Lucky Me: Ever have one of those days when you just feel lucky? This might sound a little weird but I had that feeling a few weeks ago when coincidentally, along with approximately 6500 people, I attended a charity event for the Phoenix Children's Hospital called Biketober Fest. It's a great event sponsored annually by GoAZ Motorcycles and Harley Davidson of Scottsdale. As an active supporter my name was entered into a drawing for custom models of a Harley Davidson and Triumph motorcycle. If you're not familiar with bikes, these models are unique and any biker would love to have either one, particularly as a prize.

Anyway, as with all drawings, someone stuck their hand into a container with the names, shuffled through them, pulled out the winner, and... yep, you guessed it: yours truly won the Triumph and believe me, I'm one happy dude! In all modesty, the picture on the left is your ole bug guy excitedly accepting congratulations from the host so please cut me a little slack here. 

A Frightening Moment: One of our recent Newsletters featured an article about the life of a bug guy. In it I mentioned that everyday was different and we always had to be prepared for anything because it would certainly occur. And, as you'll read below, it did... during what should have been an uneventful task.

Recently John, one of our tops techs, was going to make a routine check of a rodent box in a client's backyard. Upon opening the door he was shocked to be unceremoniously greeted by a large Western Diamondback rattler who had taken up residence in preparation for the onset of winter. The picture shows exactly what John encountered. Fortunately for him hibernation time for rattlers is just beginning and the critter was in a semi dormant state. This gave John time to somewhat compose himself, snap the picture, slam the door shut, and make fast tracks unscathed, but not before turning pale white from mortal fear.

Please don't get the idea that snakes are attracted to rodent boxes for food as that's clearly not the case. Snakes seek warmth for hibernation during the winter months and in this situation a rodent box just happened to be a convenient spot to snooze until next Spring.

Regardless of the time of year, however, be alert for rattlesnakes because attacks are always possible, particularly when they feel threatened.