#pest-control

#pest-control

I'm not going to tell you that you can't squish or flush a bug if you can't handle trapping and releasing it (although, full disclosure, I am a trap/release outdoors gal for all except mosquitos and cockroaches), but I'm not sure that persuading your 4-year-old to be cool with killing any living creature (even when it's because it "scares the shit out of" their mother) is your best path forward as a parent.

February heralds skunk mating season, and our striped friends have romance on their minds. Over the next several weeks, skunks will be seeking mates, and this activity always results in an uptick in the amount of skunk spray in the air. Male skunks spray each other when they fight over females, and females spray males they don't want as mates.

Kitchens, even very clean ones, smell like food, and this is a neon welcome sign to a rodent's nose. These creatures don't rely on their eyesight the way humans do. Smell is their dominant sense, and they use it to follow scent signals that mark a rat-safe route or a promising meal. A mouse has over 1,000 odor receptors (whereas people have a measly 350) finely tuned to trace the semiotics of a kitchen, like starches, fats, and other rodents' chemical signatures.

The yellowjacket population is surging in both the East Bay and North Bay this summer, and since the bugs are very aggressive and can sting multiple times, county authorities have their hands full cleaning out an unusually large number of nests. Folks who attend the Outside Lands music festival may recall that in 2024, there was something of a wasp infestation, with the insects swarming food stands and generally giving festivalgoers a serious hassle.

A Farm Boy location in the Yonge-Eglinton area has been forced to temporarily close after failing a DineSafe inspection. According to the City of Toronto, two of the infractions include permitting rodents and failing to protect food from contamination. The Farm Boy location near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue has closed temporarily after failing an inspection conducted through the city's DineSafe program. The inspection found two "crucial" and other less severe infractions at the grocery store, including a failure to protect food from contamination and that the premise was maintained in a "manner permitting health hazards," specifically rodents.

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Between August and early September, wasp queens stop laying eggs, and the nest starts to enter the end of its life cycle. As this happens, worker wasps' normal food sources are cut off, and they begin to seek out easily accessible, carbohydrate-rich human foods. Mr Copley says: 'As natural food sources decline, worker wasps are under pressure to find food, which makes them more aggressive and more likely to sting you.'

If you've ever wondered how to keep spiders out of your house, the first step is understanding why they come in in the first place. As the seasons change, these eight-legged visitors start seeking out warmth, shelter and food sources, and our homes provide the perfect environment. Let's be honest, spiders may play a useful role in keeping other household pests in check, but that doesn't mean we want them moving in with us.

To effectively eliminate fruit flies, you can create a simple trap with apple cider vinegar, dish soap, and a jar, capitalizing on their attraction to organic materials.

The data reveals that Southwark Borough Council had the highest report, with 44,257 rat infestations from 2023 to mid-2025, followed by Camden and Islington.

Councilor Erin Murphy expressed concern over the findings from Tufts University, emphasizing that leptospirosis poses a serious risk to various vulnerable groups, including those living on the street and sanitation workers.

"We know that it isn't going to eliminate them, really. To be perfectly frank, all of the management options that we have on the table right now are not going to eliminate spotted lanternfly."

In addition to shopping at thrift stores, I used to frequently pick up furniture and similar items that people discarded next to dumpsters when I was poor.

Seoul is facing an influx of lovebugs, prompting discussions among experts on climate change's impact and the appropriate methods to handle the rising infestations.

This natural event, when vast numbers of winged ants, known as alates, take to the skies at once in search of mates from other colonies, could be one of the most prolific for years.

Adult clothes moths resemble pinkie nails and cannot eat wool sweaters due to lack of mouthparts. Instead, they lay eggs in their former homes.