What’s new with the Critter Gitter?
For 30 years, Westside Jacksonville man has battled bugs in Riverside
Before he'd stay in a New York hotel, Mike Brand searched the place with a flashlight for bed bugs. "I tore that room apart. It looked like a tornado hit," said Brand of the Westside, laughing. "My family thought I was out of my mind." But Brand knows his bugs.
He’s a pest control manager celebrating his 30th year with Peninsular Pest Control in Riverside. For three decades, he’s battled pests in Riverside, Ortega, Avondale and North Riverside.
Like a knight, he’s rescued critter-weary residents, some standing on chairs.
He especially enjoys visiting riverfront mansions.
“It’s like being on one of those ‘tour of homes.’ And some homeowners will share the history of their place with me,” said Brand, whose smiling blue eyes matched his work-issued polo shirt on this day. “I was excited when a house I always wanted to go in got termites.”
Traversing different socioeconomic areas keeps things interesting.
“It’s fun, going from one extreme to the other. Lots of challenges. You solve problems for people. Never boring. You are dealing with people, and I love people. People and their emotions,” he said. “I’ve watched kids grow up, get married, have babies.”
He treated Jack del Rio’s first property in Ortega.
“His hand swallowed my hand,” Brand said.
The downturn in the economy hasn’t hurt business much in his area, he said, because people won’t put up with bugs.
During his career, Brand has seen the area’s pests, his industry and his clients grow and change.
Bed bugs - flesh-eating, tick-sized insects prevalent in Europe, have recently cropped up in Jacksonville as the result of international travel, he said. New York is battling them, he said.
So check your hotel and then your suitcase when you get home. And don’t buy a used bed, he says.
When Brand started out 30 years ago, roaches were a major problem. No more.
“I guess we killed them all,” he said, shrugging and smiling.
Also, Brand said at the start of his career, all the pesticides were carcinogenic. Today, they are safer, odor-free and improved. Monthly service calls have been replaced by quarterly or annual visits.
Today, most complaints are for ants and moths.
Casemaking clothes moths, he said, love historic homes and Oriental rugs. They breed in dark areas and eat fabric. Brand tells residents that a thorough house cleaning can help get rid of them. Have rugs professionally cleaned often and move furniture around now and then. If moths are seen in a closet, clear out the closet and wash or dry clean everything.
Termites, he said, continue to plague North Florida, providing job security for him and his colleagues. To prevent them, don’t let wood on your house touch the ground, he said. Don’t pile firewood, lumber or anything, for that matter, up against your home. Get gutters and keep them clean to keep moisture off the house. Search for and repair any leaks in the roof, fireplace or plumbing.
Older homes, like those in Riverside, Ortega and Avondale, are not sealed as tightly as newer ones, so bugs can get in easier. Also, wealthier, prettier neighborhoods have more trees and landscaping, which means more bugs.
Also, older homes have crawl spaces underneath that can harbor snakes, possums and rats. Brand laughed, recalling the time he and a squeamish rookie climbed under an old house and encountered a large, hissing possum.
“This guy screamed and ran, flattening all the metal heating and AC ducts,” Brand said chuckling. “He sells jewelry now at St. Johns Town Center.”
Squeeeeeek. Thud. It was like a bad dream.
Reticulitermes hageni
Due to their wood-eating habits, termites can do great damage to homes and other wooden structures. Their habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until severe damaged is done. Once termites have entered a building, they do not limit themselves to wood; they also damage paper, cloth, carpets and more.
Musca domestica
The house fly is the most common of all domestic flies, accounting for about 90% of all flies in human habitations, and indeed one of the most widely distributed insects, found all over the world; it is considered a pest that can carry serious diseases. Each female fly can lay approximately 500 eggs in several batches of about 75 to 150.
Hymenoptera
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their numbers, or natural biocontrol.
Siphonaptera/Ixodoidea
Fleas are small (1/16”), dark, reddish-brown, wingless, blood-sucking insects. Their bodies are laterally compressed, (i.e., flattened side to side) permitting easy movement through the hairs on the host’s body. Their legs are long and well adapted for jumping. Ticks are blood-feeding parasites that are often found in tall grass and shrubs where they will wait to attach to a passing host. A tick will attach itself to its host by inserting its chelicerae (cutting mandibles) and hypostome (feeding tube) into the skin. The hypostome is covered with recurved teeth and serves as an anchor. Young ticks have six legs, and mature ticks have eight legs. They vary in size and appearance depending on the species.
Formicidae
Ants are pests around the home because they feed on and contaminate human foods, infest structures, and build unsightly mounds in lawns. In some cases, ants are able to inflict painful bites or stings. Ants do not attack or eat fabrics, leather or wood in houses; however, some species can establish nests in decaying wood in structures.
Mus musculus
The mouse usually lives in proximity to humans, in or around houses or fields. Originally native to Asia they have since been spread throughout the world. House mice can transmit diseases, and can damage food and food packaging. It is thought that house mice were the primary reason for the taming of the domestic cat.
Achaearanea tepidariorum
Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders or anything reminiscent of spiders, such as webs or spider-like shapes. It is one of the most common specific phobias, and some statistics show that 50 percent of women and 10 percent of men show symptoms. It may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive response that helped early humans to survive.
Jacksonville, Florida 32204
