Month: June 2019

The answer to this question depends on how bad your infestation is. If you catch fleas early, you may be able to stop them by giving your pet a flea bath, vacuuming your rugs frequently, and washing your pet’s bedding. But, for a flea infestation that has been going on for a while, or when conditions are present that give those fleas what they need to thrive, you may need a lot more than these simple tips to stop the infestation.
 
Fleas are frustrating and pernicious pests. If you don’t apply the right strategies and products to control them, you could find yourself wasting a lot of time, money, and energy trying to get rid of them. The best solution for dealing with fleas in East Nashville is to let the service team here at All-American Pest Control help.
 
Our service team members understand how fleas develop in your home. So it is easier for them to diagnose your problem and get to the bottom of the mystery. If there are factors contributing to your infestation, your service professional will help you find a solution that works for your specific situation. On top of this, we use residual products that continue to eliminate fleas long after the treatment is complete. You won’t have to worry about new fleas taking the place of the fleas that were eliminated!
 
Once your home is flea-free, we can also help you with the fleas in your yard, after all, you probably got that infestation because your pets brought fleas in from somewhere around your home. That’s how it usually happens. With flea control treatments applied around your home, your pets will be able to roam around in your yard with less risk of flea exposure.
 
Does Flea & Tick Control really work? You betcha! Those parasites aren’t all that imaginative about where they like to hide, and your All-American Service Professional knows where to apply the residual control product to prevent fleas from surviving near your home, where your pets can pick them up.
 
If you’re dealing with a flea infestation in East Nashville or you’d like to prevent an infestation before it beings, we can help. When it comes to controlling Tennessee pests, you can trust the team at All-American Pest Control. At All-American, you won’t get inflated promises; just results.

Are you starting to see mosquitoes in your backyard? This is definitely the time of year for it. In June, mosquitoes are just beginning to wreak havoc in Murfreesboro. You still have time to make a big difference around your home and yard. Mosquitoes peak in August and continue on into October each year. Therefore, it’s not too late to save your summer from those blood-sucking pests. There are some things you can do right now to start protecting yourself from mosquito bites in your backyard.

 Ways to Deter Mosquitoes

• Empty out containers. If you have objects in your yard that hold water, you can reduce mosquitoes by emptying those containers out. It takes about a week for a mosquito to go from egg to adult. Pouring that water on the ground will disrupt their development and keep those mosquitoes from plaguing you.
• Make a breeze. Have you ever noticed that mosquitoes bother you less on a windy day? Well, you don’t have to wait for a windy day to relax by your pool or do some cooking on the grill. Create a breeze by running an extension cord outside and placing a fan or two out there.
• Plant mosquito-resistant plants. There are many plants that are repellent to mosquitoes such as citronella, lemon balm and lavender. While planting these in your landscaping won’t give you 100% protection from mosquitoes, it can reduce the number of mosquitoes hiding in your vegetation and reduce the population of mosquitoes in your yard. Every little bit helps.

The Best Way To Minimize Mosquitoes

While the above tips will deter mosquitoes, there is really only one sure-fire way to minimize mosquitoes and keep them from coming back—professional mosquito reduction service. Mosquito reduction service is a mist application applied to key area around your home where mosquitoes rest. When those mosquitoes rest, it’s all over for them. It is like your landscaping is a giant mosquito trap. And don’t worry, that mist isn’t harmful to you, your kids, or your pets. The mist product we apply is only strong enough to harm simple organisms like mosquitoes, ticks and fleas—critters that bring no benefits to your yard or to your home. It is also residual, so it keeps working between visits from your service professional.

It can feel like mosquito season in Tennessee lasts forever and that your backyard is being held hostage by those mosquitoes. But with All-For-One Complete pest service from All-American Pest Control, you can take your backyard back. Reach out to us today to get started. It’s not too late.

Lyme diseases is a growing threat in Tennessee. But Lyme is far from the only disease spread by ticks. The list of tick-borne diseases is long and scary. So it is wise to take every precaution to keep ticks from establishing themselves in your Mt. Juliet yard. Here are some tips the pest control experts here at All-American suggest.

