Cable TV has taken us into the heaving northern Pacific to experience the harrowing life of crab fisherman in search of the Deadliest Catch. We’ve followed the Ice Road Truckers on their perilous journey across the frozen lakes of northern Canada. We’ve cringed and flinched as the Ax Men wield the dangerous tools of their trade in remote forests. TV’s next amazing reality show targets the creepy, crawly world of the dedicated pest exterminator. Yes, it’s finally our turn to shine! Watch this fall when A&E debuts Billy the Exterminator. (Yeah, we’re a little disappointed by the name too. We were hoping for something more macho like Terminator Exterminators.)

Patterned after Dog the Bounty Hunter, the new show will feature fellow pest control expert Billy Bretherton, 37, an 11-year industry veteran. You may have seen Billy on the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs this past year. The new show will follow Billy and as-yet uncast sidekicks as they battle insect invasions and combat out-of-control wildlife to keep America safe and pest-free! If our own experiences at Stern Environmental Group are any indication, the show should be entertaining. Pest control certainly has its share of comic blooper and icky gross moments. Should make for riveting TV. Tune in this fall!

I’ve heard of “bugs” in computers, but ants? Swarms of hungry ants are eating their way through electronics in Houston. Dubbed “Crazy Raspberry Ants,” it is believed that the insects with an unusual taste for electronic wiring arrived in Texas on a cargo ship, though their original home is unknown. The ants are creating havoc in Texas and the Deep South where their munching has left an expensive path of destruction. They have destroyed PCs in countless homes and businesses, taken up residence in homeowners’ gas meters, ruined pumps at a sewage treatment plant, and placed NASA’s Johnson Space Center on full alert, according to Associated Press reports.  

“If you open a computer, you would find a cluster of ants on the motherboard and all over,” pest expert and namesake Tom Raspberry told Computerworld magazine. “You’d get 3,000 to 4,000 ants inside and they create arcs. They’ll wipe out any computer.”

The tiny ants, about the size of fleas, congregate on electronics by the thousands and exhibit frantic behavior. One victim said their movements were like watching an Indy 500 car race. “They’re going fast, fast, fast. They’re crazy,” Patsy Morphew of Pearland, Texas told PC Pro. At that rate, these nasty little critters could give a whole new meaning to the phrase “bugs in my computer”!

Perhaps you have heard about the Fox News employee who is suing the owner of the office building where she had been working. She claims she has post-traumatic stress disorder which was caused by being bit by bed bugs at work. So far she is not suing Fox News. http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSN2928614420080529

She stated she can no longer work due to the trauma. I am wondering what percentage of bed bug victims have stopped working due to being bitten. I once suffered from bee stings but I kept on working. Perhaps I should have been on Oprah to tell my brave story.

I hope this doesn’t get out of control and residents of bed bug infested apartment buildings stop working by the thousands, go on worker’s compensation and sue the owners of the properties for being traumatized. Perhaps being slightly annoyed will suffice.

She speculates that a co-worker brought the bed bug infestation to her workstation. I am wondering if the women suing actually brought the bed bugs to work and is now suing for something she might have caused herself. Just speculation on my part.

I live near a lake and I am often bitten by mosquitoes. If a lawyer is reading this, perhaps we should have lunch and discuss the issue.  

According to the New York Post the bed bugs have invaded the subway system; well they have been spotted on benches and the backside of a subway traveler by a city bed bug educator. Now you have a great excuse to take a limousine to work or build the helicopter pad on top of your guest house that you have been contemplating. Perhaps it’s a good time to forget the subway and saunter or sashay to work.

If you are going to bravely ride the New York subway, I strongly suggest you wear two sets of clothes and toss away the outer clothing before you enter your work place. I recommend you purchase a crate full of those inexpensive wear once and throw away Brooks Brother’s suits that come in a multitude of colors. Liz Claiborne is coming out with the “toss away to keep the bed bugs at bay” pantsuits (they only come in chartreuse and brown). 

What’s next? Perhaps we will learn that the bed bugs have invaded the Statue of Liberty or are living inside third base and attaching themselves to Yankees. 

If the bed bugs follow you home call Stern Environmental. We will spray some Cryonite on the bed bugs and they won’t be going back to the subway. 

The New York City Health Department claimed that progress has been made regarding the battle with cockroaches. However 30% of the households have reported to be hosts for the annoying pests. They are residing primarily in poor neighborhoods.  One resident claimed he has not seen a cockroach in 10 years. He was pleading with them to come home (perhaps not).

There are a variety of products which can destroy the cockroaches. For those of you who are adventurous you can hire a gang of wasps to destroy the eggs. You can utilize the pest control services of wasps belonging to the Ampulicidae family. They’re predators of the adults and nymphal cockroaches. The house centipede is the star when it comes to getting rid of cockroaches. If you have human visitors, some might consider your choice of exterminators to be quite rude or very silly or quite odd. 

Cryonite, used by Stern Environmental has been very effective at destroying German cockroaches as well as their egg cases. It’s a non-toxic carbon dioxide that freezes them to death and has been very effective with bed bugs. We don’t recommend a battalion of wasps or purchasing three tons of centipedes (even if you have a coupon) because if you do city officials might put your name in a special file. Try some Cryonite.

When bed bugs are in the news, the news media turns to our head honcho, Douglas Stern, managing partner of Stern Environmental Group. An expert in the eradication of bed bugs, Stern was interviewed yesterday by Executive Producer Marissa Toccin of NewsProNet. The Miami-based production company is filming a story for possible syndicated release to 80 television stations across the U.S. Toccin came to talk to Stern about the revolutionary new non-toxic Cryonite system that kills bed bugs by rapid freezing.

