Flea Infestations On The Rise In Knoxville

Flea Infestations On The Rise In Knoxville

Our phones have been ringing off the hook with flea complaints. It seems that these parasitic little pests just keep coming back around in Knoxville, and homeowners, renters, and business owners alike want them gone and gone for good. Flea infestations are very common because they have two incredibly helpful traits for getting around, their small size and incredible jumping ability. No pest can hitch a ride quite as easily as the flea, and with plenty of warm-blooded animals on the move, they can’t help but end up all over the place. And once they reach your home, it’s time to eat, lay eggs, and settle in.

Fleas get into homes almost exclusively by being carried. For the pet owner, this is no surprise. If Fido spends his days sniffing around the backyard, he could quite easily return carrying some quiet stowaways. But how do these fleas end up in our backyards? And what about homes without pets? Well, wildlife is the main culprit. Deer, raccoons, and rodents can all carry fleas, and having these animals in the area greatly increases the chances of them getting into your home. Neighbor pets may also introduce fleas onto your property, and even a quick visit from someone carrying fleas could be enough to start an infestation.

This all sounds very scary, especially when we hear of fleas carrying disease or tapeworms. Luckily this is fairly rare, and there are some things you can do to minimize the risk and fight against flea infestation. Your first step should be getting pets treated for fleas. This is huge, as pets are a much easier host for fleas to take advantage of than humans. Next, vacuum regularly, even often. It is a fact that milder flea infestations can be completely defeated with vacuuming alone. Finally, flush any flea you see. Most often you will feel an itchy sensation on your arm or upper ankle; quickly grab the offending bug between your thumb and forefinger and take it straight to the bathroom. The fewer opportunities adult fleas have to feed and escape to lay eggs, the more quickly their population will thin out.

Another option and best one for defeating fleas is to call in the pest control professionals. While milder infestations can be dealt with yourself, as mentioned, it doesn’t take long for a flea infestation to reach levels that are more than you can handle with good housekeeping and diligence. Over-the-counter methods might be considered here, but they have their own health risks for people and pets, and it’s especially frustrating to enter a cycle of DIY pest control and find that it just isn’t getting the job done, even after weeks of effort. At Russel’s Pest Control we have been fighting the good fight against fleas and other pests right alongside home and business owners in the Knoxville area, and we know just what it takes to clear out a flea infestation of any size. A visit from us can identify risks and treat your problems, and even better, our year-round pest control plans cover at least 30 different common household pests, including fleas! Russell’s Pest Control can even put pest prevention methods in place to minimize the risk of future infestations. In fact, we’re so confident in our work that we offer a pest-free* guarantee; if the pests return, then so do we, at no cost! Don’t let the menace of fleas keep you and your pets indoors. Call Russell’s Pest Control and let us defend your home for you, so you can enjoy it instead.

Why You Should Turn To The Rodent Control Professionals

Why You Should Turn To The Rodent Control Professionals

Fall is a beautiful time year, but it is also that time of year that mice will start looking to get inside our homes. Even though mice can be a nuisance all year long and Knoxville, Tennessee does not experience the extreme cold weather that all of the northern states do, the mice in Tennessee still take notice of the changing temperatures and will seek refuge.

Most commonly, you will experience the ordinary house mouse that will find a convenient entry point into your home in the fall. Your humble abode offers everything that the house mouse needs to survive: warmth, shelter, food, water and all kinds of things to chew on. Don’t be fooled by their cuteness, these pests are dangerous to your health and can seriously damage the inside of your home.

These mice can grow up to 7 inches, including their tail, have large ears, tiny beady eyes, and gray or brown fur, with a light gray to light brown underbelly. Another type of mouse that you might encounter are the deer mice, they are slightly longer in length,  will have a  slimmer body and have a white underbelly.

At no time do you want to share your home with a single mouse or a multitude of mice. They can be extremely dangerous to live with. They are known to carry diseases like hantavirus and leptospirosis, as well as introduce other pests and parasites into your home, such as fleas, ticks, and mites. Mice urine can cause allergic reactions in some people, not to mention the smell of mice urine and feces can be atrocious. They can contaminate your food sources in your kitchen and pantry, so be sure to check for footprints, mouse droppings, or ripped and torn food packages. Mice can cause fires by chewing electrical wires and cause water damage by chewing on plumbing. They can damage insulation, drywall, photo albums, furniture, clothing, flooring and much more, nothing is safe from the insatiable gnawing of mice. Having a mouse in the house can cause a homeowner a lot of headaches and a lot of money in repairs.

You cannot control a mouse population on your own. You need a professional pest control provider to do the job for you, and preferably before any damage has been done. They will remove existing mice, and prevent any new infestations in the future. At Russell’s Pest Control, We are a full-service pest management company that offers residential and commercial pest control solutions in Knoxville and Eastern Tennessee. Give us a call today, we would be happy to answer all of your pest control questions and take care of all of your pest control needs.

What Is Up With All These Ants?

What Is Up With All These Ants?

What is it with ants? The weather turns cold and they disappear. But then when things start to warm up a bit, there they are again! As if by magic. Where were they all this time? And why don’t they stay away? Why do they come back every spring to torment us in our homes and our businesses? Is there anything you can do to make them stay away? Actually, there is, and we are going to explore that possibility in just a moment. But first, let’s look a little bit at why having ants come back year after year is not a good thing.

Problems Ants Bring To Home Or Business

Ants Bite

All ants can bite, but there are two that are particularly troublesome in this respect, the fire ant and the carpenter ant. Fire ants can quickly swarm and bite repeatedly, which is not only painful but can be deadly if the victim is a person who is not able to escape the biting insects, persons such as infants or the infirm. If you have fire ants plaguing your property, it is wise to have them eradicated.

