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Charlevoix pest control Hogarth's Pest Control, Beaver Island, MI (2025)

11/28/2024

Wishing you a joyful Thanksgiving celebration!

At Hogarth's Pest Control & Wildlife Removal, we are incredibly thankful for the loyal customers we have serviced for nearly 30 years.

11/13/2024

THREE PESTS THAT CAN RUIN THANKSGIVING:

Thanksgiving is a holiday that family and friends gather together to share a meal and relax without worrying about the world. This year, it is exponentially more important for those who do get to spend time with family and friends to stay healthy, safe, and of course— well fed. Unfortunately, the increased amount of food and foot traffic in your home won’t just attract more humans, but pests as well. Here are a few critters that will make you wish you socially distanced this year.

Mice:
Mice are always searching for food and shelter, especially when the cold weather arrives. Ensure that your house is free of any visible holes or cracks that grant entrance to these animals. Remember, mice only require holes the size of dimes to squeeze through! The scents emitting from your home during this week will attract mice, which is why you should also make sure that you adequately dispose of all food scraps. Use scented garbage bags and place all trash outside in sealed containers.

Bed Bugs:
Spending time with those you love is what makes Thanksgiving such a special day. However, if you’re staying over at someone’s house for the holiday, make sure you inspect your room for bed bugs. Check the mattress, bed frame, carpeting, linens, etcetera, and make sure you place your bag on a desk or nightstand. Since bed bugs don’t discriminate whom they infest — no matter how clean they might be.

Ants:
Bringing plates of food to and from the kitchen to the dining room will obviously result in a spill or two. Even just a rogue piece of stuffing in the corner of the kitchen can be an ant magnet. All it takes is for a single ant to discover a food source— from there, the colony will be quickly alerted thanks to pheromones. To avoid this, make sure your post-meal cleaning is swift and thorough.

When Thanksgiving arrives next week, your only worry should be spending quality time with those you love, especially not about pests. If you fear your home may have a problem with pests (does not pertain to family members), contact Hogarth’s Pest Control.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

11/06/2024

Rodent-Shield offers a professional solution to prevent mice, chipmunks, squirrels, snakes, and even some larger insects from entering homes where the foundation and sub-siding meet. Engineered for quick and easy installation on most vinyl-sided homes. Rodent Shield will contour to various gap sizes. Additional features include saw-tooth edges to deter critters and weep holes for condensation escape. Each section is 42 inches long and is made of powder-coated 16 gauge steel.

Rodent-Shield offers versatile installation options: it can be mounted directly into the sub-siding, angled up into the sill plate, or attached directly to the foundation. Note that additional hardware is needed for foundation and sill plate installation.

Our Technician's at Hogarth's Pest Control and Wildlife Removal are trained, certified and specialize in the installation of this remarkable product.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

10/31/2024

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS! HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SAFE, FUN AND MEMORABLE DAY!

Hogarth's Pest Control & Wildlife Removal

10/25/2024

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug:

What are they?
The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is a 0.5- by 0.625-inch shield-shaped insect that uses its piercing mouthparts to suck plant juices from fruits, seed pods and nuts on a wide variety of wild and cultivated plants. It was accidentally brought to North America from Asia sometime before 1996 and was first detected in Michigan in 2010. Also known by its scientific name, Halyomorpha halys, both BMSB adults and nymphs – the immature stages of the bug – feed on a number of important fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops. Where it has been established for some time, it is now a major pest for growers of susceptible crops. As of August 2020, it has been found in all Michigan counties and is well established in the southern part of the Lower Peninsula.

For HOME or STRUCTURAL concerns
What are they doing in my home?

At the end of the summer and into the fall, you may start to find brown marmorated stink bugs appearing in homes and other buildings. They are looking for a protected place to spend the winter. They will leave your house again in the spring – if they can find their way back out – to look for plants to feed on and lay their eggs outside.

They are NOT nesting, laying eggs or feeding on anything or anyone in your house. These are plant-feeding insects with straw-like mouthparts for drinking plant juices – they are harmless to humans and pets.

What can I do about it?

Try not to panic.
Look for gaps around window air conditioners or holes in window screens and block them off – these are easy access points for brown marmorated stink bugs to enter homes.
The easiest, non-toxic way to dispose of them is with a couple inches of soapy water in a bucket – the soap prevents them from escaping the water. Sweep them into the bucket and they will drown in the soapy water, which you can then dump outside. Or you can do the same with a Shop-Vac – add the soapy water to the canister before vacuuming them up with the Shop-Vac.

