ANTS

Are you fighting an army or a persistent trail of ants?  High moisture conditions in the greater Atlanta area are ideal for ant populations to proliferate.  Varsity Termite & Pest offers ant control on a one-time or regularly scheduled basis, allowing you to enjoy your home.

The red imported fire ant is one of the worst ant pests in the country in terms of human health, property damage, and environmental damage.  Colonies may have dozens of queens, and several hundred thousand workers very aggressively defend their nest with stinging.  Nests are most often in the soil and particularly common in turf, but may also be in structures, wall voids, plumbing traps, equipment, and under carpet, causing damage to these areas. 

Bed bugs

Bed bugs are small, nocturnal insects that feed on blood and can be found in bedding, furniture, walls, and other places near hosts.  They do not jump or fly, but are excellent hitch-hikers.  Bed bugs can infest anywhere they can be transported, regardless of the socio-economic status of residents there.  Bed bugs carry over 28 human pathogens, but the medical concerns of bed bugs are typically limited to the itching and inflammation associated with their bite.  
 
We eliminate bed bugs with a program of inspection, monitoring/trapping, vacuuming, and treatment with a professional-only product called Aprehend®.
 
Aprehend is a revolutionary fungal biopesticide for the elimination and prevention of bed bugs, that features:

• NO chemicals, NO odor
• results in days, residual lasts for months as bed bugs transfer the product to other bed bugs
• minimal resident preparation needed, and avoids repeat visits
• EPA registered, non-toxic pesticide contains spores of a fungal disease that is deadly to bed bugs
• approximately half the price of heat treatments, and without the possible damage to structure or personal items

more info

Carpenter bees

Carpenter bees are solitary bees who are pollinators, but who get their common name from the females’ habit of boring into solid wood to create rooms for their larvae, causing structural damage.  They look like bumble bees but with a shiny metallic-greenish-black abdomen instead of hairy abdomen.  Destruction from these bees is hidden within the wood, often with only the round entrance hole visible.  The wood is reduced to sawdust (“frass”) which is ejected from the tunnels that can be over 10 feet long. The females excavate, often with other females working the same section of wood and using the same entrance hole, but creating separate galleries.  Males and females over-winter in old galleries and emerge in the spring to mate.  They both die before the end of the summer, and their offspring begin the next year’s activity.  Varsity Termite & Pest can help protect your home from costly carpenter bee damage.

Centipedes/millipedes

You may not think so to look at them, but common centipedes and millipedes are general beneficial insects since they feed on other insects (flies, roaches, and spiders) and on dead plant materials respectively.  Helpful to the ecosystem outdoors as they are, most of us draw the line at having them indoors, owing mostly to their eerie appearance plus the centipede’s venom and millipede’s toxic ooze.  Trained, experienced technicians at Varsity Termite & Pest can help keep centipedes and millipedes out of your home.

Cockroaches

Have you heard something when you turn on a light -- the sound of a cockroach scurrying across the floor?  Cockroaches destroy food, can carry pathogens and diseases, and can transmit allergens that trigger asthma.  Varsity Termite & Pest can help you seal out roaches and provide one-time or regularly scheduled treatments to control this health threat.

The German cockroach is a nocturnal animal, strongly avoids light, cannot fly, and is almost always found indoors.  Infestations normally begin with the roaches hitchhiking in packages.  Females live about 200 days, producing an average of 150 eggs which mature in about 3 months, totalling 4 generations per year.  This species needs more moisture than most, and is most likely to be living near moisture sources and in humid areas.  Young are usually hidden, feeding on fecal matter of other roaches, and older roaches feed on virtually any food, even nibbling on human hair or finger and toenails.

Crickets

The loud chirping of crickets is caused by the males rubbing their front wings together to attract females.  During cool weather, they may seek shelter indoors, but house crickets typically live outdoors and favor garbage dumps.  They are attracted to electric lights in large numbers (think thousands) and rest of vertical surfaces including utility poles and structural walls.  House crickets are not a health risk to humans, but cause damage to carpets and fabrics, especially to wool, silk, cotton, and synthetics.  Property damage can be what prompts the call to Varsity Termite & Pest.

Earwigs

Earwigs are not zombie bugs that crawl into people’s ears and eat their brains, but there is definitely an ICK factor for most people.  They are actually pretty harmless except for feeding on decaying vegetation beneath lawn debris, sometimes targeting seedlings.  Earwigs prefer dark, humid places such as ventilated crawlspaces or unfinished basements, where they can contribute to poor air quality drawn into living spaces.

Hornets

The most common “hornet” in our area is actually a yellowjacket known as bald-faced hornet due to its ivory-white markings on the face, body, and legs.  Bald-faced hornets can be considered a beneficial insect because they help pollinate flowers when they are searching for nectar, and they reduce populations of unwanted insects including other yellowjackets. ​

Mice

House mice can look cute, but they contaminate stored foods and carry as many as 200 human pathogens.  They eat 15-20 times a day, produce 40-100 droppings daily, and sometimes eat their own waste.  Their dried feces and urine can trigger allergy and respiratory symptoms which are most problematic for children and those with compromised immune systems.  A hole the size of a pencil top is big enough for a mouse with fleas, ticks, mites, and lice to enter your home.  Experienced, trained experts at Varsity Termite & Pest can work with you to make your home mouse-unfriendly.

Mosquitoes

Tired of fighting off mosquitoes to enjoy your outdoor space?  Mosquitoes are an annoying and unhealthy problem in the greater Atlanta area.  Varsity Termite & Pest focuses on managing mosquitoes before they become breeding biters.  Call us now for a free, no obligation consultation with a trained, experienced mosquito control expert.

Take your yard back from mosquitoes!  Aedes mosquitoes transmit Zika and other viruses, but are difficult to control because they lay their eggs in very small breeding sites and have become resistant to chemical insecticides.  Insecticide resistance has become a major problem in countries infested by Aedes mosquitoes.  Area-wide insecticide fogging is still being used but is showing limited efficacy and major impacts on non-target organisms. This requires a switch to more sustainable, environmentally friendly vector control.  The In2Care® mosquito trap from Varsity Termite & Pest uses the mosquito to spread the treatment and keep your yard mosquito-free, reducing your exposure to Zika and other viruses.  The In2Care attracts and kills Aedes females with novel green ingredients that target both mosquito larvae and adults.  It is the first to exploit the concept of ‘auto-dissemination’, resulting in an effective kill of mosquito larvae in breeding sites surrounding the Trap.  In2Care features reduced chemicals and does not target plants or beneficial insects such as bees or butterflies.  Pet-friendly, 24/7 protection.

rats

• Rats have strong teeth that allow them to chew through glass, cinderblock, wire, aluminum and lead.
• Smell, taste, touch and sound help direct them to their food sources.
• Rats are also responsible for spreading bubonic plague, also known as the "Black Death". Although fleas are primarily responsible for infecting humans, they were originally infected with the plague by feeding on the blood of rats.

Rats are scavengers. They have an excellent sense of taste and a good memory. A rat can identify certain substances, including rat poisons, after just a tiny taste of it.

scorpions

Scorpions are nuisance pests closely associated with spiders, mites, and ticks.  They are most active at night and feed primarily on insects, especially crickets and cockroaches, but they can survive for months without food.  During hot weather, scorpions may take shelter inside the crawlspace or attic of a dwelling.  The bite of a scorpion causes symptoms similar to bee sting, but can be serious for sensitive people.  Scorpion prevention eliminates harborage such as debris, landscape timbers and stones, and storing firewood at least five inches off the ground and twenty feet from the dwelling.  The trained, experienced technicians at

spiders

Spiders can be difficult to control yourself because of their anatomy and their solitary nature.  Brown recluse spiders are the most problematic in the greater Atlanta area.  The trained, experienced pest control experts at Varsity Termite & Pest can give you a leg up on brown recluse and other spiders.

Wasps

Paper wasps' colors range from reddish brown to dark brown, to bright yellow and black, depending on species.  Their nests resemble a honeycomb when viewed from below.  Paper wasps that build their nests under the eaves of houses, on porches, in attics or in dense shrubbery can become a problem.  Mud daubers are dark wasps with long, thin waists, and they use mud to construct a variety of nests ranging from elaborate structures to merely ‘plastering’ up existing cracks or crevices in buildings.  Many mud daubers fill holes in the round openings of equipment and outdoor furniture.  Mud daubers are not social insects and rarely sting, unless they are threatened or inadvertently contacted.  Although the venom is primarily for paralyzing and preserving prey, it is painful. 

yellowjackets

Yellow jackets are the cause of most stings people attribute to bees.   They eat mostly other insects, but will eat fruit, garbage, and almost any picnic item.  Yellow jackets will vigorously pursue an intruder who threatens their nest and are generally considered the most dangerous of the social insects.

PEST INSPECTIONS

The pest inspection by Varsity Termite & Pest focuses on evidence of pest activity, conditions conducive to them, and level of infestation.  Inspection results determine a large part of the strategy to prevent or combat the problem, and we typically give an exact written price before beginning service.​

pest Exclusions

Some pests hitchhike in grocery bags or boxes, but most enter a structure from the exterior surroundings.  Pest exclusion is a prevention tool that seals the structure to keep pests from getting inside.  Inspection and exclusion by Varsity Termite & Pest are typical first steps toward controlling, and even preventing, a pest infestation. ​

Special Offer

Ants, earwigs, roaches (not German), spiders, centipedes, millipedes, crickets, scorpions. Owner-occupied single family dwelling up to 2000sf in Smyrna. With written 12-month agreement. Larger dwelling, other service area, or other pests available at extra charge. With coupon and payment at service. Expires 6/30/2024.

To redeem, please mention this offer by phone, email or to your technician.

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