Got Residential Pest Control Questions?
We’ve got answers to frequently asked questions relating to pest control and treatment options. Call us at 866-591-3519 or contact us online if you don’t see what you’re looking for below.
Our PestFree365+ program covers 36 pests, including the usual culprits listed below. If you don’t see what you are looking for, check our additional services.
*Restrictions apply. Additional costs may occur.
Commercial service plans may vary.
*Service frequency will vary based on geography. PestFree365+ does not include the following pests: honey bees, flies, lice, dust mites, mosquitoes, exterior ticks, ornamental/turf pests, slugs, snails, termites, wildlife, birds, and brown recluse spiders. EZ Pay is required for PestFree365+. Voles and fire ants are only covered if they are in the home, we will not treat the lawn. Home must be free of bed bugs at the initial service to qualify for coverage of bed bugs under the PestFree365+ plan and applies to single family, free-standing, owner-occupied homes only. Account must be in good standing. Other restrictions may apply.
As a Batzner customer, we will remind you through convenient phone calls and email reminders. If you have a specific date in mind, please contact our office.
We make our best efforts to respond to your request as quickly as possible while accommodating your schedule.
A Service Specialist will thoroughly inspect the interior or exterior of your home, depending on the season. They will search for causes and evidence of a particular pest concern and identify other areas where they see the potential for future pest issues. After they inspect and identify pest problems, they will recommend a targeted treatment plan to meet your specific needs and clearly explain how our services will be provided. Learn more.
You can remain home during and after treatment, as long as you follow the procedural post application information provided by the Service Specialist and the service report. Your Service Specialist will review his or her results with you so you have a thorough understanding of the service.
Kids and pets should be moved to an area not being treated.
While it is preferable, you do not need to be home for an exterior treatment. A service report will be left at your home in your absence. We do require your presence during an interior treatment.
This will vary based on the pest. Find out more about what to expect after treatment. If you see pest activity after the time frames listed below, please contact our office.
Here are some general guidelines:
Asian Lady Beetles & Boxelder Bugs: You will continue to see Asian lady beetles and boxelder bugs outside your home. They are drawn to warmth on the sunny sides of your home and will continue to rest there as the treatment takes effect. Eventually, the population will reduce, and you will no longer see them.
Carpenter Ants: Activity may be seen up to 30 days
Cockroaches: Activity may be seen up to 30 days
Mice/Rodents: Activity may be seen up to 14 days
Occasional Invaders (spiders, centipedes, etc): Activity may be seen up to 21 days
Pavement Ants: Activity may be seen up to 21 days
Stinging Insects: Activity around nest for up to 72 hours
Ticks: Activity may be seen for 2-3 weeks after treatment; to help aid results, routinely vacuum.
It varies depending on the pest. After your pest evaluation, your Service Specialist will provide suggestions to reduce and eliminate conducive conditions that make pest activity habitable.
Pets and children can be at your home during the treatment; however, they need to be kept away from the area being treated during the treatment.
Once the product is dry, usually about two hours, but may be up to four hours depending on the product used. Your Service Specialist will inform you of the exact time frame.
No. For the safety of your pet, please remove them to a room not being treated.
One application lasts 2-4 weeks.
Heavy rain or consistent days of rain may reduce the effectiveness of the treatment; however, the products we use are developed to combat this. Heat does not have an impact on the effectiveness.
- Reduce and eliminate stagnant water. The smallest amount of water allows mosquitoes to breed. Change water in birdbaths and pet bowls often. Eliminate standing water in items around the yard.
- Landscape maintenance. Adult mosquitoes rest during the day, usually on the under sides of vegetation.
- Responsible use of insect repellent. Apply as directed. Wearing long sleeved shirts and pants also help protect against mosquitoes.
- Reduce and eliminate stagnant water. The smallest amount of water allows mosquitoes to breed. Change water in birdbaths and pet bowls often. Eliminate standing water in items around the yard.
- Landscape maintenance. Adult mosquitoes rest during the day, usually on the under sides of vegetation.
- Responsible use of insect repellent. Apply as directed. Wearing long sleeved shirts and pants also help protect against mosquitoes.
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Got Commercial Pest Control Questions?
Once we have eliminated an issue, it may look as though you are safe to discontinue professional pest control. Pests are smart – they often reappear when Batzner goes away. Since we live in a cold weather climate for part of the year, the foundation and building products in our buildings expand, shift, and crack during colder weather. This can create openings for pests, especially, rodents, to enter the infrastructure of your property. Warm weather brings stinging insects, ants and more.