Article posted from: MSU Extension
Integrated Pest Management

10/23/2024

AUTUMM STINGS

It’s officially fall, which means Michigan’s woods and fields are buzzing with stinging insects fueling up for winter; and some of them are grumpy.

Yellow jackets are especially not in the mood to be trifled with as they can be really intolerant this time of the year. As things begin to wind down in the fall, they can become aggressive. We receive numerous calls each fall season with homeowners claiming to have a nest somewhere on their property. Homeowners will notice singleton bees and wasps hanging out around their doors, windows, and soffits; they searching for any crevice to squeeze into. Yellow jackets often nest in the ground in colonies that can reach 4,000 to 5,000 workers. The entrance holes they are searching for might’ve been there since spring— but autumn is when the colony reaches its largest and when the insects become feisty. One reason is the last hatch consists of next year’s queens, which are the future of the colony.

Encounters:
Swat a stinging insect and you might trigger and even more threatening response: Like a honeybee, a dying yellow jacket releases a pheromone that alerts the nest. Meddling or even stepping in the wrong place can trigger a full-on attack with the wasps swarming and pursuing.

Humans are most likely to encounter stinging insects as they look for food. Their diet somewhat changes. Throughout the summer wasps are predators, feeding on other insects. In the fall they develop somewhat of a sweet tooth. Fermenting fruit, colas, ciders, fruit juice, become more attractive to the wasps. Because of this, they tend to linger about orchards, cider mills, picnic areas, outdoor restaurant seating, and barbecues— all popular fall hangouts for Michigan residents.

Similar to mosquito bites, wasp stings contain a protein that can cause itching. They can and will sting multiple times, along with hornets. Both wasp and hornet stings can be painful and swell for up to 24 hours as they inject venom into their victims.

Honeybees, on the other hand, have a barbed stinger and can only sting once, as they die after stinging. The stinger remains in the victim’s skin until someone removes it. You can easily scrape it out with a fingernail or with a credit card. If you think you have a honey bees nest, call a beekeeper to remove.

Overall, avoiding these insects in any season is the best method to prevent stings. Knowing the correct precautions to take not only keeps your fall season safe but above all, fun!

At Hogarth's Pest Control & Animal Removal, we offer a nest removal service as well as an exterior treatment that can help prevent nests from forming on your home. To find out more about these services and pricing, give us a call. We'd be glad to help!

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

10/16/2024

CARPENTER BEES OH MY!

When many picture a bee, the first species that comes to mind is often the bumblebee. The same goes for wood-boring insects; many assume them to be termites. What many do not expect is that there is a species of bee that bores into wood. Carpenter bees, like their relative the bumblebee, are large, black and yellow insects whose life only spans up to a year. Female carpenter bees rarely sting, only when provoked, and males completely lack the ability to. They are, however, quite territorial and are typically the gender that most people come into contact. Males will hover closely to people and structures, especially attracted to sudden movements, but do no more than create unnecessary fear. Though not particularly harmful to humans, carpenter bees can be a significant threat to wooden structures, affecting their integrity.

Found throughout the US, bees bore into raw wood and deck timbers, especially if it is weathered or has starter holes. As a result, a large number of bees can cause damage to log and wood-sided structures. In the case of thinner wood, such as siding, this damage can be severe. Contrary to popular belief, these bees do not eat the wood; they chew and live within it. Since they do not actually eat the wood they bore into, nectar from flowering plants is their primary food source. Some say that painting or staining wood will help to deter them, but they are known to damage that on occasion as well. The first signs of carpenter bee damage include small, smooth holes. A more advanced infestation may also include physically seeing bees hovering around the wood.

Carpenter Bee Nests:
Unlike other common bees, such as honeybees, that live in colonies, carpenter bees are not social and build individual nests into trees or into the eaves, frames, or sides of buildings. Adult carpenter bees will overwinter in abandoned tunnels where they have stored pollen. The bees that survive the cold months will emerge when the temperatures warm up to feed on nectar, mate and make new nests, called galleries. Reused galleries expand every year, and some have been known to grow up to 10 ft in length.

The female makes large, open rooms to lay her eggs in off of the main gallery, called cells. She will ensure that each cell has enough pollen and regurgitated nectar for her developing young to feed. She will lay one egg in each gallery and seal off the entrance with wood pulp. The eggs take approximately 36 days to develop to an adult where they will then excavate themselves from the cell and into the gallery. Furthermore, the developing larvae, especially in homes, can oftentimes be attractive to woodpeckers that will seek out developing carpenter bees and create more extensive damage to the existing holes.

