Maui Real Estate Radio Broadcast
Show 13: Pets and Pests
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Transcription:
Intro: The following is a paid program and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff or management of visionary-related entertainment [music].
Clint Hansen: Aloha. My name is Clint Hansen with Maui Real Estate Radio also, mauiluxuryrealestate.net. You can hear any of our podcasts all eleven of them about a myriad of Maui Housing issues, real estate, and all things Maui. This is Maui Real Estate Radio. I'm your host, Clint Hansen. 7:00 AM. We're broadcasting at 11:10 AM, 96.7 FM, and 98.7 FM. I have our guest with us today. She-- I call her the pet concierge. But she's the direct airport release program. Her name is Kelly Heiman and many people come to Maui and they just anticipate that they're going to do the old school, put their animal in quarantine and it's a big hurdle to overcome because our pets are our family. I mean at least in my family and growing up I've had a number of dogs. I've bred miniature pinschers and right now, I have a pound puppy and I couldn't imagine ever you know being away from my animal for months on end and that's one of the things you don't have to do when you come to Maui. You don't have to worry about the quarantine program. There is a lengthy process that you have to go through but that's one of the reasons I like Kelly and I've recommended her strongly among all other people because people have had wonderful, wonderful experiences with her. And I wanted her to work you through the process today. And Kelly, welcome to the show.
Kelly Heiman: Well, thank you. Aloha.
Clint: Aloha.
Kelly: And I'm so happy to be here. Happy you called and this is my passion. I'd love to talk about it. So yes, let's get going and get this information out there.
Clint: Yeah, I'm still surprised today because I mean it's been a change for a little while that people have gone through and said, Oh, okay, I have to take my animal and put it into a quick kennel. And it's got to be you know kept and subjected to loneliness and you know being in a cage for all that time. But for me, I mean I've known a while that there's been this program available more than a decade. But can you tell me a little bit about the history?
Kelly: Absolutely. It's funny you mention that. Just this morning, I received a phone call. Somebody still thought there was a mandatory quarantine of 120 days. So prior to 2003, when some of us moved over here, it was mandatory quarantine on Oahu 120 days. And it was such a stressful time. And as you know, I can't imagine having to go through that and the poor pets. So as of 2003, the state changed the laws where they allowed the 120 day wait period to be done on the mainland. So you would finish everything that you needed to do: paperwork, testing, payment. And you waited the 120 days with your pet on the mainland and then you could fly over to Hawaii. June of 2018, that law changed again. So now--.
Clint: Even better.
Kelly: Even better. Now, it's a 30-day wait so--.
Clint: You can get through that paperwork pretty quick then.
Kelly: You can. So it is a quite a bit of paperwork but I'm here to help, hold your hand, and walk you through the process.
Clint: And that's one of the thing that's really important and one of the reasons I really recommend Kelly is the fact that she can really hold your hand. People get so overwhelmed when they're looking at a variety of different sources of information and some of it is out of date especially you know come across some county things here and there. And there might be an old cache page with old information. Can you tell us about a little bit more of the modern process and the paperwork that you have to go through to talk with your mainland vet?
Kelly: Sure. I get calls every day where I talk people off the ledge. I-- it is a very simple process but it sure can be overwhelming especially when you start getting on the websites and the blogs. I understand completely. So I always tell people. It's a four-step process. And if they email me, I will put it in writing. Don't feel like you have to write it all down. If you have questions, before you start stressing, just give me a phone call. So four steps. We are able to import felines and canines into Maui. All other birds, pocket pets need to go through Oahu. So I handle dogs and cats. They all need to have a microchip implanted.
Clint: Of course.
Kelly: They need to have two rabies given in their lifetime and we need to be able to prove that. So we're going to need to get those rabies certificates. Third step would be a blood titer test.
Clint: What's a blood titer test?
Kelly: So you will be walking into your veterinarian's office and you will be having a conversation with the veterinarian on the mainland because they're going to be involved in this the entire process. And if they have any questions, they can certainly call as well. But they are going to be pulling the blood of your dog or cat and sending it into an approved lab and they're going to measure the antibodies and the level. And it has to pass at a certain level for State of Hawaii standards. So you are not really involved as a client. The veterinarian will handle all of this. You will just let them know where you're going to be traveling because it could be New Zealand. It could be Australia. Any rabies-free country or state. We would need to go through this so you need to make sure you let them know it is Hawaii. So the paperwork gets electronically transferred to the database over in the State of Hawaii. So once that is complete, your countdown begins. The day after the lab receives the blood sample, your 30-day countdown begins. So that's when you want to call me. I would suggest you calling me maybe 60 days out so we can work through all the steps and the paperwork and have it ready to go.
Clint: Or even I mean [that] most of my clients call you right from the beginning there.
Kelly: Yes.
Clint: They're like, where do I go? Where do I find the paperwork and you know--?
Kelly: Sure.
Clint: --you've always been very helpful in directing them to the right place. But is there a particular location that you would direct most of your veterinarians in the mainland to for paperwork?
Kelly: They can certainly go on the state website. They can email me and I will send them all the paperwork. They can call me. It's-- a lot of paperwork is out there. I just want to make sure they get the correct forms. Looks like you said, there is a lot of information and some of it is old information.
Clint: And what is your phone number and email address that you'd like people to use?
Kelly: So I have a dedicated direct airport released phone line and I will pick that phone up. Unless I'm out surfing or kayaking, I will pick that phone up seven days a week usually till 10:00 at night and that number is 808-446-1521. So 808-446-1521.
Clint: Beautiful.
Kelly: So keep that. Put me. Save me as a friend in your phone and I have relationships with people. We start a year sometimes, more in advance, getting this going and getting the fur babies over to Maui. Again, you can fly into any island you'd like. You just find somebody like me on that island that will help you with the process and the list of names is on the state website as well.
Clint: I like that though the direct airport release program, DARP you know. That's how I remember everything. For my little derp, it's DARP.
Kelly: So we offer our services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So you pick the flight that's best for you and we will be there for your pet. Pets arrive in cabin and pets arrive in pet cargo hold. Pets arrive on cruise ships.
Clint: Cruise ships.
Kelly: And we will be tendered out to the cruise ship. I have one on Friday. So they come in Lahaina, obviously and then the Kahului parts. So happy to do that. And also, private aircraft.
Clint: Oh, that makes sense. I'm sure you get quite a few people with their specialized you know cute little animals, their pocket poodles and all that.
Kelly: Oh, I do. Yes. And you walk on the airplane and there is one person and one dog. That's wonderful so--.
Clint: Oh, geez. I would-- I wouldn't give to be that dog.
Kelly: Absolutely. So again, that's why we offer services 24 hours a day because I don't-- you know cruise ships come at all times and obviously, private aircraft come at all times.
Clint: All the way up until when the airport closes.
Kelly: Yes.
Clint: So what it's usually the cost associated with something like this? I mean is there a difference first of all between regular airport off-hours and--. Well, first let's just start with the general cost.
Kelly: Excellent question. So obviously, you're going to have the state fee. You always have to pay the state. The state does not have an office on Maui. So they have contracted somebody like me to provide this service here on Maui because they have no personnel here. So you will be paying the state, their fee and my fee. So my fee is 300 dollars for the first pet and 50 dollars for each additional pet on the same flight, 24 hours a day seven days a week. I probably will charge you more if I come down on Christmas.