We make our best efforts to respond to your request as quickly as possible while accommodating your schedule.
Your Service Specialist will thoroughly inspect the interior and exterior of your property. They will search for pest causes and evidence and identify areas where they see the potential for future pest issues. After they inspect and identify pest problems, they will treat as needed. Once service is completed, they will clearly explain what services were provided and leave a detailed service report for your records.
Your Service Specialist will explain the amount of time needed at your property for a thorough inspection and treatment.
You can remain present during and after treatment, as long as you follow the procedural post application information provided by the Service Specialist and the service report. Your Service Specialist will review his or her results with you so you have a thorough understanding of the service.
While it is preferable because we prefer to review our findings directly with you, you do not need to be present for an exterior service. A service report will be left behind in your absence. We do require your presence during an interior service.
The time it takes for the treatment to start working varies from pest to pest; time must be allowed for the pests to come in contact with the treatment.
Carpenter Ants: Activity may be seen up to 30 days
Mice/Rodents: Activity may be seen up to 14 days
Stinging Insects: Activity around nest for up to 72 hours
Cockroaches: Activity may be seen up to 30 days
Pavement Ants: Activity may be seen up to 21 days
Occasional Invaders (spiders, centipedes, etc): Activity may be seen up to 21 days
Asian lady beetles & boxelder bugs: You will continue to see Asian lady beetles and boxelder bugs outside your property. They are drawn to warmth on the sunny sides of your building and will continue to rest there as the treatment takes effect. Eventually, the population will reduce, and you will no longer see them.
IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management and is a holistic approach to handling pest situations. The foundation of IPM is a strong working relationship between the client and the pest control professional to reduce and eliminate conducive conditions that make pest activity habitable.
Successful treatment for these pests is performed in Fall. If unseasonably warm weather in Winter/early Spring causes them to appear, we will not recommend* treatment at this time but will instead set you up for preventative treatment the following Fall.
*Reduction services can be performed along the interior areas where activity has been noted. This treatment will help diminish the numbers of pests but will unfortunately not eliminate them entirely. Preventative treatments – such as those in the Fall – are the best method of treatment for these seasonal pests.
Pets and children can be present during the treatment; however, they need to be kept away from the area being treated during the treatment.
Once the product is dry, usually about two hours, but may be up to four hours depending on the product used. Your Service Specialist will inform you of the exact time frame.
No. For the safety of pets, please remove them to a room not being treated.
We offer a few different service options to solve bed bug problems. Visit our bed bug services page for more information.
Visit our Service Area Locator page and enter your zip code to see if we service your area.
Yes, we offer special pricing for first time customers who are employees of one of our commercial clients.
The customer portal provides web account access for reporting, trending, account information, invoices, condition reports and other needed tools with access for multiple users.
We routinely work with complex food safety regulations and have extensive experience guiding organizations through audits. We offer pre-audit preparation, in addition to being present during the audit. While some providers are still hand-writing reports, Batzner has implemented the most advanced industry CRM technology, providing proper account management and audit compliance, a customer portal, quarterly trend reports and more 24/7. We also provide training to utilize it all effectively and make proactive decisions to prevent future issues.
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Got Bed Bug Pest Control Questions?
Adult bed bugs are about the size, shape, and color of an apple seed. They are oval shaped, flat, and about 1/4 inch in length. Unfed nymphs are translucent and are about the size of a pinhead. Eggs are the size, shape, and color of a half grain of rice.
Their color will vary, depending on their stage of life and also when they last fed. Early stage bed bug nymphs are translucent to straw-colored, but will have a crimson-colored center if they have recently fed. As bed bugs get older, they darken, and adult bed bugs appear as a mahogany brown color, or a darker red if they are digesting a blood-meal.
You can see all life stages with the naked eye. You may see five different sizes because there are five different life stages.
They have an interesting form of reproduction known as traumatic insemination. Male bed bugs use their copulatory organ to puncture the body wall of the female’s abdomen, and inject their sperm directly into a specialized organ.
Bed bugs feed exclusively on the blood of vertebrates with humans their preferred host. A blood-meal is required for bed bugs to reach each life stage and to reproduce. When hosts are present and blood-meals are readily available, bed bugs will develop rapidly, and infestations will quickly progress and become unmanageable.
Identifying bed bug bites can be difficult. Here are some distinguishing factors to help discern them from other insect bites.
- If you felt the bite when it occurred, it was not a bed bug.
- If bites are random and spread out, it was probably not bed bugs.