Stern Environmental is among an elite few who offer Cryonite treatments in America. Popular in Europe and Australia, Cryonite uses a carbon dioxide vapor to quick-freeze bed bugs before they can scurry away. The vapor is able to penetrate under beds and furniture and deep into cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide. Unlike pesticides, Cryonite kills bed bugs in all stages of development, including eggs.

The news story will feature an interview with Stern. Our ace technician Wilson Oquendo will also demonstrate the use of Cryonite in an apartment and show the proper way to install a bed bug-proof encasement to protect mattresses and box springs from bed bugs. Watch for us on your local news soon.

Bed bugs evoke the image of 1800 dirt-encrusted flophouses, not lovely upper middle-class suburban homes in classy Arlington, Virginia. Tell that to Washington Post reporter Daniela Deane who recently recounted her close encounter with the dreaded Cimex Lectularius, the evil bed bug. Click here to read the whole story.

Sick and in bed, Deane started breaking out in itchy red welts.  She was incredulous when her doctor told her it was bed bugs. That’s the reaction most people have, but bed bugs are equal opportunity pests. “They’re not like roaches and flies that feed on filth,” advises Michael Potter, a University of Kentucky entomologist and leading bed bug expert. “You can have a very, very fine hotel, with a guest who comes in with bed bugs in their stuff, and you’re off to the races.”

Expert hitchhikers, bed bugs can enter your home on luggage, clothing, pillows, linens, used furniture — anything that’s recently come in contact with the little blood suckers. Bed bugs can survive away from their human food source for up to a year without feeding! Deane figures they invaded her life during a Manhattan hotel stay.

Deane’s reaction was typical, if extreme. She dragged her king-sized bed, duvet, sheets and pillows outside and threw everything away. (Not recommended, by the way, and a good way to spread the problem.) “Most people just flip out when they realize they have bed bugs,” said Richard Cooper, co-author of Bed Bug Handbook: The Complete Guide to Bed Bugs and Their Control. “They can’t emotionally deal with keeping an infested mattress.”

Next time: What to do when bed bugs visit you.

People are excited about Stern Environmental Group’s new environmentally-friendly insect extermination treatment — Cyronite. We’ve had so many calls and orders for this revolutionary pest control system that we’re in the process of expanding this part of our business to meet the demand!

Cryonite uses pressurized carbon dioxide (CO2) to rapidly freeze and kill insects and their eggs. It’s particularly effective on pesticide resistant bedbugs and hard-to-kill German cockroaches. Popularized in Europe and Australia but just introduced in the United States, the Cryonite system is only available from a select number of pest control companies, including Stern Environmental Group.

Cryonite system uses no toxic chemicals, making it is ideally suited for use in sensitive areas like homes, day care centers, hospitals, schools, nursing homes and restaurants. Cyronite’s instant kill action means that hotel and motel rooms can be rented immediately after treatment. Cruise ships can be treated with no scheduling delay for detoxification or clean up. The hospitality industry is showing major interest in Cryonite. The green pest control system maximizes occupancy rates and lowers down time for infected rooms.

For more information about Cryonite, click the post title or click here to contact Stern Environmental.

Snakes are a common fear of the populous. They slither and they slide, but what is it about them that make people so afraid? Maybe it’s that they hide in tall grasses and wait patiently for victims to meander by unsuspectingly to be eaten, and this prey could very well be a human. Snakes have been portrayed as an evil creature since biblical times, so it’s no surprise that almost everyone jumps to high ground when someone says, “Snake!”

There are a couple of ways to make sure snakes stay away from your home. You have to mow your lawn! Tall grasses are a great place for snakes to hide, and, if you have an unkempt yard, you’re basically giving them cover to hide from their predators and prey. With that said, keep your bushes and shrubs away from your house. This is another form of cover for them, as well as a very open welcome sign to all snakes that need a place to be. While you’re keeping those bushes away from your house, you might want to move the wood or compost pile. Wood piles or compost piles provide cool places to hide on hot, sunny days. And with any pest, get rid of their food source. That’s the only reason they’re hanging around, and their food source happens to be another pest–the rodent.

Some snakes are poisonous, but a lot aren’t. As well, snakes are like any other creature of the wild; if you don’t give it a reason to harm you, then it won’t. Just watch where you’re walking, and you should be fine.

As soon as people find out they have a raccoon in their attic, the first thing they think about is whether they can get rid of it themselves. So, they go surf the Internet to see what other people are doing.

Out on the web are a lot of sites that have all kinds of “home remedies” or do-it-yourself solutions. These can range from coyote urine to ultrasonic emitters, to loud rock music and bright lights. Unfortunately, raccoons are highly adaptable, like suburban and urban life, are clever and relatively fearless creatures, and are not deterred by small inconveniences.

Some of these chemical repellents are basically composed of mothballs (i.e., naphthalene) or ammonia. These chemicals are very stinky and give off a smell that will permeate your house with an odor that is nearly impossible to get rid of until it dissipates on its own six or more months away. Truth be told, hey don’t really seem to effect raccoons much.

Predator urine that you can spray or apply to entrance areas is sometimes touted as the be-all and end-all of keeping raccoons or other varmints out of your attic or eaves. Although these might be great for generating revenue for the seller, they are marginally to not effective at all.

A similar story holds for the ultrasonic devices you can see being sold as repellents. Raccoons and other mammal invaders into your house are generally not affected by lights or a radio playing up in the attic. Only if you are personally up there, will they tend to vacate. As soon as you leave, though, they will return to house and home.