?…ask the Bugman
All Creatures Great and Small
New Year Resolution
It is time for our New Year Resolutions. My main one is, I am going to help anyone I can, and that includes any schools, any government agencies and any commercial establishments, stay as safe as possible from pesticide exposure. We have to keep ourselves and our children safe from exposure to pesticides. Here are … Continue reading
Holiday season
The holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas are here. We celebrate these seasons as the beginning of love, of kindness, of respect and of honor in our hearts. We should love all the animals we exist with and not kill them out of hate or fear or to hang their body parts on our walls … Continue reading
My experience in the pesticide industry
Let me tell you my experience with pesticides and why I am totally against them now. I started in the pest industry in Florida in1972. We used to drive cars and not trucks and keep all the chemicals on the front seat next to us. They were toxic products such as DDT, chlordane, heptachlor, malathion … Continue reading
Spiders
SPIDERS, The good, the bad and the not so evil. One day, a few years ago, I was pulling into my driveway when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter Sara. I walked into the house and found her standing on the couch, trying to call me and screaming at the same time. She … Continue reading
Consultations
I promote non-toxic pest management as pesticides are weapons of mass destruction and are not necessary in controlling most pests. If you have any pest issues, you can contact me at askthebugman2013@gmail.com and I will help you. All of my consultations are free as money isn’t the issue, protecting people, pets and the environment is. … Continue reading
Pest Misidentification
This happened when I was in Albuquerque and it demonstrates why you have to be very careful when you hire a pest control company. A lady had some small white grub-like insects all over her floor. She called several exterminators including the one that regularly services her home and none of them had any idea … Continue reading
Pesticides and the Environment Dept.
This is a letter I wrote to the Sec. of the Environment Dept. in New Mexico about how pesticides are damaging wildlife. If you have these issues where you live, I suggest you contact your Environmental Supervisors. Dear Sec. Kenney This is important and I hope the Environment Dept. can look into this. Horned lizards … Continue reading
We are destroying the planet
Insects are declining at an alarming rate. More than 40% of insect species are declining and about a third are endangered. I know a lot of people will say, so what, they are just bugs. Insects are far more important than we realize and if they all disappeared, humans wouldn’t last much longer. The rate … Continue reading
Rodenticides
This is very important if you have mice or other rodents and you need to control them. First, never use rodenticides and that means never hire an exterminator that uses rodenticides. The reason they use rodenticide is that they can check the bait boxes once a month. If they set out snap traps, like they … Continue reading
Warm winter
It is a buggy day. Got four bug questions this afternoon. Clothes moths, weevils, carpenter bees and bed bugs. Usually bug question slow down in the Fall, but it isn’t this year. I suspect it will be a warmer winter than normal and bugs will be active. Make sure you don’t use toxic pesticides if … Continue reading
Roaches in a uranium mine
About 35 years ago, I was working for Orkin in Albuquerque. We got a call about a cockroach infestation in a uranium mine in Grants. I had never heard of cockroaches infesting a uranium mine so I volunteered to check it out. When I got there, they dressed me in some funny clothes and took … Continue reading
NM Pesticide regulations
This is important if you use an exterminator in New Mexico. All pesticide applicators have to be licensed and there are several categories of a license they are required to have depending on what they do. If they treat a home for termites, they have to have a Wood Destroying Pest Control category (7D). If … Continue reading
Mice
Fall is here and mice may be coming to visit. The deer mouse is one of the most common rodent species found throughout most of the United States . They are 4” – 9” long, are reddish-brown in color with a white chest, white feet, and a bi-colored tail: brown on top and white on … Continue reading
Pest control with home products
I recently posted that you can control most pests with stuff you have at home rather than pesticides. I will elaborate a little more on each one, so you can try them out. For cockroaches, put out some pie pans full of beer around your house where cockroaches hang out. They will go in the … Continue reading
Winter pests
I think it is going to be a warmer than usual this winter in the whole world. I am no meteorologist so I may be wrong, but if it is warmer, more bugs will be active, and more pesticides will be used. Usually I keep track of all the pest questions I get in the … Continue reading
Pesticide pollution
There are a lot of things going wrong in the world. Global warming, plastics and many others. One issue that we need to deal with is the misuse of pesticides. Pesticides are weapons of mass destruction and should almost never be used. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act prohibits pesticide manufacturers from stating that … Continue reading
Insect control
For insect control You can kill any bug in your house with a mixture of water (40%), alcohol (40%) and dish soap (20%). No need to ever use pesticides inside your home or business. If you have a specific pest, here are some recommendations Cockroaches (beer and duct tape) Ants (Terro Bait works for … Continue reading
Salamanders
About 18 years ago or so, I was collecting insects in the Gila Wilderness in southwest NM. I came across several salamanders and I knew right away that they were an undescribed species. I have a background in herpetology before I went into entomology. I captured four adults and brought them home with me. I … Continue reading
My Consultations
There is a lot of pesticide issues going on. The many lawsuits against Monsanto about the hazards of Roundup, illegal aerial spraying of herbicides over homes, improper treatment of pests in homes by some pest control companies and many others. I am involved in some of these and want to make myself available in any … Continue reading
Positive pest identification
The most important part of pest management is properly identifying the pest. In some cases an unknown bug in the house might be beneficial, so it is necessary to know what it is. How can any bug be beneficial in a house? A couple of years ago an exterminator identified some small black things in … Continue reading
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