Pest Related Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Are Your Products Safe?
The safety of a product most often resides in the professional using it. A kitchen knife isn’t particularly safe until it’s in the hands of a chef that uses it safely in their environment. Similarly, the professionals at Results Pest and Termite are trained to use pest control products safely using the manufacturers recommended guidelines. We continually maintain open relationships with our product specialists and provide ongoing training as products evolve and get better.
Are Your Products Environmentally Friendly?
Yes. We care greatly about using products that are both safe to you and your family, but are also ecologically responsible. We’re first looking to select products that provide you with the greatest results, and then choosing it’s impact to make the most responsible choices while offering products that give you the results you’re looking for.
Do You Offer Guarantees or Warranties?
Yes, our work is guaranteed based on your satisfaction. In fact, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with your service. If our technicians do not complete the job, we will come back at no cost to you. If you’re still not happy, we’ll hand you back your money with no additional questions asked. Our goal is the absolute satisfaction of our customers.
Our termite service is not only guaranteed but includes a warranty to ensure you do not have problems in that span of time. This is especially crucial for real estate sales and purchases.
Termites
How do I know if I have termites?
The most visible and obvious cue is you’ll notice tubes leading up from the ground up to the foundation of the home. These tubes are required by termites to access the materials they feed on in your home. Termites are subterranean insects that live in colonies under your home in the dirt. These tubes are access points into your home.
How fast do termite colonies grow?
A new colony can have about 100,000 workers at the ready, but an older colony can have about 2 million termites. With about 2 million termites working in the right condition they can cause significant damage within the first few months. A home can be totally destroyed in a year or two.
How do I get rid of termites?
This is a job for professionals. The amount of destruction termites cause is not something you want to handle as a DIY project because incorrectly assessing and treating the situation could devastate the structure of your home. Also, beyond seeing tubes leading into the home, you cannot visibility see much of the damage they cause until it has become substantial to the structure.
Termites cause over 15 billion dollars of damage in the United States each year to home owners. The cost of getting a termite treatment is minimal compared to a lasting termite infestation in your home. We even offer completely free inspections just to confirm whether or not you have a problem that we can clearly point out and assess what type of damage has been done.
In many cases, home owners discover termite infestations in early stages and treatments alone will ensure no real lasting damage has been done to the home.
Bed Bugs
Where can I find bed bugs?
Adult bed bugs, nymphs and eggs will generally be found near to where humans rest or sleep. They hide in tight spaces such as headboards, baseboards, behind electric switches, etc. They can also be found in the folds of furniture such as car seats, futons and sofas. Bed bugs primary diet is human blood, so they will always be found where they can most easily access humans and still remain hidden.
Mosquitoes
Why does my yard have so many mosquitoes?
The most common way that mosquitoes reproduce is the access to standing water. While they don’t need much, availability to water for breeding and growth is essential to help them reach adulthood. This can include birdbaths, buckets, gutters, etc. Most importantly, make sure you don’t have any obvious areas on your property where they can access standing water.
Can you get rid of the mosquitoes?
Yes, we have specialized equipment and training that targets mosquitoes based on their lifecycles, which drastically reduces the number of mosquitoes that would hatch near your yard. We also coach home owners on practical tips to remove hospitable environments for mosquitoes to thrive in and around your yard.
Do mosquitoes carry diseases?
Unfortunately yes. Locally in Arizona, mosquitoes have been proven to carry West Nile virus among others. This is one of the reasons that Results Pest and Termite has put mosquitoes control as one our primary services. Mosquitoes are not only an outdoor irritant, they pose a health risk. Less mosquitoes will keep you and your family healthy.
Crawling Critters
I’ve been bit by a black widow, now what?
Black widows are a significant problem in a lot of homes, especially in garages, attics or storage areas. These spiders can be extremely dangerous because of their potent venom. If you are bitten by a black widow, wash the area with soap and water. Wrap the bite area with an icepack in a cloth. Elevate the area to reduce swelling and seek immediate emergency care.
There is no way to know how you will react to the bite of a black widow or how much venom they delivered in a bite, so it is always recommended to seek medical care right away. If you can, collect the spider in a jar, even if you’ve already killed it.
The team at Results Pest and Termite can help you eliminate your black widow spider problems for good – just give us a call and we’ll be out shortly!
Do I have brown recluses?
The brown recluse spider, also called the violin spider, has had awareness significantly boosted by a lot of coverage on their necrotic bites (which cause a significant amount of tissue damage to the bitten area). Brown recluses however are primarily found in the midwest and it’s most likely a similar looking brown house spider. If you are continually dealing with spiders in your home, please give us a call and we’ll ensure that any spider in your home is one type: dead.
What is an earwig?
Earwigs are small, flat insects with a pair of pincers at the end of their bodies. Their name is a bit of a misnomer from a myth that they crawl into the ears of humans and lay eggs. They are completely harmless and seek refuge in cracks and crevices where they can feed on decaying organic matter.
Are centipedes dangerous?
