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Peskies Pest Control Birmingham Alabama Podcast

Peskies Pest Control Birmingham Alabama Podcast

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Our motto at Peskies Pest Control Is 100% Guarenteed Or You Don’t Pay a Penny for pest problems in Birmingham Alabama! Monthly discussions on how to have a pest free home with pest expert, Michael Wienecke how toPeskies Pest Control Birminging, Alabama Nature et écologie Science Sciences de la Terre
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  • The Hidden World of Drain Flies & Breeding Sites

    The Hidden World of Drain Flies & Breeding Sites
    Sep 30 2026
    In this episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, hosts Michael Wienecke and Travis McGowin dive deep into the murky world of household plumbing to answer a simple yet unsettling question: what’s in your drain? From hair-clogged shower drains and dried-out guest toilets to hidden breeding grounds in garages and commercial kitchens, they uncover the real causes behind pest infestations like drain flies and fruit flies. Tune in to discover why bleach isn’t the quick fix you think it is, how structural plumbing issues can trigger surprise fly surges, and practical steps you can take to keep your drains clean and pest-free. Visit our YouTube channel! Podcast Transcript:Michael Wienecke: So what’s in your drain, Travis?Travis McGowin: Probably moisture, crud, and buildup, I’d have to guess.Michael Wienecke: I would have much rather heard “which drain,” because I have multiple different ones.Travis McGowin: Well, I mean, that too. I mean, obviously, there’s, you know, drains everywhere in your house—bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms… Sometimes people have them in their garage. I mean, there’s, you know, potential for drains to be in quite a few places.Michael Wienecke: And in our line of work, we see a lot of things in drains that shouldn’t be in drains.Travis McGowin: (Laughs) Absolutely! I mean—when you get right down to it, when you think about drains, you think about bathtubs and sinks. That’s probably about as far as your mind goes, but if you really wanted to get to the reality of it, toilets are drains too.Michael Wienecke: That’s very true. That’s very true. I was thinking more of a shower drain, and if you’re married or, you know, have a sister or what—if they’re, you know, most…Travis McGowin: Anyone with long hair.Michael Wienecke: Anyone—(laughs) I think women because my wife, but my shower—my shower drain has—has hair all—all in it.Travis McGowin: Oh, yeah. And it—it’s amazing how quickly it builds up. And, you know, no offense to my wife or any other female, but sometimes it’s like, “Dear Lord, how are you not bald?”Michael Wienecke: It just keeps on growing, man! I—I don’t—I’ve often thought that myself. But, you know, with hair in that drain causes a lot of issues, other than just, you know, gagging while you’re cleaning it out.Travis McGowin: Oh, it always has a very nice, pungent odor to it when you pull it out of the drain.Michael Wienecke: It’s so funny watching—like, I’ve seen videos of people, you know, trying to be manly and take it out of the drain; they’re just like about to just lose it.Travis McGowin: Gag—gagging the whole time. (Laughter) It is, it’s gross. It’s gross.Michael Wienecke: As firemen, we’ve seen a lot, so I feel like—I feel like we can handle a lot. But hey, on—on a side note, since we’re talking about gagging, we just got a puppy, and—and it—it used the bathroom in the garage this—this morning. So when I went in there, I—I almost lost it. And I was like, I guess I’m just getting old, I don’t know.Travis McGowin: Was it like, the smell permeated the entire room?Michael Wienecke: Yes! Well, it—I guess it’d been sitting there since, you know, whenever it did. And it was just like, “Oh!” It just hit me in the face. But… Now we have flies, you know? Had to take care of that today.Travis McGowin: So, you know, with drains—and we’ll—we’ll harp a little more on the shower drains and, you know, hair buildup in the drains. I’m sure you’ve been in this position where you pull the drain cover off and you go to pull the hair out, but like, it’s literally not just hair. It’s this very long, just—it’s like it keeps going and going, and it’s like whatever hair you had, and then whatever growth is on that and buildup is on that, it—it just stretches like way down into the drain. Um, you know, the dead giveaway sign for us is when it starts to back up and not drain properly while you’re using your shower, and then inevitably you pull the cover off and it’s just like this long growth buildup with hair and all manner of other mess on it. But I mean, think about any drain.Michael Wienecke: You’re painting an amazing picture.Travis McGowin: I know, right? I—I should’ve taken a picture—I’ll take a picture next time and send it to you.Michael Wienecke: We—we have plenty of video footage of drains. Plenty.Travis McGowin: But moisture—moisture’s the, you know, to me—obviously you got matter and—and items that get put into a drain, but moisture is to me the key ingredient, and it’s—it’s always gonna be there. I mean, drains have moisture in them by design, constantly.Michael Wienecke: Well, and the problem is moisture or lack of moisture can bring on problems.Travis McGowin: Right. So I’ve—I’ve seen it both ways. I’ve seen where, you know, the moisture sitting in the drain along with some organic ...
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    18 min
  • Don’t Burn the House Down: A Professional Guide to Bed Bugs