Clint: I would imagine.
Kelly: Because people do travel a lot on Christmas so--.
Clint: Or late at night too. I mean--.
Kelly: No, I don't charge extras at night but the holidays is sometimes, I do charge a bit extra for Christmas mainly.
Clint: I would imagine. Yeah. And I bet it happens to you because--.
Kelly: It does.
Clint: --people are coming in. And Chris-- what's Christmas without the pets.
Kelly: I agree. And we're there for them. And I have two direct release agents that assist me at the airport, Melissa and Priscilla who are amazing. And so yeah, full service.
Clint: I don't know how my dog does it but for Christmas every year, we wrap on a number of presents for him. He knows that they're there under the tree and you know, I guess there is a certain smell that the presents have. You know the little chewies and stuff. So we're like, Okay, Diggs, go on. Go get your fruit. His name is Diggle by the way because we thought he was Beagle Doberman. But he's almost a 100% [Catahoula].
Kelly: Okay.
Clint: So he goes and he goes and grabs the present, brings it gingerly out, drops it, and takes one little tiny piece of wrapper. I'll share the video on my Facebook. But it is the most adorable thing you've ever seen.
Kelly: I love that. I love that. Yes. Yes.
Clint: But Christmas time is that a big typically a time of year where you're a little overwhelmed you got?
Kelly: So the busiest time is September through February. So we're at the airport every day and the last commercial flight comes in at 11:00 PM.
Clint: So it's more of those long term people that are going to be here.
Kelly: Yes, I have a lot of clients that come every month that have homes here. I have clients that obviously come for vacations and their weddings and they bring their pets to include in the wedding. I have a lot of those clients and people obviously moving here so--.
Clint: Oh, yeah. I mean that's a major undertaking to come over and you know people are always worried about what to do with their animals. So it's nice to know that they don't have to worry about that long sheltered lifestyle of the poor animal. When they're coming over here, they have services as long as they you know have a little bit of planning, they can get their animal--.
Kelly: Absolutely.
Clint: --back and forth.
Kelly: They have enough to worry about. This is something they don't have to worry about you know. So just a phone call away, happy to walk them through it, hold their hand.
Clint: And is it a little bit easier? Let's just say you have a Maui pet and then you want to go on a backpacking trip somewhere in the mainland and you take your animal. I'm assuming you just got to go through the same paperwork but it's a local veterinarean that would be taking care of the paperwork here.
Kelly: Excellent question. We have many, many clients that live here and travel to the mainland. And yes, it's basically the same process. The timeline is a bit different and everything is done on Maui before you depart. We want to make sure everything is done and completed before you leave the island so there's no surprises.
Clint: That's good to know because you know I actually had one of my clients call you recently. They had a health issue in the family and it was a bit of a panic. Fortunate I was like, [--] don't worry. I'll take care of everything while I'm gone. I'll even stay at your house which is a little tough because I have two beautiful little girls, our dog, you know, my wife. We only live a couple blocks from this house of ours that we're listing. But you know I'm like, [we'l]l be there to take care of you. And he's, Oh, what. I walk my dog five times a day. I was like, Oh, my goodness. You really love your animal. But you know he was fortunate enough to find a friend. It's only going to be for like a week and that would have been kind of a travesty to take his animal to the mainland all the way to the East coast just to have to bring it back and of course, it's not going to happen in that amount of time.
Kelly: Right. And that does happen where people have unexpected emergencies. And unfortunately, I really impress upon everybody to finish the paperwork and get all the testing done before you leave. And sometimes, that is not possible. And you have to stay.
Clint: I understand. I mean-- my question is is there any kennel services that you do recommend for people that are leaving the island. I mean there are those unforeseen things and a lot of people come to Maui and they don't have those family or friend connections. You know they're often out here to get re- in touch with themselves and they lose those networks when they move to Maui for at least the while.
Kelly: Well, one good thing to remember is the pet does not have to travel with you on the same airplane that you're on. If you need to come for a job, the pet can stay with a friend, Mom, Dad, and wait out those 30 days or finish the paperwork or finish the testing and they can be put on the flight by themselves and travel over. You don't need as an owner to be on the same airplane as the pet. So that's one thing to remember is if you need to get to a job in two weeks while your pet needs a little bit longer, we can arrange that. And then the pet will just come after you.
Clint: Okay. So--.
Kelly: You travel alone.
Clint: --what kennel service are they usually at then when you--?
Kelly: Well, a lot of people use their family and just--.
Clint: So they'll actually do the delivery [crosstalk].
Kelly: Drop off. Sure.
Clint: Okay, very nice.
Kelly: Sure. I know there are--.
Clint: A few kennel services on the island.
Kelly: --services. Yeah, but I don't have any of them.
Clint: All right. And easy Google search and a couple a little--. Google recommends is not too difficult to go and find those people. On the side note, I mean we mentioned the cruise ships and the private airlines or the private planes that people are coming over on. Is there any additional steps for those people? I mean obviously, you're going to be going a little bit further. Is there extra costs associated with you know the different hours? I know you said there's an upcharge for Christmas. But what about going out to the cruise ship. [--] takes a little bit more doing.
Kelly: It does and I do impose a $100 extra fee for cruise ships. It does take much longer. There's hundreds of people on the ship that we're trying to navigate through. The tenders can always get us you know out to the ship. So it is a longer process. It's a longer drive. So yes, I do impose an extra fee on that. But again, just give me a phone call. We'll work through anything at.
Clint: Yeah, well and my last question is you know we broadcast every single week. We're on Monday 7:00 AM to 8 AM. Now, with people that are coming to Hawaii and they're bringing their pets out here. Are there additional unforeseen you know health issues with travel that you see? I mean the actual process of getting the animal out here. You know I think it really wildly depends on what airline you're going on. But do you recommend like battery-operated heating blankets or you know certain water dishes or you know airlines that are particularly good at getting your animal here?
Kelly: Excellent question. So the first advice I give is for the owners does not stress. The pets arrive fine. You know they're happy. They want to go for a walk. I wouldn't be a part of this program if I felt it wasn't a safe program or any issues. I have not had any issues in almost 20 years that we've been doing this. I do have a lot of advice for my clients and that's part of our communication process. There are many things that can go wrong but I can fix just about anything on this side. I've had you name it and I've seen it. Microchips have worked them-- worked their way out of the pet. So they arrive without a microchip.
Clint: And then you got to go right to the vet or something to get a new one. Correct. You know without-- they've arrived without the proper paperwork. You know delays people were bumped from flights. You know anything can be fixed. But the key is the communication. If you and I start our communication and I'm super anal about the process. My goal is to get your fur child to Maui healthy, happy, and wagging its tail and purring. So I'll do everything to make sure that the T's are crossed, the I's are dotted and we get here and it's a smooth process. Because once you land on Maui, it should be no more than 10 minutes. You were in and out. If we do everything and you follow my directions, you're done in 10 minutes.
Clint: When they're-- the animals in the cargo hold. I mean obviously again, this depends on what airline. At least when I get my bags and they're coming straight off the plane, I noticed they're ice cold. You know they've been exposed to low temperatures. Is there like a separate heated area or something like that on most planes? Because I would hate for my-- especially if it was a very small dog. My dog, 65 pounds. So he's going to be okay. But at the same time, I would imagine a little tiny animal like a Miniature Doberman or Min Pin. You know they would have a problem.
