This High-Rise Building Has Roach-Infested Trash Rooms!

By Chris Williams on October 28, 2016

I live in a 12-floor apartment building that has trash chutes on each floor and a compactor in the basement garbage room. The trash chute rooms are always a mess, not just because people leave their garbage on the floor, but management never monitors the chute rooms or cleans them up. As a result, we…

VIEW MORE

It’s National Rodent Awareness Week!

By Chris Williams on October 25, 2016

This is the week to learn all about those cute little mice that you might be doing battle with at this very moment. The Professional Pest Management Alliance has designated Oct. 23-29 as Rodent Awareness Week. In that vein, here are some little known facts about your wee friend, the house mouse. The Secret Life…

VIEW MORE

What is it About Woolly Bears?

By Chris Williams on October 24, 2016

Everybody loves the woolly bear, or wooly worm, or fuzzy bear. Whatever you call this fluffy-looking, rust and black caterpillar, it has a place in weather folklore. People believe, or pretend to believe, that the band pattern on a woolly bear can predict the severity of the coming winter. The wider the black bands on…

VIEW MORE

Squirrels Are Unwelcome Winter Guests in Attics

By Chris Williams on October 19, 2016

We know we have gray squirrels in our yard because we’ve seen them and their nests in trees. But suddenly we seem to have one (or more!) occupying our attic. My son saw a squirrel enter around the attic vent. Why are they moving inside and how do we keep them out? T. W., Brighton,…

VIEW MORE

How We Used to Kill Bed Bugs Back in the Day

By Chris Williams on October 12, 2016

There is documentation to show that bed bugs have pestered us since ancient times. For most of us, bed bugs were extinct pests that our great-grandparents battled. In the early 1900s , it was a rare American indeed who had never been bitten by or at least seen a bed bug. Bed bugs were pretty…

VIEW MORE