Eradicating Carpenter Bees:
In order to keep carpenter bees out of the home, it is essential always to inspect the perimeter. Seal any cracks and crevices you may see along the foundation and walls with caulk; repair holes in screens on windows or doors, and keep the doors closed unless in use. Professional treatment is vital if you have an active infestation. Dusting in entrance holes and an exterior pesticide treatment on affected wood is the most effective method for control. Carpenter bees typically require multiple treatments throughout a season. To prevent re-infestation, caulk and seal off holes, refinishing, or replacement of wood is necessary.

If you believe to be experiencing problems associated with carpenter bees, it is crucial to call a licensed pest control professional. We have been keeping structures free from carpenter bees for nearly 30 years and are eager to help!

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

10/09/2024

WHY ARE RODENTS COMING INTO MY HOME THIS FALL?

The leaves are fading to vibrant shades of crimson, orange, and chartreuse, silently falling to the ground. The mornings are foggy and crisp, the darkness stretching each day. You’ve taken the sweaters out of their storage bins and began to wear them proudly; apple cider and pumpkin spice quite literally fill the air. The downside of all things fall, though, is that rodents are packing their bags to move into your home for the winter, too.

Why are Mice Moving into Your Home?
As we’ve previously talked about before, as temperatures drop, rodents are drawn to sources of potential food and heat. Most assuredly, they will find creative ways to enter a structure: through open windows and doors, cracks in walls, vents, pipes, you name it, and they will try it! There are some main attractants to rodents when they are seeking solace:

You haven’t kept up with landscaping maintenance:
Having plants close to buildings and failing to rake up leaves that pile against foundations are open invitations to rodents. They hide amongst the vegetation while searching for an opening, and you may never notice them. Instead, keep plants and accumulated leaves at least 2 feet away from your home, trim weeds, and never allow debris to collect against the house.

You haven’t prepared your house for the chilly weather:
If you have not inspected weather-stripping, cracks, and other areas of weakness, then you have opened your home to wayward rodents. Ensure you seal any gaps around windows and doors, even checking where you may have made repairs last season— as weather-stripping and caulking are known to crack with temperature fluctuations.

You haven’t rodent-proofed your exterior:
If you’re not checking the exterior of your home for weaknesses, then mice may be able to crawl right into your home. Have you had any home repairs or installations? Check to see if sealing around cable wires or plumbing is intact. Rodents can crawl up sewage pipes and plumbing, so seal off around the areas where these pipes enter your home. Additionally, if you have outdoor vents or intend to keep any windows open, fit them with screens to keep mice out.

You haven’t made your home inhospitable to rodents:
If you’re not placing traps in potential rodent hot spots and deploying repellents, then you’re giving mice the go-ahead to move in. Try using glue traps to monitor your attic or basement – since these traps will catch both mice and insects, they will let you know if you have a problem. Just be sure to inspect them regularly. Additionally, use natural scent repellents in pantries or drawers and ultrasonic repellents in basements, attics, and rooms with non-rodent pets.

At Hogarth's Pest Control & Wildlife Removal we offer a rodent baiting program. This service really helps with cutting down the rodent population trying to scratch and chew their way in to the structure. Give us a call and we'd be happy to tell you more about this service and pricing.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

10/02/2024

Squirrels and Jack O’Lanterns:

Pumpkins are tempting treats for many unwanted pests, but most especially squirrels. If you have jack o’ lanterns outside of your home and are concerned about squirrels ruining them, here are some strategies to deter them.

Use a commercial repellent:
Look for a brand made using rotten eggs. This will have a strong odor, especially right after it is applied. The smell should fade when the repellent dries, but you should spray your pumpkin away from the home.

Squirrels hate pets:
Sprinkle some pet hair around your pumpkin.

Spicy Surprise:
You can also mix hot sauce, water, and a drop of dish soap or vegetable oil to help the mixture stick to the pumpkins. You will need to spray them every day, and especially after it rains.

Straight up tabasco sauce can be an effective repellent as well, but it can become messy and can potentially stain both the pumpkin and your porch.

DIY Stink Bomb:
Squirrels are repelled by the smell of distilled white vinegar. Vinegar can damage the pumpkin’s skin, so we suggest putting some in a bowl by the pumpkins.

Making a mixture of one part eucalyptus oil, ten parts water, and a drop of vegetable oil or dish soap to help it stick is also known to help. Apply with a cotton ball, repeating daily and after it rains.

Stick it to ’em:
Squirrels dislike anything sticky. Another option is to coat your pumpkins with a generous coating of a v***r rub or petroleum jelly. This can last for weeks, even through rain.

You can also coat your pumpkins with a spray lacquer, letting it dry. This method will keep away some squirrels, but not every one of them. The spray must be applied to the whole pumpkin, inside and out.

Another solution is to spray the pumpkins with hairspray. You will need to reapply this every day or two, as well as after it rains.

When it doubt, scare them out:
Owls are natural predators of squirrels. You will frighten squirrels by placing an owl statue near the pumpkins.

Another option is to place motion-activated devices near the pumpkins to frighten away squirrels.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

09/25/2024

SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN'T LEAVE IT TO BEAVER!

In recent years, beaver populations have been relatively high. This is due to a lack of extensive trapping and an abundance of food. These animals can cause considerable problems for county road commissions, private landowners, and waterfront landowners. They create these problems by tree cutting, building dams, flooding property, and blocking culverts. We most often receive calls from property owners experiencing issues due to beaver damage of trees and flooding of waterways, which interferes with land uses. This can cause devastating structural and landscaping damage if untreated.

Beaver Trapping and Removal:
Beavers are especially aggressive in the late summer and fall, but do not hibernate in the winter months so a problem may persist. There is one overwhelming fact of dealing with them – you must remove all of the beaver to solve the problem. Any attempt to control these problems without removing the beaver is futile. It is possible to unplug a culvert and draw the water down with them still in place; however, in most cases, the dam will be rebuilt, and the water will flood the next day again.

Ideally, if the problems are not too extreme, an experienced trapper can remove all the beaver in the area during the licensed trapping season. Unfortunately, beaver problems often crop up well before the late fall trapping season. If the problem is pressing, a free Beaver Damage Control Permit can be obtained from the DNR. This allows the landowner to remove the beaver outside of the trapping season if there is proven damage (road washout, flooding, etc.).

Catching these animals during the offseason is more difficult; this is due to their behavior being somewhat different from what many trappers most commonly deal with. Inexperienced trappers will often create more of a problem for you in the long run. They can sometimes only catch one or two of the young beaver; this results in the rest of the colony with adults becoming much warier.

Removal Mistakes:
A common mistake we hear of is landowners stating their intention to remove the beaver by shooting them. Research indicates the average colony is about five animals. Anyone trying to shoot all the beaver in a colony one time will quickly find that is impossible. The most likely scenario is that one or two of the young may be vulnerable to shooting; the rest of the colony will become completely nocturnal. Shooting these animals is not easy since there is very little visible when they are swimming. Shooting should only be a last resort for wildlife professionals.

In years past, conservation officers and fire officers would blast beaver dams out with dynamite. Times have changed, and dams are not blasted anymore. Another danger of blasting the dams is the likelihood of washing out downstream roads, culverts, and stream crossings. When a large dam (some up over six feet high) is suddenly breached, a large head of water rushes downstream. Anyone who intends to breach a beaver dam should keep in mind that it can do considerable damage downstream; it is important to scout out any potential crossings downstream ahead of time. The danger of washout is even greater if there is a significant gradient downstream.

Successful Removal:
As stated, if downstream stream crossings are a concern for removing a large head of water, the dam can typically be removed gradually. The best practice is to remove a section of the upper portion of the dam and then let the water flow out down to the level cleared overnight. The next day another part of the dam can be removed, which allows the entire impoundment of water behind the dam to drain more gradually, hopefully avoiding any downstream water damage. If the impoundment behind the dam is vast, greater care needs to be taken breaching the dam. When removing a large dam, great care should be taken only to remove just enough of the dam. This will relieve some of the water pressure over several days.

One thing to remember is the easiest way to minimize beaver problems in Northern Michigan is not to create an ideal habitat next to stream crossings. Of course, beavers are in the rodent family, and they are incredibly prolific. If a suitable food habitat is present near water, landowners will likely have decades of reoccurring problems. The only long-term solution to minimize beaver problems outside of trapping is converting nearshore stream habitat to conifer that beaver don’t utilize for food.

We specialize in the trapping and removal of these animals, so call us to set up an inspection today!

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

09/24/2024

CHECK OUT THIS BALD FACE HORNETS NEST, YIKES! IT'S WAY UP IN THER TREE!

Have no fear because Hogarth's Pest Control & Animal Removal is here to help. Not only are our Technician's brave to handle a situation like this, but they are trained, certified, registered and insured.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

09/18/2024

Just another day for our Technician's installing a ridge vent on a roof. If you are getting bats or rodents in your attic, Hogarth's Pest Control and Animal Removal can help. First it starts with an inspection to assess the situation, then a proposal to follow with the entry areas and issues, recommendations for remedy, and pricing.

Hogarth's Pest Control
10283 Elk Lake Road
Williamsburg, MI 49690
231-264-6060
[email protected]

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