We had our third annual pest control service on Monday. I have mentioned these before, but it’s only now that I feel I can accurately assess what I think of the service we have had so far.
First, let’s recap:
When we moved in to our Australian home back in November 2007, the occupants were still there to greet us. We thought we had bought the house with vacant possession but nobody had run that past the spiders, cockroaches or geckos.
I’m surprised there wasn’t a banner in the main reception room of the house saying “Welcome to Australia, your war against creepy crawlies starts now!”
When battle commenced, I enlisted the services of a national pest control company and about two weeks after we moved in, a guy came round and gave our house and the outside a good spraying with Bifenthrin, Deltamethrin and Permethrin.
For those of you who aren’t chemists, that’s bug killer. These sort of bugs…
Pest Chart
In fairness to myself, until this guy arrived, I was holding my own against the bugs. I had been called into battle many times and each and every time I won and the bug lost. I used Raid, rolled up newspaper and, of course, the soles of my shoes if I was wearing them. On one occasion I even “bottled” a spider just because a bottle was in my hand at the time.
The first treatment.
When the pest control man turned up, he was like the Arnold Schwarzenegger (although his real name is Paul) of the bug world! Man, this guy was tooled up! Annihilation is his middle name.
An hour later, with the chemical warfare over and me $299 lighter, Arnie was gone and with him the creepy crawlies, or so we had hoped. But probably no more than three hours later, Brisbane was subject to the most violent rainstorm they’d had in 10 years………..
Had all of our chemicals been washed away?
A few weeks later I realised I was still being called into battle on a daily basis. The company we used have a motto that says “If they come back – so do we!” And so they did. Free of charge, Arnie sprayed the whole house again.
This time it worked. No more creepy crawlies, well not very many.
The second treatment.
Sometime in November 2008 we noticed I was being called into action again after many months on leave. By now I had developed, or rather redeployed, my combat methods from back in England.
- Capture intruder in a glass tumbler
- Slide postcard underneath
- Invert
- Eject contents from the premises
At this point we realised we were due another visit from Arnie. Arnie knew this too and wrote us a letter to advise us we were due for our annual spray job and offering us a $50 discount. Did we want him to come back for just $249?
Yes please!
Our third treatment.
When the letter turned up a couple weeks ago to remind us we were due for another treatment, both Mrs BobinOz and I were surprised. Is it that time already? You see, over the past year we’d hardly seen any creepy crawlies at all!
And the pest control company’s reminder letter had already arrived when I threw out this chap…..
Whitey……..
A White Tail Spider?
This might be a White Tail Spider, it’s not much fun getting bitten by one, but it won’t kill you. I knew this spider was different when I tried to throw him out of the glass tumbler and instead of flying through the air, he stuck to the glass like glue. Then he walked around and out of the glass towards my hand.
I slowly and calmly (although externally it may have appeared to look similar to fast and panicky) put the glass on the floor. I’d rather not go into details on what happened next, let’s just say the spider would have been better off flying through the air.
Conclusion
It is actually possible we may have seen fewer bugs in the last year than we would have seen living in England. My best guess is I may have ejected 10 spiders in the last year? Other than that, perhaps 5 cockroaches. I was probably seeing ten spiders a month in the first few months here, so it’s a vast improvement on that.
So, the good news for those scared of Australian spiders and creepy crawlies is spraying works! Thanks Arnie.
Related posts:
- Are You Scared of Australian Creepy Crawlies?
- Spiders – There’s Good News and There’s Bad News
- Now the Good News About Spiders
- So, Any Creepy Crawlies or Australian Bad Things at Camping?
- Scared of Australian Snakes and Spiders?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
“At this point we realised we were due another visit from Arnie. Arnie knew this too and wrote us a letter ”
ROFL…Arnie..
I think Paul must offer you a free treatment for calling him Arnie! Should I write to Paul that he getting famous in India?!
Well I’m not asking him, the man’s an assassin!
Finding a pest control service like this is crucial to eliminating insects around your home. By reminding you of your next service, it shows they are making sure all of your pest problems are gone, and stay that way.
Pest Control and Extermination