    Don’t Burn the House Down: A Professional Guide to Bed Bugs
    Oct 7 2026
    In this episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, hosts Michael Wienecke and Travis McGowin broadcast on-location right outside a residential home in Montgomery, Alabama, where a full-house thermal remediation is underway. From the spike in bed bug infestations following peak travel seasons to the science behind using a 500,000+ BTU propane heater to destroy pests and their eggs in a single day, Michael and Travis break down why heat treatment is the ultimate “one and done” solution. Tune in as they discuss practical travel inspection tips, dismantle the stigma surrounding pest infestations, and share a few hilarious past mishaps involving fire departments and unexpected flea encounters! Like us on Facebook! Podcast Transcript:Michael Wienecke: Travis, I feel like bed bugs are on the rise. I feel like we’ve done so many bed bug jobs. I’m losing count.Travis McGowin: Um, things are heating up. See what I did there?Michael Wienecke: Heating up! I like that. Yes. Just in case anybody’s listening, we do heat treatments, so that’s why I said that.Travis McGowin: No pun intended. No pun intended, like I said. But yes, I would say over the last, what, two or three weeks, we’ve done four or five now.Michael Wienecke: Yeah, and I think it’s due to a lot more people traveling. I just think people are traveling more.Travis McGowin: Well, and I think you’re going to only see more of an increase in that simply because the holidays are coming up—October, November, December. Peak travel season, people going visiting with their family. You know, the potential of someone bringing something into your house as they come in to visit, or even family members—you know, some families like to take a big family trip for the holidays. Maybe they go, you know, to the mountains or whatever and they stay in a big cabin or something together. Whatever that looks like for their family, there’s definitely a risk that these bugs can travel. Unbeknownst to them, and then of course, when they realize it, a lot of times it’s just too late.Michael Wienecke: Oh, 100%. I mean, by the time you get them, what, I’d say a month to three months is when they start really showing themselves.Travis McGowin: Yeah, absolutely. And depending upon what size the bed bug was, what life stage the bed bug was prior to you, you know, bringing it home with you. And for those that don’t know, we’re actually sitting outside of a house right now while we speak that we’re currently doing a heat treatment for. And I think it’s a great place to talk about, because earlier on this morning before we got started, we were interviewing and talking with the owner of the house. And, you know, we asked some normal questions that we ask most clients, which is, “Any idea how you got them? Do you travel?” And that’s the first thing that she said was, “Oh, we travel all the time.”Michael Wienecke: Yeah, yeah. And the consultation’s so important. I mean, we talk about this in every aspect of pest control, but asking those questions, “Hey, when’s the last time you went out of town? When’s the last time somebody came over?” We’ve had somebody bring bed bugs because their mother-in-law came and stayed for a month. So, unfortunately, unwelcomed guests on both sides can be, can not be great for your home.Travis McGowin: Absolutely. So, you know, there’s a lot of people who for work or for family, they travel all the time. They have to stay in hotels, they have to stay in Airbnbs or rental properties in general, and they find themselves, you know, at risk—or I would at least say at higher risk than your average everyday human being who’s a homebody. So, let’s discuss a little bit—we’ll talk for a minute here in just a second about what it is we’re doing with this house and how we’re moving the heat in and what it’s doing. But what are some ways that you can mitigate or potentially mitigate this from even being a problem in your own house, especially if you find yourself where you don’t have a choice, you have to travel, you have to move abroad and stay at random places?Michael Wienecke: Yeah, I’ll tell you what I do. So when I go to a hotel or if I’m out of town or something like that, I hang all my luggage up. Some people put it in the bathtub; that’s also a really good way to, you know, if you’re that worried about it. But I hang everything up, I try to put everything in a hanger in the closet. I do an inspection as well, so looking through cracks and crevices—just a quick inspection of the bed frame, behind the headboard. Doesn’t take that long, about five minutes. If you’re that worried about it, though, I would—if you travel a lot, I would carry, I don’t know the scientific term, but bed bug cups. They go up under the bed frame, and they’ll catch the bed bugs so you’d know right then and there. And then you could just talk to the hotel staff, and I think ...
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    30 min
  • Pest Control: American Roach Prevention

