Protecting Your Stuff from Vermin filth.

Benjamin Franklin said: "An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure" Although Ben was not referring to the British pound sterling back then, which was worth several American dollars, I can tell you that if you don't take to heart, much of the free and valuable advice you find on our website and put into effect some of these recommended precautions, it will cost you many pounds of sweat and quite a few dollars to rid your home sweet domicile of any of the most popular American idol pests now plaguing all the boroughs of New York City, including Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, da Bronx, Staten Island and all of Long Island.


Ben was considered a very wise man. You should listen to his advice. And mine, too. I see the countless horror stories before extermination. I know how to help you so that if you do find yourself a vermin victim, through no fault of your own, and in need of an exterminator's services, the job won't become an insurmountable household nightmare. I know I repeat myself quite a bit on this blog but I will tell you again: most people live like slobs. Clutter and debris everywhere. These people are vermin enablers. Roaches, cockroaches, mice, rats, spiders, and yes, even bedbugs (also know as bed bugs) love to live and hide in such a landscape.

You may be neat, clean and tidy but if your neighbor is a vermin enabler they can drag you into the pest fray. This is what really plagues most of my customers and is the question I get asked the most: "How did I get this: "fill in the blank" pest problem?" In a city where we live practically on top of one another, it doesn't matter if you if you are clean and neat. You are as vulnerable as the weakest, sloppiest, link in your apartment complex or neighborhood.

There's another step you can take to make sure your protect yourself and your household goods. Put everything you can in plastic. Yeah, I know, plastic gets a bad rap.... but in this case, it serves a defensive purpose. Plastic containers today come in just about every size imaginable. Especially stuff that is on the floor in closets. With snap lids. You can buy these for cheap at any Walmart, K-Mart or Target.

Put ALL towels, linens, and off season clothing into these plastic storage bins. If you are concerned about the plastic smell getting onto the fabric, simply use a plastic garbage bag as a liner inside of the storage bin.

You should also consider smaller food storage containers especially for rice, breakfast cereals, and dry potatoes for your pantry. Anything that comes in a cardboard box from the grocery store should be repackaged. Keep in mind that mice can chew through plastic bags. You want to use hard plastic containers for storage.

If you ever need to call an exterminator because of a problem in your building or neighborhood, your dry goods will
be protected.

If you already have the pest problem, wash, dry and store your soft fabric goods into plastic storage containers. The dryer heat kills most insect eggs. Throw out any food not stored in hard plastic containers that look like the box was chewed on.

Then give us a call at Beyond Pest Pro.

The Longest Yard

January is the hardest month of the year to get through. It also seems like the slowest month. All the decorations and festivities are done, gone and away. If it weren't for the Super Bowl, January would be the most boring month of the year. Except for the freezing rain, the snow, the ice and possibly a nasty head cold, fever and chills. Many people get sick it seems right after the stress of the holiday season.

This is the time when you especially want your bed to be warm, comfy, clean and inviting. It never ceases to amaze us here at Connex how some people wrongly think that they are safe in the cold winter months from insects such as bedbugs or even cockroaches. They mistakenly think all insects thrive only in the warm summer months.

These insect pests to not take off for the holidays. They do not go on vacations, they do not fly south nor do they hibernate. And no matter how cold you might think your apartment is, it is warm enough to keep bedbugs reproducing all year long and since you are are their meal ticket, this is all they need to keep on keeping on. And guess what? The days are already getting longer by a minute or two a day which means as we head toward Spring, the city of New York blooms all kinds of pests.

They don't take sick days even if you do. And the bedbugs won't give you the much needed rest to recuperate if you should get sick this winter. And if you think you may have a bedbug situation now, it is not going to go away magically.

Bedbugs after they have a blood feast will take a slight break.

But that's about it.

They will be back and there will more of them.

Of this you can be assured.

This is what they do.

This is all they do.

(they sound like they're tiny Terminators)

You need professional help to get them out of your life and out of your home. Call Beyond Pest Control today, let us take care of your pest problem, whatever that problem may be: bedbuds, roaches, or rodents (mice and rats).

January is also known for linen sales which some women shoppers find exciting. As mentioned in a previous post, white linen is recommended if you think you have the beginnings of a bed bug infestation. White linen is easier to sanitize with hot water and bleach and it's also easier to see the bedbug spots which always show up if you have them.

So enjoy Super Bowl sunday with your friends , and not the pests.