Kelly: That's-- so current day, all the airlines are pressurized cabin for the pets and climate-controlled. So no worries there. I do have to tell you some funny stories that we've had a couple cute little Jack Russell terriers. They get bored in their crate on that long flight over. They've worked them-- their way out of the kennel somehow and they have caused. They've had fun on their travels over and there they are when you open the--.
Clint: Cargo hold.
Kelly: There they are happy as can be--.
Clint: Hey, guys.
Kelly: --waiting for you and made a mess.
Clint: Oh, no.
Kelly: So we do have a lot of tips from over the years and doing this. I have-- I will get your pets here in one piece without any distraction of any luggage or anything like that.
Clint: So make sure it's latched, right?
Kelly: Right.
Clint: So that's pretty fun. There's got to be a couple of funny stories that you got to tell me of.
Kelly: Well, we had a German Shepherd that he somehow got into an area he wasn't supposed to and got into some electrical areas and he caused quite a bit of financial damage.
Clint: Oh, no.
Kelly: So that'd be all. Yeah. So I mean over the years I've learned a lot of tips as well. So we want to make sure that we you know secure those crates properly so there's no chance of Houdini in escaping from his crate. If pets are traveling in cabin, we come right to the aircraft. We will be waiting right there as you walk off the jetway. So you don't have to go anywhere. We come to the airplane if the pets in cabin. We have an office on the airport grounds. If the pets in pet cargo, they are delivered to us at my office on the airport grounds. You pick up your luggage. You can walk over to my office or get the rental car and we will take care of the release right there at the office.
Clint: Oh, that's nice. Where is your office at the airline?
Kelly: Well, that's a good question because it's unmarked without an address or [--].
Clint: [And] hidden.
Kelly: It is. So I have the directions written in the emails so I can.
Clint: Oh, I got you.
Kelly: With the map because--.
Clint: Yeah, it's going to be hidden down this hall up these stairs--.
Kelly: Correct.
Clint: --around the corner.
Kelly: Correct so--.
Clint: How many-- just one last question because I'm always fascinated by the oddities of life. So how often has an animal escaped from the cage? Is it like three times, five times? I mean you've been-- how long have you been doing this by the way?
Kelly: Since the program started in 2003.
Clint: Okay. So quite a while.
Kelly: So from first, first day. Over the years, I would say not many. I would say less than five but those five are just very memorable. And they did a lot of damage.
Clint: I bet.
Kelly: And-- but everybody arrives safe and in one piece. And that's the most important thing.
Clint: Thank you so much for coming and again if you could share that contact information one more time. This is Kelly Heiman, by the way, helping with the Direct Airport Release Program. And I call her the pet concierge even though that's not her official name. So what's that phone number and email again?
Kelly: So it's 808-446-1521 or you can email me at Kelly, K-E-L-L-Y at West Maui Animal Clinic dot com. Either that or just give me a phone call and let's have a chat.
Clint: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure for coming in.
Kelly: Absolutely. Thank you. Okay.
Clint: Aloha.
Kelly: Aloha.
Clint: So this is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate on Maui Real Estate Radio broadcasting KAOI,11:10 AM, 96.7 FM and 98.7 FM broadcasting Monday 7:00 AM. I also have another guest with me today. This isn't just pets. It's also pests. I know our little pets can be passed some time but this is a little bit more on the official side of things. You all have seen their trucks rolling around town. They're a family operation. Bowman Termite and Pest Services. I have
Bruce Bowman with me here today.
Bruce Bowman: Hey, Clint. How are you doing?
Clint: Thank you so much for [coming]. Good, good. You just put in his headphones on right now. Can you hear me all right?
Bruce: I can hear you.
Clint: All right. Great. Great. Great. So you've been doing this a long time. You actually have a career. You went to college for such an education to help take care of our little pests.
Bruce: That's true. And I remember people looked at me as if I was crazy when I told them I was going to study insects.
Clint: Is that not just entomology? What is it again?
Bruce: Yeah, that's--.
Clint: It is entomology.
Bruce: It's entomology.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: But mine was economic entomology--.
Clint: Oh, much better.
Bruce: --which was controlling insects. Yeah. And all the various aspects.
Clint: That's a-- the process to go through to get that education. And was it more of like a two-year, four-year program like--.
Bruce: It was a full--.
Clint: A lot of biology intensive stuff.
Bruce: Yeah. Lot of biology. It was a four-year program, Cal Poly. And so I got a Bachelor of Science degree.
Clint: Very nice. Very nice. And then through your career here on Maui, how long have you lived here and how long have you been doing Bowman Termite?
Bruce: Let me see. I've lived here 43 years on Maui and doing-- the first company I started was called Maui Fumigation. Okay. And I was-- one of my friends I used to sell-- see when I first came to-- I'm going to back up a little bit.
Clint: Go all the way [crosstalk].
Bruce: Okay. When I first came [--].
Clint: It's important they know how long you've been working for Maui.
Bruce: Okay. When I first came to Hawaii, I was just six months out of graduation from college and I came to Oahu and I was selling-- I was a chemical rep and I was selling pest control chemicals to the termite and pest control industry. So I've been around this industry for 48 years something like that. Yeah. And but then in 19'--.
Clint: That amazes me. You got my family beat because you know we're a family operation and you know my mom's had her license for almost-- you know for 40 years now in real estate. That's amazing. The whole time that you've been doing that pest services here on Maui.
Bruce: And then in 1971, '76 is when we started Maui Fumigation. And I had that business for 18 years and got an offer that I couldn't refuse. And so started working with-- I worked with a company that bought us here on Maui for 10 years and then after the 10 year period, I decided I'd had enough working with my-- the other company. And I want to start again.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: Yeah. So that's when Bowman Termite started 19-- 2001.
Clint: Yeah, for those pest services, is it just insects and termites and powderpost beetles or do you guys also have like baiting services for rodents and things of that nature?
Bruce: Yes, we have almost everything you can imagine for--.
Clint: Really?
Bruce: For pest prevention for homeowners, primarily for homeowners in hotels and condos and stuff like that.
Clint: Okay. Here's one. This is way off topic but how do you know people love coming to Maui. And one of the things that they like of course is chickens. You know it's just randomly everywhere. But they can certainly mess up. I mean our farm up in Olinda. We had close to $1500 in irrigation damage from chickens coming in.
Bruce: No kidding.
Clint: And yeah, they just tore everything up. All the wiring. You know it was pretty bad. And there we lost huge you know thousands of gallons of water because they were just forcing the valves open all the time. So-- and we didn't realize that they all just kind of came within a one-month period. So it's-- our chickens it's something that you-- cause I would imagine not.
Bruce: You know. No, that's a good question.
Clint: That to me.
Bruce: But I think you know it was just going over in my mind about [probably] within the last two weeks because I've had feral pigs--.
Clint: Oh, no.
Bruce: --come into my yard. And do I'm-- I love landscaping and I'm very meticulous about it.
Clint: Your property is gorgeous by the way.