Contrary to what their name suggests, carpenter ants do not build or repair anything. In fact, they destroy. And they do this by chewing galleries inside the wooden structures of a home or business. And while they are not normally inclined to bite humans, they are able to use their wood-cutting mandibles to give a painful bite. They may also spray a defensive chemical (formic acid) into the wound, increasing the pain.

Ants Crawl

All ants crawl, but pharaoh ants are some of the worst. These ants are known to invade kitchens and pantries, crawling all over stoves, countertops, refrigerators, food, plates, cups and silverware. Perhaps this wouldn’t be too bad except for the fact that they also crawl around in garbage cans and inside toilet bowls, and then carry all sorts of bacteria back to your kitchen. Studies show that pharaoh ants are able to carry more than 12 infection organisms.

Ants Stink

All ants put off a scent, but odorous house ants take the cake. Not only do they have the pheromones that all ants use, but if they are threatened, or stepped on, they put off an awful smell that is comparable to rotten coconuts.

If you are encountering these ants, or perhaps Argentine, acrobat, or little black ants in your Tennessee home or business, consider help from the pest professionals here at Russell’s. It stinks having biting, crawling, annoying and potentially dangerous ants around. Reach out to us today and become ant-free.

It’s Just A Little Cockroach

It's Just A Little Cockroach

There are some pests that will invade your home that may cause a bit of a stir, but it would by no means be an emergency. Ants, for example, may infest your home; and while you would want to have them dealt with as soon as possible, a few days probably aren’t going to matter much. You may see carpet beetles just before leaving on vacation, but you won’t have to wonder if it’s ok to wait a week before having them removed because you already know that they won’t do much in a week. Yes, there are some pests that you will want to take care of, but they really don’t pose a risk to you or your family or your home. Cockroaches are not that type of pest.

Cockroaches are simply filthy. They love to inhabit nasty places that are full of bacteria and other pathogens like sewers, trash receptacles and drain pipes. They wallow around these disgusting places picking up whatever germs just happen to rub against them and carry those germs wherever they roam. So when cockroaches come crawling across your kitchen floor, up your counters, through your silverware drawer, and into your food storage areas, they are not just picking up a snack for themselves and harmlessly moving on. No! They are leaving pathogens wherever they travel. These germs are quite capable of making you and your family sick. Very sick!

Have you ever heard of salmonella, or staphylococcus, or how about streptococcus or even polio? I’m sure you have, but what you may not know is that cockroaches are capable of carrying and spreading these illnesses. So that bout of strep that was passing through your son’s school just may have started with a cockroach. And that staph infection that Aunt Mable picked up after her surgery at the local hospital just may have been spread by a cockroach. Not a very pleasant thought is it?

Cockroaches are defiantly a pest that poses a risk to you and your loved ones, and it is one of those pests that require immediate attention. There is no waiting when these bad boys come calling. Fortunately, for those of us here in Tennessee, the pest control specialists here at Russell’s Pest Control have the training, experience, and products to safely and effectively eliminate cockroaches from any home or business. For over 40 years, home and business owners here in Tennessee have trusted Russell’s to protect them from these and other harmful invasive pests, and you can too. We can come eliminate a one-time problem, or set you up with one of our pest control plans for year-round protection for peace of mind, knowing that your friends and family are protected.

Don’t let cockroaches bring illness to your home or business when the specialists here at Russell’s Pest Control are just a call or a click away.

How To Get Rid Of Roaches

How To Get Rid Of Roaches

Have you ever asked someone how to get rid of cockroaches and gotten the response, “Good luck!”? There is a good reason. Roaches are incredibly resilient insects. Do you know that a cockroach can live for weeks without its head? It’s true. And, when it finally dies from not having its head, it isn’t because of suffocation. It dies from thirst. Here are a few more reasons cockroaches are hard to get rid of, and what you need to know to rid your home or business of these resourceful bugs.

4 Ways Cockroaches Are Hard To Get Rid Of

  1. Have you ever watched a cockroach run up the wall at full speed? It is more than a little bit disconcerting. Have you ever seen them run across a table and seem to disappear when they get to the end? This is because roaches have an ability to immediately flip to the bottom of the table when they get to the end. That is some amazing mobility, but wait, there’s more! Cockroaches can go across ceilings. Some of them can even fly! If you want to get rid of roaches and keep them out, this is going to make that task hard.

  2. Cockroach eggs don’t need their mothers to hatch. How does this make cockroaches hard to get rid of? If cockroaches drop eggs in your home, they can lead to a new infestation, even if you kill the cockroach that laid them. If you’re not aware of it, you could track more cockroaches into your home without realizing it. Cockroaches can carry their eggs on their bodies in their ootheca. If you step on a roach, you could get eggs stuck to the tread of your footwear and, quite literally, track those cockroaches in.

  3. Cockroaches can go for months without eating, and these insects eat an extensive variety of foods you wouldn’t expect. So, good luck trying to starve them out.

  4. Not all cockroaches are adventurous. Have you considered using baits or poisons to kill those roaches? It is important to understand that roaches work together to survive. If you put something down to kill them, you’re only going to get a small portion of the roaches in your wall–if any.

Cockroach prevention and eradication is a science. It takes an understanding of the habits and habitats of these resilient and resourceful pests. If you want to get rid of cockroaches and keep them out, it is time to call a pest control professional.

For control of cockroaches and other invasive, illness-spreading pests in Tennessee, Russell’s Pest Control is the right choice. Our pest control team has a category 7 certification in industrial, institutional, and structural pest control as well as health-related pest control. We can protect your business and your family from the issues that can arise from having a cockroach infestation. Contact us and get started today.