It wasn’t a lifelong fascination with bugs or a high school biology insect collection project that catapulted Mark Harrison into the pest control business, but here it is, more than four decades later, and Harrison remains the chief Whitco “Bug Warrior.”

Harrison visited with Bill Harris as part of the Business Spotlight of The Local Skinny! Harrison and his son run Whitco Termite and Pest Control, based in Henderson.

“I would like to say it was always my life plan to be in the pest control business,” he told Harris Thursday. “But I kinda fell into it.”

He needed a job back in 1976, and answered an ad for a termite technician. And the rest, as they say, is history. He obtained his pest control license and in 1987 formed a business partnership with Aaron Whitley of Rocky Mount. They rented a small space in Henderson and then five years later purchased their current location, 123 E. Belle St.

Eighteen years ago, he bought out his business partner and now he and his son run the business.

The Whitco Bug Warriors team conducts quarterly pest control appointments with clients as well as termite control. They also can perform work in crawlspaces to eliminate humidity problems, he said.

One employee – a termite expert – has worked with Harrison for 25 years.

“I would match him up against any termite man in the state of North Carolina,” he said, (and) his customers would agree with me.”

Fire ants are becoming more of a problem in the area, and they get calls to treat athletic fields.

“We do a lot of football fields,” he said. The last thing a football player wants is to get tackled and land on a fire ant hill.

Harrison said ants in general are probably the most worrisome pest that this area deals with, but they don’t generate as big an “eww” factor as another pest that Harrison and his crews tackle: Bedbugs.

There is one team member whose sole job is working to eradicate bedbugs, he said.

“It’s the most difficult problem that people face – I would say it’s impossible to get rid of them yourself,” he said of a bedbug infestation. “Oh yeah, it’s big time.”

Secondly, the treatment isn’t cheap, so not everyone can afford to call a professional.

That means everywhere they go, they’re taking bedbugs with them – ‘cause they’re great hitchhikers.

Peak time for bedbug calls are after holidays, when people have either traveled or have had people come stay with them.

To learn more about the services they offer, contact Whitco at 252.492.2818 or visit their website www.whitcobugwarriors.com.

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