YOUR BIG DAY.

Dress? Check. Rings? Check. Abounding Love? Check. Little cocktail napkins with your initials on it? Check.

You’ve got every possible detail covered, but if you’re having an outdoor wedding event, this adds a bit more variables that are out of your control. About.com says, the #1 tip for a Perfect Outdoor Wedding is to make your guests comfortable!

From having the temperature controlled (fans, heaters, etc) to constant prayers for no rain, guests that are comfortable are bound to be happier and have more fun – everything you’d want at your wedding! Mosquito Squad can help guarantee any event to be comfortable and safe for your guests by making it mosquito-free with our Special Event Sprays.

Whether you’ve got a romantic evening reception at the Duke Mansion in Myers Park, or celebrating love in the warm sun at Whippoorwill Hill in Waxhaw, our event spray can help make your wedding the event of the year! The only thing we can’t promise is that the dance floor really shuts down at 10… we might have to keep it open till 11.

Best Wishes,

Rachel de Bernardo

As you may or may not know, we’re a bunch of animal lovers around here. With 7 current Squad Dogs on our crew that we protect from mosquitoes, fleas and ticks, we are always looking to protect more!  And that’s when it hit us – why not support the place that united us with our barking best friends?

With that in mind, we’re proud to announce that Mosquito Squad of Charlotte has become a Shelter Partner at the Humane Society of Charlotte! We’ll be providing our service to the Humane Society every 3 weeks from now through the end of the 2010 season.

With Mosquito Squad’s traditional product, not only can we kill heartworm transmitting mosquitoes, but we also provide an instant-kill for ticks and fleas. Since the ASPCA does not recommend using products that contain DEET (dogs and cats are extremely sensitive to it), Mosquito Squad’s pet-friendly mosquito control option is purr-fect for them!

It’s just one more way that we’re looking out for your entire family, including your canine and feline friends all spring and summer long.

Best Wishes,

Rachel de Bernardo

PS: Looking for a new, furry addition to your family? Find your perfect pet at the Humane Society of Charlotte - “They don’t need much, but they do need you”

One the few things the current economic “climate” has not impacted is the proliferation of bothersome and potentially dangerous mosquitoes.

The mosquito challenge is magnified because more people—perhaps like your family—are spending quality time at home. North Carolina—with our beautiful trees and lush landscaping—is the perfect outdoor setting except for one big challenge: Mosquitoes—lots of them! In fact with the record rainfall of 2009 and early 2010, mosquitoes will definitely be far more active in 2010 than in year’s past.

Mosquitoes 101

• Mosquito is Spanish for “little fly.” There are 160 types of mosquitoes in North America and over 2,700 species world wide. Some species some are more active at dawn or dusk while others feed all day long.
• Only female mosquitoes bite. They extract blood from their host (people, pets, birds, etc.) to facilitate reproduction. The itch is caused by an anti-coagulant injected with each bite.
• Mosquitoes must feed on plants to gather sugar for survival.
• The CDC-Center for Disease Control-reports that 1% of mosquitoes transmits the West Nile virus. While most people have little to no symptoms, others become extremely ill.
• Heart worm disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and if not treated early, it can be fatal to dogs and, in rare instances, cats as well.
• Fidgety people, females, those with blonde hair and those who wear dark clothing are more attractive to mosquitoes.
• Mosquito eggs can remain dormant for years and will develop once water is introduced.

Steps You Can Take

1. Clean your gutters—with our heavy tree cover, gutters collect debris often resulting in standing water, creating the perfect mosquito setting. Tyler Kirk—the owner of a local window and gutter cleaning company, Labor Panes — sums it up best. “Gutters are easy to forget about because unless you go outside during a down pour you won’t know they are clogged. It is best to clean gutters twice yearly so they drain properly.”
2. Eliminate standing water anywhere on your property. This includes low areas–even those you cannot easily see such as under a deck or porch.
3. Clean up you yard of any yard debris including broken branches, leaves and plant clippings to name a few examples. Toys, tires, plant pots—anything that can collect water should be covered or stored inside.
4. Your bird bath may be your mosquito’s best friend so drain and refill weekly.
5. Do not over-irrigate—especially in natural areas. Ben Whitehouse of Whitehouse Landscaping (a full service landscape company) suggests only weekly watering of established natural areas in the summer.

If these suggestions help, but don’t handle all of your mosquito control needs, just give us a call. With over 2,000 area customers, we have an unbeatable guarantee:

If you are not pleased with the results we will re-treat your property free of charge. If you elect to cancel our service for ANY reason, we will promptly mail a refund check for all the sprays that have not been completed.

Best Wishes,

Tom Fenig, Owner

“Wow! Great party, but I am eaten up…..”
How many times have you heard or said this phrase? Your friends throw a housewarming party at their new digs, and you come home feeling like one big bite. Your best friends wedding included a little slow dancing, a lot of Bon Jovi, and some biting party crashers. Little did you know that you were a human mosquito magnet and much to your sadness, your friends’ new home or your best friend’s wedding was not treated with Mosquito Squad for their big days!

Well, friends, it’s time that this madness STOP!I say, let us all unite in telling our friends that while we appreciate their invitations to their parties, weddings and joyous celebrations, we simply cannot attend without adequate mosquito control. There is simply no excuse for having to dodge mosquito bites while doing the electric slide – and studies show that movement increases mosquito bites by up to 50%. So either we don’t move at your party or we become a mosquito buffet line.

Friends do not let friends allow mosquitoes to crash their parties. Therefore, have Mosquito Squad come out and prep your backyard for the fun! Between being healthy and comfortable, the fun can keep going into the break of dawn without anyone worrying about tomorrow’s itchiness.

