Whether dealing with a global pandemic (such as the one that’s occurring during the writing of this post) or simply the ordinary economic pressures that affect everyone, times are tight. None of us really feel as though we have all of the time or all of the money that we would like. So we start to trim expenses — and often one of the first ones to go is pest control service.
We understand the desire to ask, “Do you really need a pest control service?” With an abundance of over-the-counter and online pest-management products available, you might find yourself thinking that cutting professional pest services makes sense. But have you ever heard the old saying “penny wise and pound foolish?” It essentially means that saving small sums in the short run can end up costing you much more later on. That’s exactly what can happen if you try to tackle insects, rodents, and other irritants on your own.
Here are six reasons why you need a pest control service.
1: Ever-Present Pests Mean You Need a Pest Control Service
Pests have remained a problem throughout human history. An ancient Middle Eastern proverb concludes, “The lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.” An Ethiopian saying states, “He who runs from the white ant may stumble upon the stinging ant.” And in Madagascar, they say, “You can catch a cricket in your hand, but its song is all over the field.” Though these statements have different deeper meanings, they all arise from a basic reality: Insects and other pests are everywhere.
According to ConsumerAffairs, the United States contains some 27,000 pest control businesses. Do you know why that many exist? Because there are a lot of pests, and many of them are hard to remove. The ubiquity of pests means that it’s not so much a question of if you should hire a professional, but rather a question of when to hire a pest control service.
2: Experience Dealing with the Root Cause of the Issue
That “when” plays into the next item on the list of reasons to hire a pest control service. It’s easy to tell that you have a pest problem when you see damaged plants due to bugs or rodents’ holes, scratches, and gnaw marks. It’s often harder, though, to tell where exactly those pests came from and how to stop them.
In situations such as this, hiring a professional pest control company more than pays for itself in avoided aggravation alone. Home solutions may not cost as much in the beginning, but their full cost can certainly climb as one application soon turns into multiple treatments — and the problem resurfaces repeatedly.
3: Better Equipment to Handle the Situation
In addition to understanding what can lead to an infestation, pest control professionals are better equipped than your average consumer. Our technicians have access to commercial-grade insecticides and the latest technological advancements, solutions that simply aren’t otherwise available. But more than just treatments, they possess highly specialized knowledge.
Smithereen is Green Shield Certified, which means that we approach pest management in a highly specialized way. Rather than just “spray and pray” (so to speak), we use an Integrated Pest Management approach. That means we first assess the situation. Then we apply our knowledge of the animal in question to your specific situation. Only at that point to we apply an insecticide or similar product. Finally, we recommend a remediation strategy that will help discourage future infestations. It’s an approach that’s nearly impossible for an amateur to duplicate.
4: Comprehensive Health Risk Assessment
We all know that, say, termite infestation problems can damage your home or office. But were you aware that many common pests can seriously harm your health? Tox Town, an official government website published by the National Library of Medicine, notes, “Dust mites and cockroaches can cause allergies, asthma, and other respiratory problems. Cockroaches can carry and spread diseases, including salmonella. Fire ant stings can cause serious allergic reactions. Fleas can bite, causing allergies. Flies can carry bacteria, viruses, and several diseases. Mosquito bites can cause infections, allergies, pain, and itching.”
The scary part of that list of potentially injurious animals above is that it doesn’t even get into the fatal ailments that they can spread. For instance, rodents may spread Yersinia pesti (the pathogen responsible for the Black Death) to this day. People die regularly from mosquito-spread encephalitis. And fleas may pass on typhus and Chaga disease. For the sake of your own health, don’t employ half measures when dealing with pests.
5: Accurate Damage Evaluation
Do those little piles of frass (i.e., termite droppings) indicate serious structural harm to your property? Is that raccoon you hear rattling around in your attic the only one that has settled in to your home? How much damage to your lawn does that scattering of mole piles represent? Such questions are hard to answer on their face — and they’re especially difficult for homeowners to diagnose on their own. If you want an accurate accounting of the damage pests are or could be doing and how to fix it, you need to rely on a professional.
6: Long-lasting (and Effective) Results
Thanks to the Integrated Pest Management approach that we employ, you can have confidence that you’ll have effective results that last for a lengthy period. Why? When writing about the school of thought we employ, the EPA explained that “once monitoring, identification, and action thresholds indicate that pest control is required, and preventive methods are no longer effective or available, IPM programs then evaluate the proper control method both for effectiveness and risk.” Companies that use Integrated Pest Management then employ a series of increasingly stronger treatments to keep pests at bay. That way, they disappear and stay gone.
When it comes to hiring a pest control company, Smithereen Pest Management Services has your good as our goal. We’ve worked in the field for more than a century, and we understand how to eliminate pests once and for all. In addition to dealing with common irritants such as ants, cockroaches, termites, and mosquitoes, we also remove raccoons, wasps, squirrels, and skunks. Contact us at (800) 336-3500 to learn more about our services!