Living in the desert, we’re no stranger to frightening bugs. Centipedes are no exception. Centipedes are solitary are not insects but belong to a group called myriapods meaning “many legs”. Most of the time, we find small centipedes in homes, and their primary diet consists of other bugs such as ants, crickets and silverfish. If picked up by humans, they are capable of biting with their large forceps. The most dangerous type of centipede is the giant desert centipede, which is much larger and capable of a far more harmful bite.
What is a silverfish?
Silverfish are insects that get their name from their fish-like shape. They are typically drawn to sugars and starches as their primary food source and for this reason present themselves as pests when they feed on book bindings, glue, wallpaper, paint, coffee, cotton, and some types of carpeting.
How do you get rid of scorpions?
Depending on many factors, scorpions can be difficult to get rid of. Their environment largely determines whether or not they thrive. Scorpions are very hardy and can flatten themselves to move through cracks and crevices that ordinarily would be too small for something their size. When we are called to handle a scorpion problem, our professionals spend the time to determine the severity of the problem, where they might be coming in from, and what sustains them in the area before beginning steps to eliminate them for good!
I’ve got roaches…
Gross. But, we can help! Our roach treatments target the life-cycles of roaches because roaches are naturally very difficult to kill and can survive in extremely inhospitable environments. First, we target the adult roaches, then follow up treatments eliminate ready-to-hatch roaches. These require different techniques to ensure the next generation of roaches don’t cause the same problem (that is, being alive and walking around your house).
What can I do to prevent or eliminate ants?
The two key factors in preventing ants from coming into the home are to eliminate any sources of food or water they need and remove pathways to enter the home. Maintaining a clean kitchen and ensuring no loose food is found in your pantry will deter foragers from targeting your home as a food source. Check weather-sealing on doors and windows and look for cracks that may come up from the exterior of the home. Sealing these will make it more difficult for ants to invade the home.
What do you do to treat for ants?
It depends on the severity and cause of the ant problem. Our professionals will survey your home to determine what type of ants have invaded the property and the steps to treat and eliminate them will depend on factors such as what type of ants they are, where they come from, how prevalent they are in the area, etc.
What can I do about flying ants?
Flying ants are the only ants that are able to reproduce and the swarms you see every year are the only chances ants have to mate before pairing off to form colonies with the inevitable offspring. These typically occur in monsoon season around Arizona. If you see swarms frequently, it’s possible a colony is nesting nearby. As a one-time event you can kill the ants or vacuum them up and dispose of them and they may never return. Our professionals at Results Pest and Termite can also easily handle this type of infestation and also ensure you don’t have a colony nearby.
Bees, Wasps and Stinging Insects
Why are bumble bees hovering around my back porch?
First, determine if the bees are Carpenter Bees instead of bumble bees, which are not known to sting. These are the most common insect that is confused with bumble bees. Carpenter bees are solitary and bore circular holes into wood surfaces in order to lay eggs. Once the egg is laid, they return periodically to provision their young with pollen and nectar. We employ a number of eco-friendly methods to control these types of insects.
How big can beehives get in or around my property?
If you believe you have bees building a hive in your home, seek professional help from an exterminator like Results Pest and Termite right away. Bees continually expand their hives to accommodate their growing family, and with the added weight of honey it can begin to cause significant structural damage. The sooner you can eliminate the hive from the structure, the less damage will incur in order to access and remove the hive.
It’s also important to remove the hive properly to ensure bees do not come back to rebuild the hive. An incorrectly remove hive can return relatively quickly.
What should I do if a swarm of bees is in my yard or around my trees?
In most cases, staying away from them and staying indoors is the best course of action. These large groups of bees are only usually only resting on their way to their final destination and will move on within 24 to 48 hours in most cases.
Help! I’ve been stung!
It’s important to immediately determine if you’ve ever had an allergic reaction or could be reacting to the sting. If there is any fear at all, seek medical attention immediately. In most cases that do not involve an allergic reaction, basic first aid can be applied. First, remove the stinger immediately and wash the sting area with soap and water to disinfect, then apply over the counter antibiotic cream. Taking mild pain relievers such as ibuprofen and applying ice to the affected area can manage most of the pain.
Where do yellow jacket wasps build their nests?
Yellow jackets prefer to nest in the ground, but they are opportunistic about nesting so they will also build in attics, barns, behind walls and inside hollow trees. You can identify a yellow jacket nest by it’s distinct paper-carton look that consists of multiple layers and cells. It is often an upsidedown teardrop shape.
Do all bees sting?
Only female bees sting. That’s because the stinger, called an “ovipositor” is part of their reproductive design. Queen bees use their ovipositors to lay eggs as well as sting while sterile females, also called worker bees, simply sting.
Do all wasps sting?
Yes, all wasps CAN sting you, but many varieties of wasp are not aggressive and will only defend themselves when directly threatened. Potter wasps and Mud Daubers for example rarely sting humans. Hornets however have a worse reputation and are frequently more aggressive