Author Archives: The Bug Man

Nothing can ruin the joy of owning your home faster than an infestation of bugs. Whether you’re dealing with ants, cockroaches, spiders, mosquitoes, or any other variety of pest, and whether your bugs are crawling or flying, you want them out of your home and out of your hair.

Summer fun in the backyard is something that we all enjoy, but an unexpected mosquito infestation can be a real nuisance. In fact, you may even be tempted to keep your family inside and sit around the television, like you do the rest of the year.

Uninvited company can create chaos in any home, whether it’s mice in your basement, squirrels in your attic, or bats in your belfry. Not only are they a nuisance, but they can make you and your family sick, and it’s best if you can keep them from ever coming in.

If an opening to your home as small as one-quarter inch exists, mice can find their way in, and squirrels can wriggle through an opening just 2-1/2 inches in diameter.

It may seem like a never-ending battle sometimes and you just want to give up. Flip on the kitchen light for a snack after dark and immediately you see the scurrying of the most alien looking creatures imaginable; Cockroaches!

Often mistakenly referred to as water bugs, the American Cockroach is dark brown, almost black in color, can live as long as two years, and grows to as much as two inches in length. Periodically, as they grow larger, the cockroach will shed its exoskeleton (turning white temporarily in the process) to make room as it grows larger.

The household fly is a nuisance that Arkansans have to deal with seemingly year-round, but the summer months are definitely the worst. In addition to being annoying, flies can carry several communicable diseases, including typhoid, salmonella, and anthrax.

One of the most inexpensive (and often most satisfying) ways to deal with them is the good ol’ fashioned fly swatter, but there are a number of other remedies that you can use at home for the prevention of flies: