Best Pest Control

05/23/2026

05/22/2026

Tick free is the way to be!

Ticks don't fall from trees. They can't jump. They can't fly. They climb grass blades, extend their front legs, and wait for something warm to walk past.

The tick climbs to the tip of a blade at ankle to knee height, anchors with its hind legs, and spreads its front legs wide. Sensory structures on the front legs detect carbon dioxide, body heat, and vibration. When a host brushes the vegetation, the tick grabs on.

Then it crawls upward — sometimes for hours — until it reaches bare skin. The tick on the back of your neck started at your ankle.

🌿 What actually works:

- Tuck pants into socks — the grab happens at ankle height
- Permethrin-treated shoes and pant legs neutralize ticks at the contact zone
- DEET or picaridin on exposed skin blocks the heat signature they follow
- Tick check after every outing — armpits, hairline, behind ears, waistband
- Mowed paths through tall areas reduce the questing zone
- Ticks concentrate at edges — where vegetation meets open ground, trail margins, fence lines

The myth is one of the most persistent in outdoor recreation. She was never in the tree. She was at your feet 🌿

05/22/2026

Ticks giving you the icks?

Don’t let ticks take over your yard this season. From grass and shrubs to shaded outdoor areas, ticks can show up where families and pets spend the most time.

Best Pest Control provides professional pest control services for homes throughout the greater Portland area.

📞 503-841-1234
Put pests to rest.

05/10/2026

Bats are your bug eatin' besties!

A faint papery rustling behind a soffit at dusk. Something shifting between insulation and roof sheathing. Most people picture rats. Most people call someone before they look up.

I'm a little brown bat. I weigh less than half an ounce — lighter than three quarters stacked together. My wingspan is nine inches. I am not tangled in hair. I am not carrying a plague.

The rabies concern is real but rare. A small fraction of bats carry the virus. My body temperature runs lower than most mammals, which makes it difficult for the virus to establish. Raccoons, skunks, and foxes carry it more frequently — and most people tolerate them in a neighborhood without calling anyone.

I leave the roost at dusk and hunt until dawn. I consume hundreds of insects per night — mosquitoes, moths, beetles, leafhoppers, midges, and flies. I emit ultrasonic calls up to twenty times per second and build a three-dimensional sound map of everything moving in the air around me. I can detect a mosquito-sized insect in total darkness and catch it mid-flight.

I am not blind. I have functional eyes. I echolocate because it's better than vision for catching small insects in the dark — not because something is wrong with me.

Females form maternity colonies in warm, sheltered spaces. Each female produces one pup per year. One. The pup is born in early summer, nurses for several weeks, and begins flying within a month. In a species that can live over thirty years, that reproduction rate is slow. Losing a female means losing decades of pest control.

- Don't touch or handle any bat — not because I'm aggressive, but because any wild mammal should be left alone
- If I'm in a living space, open a window at night and I'll leave on my own
- If I'm in an attic, a bat house mounted on a south-facing wall gives me an alternative roost

The mosquitoes and moths I eat don't come back. The silence in the yard at dusk is the sound of the shift already working.

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Best Pest Control.

Wishing every mom a day filled with love, fresh flowers, sunshine, and a little time to relax.

05/03/2026

May the “fourth” be with you!
**Not the pests.**

A long time ago, in a backyard not so far away… pests emerged from the dark side.

This May 4th, protect your home from unwanted invaders with help from Best Pest Control. 🔫

📞 503-841-1234
**Put pests to rest.**

04/28/2026

Bee kind!

I hovered six inches from your face on the back porch. You flinched, waved your hat, and went inside.

I'm an eastern carpenter bee. The one that just dive-bombed your head was me — the male. I don't have a stinger. I've never had one. The entire display was a bluff performed by an unarmed bee.

My job is to guard the airspace around the female's nest. When anything enters the zone, I intercept. I hover and hold position. If you leave, I win. If you don't, I have no second move.

The females can sting but almost never do — only if physically grabbed. The large bee holding still in front of your face is the one that can't do anything to you.

The holes in your beam are her work. Perfect half-inch circles drilled straight in, then turned to run along the grain. She carves chambers inside, stocks each one with pollen and nectar, lays an egg on top, and seals it with chewed wood pulp. She reuses the same tunnel across seasons, adding branches.

🐝 The part that changes how you see her:

She's one of the few bees that can pollinate a tomato flower. The pollen inside is locked in tubes that only release under a specific vibration. She grips the flower and buzzes her body until the pollen shakes loose. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and blueberries all depend on bees that can do this. Honeybees can't.

🌿 If you see one:

- The dive-bomber is the stingless male — wait a few seconds and he returns to his post
- If the beam damage concerns you, seal finished tunnels with a wood plug in fall after the bees have emerged — don't plug active tunnels
- Offer an alternative by mounting a block of untreated softwood nearby — she may drill there instead of your trim
- Skip the wasp spray near the beam — she's pollinating the vegetables that need her most

The bee you ran from can't sting. The one you've never noticed is the reason your tomatoes set fruit 🌿

04/28/2026

Two stinging pests.
Not the buzz you want.

Wasps and yellowjackets get aggressive fast — and nests can show up where you least expect.

One smart solution: Best Pest Control.

We handle it safely, quickly, and the right way the first time.

📞 503-841-1234
Best will put those pests to rest.

04/23/2026

🐜 **Pavement Ants** are small ants often found nesting under sidewalks, driveways, patios, and foundation cracks.

They may start outside, but once they find food, they can make their way indoors fast.

**Quick signs to watch for:**
• Small dark ants near cracks in concrete
• Tiny soil mounds around pavement edges
• Trails leading indoors in search of food

When pavement ants show up inside, it usually means the colony is established nearby.

👉 Put pests to rest.
📞 503-841-1234

07/27/2020

Offering residential and commercial pest control services. Call today and Best will put your pests to rest! 503-841-1234