Don’t Cancel Your Pest Control in the Winter

     It is cold outside and you haven’t seen a bug in weeks. Might as well cancel that pest control and save some money for the kids Christmas right? Well, hold on before you make a bad decision.  You already have a Pest Control service right? And you aren’t having any problems right? Why do you think you aren’t having problems? go ahead…. I’ll wait. [cue Jeopardy music] Do you get it now? Pest Control is a weird industry where when you do your job well people forget about why they called in the first place.  And they seem to forget why they don’t have issues.  So many times I have worked my butt off to resolve a pest issue only to have the customer say that what fixed it was some lame home remedy they tried. Man, I can’t get no respect.

Where do the bugs go?

     Sure the entomological landscape changes with the seasons but the old belief that the cold will kill off all the bugs just isn’t true. If it were true then why do we still see them year after year? Some insects overwinter like a bear hibernating. Some only the queen lives through the cold, others just the eggs or larvae.  Some of the pests thrive in the winter because of us like rats and mice. So consider something for me. Would it be more likely to kill 100 wasps in the summer or 1 pregnant queen in the winter? Which one would require less product applied on your home?  I do not ease up treatments just because it is December. I refocus my efforts because the pests have refocused their survival modes. Here in Maryville, TN who knows what the weather will be. It can change drastically in a day. When this happens the bugs will act accordingly just like we do. Just because it was snowing and below freezing yesterday doesn’t mean you won’t be playing with the kids in the yard tomorrow in shorts and a t-shirt. My treatment that lasts 3 months may be applied below freezing and 40 MPH winds but next week when it is sunny guess who will also come out to play?

#whatbugsme

     Every year I have at least one customer request to cancel and pay an early cancellation fee just because it is cold. What a waste! Even my warnings and explanations of why this is a bad idea fall on deaf ears. I’m sure they think I am just trying to save the account and making up excuses. So not true. Every year I also get at least one customer crawling back begging for me to work my magic after they thought they were saving money. The bad part is that since there was a gap in service, sometimes I have to start all over from scratch to get them back to where they already were before they started this mess.

Uncommon sense

The bottom line is you hired a professional because you couldn’t do it yourself. You either didn’t have the equipment, the products, the knowledge or the time. If your doctor tells you you need to have a procedure done or something will get worse, do you question him? I guess some will but then let it get worse and make the whole situation worse at the end of the day. So listen to your bug doctor and keep your pest control through the winter. Click here for more winter pest control information.