Bruce: But the pigs love to ruin it and they just looking for all because I keep it fertilized and watered and everything. So I got plenty of worms and the pigs are digging it up looking for worms. And so I said, gee, you know, I mean this is an afterthought because now, I am getting older but maybe when I was 23 or you know in that age I would have pursued it.
Clint: [crosstalk] or something like that.
Bruce: But you know feral pig management, chicken management, deer management. You know there's several things that really and feral cats.
Clint: Oh, man. Off the charts.
Bruce: You know and so I said, we could have a division in our company that does this but there's too many problems.
Clint: There is.
Bruce: You know you're dealing with domestic animals. I mean some are domesticated. Some are not domesticated but you're also dealing with. You know it's-- you come in different problem.
Clint: Yeah. I would imagine this--.
Bruce: --with dealing with those kinds of animals.
Clint: -- a whole new series of rules and regulations and licenses in order to you know take care and treat larger animals like yeah.
Bruce: So that thought was a real quick one.
Clint: Yeah, and it was a big no.
Bruce: Yeah, that's right.
Clint: So what are the common pests that you take care? Obviously, rodents. That's one of them.
Bruce: Okay. The number one pest I think in Hawaii now are ants.
Clint: Oh, yeah. Okay.
Bruce: You know I mean they're more of a nuisance pest. I mean we don't have a little fire ant other than in certain remote areas right now.
Clint: Yeah, they're doing like aerial [drop] from I understand.
Bruce: And then he go there and he [--] and-- but you know, we operate on the Big Island. And they do have the little fire ant on the Big Island. And we do fumigate and what I'll tell you about the little fire ant is it. It's really frustrating for our fumigators. They put these-- they roll up these tarps in people's yards. And they get the little fire ants on them at times.
Clint: Oh, geez.
Bruce: And then they put the tarps on their shoulders and then they get stung.
Clint: And most--.
Bruce: Now, that doesn't happen a lot. But it happens and it's just you know.
Clint: And in just in those isolated areas.
Bruce: Well, on the Big Island, it's not nearly as isolated as you know as it is over here.
Clint: I got you. Do you still have services over on the Big Island then?
Bruce: Oh, yeah. We have 10 employees on the Big Island.
Clint: I didn't even know that. Okay. Well, I only know.
Bruce: Yeah, that's--.
Clint: --you for Maui.
Bruce: I see. I started the Big Island before I met you. Yeah. That was about 12 years ago or so. My wife and I went over for three years kind of back and forth. We lived there most of the time.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: And we started that operation but to get back to your question about pests, ants, like I said, are probably the number one pest but they really don't do too much damage. So probably next in-- I mean termites, of course, they do a lot of significant damage. The drywood termite and the Formosan are subterranean termite but the cockroaches when I first got here to Hawaii in-- well first to Maui in 1976. When we were fumigating, we would fumigate houses that basically had more, much more of a cockroach problem than they did of a termite problem.
Clint: No kidding.
Bruce: And you would go to retrieve your fans and your shooting lines from the inside of the house and you would just crunch, crunch, crunch.
Clint: Oh, the dead ones.
Bruce: There was thousands of it in [--]. It's not nearly as bad now. There are certain baits that are sold over the counter.
Clint: Well, isn't that a lot less like [Kanak] and things of that nature that you know the drywall that have some of that edible materials, new products or--.
Bruce: No, it's humans.
Clint: It's human services cleaner now.
Bruce: Yeah, you know, we're [pretty exhaustive] of a-- you know. We need to have [crosstalk] our pest and then cockroaches are one of our pest. Not so much drywall. I mean there's lots-- that doesn't contribute the [Kanak] and the fiberboards and stuff like that they soak up moisture. So it's more conducive for them to live in that condition. But it's food. They get a little on food. It's the food that we leave behind. And we leave them in a perfect sheltered area, in our cabinets. We give them--. They have water right above where they can get the water out of the sink and then they have-- they need food, water, and shelter. And we provide that all for them.
Clint: I bet actually had a client of mine and every single time he would leave his property, he would saran wrap all his toilets and a sinks. And it worked. He'd come back and they didn't have a water source.
Bruce: You know that's the first time I heard that but that's a very good remedy because--.
Clint: They need water to live.
Bruce: -- the big American [roach] itself. It comes up through the cesspools. And so it comes up. And so if he's put in saran wrap over the top of it, he's blocking him inside that in the joint. but yeah, if you have a major problem with American roaches, the great big one. They call them the B52 bombers.
Clint: And you feel when they hate you. That's for sure.
Bruce: Yeah, that's usually a cesspool situation.
Clint: Yeah. So they're actually coming up through the pipes then.
Bruce: They come up to--. Yeah.
Clint: Wow. I wasn't aware. I mean it does make sense though. You know they like moisture. They like nice damp environments and you know whenever I'm walking by just a simple drains in our neighborhood, it's like a city coming alive out of those things so--.
Bruce: Almost every cesspool if you open the cesspool cover. You can see American roaches in there.
Clint: No kidding.
Bruce: Yeah.
Clint: So people tell me there's a big difference between the American roaches and the German one. Like that, if you have the American one it's just common. You have it. But the German ones are usually a bit more of a sign of an infestation. It doesn't make sense to me. Is that true?
Bruce: No, that's basically true.
Clint: Oh, okay.
Bruce: The American roaches can get infested in you know in your cabinets and stuff but that's not real common. It's more common for the German roach and even we have another one called the brown-banded, brown-banded roach and they have different-- they're similar but they have different life methods and so we have to treat a little bit differently and so forth.
Clint: And is that a baiting process for a cockroach [--]?
Bruce: You know this is what's happening. Yeah. Since you know I've got some history to go on as you know. And we used to use long residual chemicals back in the days--.
Clint: Longlifes.
Bruce: Yeah, Longlife and they're more repellent than you know. But now, we're using a lot of baits. We use a lot of--.
Clint: Better for the environment. Better for the family.
Bruce: Much better for the environment. Much better. Yeah. And growth regulators they will not generally not permit the insects to go through molting process which they have to shed their outer skin. There's a lot of much safer insecticides that are used commonly by even you know even sold over the counter and by the pest control industry.
Clint: Is that almost like a birth control too for insects?
Bruce: Yeah, they-- there are well--.
Clint: That's a chemical [compound].
Bruce: It's more of an agricultural type of thing when they use soil sterile. I mean when they use insect sterilants and stuff like that. It's not so much in our industry. I can't think of anything right off the top my mind. It is a birth control remedy.
Clint: I see people though when they're spraying around the outside of homes. Those are really more you know poisons and things of that nature and short-lived ones.
Bruce: Yeah, most of our accounts are-- that we service are we suggest a monthly basis because the chemicals in our Hawaii sun as it just doesn't hold up that well. And they're also safer. They're not the long residual chemicals. So we do a lot of homeowners on a regular just monthly basis. It doesn't take us long to treated it. It's very-- there's not much that the homeowners have to do in preparation and so it works quite well.
Clint: And how's that work? You know we earlier we're talking about pets. How does that work with animals and pets and cats, dogs?
Bruce: We just tell the owners to keep their pets off the treated surface until it dries.
Clint: So for you know a few hours.
Bruce: You know the products we use are insecticides and so they're designed to kill insects, not mammals or not rodents and you know change the subject who are rodent. We do rodent control with baits. We usually--.
