 6 mph) and overcast days that follow a spring rain. Termites don’t want a big wind to blow away the insects before they find their mates. Wet soil helps the new couples to build their first nest, and the extra humidity helps them to survive. Not all swarms occur outside. Sometimes the colony misjudges the release point and thousands of winged termites are released inside of your home or business. Regardless of the placement (or lack of exchange with other colonies), the pairing, shedding of wings, mating and potential founding of a new nest all proceed without a hitch.

Colonies typically produce swarms once they have reached a certain size, which is based on the total number of workers in the colony. The common colony produces swarms most every year, but the number they may release will vary. The release usually takes a few days. There may be a large ‘first’ swarm, followed by smaller second and third swarms. Termites have a lot of swarming experience, and seem to make it work.

By adminMWL|2017-08-20T21:18:00+00:00April 10th, 2017|Memphis Insects, Memphis Pest Control Firm, Termites|Comments Off