Pestimonials: Real Stories From Arrow Service Members

Behind every pest problem is a story, and our team has seen it all. While our service members are the best of the best at keeping your home pest-free, sometimes, they find themselves in unexpected situations. 

From funny and hairy to creepy and scary, here are a few of their wildest encounters from the field.

When Pests Bring a Plus-One

You never know what you’ll find when you walk into a home. Sometimes, it’s not just the usual pests — it’s something much bigger.

I was doing an annual termite inspection and as I was heading to the basement, the customer stopped to tell me she has a pet snake.

I’m not a fan of snakes. So I asked if the snake was in a cage. She said, “No, he’s a free-ranging snake, and I’ve let him take up residence in the basement. He’s a very large king snake. He’s usually down there in the rafters.”

…And the first thing I saw was a humongous snake skin. I just learned that you don’t know what to expect, and I certainly wasn’t expecting that. -Matt Holland

It turns out, some pests can be welcome guests. But even when a homeowner wants something removed, sometimes our technicians find an extra surprise. 

We had a customer that had this ant problem underneath their built-in grill. So every time I’d go out, I’d check the grill to see if there was a problem building up and put a treatment down if necessary. 

I opened the grill, and as I was looking down there, I realize there’s this face looking back at me. And as I turned to get a better look, I see it’s a giant Norway rat staring me in the face. 

Lucky for me, he jumped back down under the grill, and I went and broke the news to the customer. -Drew Highsmith

The Infestation Identity Crisis 

Some infestations make sense. Others leave even the pros scratching their heads.

I got a call from a customer about mites. She signed up for service, and when we arrived, she provided us with a baggie for identification purposes. It had a toothbrush, toothpaste, and little pieces of M&M shells.

The customer told us that these mini M&M shells were all over her bathroom, and she really needed help with it. So you never know what you’re walking into, and we’re just happy to help. -Ruth Levert

But not every mistaken pest sighting is quite so sweet.

One customer said they were seeing small roaches in their bathroom. When we got there, we found some of the critters, and they were not small roaches — they were a food-borne pest. So it was weird they were in the bathroom.

We did an investigation, and we narrowed it down to one cabinet in the bathroom. And in that cabinet, we narrowed it down further to a box of Rid-X septic treatment that was absolutely full of food-borne pests.

It turns out Rid-X has a wheat germ in it, and that was the food source that attracted the drugstore beetles. -Boyd Kendrick

House Visit Horrors

Every technician has come across a creepy pest. This was one of those times.

A customer said they’d been seeing a few more spiders than normal. When I got there, the entire yard, eaves, siding of the house — everything was covered with spiders. 

Come to find out it was brown widows, and they’ll fully infest a property. 

Then, we went under the crawl space where it was absolutely nothing but wall-to-wall webs and crawling with brown widow spiders. We got the job done, but it was one of the more uneasy treatments I’ve had to do. -Drew Highsmith

Make Your Pest Story a Short One

Thankfully, most visits aren’t this memorable. But at Arrow, they all have one thing in common — a pest-free ending. If you’re ready to get pests out of your life, contact us for a quick and efficient removal.