Clint: Boxed.
Bruce: Yeah, we bait on the outside. Because we don't want them to die and live. I mean die on the inside and we trap on the inside. So if we trap them, we can take the traps out. There's no stink. No major problem. And then we bait on the outside and they generally will die on the outside.
Clint: Yeah, and of course, you always got to be careful that your animal doesn't eat it after that.
Bruce: No, these are not. They don't have--. You know before we used to use rodenticides that had secondary poisoning where the rat would die. The cat would die. I mean the dog would die after he ate the cat and you know.
Clint: From what I understand now--.
Bruce: They don't have a secondary poisoning.
Clint: --they're mostly like blood thinners or something like that.
Bruce: Yeah. It's like yeah warfarin.
Clint: Warfarin.
Bruce: Yes. You've heard warfarin sold. I mean an advertise over the TV. That's a product that we use to thin our blood. That's what we use for rat control.
Clint: Just higher concentrations.
Bruce: No, it's not even. I don't even. I would have to [crosstalk]. I don't [crosstalk] that. Well, we-- I'm sure it has higher concentrations because we want to kill the rats. And we don't want to kill the humans.
Clint: No, definitely not.
Bruce: We don't advise people to eat the rat bait.
Clint: No doubt.
Bruce: And I actually have a friend of mine who had their puppy eat like an entire block of one of those things and they said, I called poison control and are like uhm. If it's just one, he'll be fine. It's a puppy. Are you sure?
Clint: Yeah, no problem. And then, sure enough, the dog didn't have a problem. I was astonished that that was--.
Bruce: No.
Clint: [--] overdose.
Bruce: Yeah. Yeah, they have to feed several times. It's multiple feeding. It's not like we used to have a rodent base that were a one-time kill. They take a bite and they're dead.
Clint: Wow.
Bruce: And yeah, but those aren't around anymore.
Clint: No, probably not legal, right?
Bruce: I've seen a lot of changes. I saw when I first got into the industry, there was a person who I later got to know a little bit but I didn't really-- I mean he was an owner of a pest control company and they were banning DDT. This is how back far back I go. And he had some capsules in his hand and he was taking DDT capsules to prove that it wasn't you know. But that was ridiculous. Ago one thing about DDT, DDT was probably the most miraculous chemical ever come up with. I mean as far as the benefits of DDT but man misused it by far. And so the eggshells of birds got thin. We almost wiped out our American Eagle and so but those chemicals. That classification of chemicals are no longer around.
Clint: Because of the abuses of them you know not properly--.
Bruce: Well, they lasted so long. Chlordane was one of them and some of the old-timers will know the word chlordane and it just-- you could treat a soil underneath a slab or something for termite prevention and 20 years later dig up that soil. You could smell the chlordane.
Clint: Wow. I mean there is something-- the new developments in order to prevent ground termites, they do put a treatment down and what I know I think it was starting 2005 or something along those lines. What chemical is that [--] down?
Bruce: I think it was--. Let me see. 2005. What year we have right now? This is almost 20 years ago. I think when Sentricon came.
Clint: Okay, yeah.
Bruce: And Sentricon is a bait that the termites will take back to the colony. The worker termites are the ones foraging for the food. They'll take it. They're social insect like ants are and they'll take it back to the colony. And but it'll collapse the colony. It prevents them from molting and shedding that are skin. It is a real important process the insects have to go through. And so it just will-- it will totally kill the colony. And the colonies of the foremost and termite can exceed 5 million termites. And so to kill that colony what we have seen in the last 20 years and I've been doing this 47 years. The last 20 years we've seen a reduction of Formosan termites. When I first got here, every year it would increase, increase, increase.
Clint: And Formosan is the underground termites.
Bruce: Formosan is a subterranean termite.
Clint: Okay.
Bruce: Yeah, it would increase and increase and then when Sentricon came out, it's a miraculous product.
Clint: Fantastic.
Bruce: It was really, yeah.
Clint: Now, we just got to make sure we don't abuse it.
Bruce: No. And it's one [crosstalk] of those green-friendly products. You know it's very, very, very safe. It's going after one [mode] of the insect. So it's not a poison.
Clint: Speaking of green products that don't necessarily work. Orange oil. Oh my gosh. That drives me crazy. People are like, Oh, yeah. But we treated it with orange oil and I'm like, you know you're really just buying a warranty with that. And every time in my long career of selling real estate, somebody has gone to treat termites with orange oil. It is-- it might reduce their numbers but it has done nothing to eradicate them.
Bruce: The thing about orange oil if you come in direct contact with the termites, you're going to kill them. You can do that with a lot of things.
Clint: Soapy water.
Bruce: Yeah, okay. But as your dad knows well, I--.
Clint: Bob, yeah.
Bruce: was called out on one of your jobs and this house was under orange oil treatment for many years and it kept on having--.
Clint: I wonder why.
Bruce: Yeah, kept the many years that he kept on having termite droppings, termite droppings, termite droppings. And in fact, where other than the termite colonies decreasing, they're increasing. And so we took care of it. But fumigation you know it's not the most friendly method of treatment but in some cases, it's--.
Clint: The only one.
Bruce: --required or only one really viable until we come up with something different. You know--.
Clint: You have to take extra diligence when you're in an oceanfront house I'm assuming you know.
Bruce: Yeah, there's a lot of things you have to do. I mean and we have to comply and that's fine. We comply with all the regulations and so forth. And that's very important but we don't want to make false advertising like we've heard on this orange oil that it can replace fumigation and stuff like that because it can't.
Clint: Now, the one thing that I think that can replace it is actually increasing the temperature of the home, right? Can't you dehydrate them to death?
Bruce: Yeah, you know.
Clint: Hard to do though.
Bruce: No. Yeah, it's very hard to do and the experience [that]-- what we've seen is and literature will tell you that if you can get the heat up, you have to get up the heat up to 140 degrees for a certain period time.
Clint: Yeah, like 12 hours [crosstalk].
Bruce: No, not even that long. It's only like 40 minutes or something. It's in the literature. Okay. But to do that, you're going to get the temperature up but not the core of the wood to maybe a 160, 180 degrees and then you're starting to do damage to the paint and so forth so--.
Clint: Your finishes, your candles are going to just be a puddle.
Bruce: So little things so you can do the heat treatment but bigger things, houses they've had very little just too many problems. They don't even do-- I don't see any heat treatment done for houses anymore.
Clint: Okay. So here's one. I know we talked about termites and we know our remedies for that obviously baiting you know in order to prevent proliferation and stop [their growth]. And when it comes to that point where they've gotten out of control, tenting is obviously one of the best remedies. Orange oil doesn't work. You know for alternative methods, raising the temperature of the housing and people do really like to be as green as possible for alternative methods. But most people don't realize that beyond termites, there's other wood-boring insects like powderpost beetles. I mean we've had a few situations in the past where powderpost beetles come into play and you know now, I'm a little bit more educated because they seem to be a bit more prevalent of a problem is they're more difficult because they fill their holes, right? And then it makes it hard for pet poison to penetrate.
Bruce: That's not the reason--.
Clint: Why?
Bruce: --why it's hard to penetrate. The powderpost beetles, the egg stage of insects is very hard to get the fumigate into and--.
