Mike goes to Shreveport, Lousiana. He teams up with an extermination crew called Vexcon. We meet Bill, his fiance Mary and his cousin Bump. The Vexcon team travel to Mooringsport, Louisiana. This property once had 300 chickens in the back. The rodents were attacted to the chicken feed which also attracted snakes. Even thought the chickens are gone, the rodents and snakes are still around.
The homeowners currently have horses and keep the feed in a cluttered barn. The clutter is a big reason for the rodent problem. But the rodents are definitely going after the open barrels of horse feed as well. They have large Norway rats and mice. Bill notes that rats can't hold their urine so they go about their business freely. They are constantly sprinking urine. So when they jump into the horse feed, the horses are also eating the rat urine.
Bill also suggests not using poison, but to use more humane ways like traps instead. Traps may not sound humane, but it's an instant death. Poison can be a long painful death. He also discourages the use of poison due to secondary poisoning especially when there are other animals around. If an animal eats a mouse killed by the poison, that animal will die from the poison as well.
Meanwhile, Mary is placing mothballs around the fish pond. Mothballs contain naphthalene which repels the snakes, but is safe for the fish. The mothballs will start bringing the snakes out of their hiding spots.
Bump is setting up squirrel traps on the house. The squirrels are in the attic, getting in through holes on the side of the house. They have Mike build a one-way chicken wired tunnel: the squirrels can crawl out but can't come back in. Mike installs the tunnel in one of the holes on the side of the house. A storm blows through as they're trying to install the wire tunnel.
They go up into the attic where there's also a rat problem. It's common in Louisiana to find snakes in the attic as well. Mike's scared of encountering a six foot snake after finding a large snakeskin. Bill checks the traps and finds that one sneaky rat stole his bait. He shows Mike the proper places to place a trap. Putting a baited trap in an open area isn't going to work very well. They don't run around in the open spaces. It's best to place the traps up against a surface. Rats have poor vision so they tend to run along a wall using their whiskers to guide them. Even without bait, the rat will probably run into the trap. These traps have enough pounds per square inch to break your finger. It will snap a rat's neck instantly. Bill has broken his finger several times in the eighteen years he's been doing this job.
Then the moment you've all been waiting for: a house full of cockroaches crawling around everything! They travel to Benton, LA, just south of Shrevesport. Before starting to spray chemicals, they take a survey of the home to look for non-target pests and pets. Their main focus is the kitchen. Mike opens a cabinet door, and the cockroaches are EVERYWHERE -on the door itself, on the shelving and crawling over and under all the utensils, dishes, and appliances. No square inch is free of roaches.
German cockroaches are the main type of cockroach that live with humans. Many insects are highly attracted to electromagnetic currents from electricity. That's why there's fecal matter from the roaches all over the answering machine. Vexcon suggests using pyrethrin to drive out most of the cockroaches. The pyrethrin comes oils from crushed flowers crysthantemums from Africa. They combine this with a chemical from oil extracted from the sesame seed plant. They also have a bait gun that shoots a projectile made with a natural growing fungus. When eating this bait, they can't get the nutrition from their food so they die from starvation.
First they spray the pyrethrin to flush out the roaches and get an idea of how many there are. The pyrethrin has no residual which is why it's safer to use in areas like kitchens and bathrooms. White light will break down the chemical in just a few seconds. They need to go back with a chemical that has residual effects to keep the roaches out. Bill says it's best to clean up the dead roaches with a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
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