- If the bite forms a blister, it could be a bed bug bite.
- If the bites follows a pattern (straight or a zig zag), they could be bed bug bites. My bites looked like The Little Dipper, crossing my chest onto my right shoulder. They also tend to be in groupings of three to five.
Bed bugs have beak-like mouthparts (proboscis) that are specifically designed to cut skin and suck blood. The proboscis is kept tucked beneath the bed bug when not in use.
When bed bugs feed, the proboscis is placed at a right angle to the skin, and the bugs rock back and forth during insertion. Once in the skin, cutting parts of the proboscis slide through the tissues until a suitable blood vessel is found, and the blood is then sucked up. The pressure from the blood in the vessel is used to transmit the blood into the insect.
The bed bug swells as is fills with blood, and feeding may take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Similar to mosquitoes, when a bed bug bites, it releases anticoagulant and anesthetic compounds that keeps the blood flowing freely and makes the bite virtually pain-free. After feeding bed bugs will quickly return to their hiding place, where they will spend several days digesting the blood-meal.
Bed bugs are sensitive to disturbance and will remove their proboscis to discontinue feeding if the food source moves, or becomes restless. Once settled, bed bugs will re-insert their proboscis and begin to feed again. This behavior can sometimes explain multiple bites in the same, or nearby, location.
No. Their saliva contains a substance that acts as a mild anesthetic so you will not feel it.
Although humans are preferred, bed bugs will bite pets if there is not a human host present. The bites will look similar to the ones found on humans. After feeding, bed bugs will return to a protected location, so they will not be found on the host. If you are concerned about a pet, the best thing to do is take it to the vet.
Bed bugs are not known to spread diseases to humans; however, infections from scratching bites are much more probable. Make sure to keep the bites clean and try not to scratch them.
Bed bugs do not transmit disease. The medical significance of bed bugs (in addition to the fact that they feed on human blood) is associated with secondary infections at bite sites due to scratching open bites.
Probably the most problematic side effects from bed bug bites are the psychological ones. Experiencing a bed bug infestation can be a very emotional and highly stressful experience. The idea of little bugs living in your bed and drinking your blood can be creepy to say the least. Not to mention that there is still a social stigma associated with bed bugs, whereby many people think that infestations have something to do with personal or household hygiene or social status. And while things like hygiene and social status have nothing to do with getting bed bugs, unfortunately these are myths that are alive and well among the masses.
Bed bugs are most attracted to humans compared to all other potential vertebrate hosts. Bed bugs use multiple cues in order to detect humans, including:
- Body heat
- Carbon dioxide
- Human odors
- Bed bug sightings
- Small dark spots on sheets and pillowcases
- Dark spots in seams on mattresses
- Dark spots on bed frames and headboards
- Cast, shed skin (exoskeleton that appears translucent)
Bed bugs are found anywhere that humans are motionless for an extended period of time. The most common of these places is of course, the bed, which is where bed bugs get their name. Bed bugs prefer to be as close to their human food source as possible, and are frequently found on or in close proximity to the following places:
- Beds – including box springs, mattresses, headboards, mattress covers
- Couches – including cushions and pillows
- Reclining chairs
- Any other areas where people are sedentary for long periods of time.
As infestations grow larger, bed bugs tend to spread out within a room, and can end up in unusual places such as behind baseboards on curtains, along ceilings, in electrical outlets and behind pictures.
- Folds, seams and buttons on beds and furniture
- Areas where you sit often, like chairs and couches
- Under the bed, between mattresses, and within the seams of the mattress
- Cracks and crevices in bed frames and headboards
- High up on the walls or hide behind curtain rods
- Behind hanging picture frames, baseboards, dressers and lighting. Wood serves as an insulated home for bed bugs keeping them cozy
- Anywhere within 3-5 feet of where you sleep or spend a lot of idle time
Typically bed bugs feed at night but are active whenever a warm body is nearby and idle for an extended period of time. They prefer to feed when you are asleep and less likely to move or wake up as a result of them feeding. However, bed bugs will adapt to take advantage of a food source. If you work at night and are home during the day, they can feed off of you during the day while you are sleeping. In a movie theater, where it’s dark all the time, bed bugs will feed off patrons during the day.
Bed bugs can move pretty fast, with adults crawling up to 5 feet in about a minute.
They transfer on personal objects via close proximity. A person can transport bed bugs on an infested item, such as a backpack, handbag, or piece of luggage. Once set down, bed bugs will leave these items in search of a blood-meal and can climb onto other items – spreading the infestation. Bed bugs can also be transferred via the purchase of used, infested furniture, or second-hand mattresses.