Clint: They do everything they can to protect them.
Bruce: Even with dry wood termites, we don't kill the egg stage. But we don't have to kill the egg stage because the worker termite has to feed the other worker termites and they have a protozoa that is in their gut and they pass that protozoa. That protozoa is what breaks down the wood, the lignin in the wood. But with powderpost beetles, the newly hatched beetles can go ahead and eat the wood without any you know--. They can digest and eat the wood. So we have to use a concentration, a much higher concentration to kill powderpost-- to penetrate the egg. We kill the beetles at the same concentration for dry wood termites. But we don't kill the egg stage. So literature I mean our label calls for 10 times the amount.
Clint: That's expensive.
Bruce: It's expensive but also, it's a little dangerous. I mean we--.
Clint: A lot more [monitoring].
Bruce: --have to really, really work with our crew on beetle jobs and make sure that they're not exposed to you know-- make sure they do especially on the uncovers and stuff like that. I mean it's really important.
Clint: And is powderpost like not going to be as much of a structural issue? It's really going to be more of a cosmetic, right?
Bruce: Yeah. They--.
Clint: The termites are [more structural].
Bruce: --get in. They don't generally get in. They don't get into the conifers. The Douglas-firs are building materials. They get into more cosmetic wood and so the flooring, they can get into flooring. They can get in but if it's hardwood but we don't use a lot of hardwood in Hawaii other than maybe flooring. So the powderpost beetles-- you know I was looking at our numbers. We do roughly a thousand fumigations a year. And but with powderpost beetles, we [pay] only do 10 to 15.
Clint: Yeah, well it's good that it's not much of a problem.
Bruce: And I'm so glad. Yeah. It is just-- it's not a real big problem but I'm so glad that it isn't. You know let me backtrack on one thing that we kind of--.
Clint: Go for it.
Bruce: --as far as the alternative methods to drywood termite treatment. We've finally have a good product and we've had quite pretty good success on localized treatment but this is at the early stages. We don't recommend localized treatment if the house has--.
Clint: It's expensive.
Bruce: Yeah, well it's not that expensive. It's just--.
Clint: Extensive [--].
Bruce: Oh, it's extensive. Yes. If the termite damage is extensive, we can't because the only thing you can do with localized treatment is treat what you see and you can't treat what you don't see. And so if there's like and a house has never been fumigated, someone has three or four places. Sometimes, we can treat it by local treatment.
Clint: That's one of the reasons I've loved working with you guys.
Bruce: Yeah, the first is orange oil. We use a product called Termidor and it's--.
Clint: Oh, yeah. I've heard of that.
Bruce: Yes, very good product. And it's non-repellent. Orange oils repellent. It's residual which you want to a [residue]. You want some residual and orange oil isn't residual and it's toxic to the insects and so the key is that with the orange oil, you have to get him on.
Clint: Got you.
Bruce: Get a chemical on them or they're going to be repelled by it. The Termidor you don't. It's come to the foam. You get part of it and then the termites will groom themselves. They'll clean themselves. They lick themselves and by doing so, they'll pass the chemical and only takes--.
Clint: Spread it.
Bruce: --small amounts of chemical and it can--
Clint: What's the life on something like that? It's that like a 12-day [--].
Bruce: No, you know. It's a good question. It all depends on--.
Clint: I ask the hard question.
Bruce: I know. That's-- you know even if I looked in literature, it wouldn't come up with an answer to that.
Clint: You have to call the producer.
Bruce: But I know under a slab where we treat for subterranean termite prevention, it might last 10 years or something like that.
Clint: Yeah, when it's not. It's goes to the elements, air, and stuff like that.
Bruce: Sunlight is the worst. Yeah. That's what breaks down chemicals. Yeah.
Clint: So now back to the powderpost beetles. I'm really glad to hear that it's not becoming-- in the very few experiences I've had it's actually been contractors that bring it in. So they're bringing in materials from all over and they install these cabinets not realizing that they have you know these powderpost beetles. They may have treated it because most things come over through some sort of treated process you know whether that's lumber whether that's you know cabinetry but powderpost is a more difficult animal, right?
Bruce: Right. I don't see it too much in the cabinets. I see-- you brought up another point in my mind about drywood termites in cabinets. People are buying cabinets that are made out of birch and it's-- they're beautiful cabinets.
Clint: They're delicious too.
Bruce: But they're delicious to the drywood termites and they can have them. They can buy a brand-new house. I saw one last week but a brand-new house within a year, he had some drywood termites.
Clint: Birch.
Bruce: Birch drywood termites. But the powderpost beetles from what I see is more just like what I'm saying is a flooring primarily and sometimes siding. You know it's fancy wood. It's teak or you know some of the real hardwood.
Clint: Oh, really teak? Because I thought teak could be one of those resistant ones because I know that redwood and has that naturally-occurring I guess protective chemical on it. And then also, what's that wood?
Bruce: Cedar.
Clint: Cedar. That's it. So those seem to be one of the two most repellent but obviously expensive, anti-rot you know resistant. And if you know if you get the opportunity to build your house with redwood, do it. But it's so expensive. The thing that surprises me though, those carpenter bees love redwood. They come from miles to get that stuff.
Bruce: Good. You're right. You're right on this. Good. The old houses, [Arisumi] houses and stuff. A lot of those internal walls were redwood walls. And so they didn't get in and they back in those days, they had the copper chromate and arsenic, the Wolmanized wood. And so there's a lot of houses were built 50 years ago or so that don't have any termites.
Clint: So let's talk about the last thing. Is there any other additional treatments that you want to mention or services? Because one of the things I do want to talk about with Bowman Termite-- they're one of the reasons they're one of our top recommends is whenever we're in the escrow process, they'll come through. And they actually will do the inspection. Look for the termites and there's rare occasions in which we will not be able to close escrow. So first of all, they'll do an upcharge if there is a need to spot treat and which you know I appreciate. But they-- you guys usually do it right then regardless because you know it needs to get done and it's going to be an issue going forward. But the big plus is if it doesn't go through escrow, it doesn't close. You know that's not a bill that the seller has to pick up. So I really appreciate and love working with you guys because you know law of averages is not very common for them not to go through escrow. But thank you. I really appreciate that.
Bruce: No, and it's been a win-win for us too because if it doesn't close generally the realtors happy and the sellers happy and the seller will use us again. So it'll come down the line.
Clint: So what's your website by the way?
Bruce: Bowmantermite.com.
Clint: And what phone number do you recommend them calling?
Bruce: 244-0296.
Clint: All right. So today I've had
Bruce Bowman on. This is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate broadcasting on Maui Real Estate Radio, the KAOI radio group, 11:10 AM, 96.7 FM and 98.7 FM. You can get us Monday 7:00 AM talking about all things Maui and real estate. If you need more information or want to listen to any of our informative podcasts on this and other information, feel free to go to mauirealestateradio.com. That's mauirealestateradio.com. [music] But most people are just going through our website mauirealestate.net to find out all the new listings. But one of the most established real estate families on the island and we get actually close to 50,000 unique visitors on our website every single month. Yeah, it is big numbers. That's why people reasons people like listing with us because our are the top. So thank you for listening and have a great day. Bowman, Aloha. Thank you so much.
Bruce: Yes, it is. Thank you.