Party On!
~Rachel de Bernardo

It is not often times people take the time to say something good. We’ve all  heard the old saying, “Make 100 people happy, they tell no one. Make 1 person upset and they tell the whole world” and sometimes it proves to be true.

Here at Mosquito Squad of Charlotte, we’re experts at mosquito and tick control – we help Charlotte area families keep their backyards and events healthy and comfortable for their families and friends. But above that, we simply enjoy doing a great job and providing a healthier environment to our neighbors.

Recently, we got a comment on our Angie’s List page that I’d like to share with you all:

“We have lived in our home for 18 years, this was the first summer we were able to enjoy the outdoors without being eaten alive!!! We live on a very wooded/treed lot, we clean our gutters every 6 weeks or so, make sure there is no standing water etc. Nothing worked until Mosquito Squad came to our rescue!! They even treated our small pond which does double duty as our dogs watering hole. Finally, Mosquito Free!!!!!!”
Can you hear the excitement? I wanted to share this, not only because our customer was so happy with us that they took the time to review us, but also to showcase their sincere enthusiasm for what we did for them.

From speaking with customers day after day, I get to hear this a lot – stories of outdoor parties and family reunions where the biggest problem was who got the first piece of cake. A group of friends out on the patio waking the neighbors up with their laughter. Summers spent playing as a family outside instead of sitting on the couch.

It’s rewarding in so many ways, but most of all on a human level – everyone deserves a safe place to enjoy nature, relax, and enjoy time with family and friends. I can only hope that we continue to enhance outdoor living in Charlotte and around the country for years to come!

Hope this finds you all well…

Best Wishes,

Rachel

We’re gearing up for a mosquito prevention, information spreading, all around awesome road trip to the Raleigh Spring Home & Landscape Show!

Teaming up with John from Mosquito Squad of Raleigh-Durham, we’ll be there raffling off a free barrier spray, along with answering any questions and inquiries about our product and services.

The great thing about shows like this, is the opportunity to talk with people who have a mosquito problem that’s never gotten better. Between stocking up on citronella candles and slathering their family with OFF, we hear stories all day long about different methods of mosquito elimination.

Oftentimes, people are shocked to hear about what their common prevention methods are made out of and their side effects. For example, the popular bug spray OFF contains DEET, a chemical that inhibits the central nervous system, has been known to cause seizures and if used long term, can cause insomnia, mood disturbances and impaired cognitive function (you can learn more about DEET here).  Obviously, most people aren’t too wild about spray their family with these products after hearing this, and immediately wonder about safe alternatives.

Thankfully, our product is not only DEET-free, but offers continuous mosquito prevention to your entire family and property (not just those close to the tiki torch or sprayed with chemicals). Based on the chrysanthemum flower, our product is not only safer for your family, but constantly kills and repels mosquitoes without any effort on your part! We’re also proud to be introducing our All Natural product this season as well – providing mosquito protection without a drop of synthetic oils!

Stop by and see us April 19-21, 2010 at the Raleigh Convention Center! We would be happy to speak with anyone who has a mosquito problem or just a curious mind about mosquito prevention!

Till soon,

Rachel @ Mosquito Squad of Charlotte!

PS: Is it as wet and nasty where you are as it is here? Between the snow this weekend and the rain today, this whole Winter thing is getting OLD!

If you’re like anyone on the East Coast right now, you’re probably sick of all the downpours, wash outs and just plain rain we’ve had these past couple weeks. Between the cold, the wind and the rain, it’s been a bleak Winter season so far and I’m sure we’re all excited to get the Spring sunshine back again!

From cookouts to weddings, any outdoor activity in the warm months is going to have its share of bugs, and how many bugs depends on how much precipitation your area got over the winter. You could have a mild bug season to something just this side of swamped. This winter, for example, we’ve seen a close to record setting amount of rain for the Charlotte region. Between the snow, sleet and rain that at times seemed would never end, all this was prepping for an abundance of mosqutioes breeding.

“What can I do about this?”

To begin with, you can make sure that you have no standing areas of water in your yard. Mosquitoes breed in water as small as a thimble, so the more standing water you have, the more incubators you provide for eggs.  You might say, “Well I have no water back there”, but water can be in odd places. For example, magnolia leaves that have fallen on the ground make great water containers, the waxy leaves providing a leak proof reservoir.

Trimming overgrown bushes or thickets is another pre-Spring to-do for preventing mosquitoes in your area. Dense greenery and ivy are havens for swamps of mosquitoes, offering a cool, shady place to hide during peak daytime hours. Cutting back and trimming your yard’s green foliage not only helps your lawn look great, but gives mosquitoes less of a place to hide out while waiting for you to come outside!

If these suggestions help but fail to adequately address your mosquito issues, or if you’re looking for a healthier, more effective mosquito control option, perhaps our barrier spray service would be ideal for you and your family. Consistent treatment of your property by our professionals help make your outdoor spaces more comfortable, and in turn more enjoyable for your family & friends!

Yours in Raincoats and Umbrellas,

-Rachel @ Mosquito Squad of Charlotte

Well, we’re gearing up for the Raleigh Spring Show so it’s time to get back to readying our booth and making sure we’ve got everything we need! With warm weather around the corner, we’re going to let North Carolina know how we can help them have a healthy, comfortable Spring and Summer in their backyards!

Till soon,

Rachel de Bernardo @ Mosquito Squad of Charlotte ~ 704.821.0805

PS: Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/cltmosquitosqd