Looking For A Good Pest Control Company In Portland?

Here in Portland, Oregon we have a lot to choose from when it comes to picking an exterminator.  Most of the time, people will just do a quick Google search and just pick the first company that pops.  Unfortunately, that does not always mean that you found a good, reputable company.  Here are some tips when choosing a pest control company and a few suggestions for you:

1)  Does the company require a contract?
If you are not already, you should be leery about signing contracts with companies you do not know.  I already regret my cell phone and cable contracts that I signed up for when I moved in August.  Many companies ONLY do contracts and will not perform a one time treatment.  What this means is that you get stuck with a service you need now, but may not need later.  This should be the first question that you ask when looking for a pest control company.

2)  Are they Green and Eco-Friendly
Most companies will fall under this category.  You want to find a company that is going to be safe for your family.  Gone are the day when your exterminator rolls up with a huge dead cockroach on top of his truck.  You want someone that is clean, professional and discreet and will use products that are safe and effective.

3)  Are they local?
Why invest money into a company that is not local when you can spend the same (or less) for a company based right here in Portland, Oregon?  I try and spend my money with local companies every chance that I get because I believe they care more for the community that they are based in and the money that I spend goes right back into the local economy.

4)  Are they licensed?
This probably should go without saying, but I happen to know for a fact that there is a rather large pest control company that does not even have an Oregon business license, yet does a lot of revenue in the state.  Why is that important?  Well, for all the money coming in from Oregon residents, no Oregon taxes are being paid.  Again, do you want to support your local economy or not?

5)  Two companies that we recommend
This is of course a fairly biased suggestion, but we have a few companies that we will recommend to you.  The first is New Leaf Pest Control located in Vancouver, Washington that serves all of the Portland Metro area.  The second is Wildwoods Pest Control located in Sandy, Oregon.

Portland, Oregon Pest Control Coupons

It can be hard to find a good deal on pest control services in the Portland Metro area.  Most companies will offer a "free inspection", but then gouge you on price when they give you a bid to take care of the problem.  It is difficult to know who you can trust before you pick up the phone and call someone. 

Full disclosure, I am in the area and own a pest control company in Vancouver, Washington.  Before I started out, I had a few different people come to my house occasionally for pest control services.  One of the guys that came out really tried to hard sell me on services that I was not even sure that I needed.  I don't know about you, but I really, really hate pushy sales people.  It makes me feel really uncomfortable and what I have found is that most pest control companies fit this mold. 

When I started New Leaf Pest Control, I decided that I wanted to be different and set up a company that was never "pushy" and never made the customer feel uncomfortable.  So far, I think that we have accomplished that.

I got a call from a potential customer the other day that seemed pretty nervous about having a pest control company come to her house.  She asked me an interesting question, "if you needed to find a company to come out and treat for ants, would you pick your company?"  Well, I didn't really need to think about it too hard and I said, "of course".  But, later on, I did think about it.  If I was a customer, how would I rate my experience from the moment I picked up the phone to when the technician left my house.  Perhaps it is unfair to answer that because my opinion is obviously so biased.  But, regardless of that fact, I think it is important to think about these things, to make an effort to create a good experience for the customer.

Anyway, in this long winded, self serving rant, I wanted to offer you a coupon for reading it all the way to the end.  Please click here for some pest control coupons in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area.  Thanks for reading!

Do Bug Bombs Really Work?

I am sure that you have done this before.  You made everyone clear out of the house and you set up a couple bug bombs around the house, set each of them off and then booked it out of the house.  Listen, I get it.  It seems like the perfect solution for your pest problem.  You nuke them with an aerosol that is supposed to get every nook and crevice.  Unfortunately, all it really accomplishes is coating your home in an oily chemical residue that is basically just a pesticide cocktail.

I remember when I was a kid my parents used these all the time to get rid of fleas.  We would have to leave the house for several hours and after we returned, the place stunk and it just felt gross.  That stuff had to be incredibly bad for us and pretty toxic.  Again, the logic seemed perfect, the fogger would get everything.  However, the only thing that really happens is that the pesticide pushes the insects even farther into walls, cracks, crevices, etc.  If you have had some success with foggers, it probably didn't last, right?  What happened was that the pests retreated and then came back with a week or so.

A recent study from Ohio State University concluded that bug bombs are entirely ineffective on crawling or biting insects.  They did so by placing bed bugs in plates around a room.  They placed various foggers around them and set them off.  The results?  Not much, only a few of them died while the rest seemed completely unharmed.  They did a second test with a tiny bit of paper placed over the dishes for shelter.  In this case, none of them were harmed.  The conclusion is that bed bugs are nearly immune to the effects of bug bombs and the same can be concluded for other types of crawling insects.

In addition to the limited effectiveness, there have been illnesses reported from inhaling the insecticide.  A study that included 8 states in 2008 reported that there were at least 466 injuries from the use of bug bombs and 21 of those had to be hospitalized.

So what are they good for?  Well, they actually work pretty well on flying insects.  If you are going to use them, this is your best bet because it should take care of flies, gnats, etc.  Other than that, they are kind of a waste of money that puts your family at risk.

If you have questions about foggers or any other pest questions, please do not hesitate to call or email.

If you would like assistance with Vancouver Washington pest control, please give us a call.

Are Carpenter Ants Damaging My Home?

If you were to step back from your computer right now, go outside and walk around your block, the chances are that you would see a carpenter ant along the way.  The truth is that they are pretty much everywhere and most people don't realize that all these ants that they are seeing can potentially do some harm to their home.

Most people would probably think that termites are the most destructive pest in the Pacific Northwest, but in reality, carpenter ants are far more damaging in the Portland Metro area.  They are so common that you can probably find them in just about every neighborhood, so your home is at risk whether you realize it or not.

Carpenter ants are "polymorphic" which means that they can come in a lot of different sizes.  They do not "eat" your wood, but they do chew through it to hollow out nests for themselves.  You will often see their debris from the wood shavings that they excavate out of their nesting site.  This just looks like very fine sawdust.  The ants that you will actually see are called "worker" ants and they can travel up to 1000 feet from the nest to find food.  They will find parts of plants, nectar and other bugs to bring back to the colony to eat. What you don't see is the queen ant that is pumping out more and more babies.  The queen can live up to 25 years and produce multiple satellite colonies that can infest a whole neighborhood!  Once a nest is fully developed and infesting your home, I have heard estimates as high as $17 worth of damage a day that can be done.

Okay, so now what?
Don't make the mistake that the ants that you see around your home are not carpenter ants.  If they are bigger than a sugar ant, they are probably a carpenter ant and should probably be addressed.  If you have wood piles, shrubs touching your home or any other conducive condition, you should probably remove them right away.

The good news
Fortunately, as far as pest control goes, carpenter ants are not that difficult to get rid of.  They have patterns of movement that allow pest control companies to target specific areas to apply product where the worker ants will cross and bring back to the nest.  At New Leaf Pest Control in Portland and Vancouver, we charge an average between $100-$200 for the cost of a standard carpenter ant treatment.  This investment now can save a lot of money later on.  Also, if you just are looking for a preventative treatment because you have seen them around your neighborhood, you can do that for $88.00 with this coupon.

If you need any help with carpenter ants or if you just have a few questions, please do not hesitate to email me or call me.

Photo credit: Thomas Shahan / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND