Ask the Bugman: Environmentally Safe Ways to Control Household Pests

By Richard Fagerlund

Book Overview

You open the kitchen cabinet, reach for the jar of peanut butter, and there on its top are mice droppings. What's the safest means to be rid of the mice? In Ask the Bugman , Board Certified Entomologist Richard Fagerlund offers advice on pest control drawn from answers to commonly asked questions in his nationally distributed newspaper column. For mice, live traps are best, using oatmeal as bait. Never use poisons or glue boards. He also encourages preventive measures to plug the holes mice use as entrances. With thirty-years' experience in pest control, Fagerlund offers suggestions for controlling nearly fifty common (and a few not so common) pests found in and around the home. The questions are divided into categories including disruptive pests, destructive pests, biters and stingers, reptiles and rodents, and garden and household bugs. But what separates Ask the Bugman from other such books is its environmental ethic, which is carefully laid out in the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Typical IPM methods include habitat modification, improved sanitation, and the use of less-toxic, pest-specific baits. As alternatives to harmful chemicals, he counsels use of home remedies, provides a number of these, and includes others sent in by readers of his column. Ten original sketches of common household pests give readers an appreciation of their appearance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826328350
• ISBN13: 9780826328359
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Unm Press
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

bugman book

very intriguing ways of dealing with common pests - i used the caterpillar solution and it seemed to work very well. nice to have a non toxic solution.

Controlling mice, termites, bed bugs & more

Environmentally safe, effective ways of controlling mice, termites, bed bugs and other common household insects and creatures are revealed in Ask The Bugman!, a guide which uses a question and answer format to impart the basics, and a chapter organization by type of pest ("Biters and Stingers", "Ants") make answers quick to find. An excellent, basic guide to pest control options.

Best book of its kind available

This is an excellent book on how to control pests without using toxic chemicals or pest control companies. It is full of great ideas and excellent drawings. It is also entertaining when people, especially the school children, list their least favorite bugs. There is even a great short piece on hemp which makes the book a little controversial. Informative, entertaining and controversial equals very interesting. It is worth every penny...