Bed bugs have been around for thousands of years. Many experts believe that bed bugs have evolved from bat bugs, hypothesizing that bed bugs switched from feeding on the blood of bats and birds to feeding on humans, when cave dwellers first began taking up residence in the same caves as the bats.
Bed bugs are notorious hitchhikers and can crawl into your luggage, or other belongings, and catch a ride to your residence. They can also lay eggs on your belongings and return to their hiding spot, leaving behind a future generation that will emerge at a new location. You can pick the resilient little creatures up from any infested area or from visits by friends and family carrying belongings that have also been to areas with an infestation.
Housing that is multi-family, such as apartment buildings and condominiums have led to the expansion of some bed bug populations. In these types of housing, bed bugs can crawl out of one residence, down a hallway, and into another residence. They can also travel within the walls.
Anyone can have bed bugs introduced into their home through used bed materials, furniture, luggage after traveling, or any public place such as waiting rooms, movie theaters, public transportation, etc.
Bed bugs are found in 5 star hotels as well as low-end motels, and in any home, regardless of the race, ethnicity or culture of its inhabitants. Bed bugs also don’t discriminate between those who are clean and those in need of a shower.
A dirty or cluttered house has nothing to do with bed bug attraction. However, rooms with extensive clutter can provide more places for bed bugs to hide, and therefore make bed bugs harder to remove.
Bed bugs are great hitchhikers. Routinely cleaning and clearing clutter can eliminate the hiding places for bed bugs. You should also carefully inspect any items brought into your home.
It all depends on the situation. The use of a heat treatment, in conjunction with some chemical applications, has proven to be very effective. However, conventional treatments with chemical treatments can also eliminate infestations.
It typically takes between 6-10 hours.
For any multi-family property or hospitality building, your risk is fairly high. Single family homes are also at risk.
Bed bugs are brought in either on clothing, personal belongings, or furniture.
Studies show that female bed bugs migrate away from their host if left uncontrolled. This often leads to infestations in common rooms, lobbies, adjoining rooms or neighboring units. Infested rooms or units may not report seeing bed bugs. Over 30% of people living with bed bugs don’t realize they are being bit. It is common for people to be hesitant to report having bed bugs for fear of embarrassment, eviction, and the stigma of being unclean.
No. Most likely the bed bugs will move with them. The bed bugs could be living or hiding in their belongings. Bed bugs left behind can migrate to other rooms for a blood meal, and they can live up to 1 year or more while waiting for their next blood meal.
Yes. You should inspect the items for any signs of activity, and when in doubt, have any furniture professionally treated. New clothes should be fine, but used clothing can be dried on high heat if you are unsure if it is infested.
We do not recommend throwing away furniture or belongings until a professional comes and assesses the situation. Most items can be treated. If you must get rid of something, wrap the items in plastic and seal it with packing tape. If it is small enough, place it in a trash bag and seal with tape.
Place any clothes that may be infested into a dryer set on high for a least 30 minutes. This also works for dry clean only items. As long as the item is dry, it shouldn’t be damaged, but you should talk to the maker of the clothes first. We are not responsible for damaging any clothes.
That can help, but without treatments, the new items will rapidly become infested by bed bugs that are living in walls, cracks and crevices, etc. Bed bugs are frequently spread when someone moves infested furniture out of a room without encasing the items in heavy gauge plastic. Bed bugs reinfest buildings through reintroduction of infested items from a dumpster.
We caution against the use of over the counter products as most bed bugs are genetically resistant to common household insecticides. Only professionals can access the products and training required to control bed bugs. Using over-the-counter or “do-it-yourself” pesticides or repellents may make the infestation worse by aggravating them, causing them to scatter into remote areas like bed frames, molding and picture frames. Contacting a professional is the best step in managing your bed bug removal.
They could; a repeat infestation can occur just like the original infestation.
- Avoid used furniture. If that’s not possible, carefully inspect used furniture before it is brought in.
- Inspect units with new tenants or with frequent turnover (such as hotel rooms) on a regular basis.
- Ask tenants to avoid visiting or allowing anyone that has a known bed bug infestation in their home to visit your property or home until they have successfully eliminated the bed bug infestation in their own home.
- Use caution while traveling and staying in hotels; inspect the area before unpacking your bags.
Visit our Service Area Locator page and enter your zip code to see if we service your area.
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Frequently Asked Questions in Wisconsin
Serving Wisconsin