Clint: Aloha.
Bruce: Thank you very much.
Clint Hansen: Aloha. My name is Clint Hansen with Maui Real Estate Radio also, mauiluxuryrealestate.net. You can hear any of our podcasts all eleven of them about a myriad of Maui Housing issues, real estate, and all things Maui. This is Maui Real Estate Radio. I'm your host, Clint Hansen. 7:00 AM. We're broadcasting at 11:10 AM, 96.7 FM, and 98.7 FM. I have our guest with us today. She-- I call her the pet concierge. But she's the direct airport release program. Her name is Kelly Heiman and many people come to Maui and they just anticipate that they're going to do the old school, put their animal in quarantine and it's a big hurdle to overcome because our pets are our family. I mean at least in my family and growing up I've had a number of dogs. I've bred miniature pinschers and right now, I have a pound puppy and I couldn't imagine ever you know being away from my animal for months on end and that's one of the things you don't have to do when you come to Maui. You don't have to worry about the quarantine program. There is a lengthy process that you have to go through but that's one of the reasons I like Kelly and I've recommended her strongly among all other people because people have had wonderful, wonderful experiences with her. And I wanted her to work you through the process today. And Kelly, welcome to the show.
Kelly Heiman: Well, thank you. Aloha.
Clint: Aloha.
Kelly: And I'm so happy to be here. Happy you called and this is my passion. I'd love to talk about it. So yes, let's get going and get this information out there.
Clint: Yeah, I'm still surprised today because I mean it's been a change for a little while that people have gone through and said, Oh, okay, I have to take my animal and put it into a quick kennel. And it's got to be you know kept and subjected to loneliness and you know being in a cage for all that time. But for me, I mean I've known a while that there's been this program available more than a decade. But can you tell me a little bit about the history?
Kelly: Absolutely. It's funny you mention that. Just this morning, I received a phone call. Somebody still thought there was a mandatory quarantine of 120 days. So prior to 2003, when some of us moved over here, it was mandatory quarantine on Oahu 120 days. And it was such a stressful time. And as you know, I can't imagine having to go through that and the poor pets. So as of 2003, the state changed the laws where they allowed the 120 day wait period to be done on the mainland. So you would finish everything that you needed to do: paperwork, testing, payment. And you waited the 120 days with your pet on the mainland and then you could fly over to Hawaii. June of 2018, that law changed again. So now--.
Clint: Even better.
Kelly: Even better. Now, it's a 30-day wait so--.
Clint: You can get through that paperwork pretty quick then.
Kelly: You can. So it is a quite a bit of paperwork but I'm here to help, hold your hand, and walk you through the process.
Clint: And that's one of the thing that's really important and one of the reasons I really recommend Kelly is the fact that she can really hold your hand. People get so overwhelmed when they're looking at a variety of different sources of information and some of it is out of date especially you know come across some county things here and there. And there might be an old cache page with old information. Can you tell us about a little bit more of the modern process and the paperwork that you have to go through to talk with your mainland vet?
Kelly: Sure. I get calls every day where I talk people off the ledge. I-- it is a very simple process but it sure can be overwhelming especially when you start getting on the websites and the blogs. I understand completely. So I always tell people. It's a four-step process. And if they email me, I will put it in writing. Don't feel like you have to write it all down. If you have questions, before you start stressing, just give me a phone call. So four steps. We are able to import felines and canines into Maui. All other birds, pocket pets need to go through Oahu. So I handle dogs and cats. They all need to have a microchip implanted.
Clint: Of course.
Kelly: They need to have two rabies given in their lifetime and we need to be able to prove that. So we're going to need to get those rabies certificates. Third step would be a blood titer test.
Clint: What's a blood titer test?
Kelly: So you will be walking into your veterinarian's office and you will be having a conversation with the veterinarian on the mainland because they're going to be involved in this the entire process. And if they have any questions, they can certainly call as well. But they are going to be pulling the blood of your dog or cat and sending it into an approved lab and they're going to measure the antibodies and the level. And it has to pass at a certain level for State of Hawaii standards. So you are not really involved as a client. The veterinarian will handle all of this. You will just let them know where you're going to be traveling because it could be New Zealand. It could be Australia. Any rabies-free country or state. We would need to go through this so you need to make sure you let them know it is Hawaii. So the paperwork gets electronically transferred to the database over in the State of Hawaii. So once that is complete, your countdown begins. The day after the lab receives the blood sample, your 30-day countdown begins. So that's when you want to call me. I would suggest you calling me maybe 60 days out so we can work through all the steps and the paperwork and have it ready to go.
Clint: Or even I mean [that] most of my clients call you right from the beginning there.
Kelly: Yes.
Clint: They're like, where do I go? Where do I find the paperwork and you know--?
Kelly: Sure.
Clint: --you've always been very helpful in directing them to the right place. But is there a particular location that you would direct most of your veterinarians in the mainland to for paperwork?
Kelly: They can certainly go on the state website. They can email me and I will send them all the paperwork. They can call me. It's-- a lot of paperwork is out there. I just want to make sure they get the correct forms. Looks like you said, there is a lot of information and some of it is old information.
Clint: And what is your phone number and email address that you'd like people to use?
Kelly: So I have a dedicated direct airport released phone line and I will pick that phone up. Unless I'm out surfing or kayaking, I will pick that phone up seven days a week usually till 10:00 at night and that number is 808-446-1521. So 808-446-1521.
Clint: Beautiful.
Kelly: So keep that. Put me. Save me as a friend in your phone and I have relationships with people. We start a year sometimes, more in advance, getting this going and getting the fur babies over to Maui. Again, you can fly into any island you'd like. You just find somebody like me on that island that will help you with the process and the list of names is on the state website as well.
Clint: I like that though the direct airport release program, DARP you know. That's how I remember everything. For my little derp, it's DARP.
Kelly: So we offer our services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So you pick the flight that's best for you and we will be there for your pet. Pets arrive in cabin and pets arrive in pet cargo hold. Pets arrive on cruise ships.
Clint: Cruise ships.
Kelly: And we will be tendered out to the cruise ship. I have one on Friday. So they come in Lahaina, obviously and then the Kahului parts. So happy to do that. And also, private aircraft.
Clint: Oh, that makes sense. I'm sure you get quite a few people with their specialized you know cute little animals, their pocket poodles and all that.
Kelly: Oh, I do. Yes. And you walk on the airplane and there is one person and one dog. That's wonderful so--.
Clint: Oh, geez. I would-- I wouldn't give to be that dog.
Kelly: Absolutely. So again, that's why we offer services 24 hours a day because I don't-- you know cruise ships come at all times and obviously, private aircraft come at all times.
Clint: All the way up until when the airport closes.
Kelly: Yes.
Clint: So what it's usually the cost associated with something like this? I mean is there a difference first of all between regular airport off-hours and--. Well, first let's just start with the general cost.
Kelly: Excellent question. So obviously, you're going to have the state fee. You always have to pay the state. The state does not have an office on Maui. So they have contracted somebody like me to provide this service here on Maui because they have no personnel here. So you will be paying the state, their fee and my fee. So my fee is 300 dollars for the first pet and 50 dollars for each additional pet on the same flight, 24 hours a day seven days a week. I probably will charge you more if I come down on Christmas.