The Longest Night

The Winter Solstice, coming soon to a mattress near you. Oh, the weather outside may be frightful, but that doesn't hold a candle to what scary nightmares lurk inside your bedroom as you make ready for the long winter nap. I think many humans are secretly jealous of bears ability to put everything on hold and hibernate for an entire season. Just as the healthy and beneficial sunshine vitamin D grows short, our bodies prepare for the health benefits of longer nights and restful sleep that we need in the winter months.

But not if you have bedbugs.

The author of that famous Christmas poem with "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" was not thinking of the whirlwind maelstrom of you stirring, scratching and getting bit on a mattress loaded to the rafters with hundreds, maybe thousands of disgusting bedbugs seeking a warm dinner and some casual sex with others of their own kind. You're not just the four star restaurant to these blood suckers, your entire bed is an after hours entertainment club.

Trivia Note:
"The Night Before Christmas" poem's author, Clement Moore, lived in Elmhurst, Queens. There is a bronze plaque in the Broadway public park, where Moore's home once stood. Every year there's a Christmas tree lighting in his honor and the poem is read. The park is located very near Elmhurst Hospital.
With all the media talk about various flu bugs morphing and going around, the last thing any hard working New Yorker needs is to have bedbugs. Because what is the second thing all doctors tell their patients when a cold or flu threatens?
•1 is drink plenty of fluids and
•2 is get bed rest, meaning: a full nights sleep.
The stress of going to a job tired the next day, or worse, the stress of not having a job and going on interviews with blood shot eyes, won't help you to make that good first impression. It's the, not getting adequate sleep, that can really run down your immune system and make you vulnerable to all sorts of sickness. Fortunately, bedbugs, in and of themselves, do not spread disease but that is a small consolation when you are suffering from sleep deprivation.

Connex Environmental can solve your problem of the 'all night party bedbugs' so you can get some rest medicine. There is no reason why you can't be as the poem says "nestled all snug in your beds... and settled down for a long winter's nap" As for the problem of those loud noisy neighbors, you're on your own. But bedbugs, we make 'em gone. So before another quick sunset happens give Connex a call, we're here to help you.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

http://photobucket.com/nypestpro

Being Thankful for small favors

Recently I visited friends that moved just outside of Charlotte, NC. It was a nice warm autumn day, we were outside in their backyard. I thought it was safe to wear sandals. My friends were showing me a landscaping problem they had and how they hope to solve it, when all of a sudden my bare toes started to feel somewhat hot and tingly, and not in a good way. And I look down and I see three small ants locked onto my big toe.
Yikes!
" what the heck was that!?"
"Oh, those are fire ants." my friends tell me.
"You gotta be careful where you walk down here".
They were not kiddin'!!!

These nasty brown red ants sneak up onto you, then one of them gives a signal and they all chomp down on your skin, and much like a pit bull they hold on but then proceed in a circular motion, ripping a hole into your flesh. Real nasty buggers. And a huge problem down south. I was told I was lucky that only three ants grouped together to attach me. This was probably due to the fact it was past their active season, but still, if you disturb their mound, they will wake up and will swarm looking for the invader no matter the time of year.

So far, no reports of these "pain in the big toe" ants in the Big Apple area. For this I am thankful, because two weeks later and I'm still scratching the bite area. Our cold winters no doubt are protecting us from one nasty biting ant. New York has enough pest problems without these ants making the scene. But you can be sure, Connex Environmental has already been educated on them and we know how to deal with any kind of ants. 3HGEXWNTSA3P

Everybody was Feng Shui fighting

Two Important Pest Preventive Measures You Need to Know Right Now.

I won't tease you here with the answer. But I do want you to know I am speaking from my experience as a seasoned, battle harden, NYC exterminator. And my experiences has lead me to a wide range of various types of peoples and their living situations.

So without further fuss here are the two most important things you need to know to prevent future breakouts of New York City's major pests, which include mostly bedbugs and fleas and to some extent roaches and rodents such as mice and rats.

The answer is so simple it may make you feel somewhat disappointed with what you are about to read. But I can assure you, if you follow this simple advice you will cut the odds of getting infested, especially with bedbugs, by more than half in most cases.

1) it is to remove household clutter and
2) to be aware when you are out in public traveling with your possessions.

