There are things you worry about when buying your home in Florida. For example, you knew you’d have to protect against hurricane and flood damage. Maybe you had a passing thought about crossing paths with an alligator.

No one told you about the scorpions, though. You also never got the memo about how many of them have venom in their stingers that can be poisonous. Even when there’s no venom, those stings hurt like crazy.

Just looking at a scorpion, you can tell that they’re formidable, at least as far as bugs are concerned. If you’ve heard stories about how painful the stings can be, the encounter will likely scare you, even if the scorpion doesn’t do much of anything.

In this post, we will give you an overview of scorpions in Florida, including how to identify them, which types are most common here, why more people have been seeing them in their … Read Full Post »

Bed bugs and dryer sheets aren’t two things we usually hear together. But with endless household hacks flooding our inboxes and social media feeds, could they be connected somehow? The short answer is that although dryer sheets are on a list of home remedies to combat bed bugs, many of these tactics are ineffective in controlling this persistent pest.

Despite our insistence that our home could never have bed bugs, these pesky critters sometimes find their way in. And when they do, many of us wonder how we can efficiently extinguish these bugs. You might wonder if bed bugs could survive a round in the washing machine. Are there products and methods that can kill bed bugs and their eggs? If bed bugs are living in my home, what are the chances they are hiding in the folds of my clothes?

Let’s separate fact from fiction to answer some of the most … Read Full Post »

Have you ever heard of grain mites? You aren’t alone. This tiny pest can have a significant impact on the food we store inside our pantries. Grain mites, or flour mites, as they are also called, are typically pale whitish-gray pests. They are small, the biggest measuring just a quarter of an inch, but they can cause significant damage when they infest pet food, horse feed, cereals, rice, dried vegetables, cheese, corn, cornmeal, and dried fruit. A female grain mite can lay up to 800 eggs so that these pests can spread rapidly throughout the infested food source.

Although this pest predominantly affects bulk grain storage, grain mites can be found in your home. So, what should you do if you see signs of grain mites in your home and kitchen? Is it bad if you unknowingly eat them, and how do you get them out of your house? Keep reading … Read Full Post »