Tick Tips

• Keep your grass cut low, especially around fence posts, fence lines, shrubs, bushes, trees, sheds, swing sets and other locations where it can be difficult to cut that grass. Ticks use blades of grass to get onto passing animals.
• Remove wood piles, brush piles, and objects that mice or rats can hide in. There is a strong link between small mammals and the introduction of ticks onto properties. This is because seed ticks (larvae) prefer to take small animals as their first host and then drop off those small animals to find new hosts.
• Put exterior trash in sealed receptacles and make sure those receptacles can’t be knocked over or have their lids pulled off. Raccoons, opossums, and other wildlife that get into trash also bring ticks into your yard.
• Put bird feeders at least 20 feet from your home because birds can be a host for seed ticks. If you like to feed birds in your yard, keep in mind that the seeds you lay down for birds will lure mice into your yard and then you’ll have two types of animal that can drops ticks around.
• Rake up leaf litter and other organic debris that can promote dampness and help ticks to survive in your yard.
• If you have a dog, and you don’t have a fenced-in outdoor play area, consider creating one. This will keep wildlife from dropping ticks in the area your dog plays outside and keep your dog from exploring areas on your property where ticks could be waiting for a host.

Along with these important tick deterrents, consider investing in a residential pest control plan that includes Flea & Tick Control, like All-For-One Complete from All-American Pest Control. This pest control program does just what it says. It provides “complete” coverage for over 47 different pests that can get into your Mt. Juliet home and come into your yard.

Tick season is here. Don’t wait to get your protection in place. Get started by requesting a free pest control evaluation for your property. We’ll let you know what you’re up against and give you real solutions to protect your health, belongings, and equity from the harmful impact ticks and other pests can have.

This is a question we get asked often. Folks want to know just how harmful termites are in Tennessee. We understand. Purchasing a home is a big financial decision and an investment that needs to be protected. Unfortunately, we can’t give you a specific amount termites could cost you. There are too many factors involved. But we can give you some facts to consider that will help you to determine the level of the threat.

5 Facts Every Gallatin Homeowner Should Know About Termites

• The most destructive termites in the United States are subterranean termites. These are the type of termite we deal with in Gallatin.
• Subterranean termites cost U.S. property owners billions of dollars annually. The cost of damage done by all other types of termites combined is in the hundreds of millions.
• The reason subterranean termites are so destructive is that they are incredibly sneaky. They come up from the ground and feed on the inside of wood.
• Every home purchase in Gallatin should come with a wood-destroying organism report (WDO). This report lets you know what pest threats could eat away at your equity.
• Termite damage is preventable.

How do you stop sneaky, wood-destroying organisms from eating away at your equity and making your repair costs part of the billions spent out by U.S. property owners every year? One word: Sentricon.

If you’re not familiar with the remarkable history of Sentricon® System with Always Active™, it is worth looking into. Sentricon® with Always Active™, by Dow AgroSciences, has almost single-handedly changed termite control and protection. This incredible termite control system addresses termites in 3 important ways:
 
 
Termites can’t sneak past Sentricon® with Always Active™. The nature of termite workers is to keep looking for food, even when a food source has been found. So they are guaranteed to find the bait in Sentricon® with Always Active™ baits stations, which are placed around the foundation perimeter of your home.

The bait in Sentricon® with Always Active™ is scientifically proven to be more interesting to termites than wood. That is sayings something when wood is the primary food source of termites.
While other termite control products get less effective with age, Sentricon® with Always Active™ gets more effective. The bait in Sentricon® with Always Active™ becomes more and more appetizing as it ages.

With liquid termite barriers, you never know if your investment in termite control was worth it. With Sentricon® with Always Active™, dead termites appear in bait stations, so you’ll be informed when termites try to attack. And you’ll be glad you made the investment to stop them in their tracks.

No Gallatin home should be without termite protection. It’s just not worth the risk. Get your protection in place today.

There are many spiders that commonly get into our Spring Hill homes. They’re so common, in fact, that they’re referred to as common house spiders. There are other spiders that don’t commonly get in but when they do they can be a serious threat, such as brown recluse spiders and black widow spiders. These spider prevention tips should help you to keep spiders out of your Spring Hill home.

Consider Things That Can Lead to Spider Infestations

There are many ways a spider can get into your home. [–The more you do to make it harder for them, the fewer spiders you’ll have inside. Here are a few things that can lead to a spider infestation.

• Dampness. Spiders eat bugs and many bugs live in areas with damp soil. Keeping things dry around your Spring Hill home can keep spider populations down.
• Renovations. During renovations, spiders will take advantage of openings in your home. They’ll also take advantage of stacks of lumber and other construction materials in your yard.
• Trees. If you bring a tree into your home, you may bring spiders in with it. Many spiders lay their eggs on trees. Whether it is a live Christmas tree or some chopped firewood, be cautious when bringing trees inside.
• Household belongings. Spiders hide in secluded locations. In these places, they’ll get into stored boxes, furniture, and other stored items. When those items are moved from one home to another, spiders can move with them.