Now the first bit of advise is obvious. Remove the clutter. Bugs, pests, insects or any type of vermin LOVE clutter. It is their Love Boat. They can hide in it and raise many generations of themselves.
N'est-ce Pas? (Or if you prefer freedom fries interpretation: "Isn't it so?")

So get rid of stuff you are not using. Clear out those corners that even you can't get into any more. Consider buying plastic tubs or bins with lids for storage.

And next up, we'll talk about why everybody will soon be Feng Shui fighting in NYC, if they aren't already doing this.

Scary Holloweenie Spiders and other nonsense

One more word about spiders while it's still October. Well, a couple of words... spiders come in all sizes and shapes of small, medium and large, humongous OMG it has a fur skin, and a bulbous butt, hand me my shotgun, size.

I have come to realize that many people mistakenly believe that there is a benefit in letting spiders 'live and let live' in their domiciles. While it may be true that spiders do serve a purpose as a pest control agent for flies, cockroaches and other nasty creepy crawlies, it may not be the answer you want played out in your home. Spider "spit" is a sticky messy goo, it attracts dust, crumbs and can stick onto your pets fur or whiskers. Also some people are even allergic to the non-poisonous spider bites and to their spit or web silk as well.

Here is an old English nursery rhyme that exaggerates my point and also give you an idea of what life was like before you could simply pick up the phone and scream "HALP!" to a licensed qualified exterminator. It also demonstrates that many home remedies are complicated and don't always work out the way we think. :)

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
I guess she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
My what a hog, to swallow a dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat, to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
I guess she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow.
She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog, to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed the fly

I guess she'll die.
I know an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead of course!

So if you are seeing an abundance of spiderwebs around your home this fall, give us a call. Connex Environmental can get rid of the hunters and the hunted. You don't need to settle for this gruesome wild kingdom playing out in your home. Let spiders serve their purpose outside your home and scaring the trick or treat kids as they ring your door bell.

Mothra vs Godzilla

October is that scary time of year when many of you may be noticing more outdoor pests trying to gain entrance to your nice warm home. Knowing their time is short as the evenings become chillier earlier there are some clever last minute maneuvers made to make sure their lineage continues next spring.

Your home is the battle ground between two of these giants in the pest world that I will give special attention to today. Moths and Spiders. Now technically spiders are not insects even though many people do refer to them as that. They are arachnids. Many people consider them to be a beneficial bug in that they do their own messy but efficient pest control. Spiders are lonely, shy hunters. They look for a quiet corner or pick a spot near a light source or water source. Most arachnids are harmless to humans and mind their own business. Only two you need to beware of: the black widow and the brown recluse. (the lonely and the shy)

So for this drama -the clothing moth will play the part of Mothra and the grinning wolf spider, will play Godzilla. As scary and ugly as Godzilla is, he's usually considered the good guy monster. Mothra is the bad guy monster, clothing moth, looking for your expensive Armani wool suit to devour--- only the best for her eggs.
But not if Godzilla can lay down it's trap to save the day but in the meantime scaring the candy corn out of you as it swings down from it's ceiling lamp web just to see if you are letting in any more delicious Mothras. (hmmm, taste like mushrooms)

Just like there are small and large spiders, there are small and large moths. The tiny moths, called Indian meal moths, don't care where you hang your winter coat. In fact, they came into your house with you in that bag of peanuts (especially with the peanut shells) bird seed and any dried food, cereal or pet food. If you have tiny gray moths all over the house, driving you batty check your kitchen cupboards, garage or basement. Where ever it is that you store food. You'll know it when you find it.... the closer you get to Mothra ground zero, the more tiny grey moths you'll see. They somehow manage to always escape the container. If it's peanuts in a clear bag, the bag will no doubt be crawling on the inside. After you scream, carefully remove the source and vacuum the area thoroughly. Any strong liquid disinfectant spray cleaner will do. No need to set off bug bombs. You don't want to poison your own food supply.

If you've been having dreams that you are naked in public, you may have a clothing moth problem. Put any suspected garments into the dryer -- the heat will kill any moths and eggs. Dry clean will also work where delicate clothing label instructs.

And if sugar grinning spider-boy is making too many websites around your home looking for Moth-ra traffic, CONNEX Environmental can make that bad movie disappear from your October nightmares. So whether it's a dark cloud of tiny meal moths or extra large clothing moths we have the answer to your pest problem. Our pest pros are among the best you'll find in New York City. Quick, capable and knowledgeable. Give us a call today.