One of the great joys of living in south Florida is that there is a good chance your house is mostly concrete blocks and metal studs and the roof framing and boards are wood. Basically you are less prone of being attacked by termites although the effing wood eating ants can pose a problem.

My back porch is all wood and I keep some odd and ends of boards and other wooden things in case of need. A couple of pieced next to the fence were detected with the unholy signs of some small wood eating insect and since arson even for pest control is against the law, I have to go the route of insecticide.

You know what I did not do? Go to Home Depot or Lowes or Ace.  None of the shit they sell to deal with bugs is worth spit. I am not going to even think about the money I wasted over the years in that crap.

There are sites in the web that will sell you the real stuff that exterminations use in different size and the initial sticker price is gonna rock your butt. Most big cans of insecticide will cost about $5  and swear they kill everything with an exoskeleton. I have one can of an insecticide, not a wide spectrum like the one at Big Hardware Store that cost me $23 and I bought because of a flea infestation and only used it once inside the house. A little vial of Temprid (8 ml or 0.27 oz) cost me $10 and good for a gallon to spray all outside the back porch. Ladies and gents, one pass, no more fleas.  I did a retouch 3 weeks later just to assure the eggs were properly dosed and kill any new generation. No more issues.

The following year, we got a roach problem all of a sudden in the kitchen. Mom was pissed, the Missus was pissed and I was pissed ’cause this is not a low rent place where we don’t give a damn about cleanliness. This time I got not only spray but gel bait from Bayer and that is the first thing I used because I never done it before. I swear to you, I laid down the bait stations and I saw the effing roaches come out and attack the bait. I could not find a living roach 24 hours later.  I sprayed anyway, we cleaned all the following day and we had not had an issue with roaches since (2 and a half years ago). I think the total cost that time was over the $70 and it was well worth it.

One of the things I noticed that these professional products have that the store-bought products don’t (besides not being watered down) is IGR or Insect Grow Regulator and I quote “IGR are pesticides that don’t usually kill insects outright but instead affect the ability of insects to grow and mature normally. IGRs either block the insect’s ability to turn into an adult or cause it to change into an adult before it is physically able to reproduce.” basically, it neuters them. From what I understood reading about it, some insects like fleas have very tough eggs and most insecticide cannot penetrate them, but IGR will.

So I placed my order for some Terminator Quality Termicide ($43) to my people of Do-It-Yourself Pest Control and should be here Monday and I will go all Ahnold on their asses.  Word of warning: Remember I mentioned this stuff is not watered down? Use all precautions and I am not kidding, be safe with this stuff.