Seal Things Up to prevent Spider Infestations

No home can be made completely spider-free, not even a brand new home. But the older a home is the more likely it is that entry points will form. Check these locations to see if you have gaps, cracks, or holes that could allow spiders to get into your Spring Hill home.

• Gaps in the weatherstripping around doors.
• Damaged door sweeps.
• Holes in window or door frames (often created by insects).
• Holes in the seal around door or window frames.
• Gaps in the damaged seals of pipes and wire conduit.

For added protection and the best control for pests around your Spring Hill home, consider All-For-One residential service from All-American Pest Control or ask us about our Brown Recluse Spider Reduction services which also come with coverage for over 47 common Tennessee pests. With All-American Pest Control, you’ll always get knowledgeable, on-time service with a smile—and, of course, fewer spiders.

There are two types of stinging insects: There is the stinging insect you find near its nest and there is the stinging insect you find away from its nest. This is an important distinction because the stinging insect you find away from its nests is much less likely to sting you. As long as you don’t wave your arms around and provoke it, that stinging insect will let you walk away without a wound. The wasp or hornet to watch out for is the one that is near its nest. Social wasps and hornets have a nest-protection instinct. For this reason, the best way to avoid being stun in your yard is to not have a nest on your property. Here are two things you should know.

Where to Look for Stinging Insect Nests

When a wasp or hornet creates a nest in your yard, there are a few common locations you can look to find them:

• Underneath roof overhangs.
• In a tree hole, attached to a branch, or in holes around the base of a tree.
• In a bush or shrub
• Underneath decks and other external structures.
• Inside any ground hole, in particular, holes that are created by wildlife.

Some Nests Are Hard to Find

Stinging pests don’t always create nests in your yard or on the outside of your home. They can create a nest on the inside as well. These nests can be difficult to detect. You’ll have to look closely for a wasp or hornet entering and exiting a hole in your home, garage, shed, barn or other structure on your property. This kind of activity can alert you to danger.

It Is Always Good to Have Another Set of Eyes

Life can get busy. Who has time to look for the nests of stinging insects or stinging insect activity? This is why a wasp or hornet infestation can sneak up on a family. But those wasps and hornets don’t have to sneak up on you. With Stinging & Biting Insect Yard Treatments from All-American Pest Control, you get routine inspections from a highly-trained service professional. When wasps or hornets try to establish themselves in your yard, you’ll know it.

Get to Know Those Insects

In our blogs, we offer many tips for detecting and controlling insect pests. Check out our 5 Tips for Keeping Yellow Jackets out of Tennessee Yards or Are You Noticing Stinging Pests? to get some extra insight into those painful pests. The more you know, the better off you’ll be. And if you’d like pest control service to help detect and eliminate stinging insects, just drop us a line. We’re here to help.

If you’ve seen a brown spider in your Nashville home, you probably want to know what kind of spider it was. A brown spider could be a brown recluse spider, and there are many reasons to not want brown recluse spiders around. Do you know what a recluse spider looks like? Can you tell the difference between a brown recluse and a wolf spider? Some people can’t. But there are a few simple ways to tell these two spiders apart.

Brown Recluse Identification

These spiders are usually only about the size of a quarter—between ¼ and ½ inches long. They appear hairless. They are light brown to dark brown in color. But the most important characteristic to look for is the dark brown violin marking on its back, just below its head. The base of the violin shape will be toward the head and the neck of the violin will be toward the tail end of the spider.

Wolf Spiders

There are many species of wolf spiders. The species that are brown can be mistaken for brown recluse spiders, though they really shouldn’t be. Wolf spiders are hairy. They may be 1 to 2 inches long, which is much larger than a brown recluse spider. And they don’t have a violin marking. A wolf spider has two dark lines on its back that run lengthwise. And on its abdomen, it has one thick dark line running lengthwise. If you were to set a wolf spider next to a brown recluse spider you’d laugh at how different they look. They aren’t even close. But it is hard to distinguish a spider when you only get a quick look at it or when you don’t have another spider sitting next to it as a reference.

To Web or Not to Web

If you have brown recluse spiders inside your home, you may find tangled webs created in low spots. They create these webs to retreat into. Look for these webs in storage areas and in nooks or crannies. Wolf spiders don’t make webs. So you’re not going to see any signs of a wolf spider infestation until you actually see a wolf spider. When you see a wolf spider, it is likely to be in a spot that is damp.

If you need assistance with spider identification or you’d like to not have spiders crawling around in your Nashville home, remember that All-American Pest Control provides industry-leading pest control service in Middle Tennessee, and we offer specific programs to address brown recluse spider threats. Reach out to us today for immediate service.