There’s almost nothing more annoying than being awoken on a sacred Saturday morning, the ONE day of the week you can sleep in ‘til noon, by the absolutely maddening “BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!” of a fly trying to find its way out from behind of your window shades. How do they get there, anyway? Well, flies can get into your home through many ways. They can enter through opened doors and windows, or through cracks in the walls or floors or windowsills. Flies tend to flock to warm places with lots of food. They’re especially attracted to meats and rotting matter. They lay their eggs on moist or decaying substances, which is why your kitchen’s garbage can is a hot hang out spot for these little ones. They might also appear in your home when something, such as a small animal, has died in or around your house. That’s something for which you should keep a watchful eye out.

So, how do you get rid of them? A good start is simply making certain that your house is as sanitary as possible. Keeping a clean home will be less likely to provoke flies to come in. If you’re still having a problem with them (a couple are bound to stop by, once in a while), you could always invest in sticky paper, insecticidal sprays, or you could have a go with the good old fashioned fly swatter. House flies can be nuisances, indeed, but, in cases that can be controlled, they’re not completely unmanageable. Stay clean and keep a can of bug spray and a swatter by your bedside, and your Saturday mornings shall once again belong to you.

The south can be a harsh place insect-wise. You could be walking around on a rare cool day bare-foot when you feel an immense burning feeling. You were just wanting to enjoy the day, but an extremely tiny fiend decided otherwise. The culprit is none other than the notorious fire ant. Oh man, those little buggers hurt! If you have a fire ant problem, you need to seriously be careful because a thousand of those little pinches and you could be a gigantic meal.

The fire ant’s bite is filled with venom, and this venom can do some nasty things. A fire ant bite causes a little red bump which can then turn into a white postule. Besides being very ugly in appearance, these bumps can eventually form scars. That’s only if you aren’t allergic, if you are allergic, then the venom can cause anaphylactic shock, which, when not immediately treated, can cause death. No joke, fire ants are not the bug with whom to mess around.

One way to keep them away from your home is by baiting. Baiting provides a food source that is everything an ant could want, plus a little surprise, toxicants. Baits will keep the ants away for a while, but they need to be replaced, every now and then. You can use pesticides on local ant hills that seem to be forming around your abode.

You just have to be careful around ants. They may look small, but they pack a powerful punch that could very well knock you out.

You know what’s the worst? Going to bed and dreaming sweet dreams of your lovely home, but being woken up at about three A.M. to the unmistakable sound of something getting into your garbage. It’s an awful feeling. You know who the culprit is; the sneeky raccoon. That little fella has been throwing your garbage all over your lawn since you moved in, and quite frankly, you’re fed up with it. Come on, how many times have you been sleeping and you were shaken awake by the sound of what seemed like a rock climbing through your garbage cans? How many mornings have you gone out in your bath robe to pick up mold covered bread and other filthy articles of trash? How many raccoons have you seen smiling at you while you do this back-breaking labor? Well, maybe not that extreme, but it could happen. The point is that enough is enough!

Do you usually keep your garbage cans outside? If there is some way to bring them into a closed area inside, then the raccoons won’t have easy access to it. As well, do you have lids on your trash cans? Make sure they are fastened tightly on, and if you could get a trash can with a locking lid, that would be choice. You probably also have pets that you don’t really want to let out all the time, so you installed a pet door for them. This is a great way for raccoons to get into your house and eat your food, or go into your pantry. If you can’t possibly live without the pet door, get one that you can lock eventually, maybe at night time when the pets are inside.

It’s not hard to get rid of raccoons. You just have to manage your trash and lock up your house. Raccoons are like any other pest; don’t give them any reason to hang around, and they won’t. Do everything to keep them out, and you’ll notice that you are the one smiling, not them.

Whenever anyone thinks of a scary bug, what does he or she usually think of first? Could it be the eight-legged menace that haunts the cracks and crevices of our homes? Some are tiny, some are gigantic, some are beautifully colored, and some are just plain yucky ; Spiders are the target of a lot of fear among the average person, but can you blame them? They could be above your head right now, or even underneath the toilet seat… scary. The point is that they can be anywhere, and the fact that some (not all) are poisonous and deadly is enough to put a tingle in the spine when one is in the box of corn flakes. Calm down. There really is no reason to fret. Spiders are like any other bug; they can be taken care of.

The thing about spiders is that the amount of other bugs you have lying around directly effects how many spiders there are murdering them. This brings up another point–if you actually don’t mind spiders, and you really don’t want to invest any money in their prevention, having them around will greatly reduce your other bug infestation, but this is not a pro-spider blog, so let’s get back to business. Cut off their food supply, and you’ll find that your spider problem will miraculously go away. See? Not hard. Better hurry, I think I see one on your shoulder… Just kidding.

Coyotes, once associated with the southwest and known as a wily trickster by Native Americans, are becoming a more and more common occurrence in suburban environments across the nation. Like the raccoon, coyotes are smart and resourceful and have adapted nicely to live around humans.

Although their dense fur can make them look a lot bigger than they really are, they typically don’t weigh more than 20 to 30 pounds which is about the same as a smallish, medium sized dog. Coyotes are actually quite beneficial predators because their primary prey is small rodents. But they have no problem also eating a vast variety of other foods like fruits and vegetables, insects, garbage, or small free-roaming pets like cats.

While coyotes are primarily active between dusk and dawn and are generally shy and wary of humans, it is not unusual to see them any time of the day. Although they seem scary because they are a wild animal, coyotes do not present a risk to humans unless people have trained them to accept hand outs. There is only one human death that has been attributed to a coyote, and this was in California. It was when a coyote preyed upon the three-year-old child of the person who had been feeding it handouts on a regular basis.

So the lesson here is that, if you see a coyote in your neighborhood, it is not a danger to you. It may, however, be a danger to your pet. To get them to go away, the best thing is not leave them anything to eat or drink. If you feel it really has to go, like for any wild animal, call a professional. Trapped animals are dangerous. Do not do it yourself!