    Pest Control: American Roach Prevention
    Oct 14 2026
    Welcome back to the Peskies Pest Control Podcast! In this episode, hosts Michael Wienecke and Travis McGowin take a deep dive into the world of the American cockroach—from wild stories about roach-infested stadium concrete covers to skin-crawling encounters inside tight crawl spaces. The duo breaks down why these giant pests prefer moist environments, how natural harborage areas like pine straw and firewood attract them, and the most practical steps you can take to keep them out of your home. Tune in to learn why “American roaches come low,” what risks they pose to your family’s health, and how simple moisture control can make all the difference. Visit our YouTube channel! Podcast Transcript:Michael Wienecke: But today is the American roach. The longest, fattest, ugliest roach there is.Travis McGowin: It probably doesn’t appreciate you calling it that, all of those mean things.Michael Wienecke: Well, it’s funny because a long, long time ago I was being trained, and that’s how I was taught, that it had a, a large halo on its, on its head, and it was the biggest, just like, you know, Americans seem to be.Travis McGowin: Yeah, I would say between them and Smokey Brown, they’re… Most of what I see between the two are, are about, you know, the same or similar in size. Um, but fun story. I saw, I was at the football field last night, um, calling the game, and then afterwards the stadium got cleaned up, and then I was able to leave. And as I go to get in my truck, I crank my truck up, and I turn my headlights on, and I go to drive away, and there’s like a big concrete, um, and almost looks like the entrance to a well, like, you know, you’d see on someone’s property, um, big concrete cover, big circular, um, piece of concrete going into the ground.Michael Wienecke: Like a sewer?Travis McGowin: And it could be. I mean, you know, we don’t have sewer out there, but, you know, we do have, I guess, septic system, what not. But…Michael Wienecke: Outhouses?Travis McGowin: We’re not that rural. Um, so I look at it and it’s moving. And I took a video, and I’ll have to show it to you, but there were roaches scrambling all over the outside and going into this, uh, piece of concrete. I’m talking about all over the place. It was actually pretty epic to see. So much so that I stopped and pulled my phone out and like videoed this.Michael Wienecke: That’s nasty.Travis McGowin: Why wouldn’t I?Michael Wienecke: Well, and that’s why we always say, you know, American roaches come from below. You know, we see them a lot more in cellars, in basements, uh, wet, damp areas such as that.Travis McGowin: Right. Yeah, there, there, uh, there’s a significant population, it appears, um, in that area now. So, yeah, it was kind of gross, actually.Michael Wienecke: Well, um, are you, are we treating that area?Travis McGowin: No, we don’t treat the school.Michael Wienecke: Oh, I thought, I thought it was at the football field.Travis McGowin: No, no. Well, I mean, it’s close to the high school stadium, but no, we don’t treat anything at the school. They have their own people they’ve, you know, low-bid contracted with.Michael Wienecke: Well, all right then. Well, so let’s talk about how they enter your house in general. I mean, uh, we’ve talked about cracks, crevices, doors, windows, but, um, talk about some, uh, nature obstacles. Natural obstacles. There we go.Travis McGowin: Na- natural obstacles?Michael Wienecke: Yeah, some things that customers could do to help with, um, not letting American roaches in their house in the first place.Travis McGowin: Right, so first thing that comes to mind for me is trying to ensure that none of the areas around your property are harborage areas or places that that they want to live or stay, you know? And what that could look like is maybe not having so much pine straw or mulch, uh, and especially high amounts of moisture around those as well. Um, but just, I think eliminating some of the harborage areas is a really great start.Michael Wienecke: I mean, firewood around the house is a big one for me, cuz we see, we see that a lot. And I can just remember just as a kid watching, you know, like a stack of wood, you’d remove it for for the fire or something, and uh, roaches would come out of the woodwork. Literally. So, just for that, termites, I mean, ants. I mean, really, any kind of pest, you don’t want a bunch of wood that you’re gonna burn that probably was cut up and has some type of, uh, insect or larva already in it. So, want to keep that as far away as possible. Um, good seals on the windows, trees not touching the house. Um, that’s gonna be a big one, cuz again, those, those roaches can, they can fly, but I mean, they’re fairly weak flyers, so they’re gonna do more, more crawling. And then, of course, your, uh, water, water, na-, you know, um, like when it rains, your, your standing water issues and stuff like that...
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    15 min
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