Clint: I would imagine.
Kelly: Because people do travel a lot on Christmas so--.
Clint: Or late at night too. I mean--.
Kelly: No, I don't charge extras at night but the holidays is sometimes, I do charge a bit extra for Christmas mainly.
Clint: I would imagine. Yeah. And I bet it happens to you because--.
Kelly: It does.
Clint: --people are coming in. And Chris-- what's Christmas without the pets.
Kelly: I agree. And we're there for them. And I have two direct release agents that assist me at the airport, Melissa and Priscilla who are amazing. And so yeah, full service.
Clint: I don't know how my dog does it but for Christmas every year, we wrap on a number of presents for him. He knows that they're there under the tree and you know, I guess there is a certain smell that the presents have. You know the little chewies and stuff. So we're like, Okay, Diggs, go on. Go get your fruit. His name is Diggle by the way because we thought he was Beagle Doberman. But he's almost a 100% [Catahoula].
Kelly: Okay.
Clint: So he goes and he goes and grabs the present, brings it gingerly out, drops it, and takes one little tiny piece of wrapper. I'll share the video on my Facebook. But it is the most adorable thing you've ever seen.
Kelly: I love that. I love that. Yes. Yes.
Clint: But Christmas time is that a big typically a time of year where you're a little overwhelmed you got?
Kelly: So the busiest time is September through February. So we're at the airport every day and the last commercial flight comes in at 11:00 PM.
Clint: So it's more of those long term people that are going to be here.
Kelly: Yes, I have a lot of clients that come every month that have homes here. I have clients that obviously come for vacations and their weddings and they bring their pets to include in the wedding. I have a lot of those clients and people obviously moving here so--.
Clint: Oh, yeah. I mean that's a major undertaking to come over and you know people are always worried about what to do with their animals. So it's nice to know that they don't have to worry about that long sheltered lifestyle of the poor animal. When they're coming over here, they have services as long as they you know have a little bit of planning, they can get their animal--.
Kelly: Absolutely.
Clint: --back and forth.
Kelly: They have enough to worry about. This is something they don't have to worry about you know. So just a phone call away, happy to walk them through it, hold their hand.
Clint: And is it a little bit easier? Let's just say you have a Maui pet and then you want to go on a backpacking trip somewhere in the mainland and you take your animal. I'm assuming you just got to go through the same paperwork but it's a local veterinarean that would be taking care of the paperwork here.
Kelly: Excellent question. We have many, many clients that live here and travel to the mainland. And yes, it's basically the same process. The timeline is a bit different and everything is done on Maui before you depart. We want to make sure everything is done and completed before you leave the island so there's no surprises.
Clint: That's good to know because you know I actually had one of my clients call you recently. They had a health issue in the family and it was a bit of a panic. Fortunate I was like, [--] don't worry. I'll take care of everything while I'm gone. I'll even stay at your house which is a little tough because I have two beautiful little girls, our dog, you know, my wife. We only live a couple blocks from this house of ours that we're listing. But you know I'm like, [we'l]l be there to take care of you. And he's, Oh, what. I walk my dog five times a day. I was like, Oh, my goodness. You really love your animal. But you know he was fortunate enough to find a friend. It's only going to be for like a week and that would have been kind of a travesty to take his animal to the mainland all the way to the East coast just to have to bring it back and of course, it's not going to happen in that amount of time.
Kelly: Right. And that does happen where people have unexpected emergencies. And unfortunately, I really impress upon everybody to finish the paperwork and get all the testing done before you leave. And sometimes, that is not possible. And you have to stay.
Clint: I understand. I mean-- my question is is there any kennel services that you do recommend for people that are leaving the island. I mean there are those unforeseen things and a lot of people come to Maui and they don't have those family or friend connections. You know they're often out here to get re- in touch with themselves and they lose those networks when they move to Maui for at least the while.
Kelly: Well, one good thing to remember is the pet does not have to travel with you on the same airplane that you're on. If you need to come for a job, the pet can stay with a friend, Mom, Dad, and wait out those 30 days or finish the paperwork or finish the testing and they can be put on the flight by themselves and travel over. You don't need as an owner to be on the same airplane as the pet. So that's one thing to remember is if you need to get to a job in two weeks while your pet needs a little bit longer, we can arrange that. And then the pet will just come after you.
Clint: Okay. So--.
Kelly: You travel alone.
Clint: --what kennel service are they usually at then when you--?
Kelly: Well, a lot of people use their family and just--.
Clint: So they'll actually do the delivery [crosstalk].
Kelly: Drop off. Sure.
Clint: Okay, very nice.
Kelly: Sure. I know there are--.
Clint: A few kennel services on the island.
Kelly: --services. Yeah, but I don't have any of them.
Clint: All right. And easy Google search and a couple a little--. Google recommends is not too difficult to go and find those people. On the side note, I mean we mentioned the cruise ships and the private airlines or the private planes that people are coming over on. Is there any additional steps for those people? I mean obviously, you're going to be going a little bit further. Is there extra costs associated with you know the different hours? I know you said there's an upcharge for Christmas. But what about going out to the cruise ship. [--] takes a little bit more doing.
Kelly: It does and I do impose a $100 extra fee for cruise ships. It does take much longer. There's hundreds of people on the ship that we're trying to navigate through. The tenders can always get us you know out to the ship. So it is a longer process. It's a longer drive. So yes, I do impose an extra fee on that. But again, just give me a phone call. We'll work through anything at.
Clint: Yeah, well and my last question is you know we broadcast every single week. We're on Monday 7:00 AM to 8 AM. Now, with people that are coming to Hawaii and they're bringing their pets out here. Are there additional unforeseen you know health issues with travel that you see? I mean the actual process of getting the animal out here. You know I think it really wildly depends on what airline you're going on. But do you recommend like battery-operated heating blankets or you know certain water dishes or you know airlines that are particularly good at getting your animal here?
Kelly: Excellent question. So the first advice I give is for the owners does not stress. The pets arrive fine. You know they're happy. They want to go for a walk. I wouldn't be a part of this program if I felt it wasn't a safe program or any issues. I have not had any issues in almost 20 years that we've been doing this. I do have a lot of advice for my clients and that's part of our communication process. There are many things that can go wrong but I can fix just about anything on this side. I've had you name it and I've seen it. Microchips have worked them-- worked their way out of the pet. So they arrive without a microchip.
Clint: And then you got to go right to the vet or something to get a new one. Correct. You know without-- they've arrived without the proper paperwork. You know delays people were bumped from flights. You know anything can be fixed. But the key is the communication. If you and I start our communication and I'm super anal about the process. My goal is to get your fur child to Maui healthy, happy, and wagging its tail and purring. So I'll do everything to make sure that the T's are crossed, the I's are dotted and we get here and it's a smooth process. Because once you land on Maui, it should be no more than 10 minutes. You were in and out. If we do everything and you follow my directions, you're done in 10 minutes.
Clint: When they're-- the animals in the cargo hold. I mean obviously again, this depends on what airline. At least when I get my bags and they're coming straight off the plane, I noticed they're ice cold. You know they've been exposed to low temperatures. Is there like a separate heated area or something like that on most planes? Because I would hate for my-- especially if it was a very small dog. My dog, 65 pounds. So he's going to be okay. But at the same time, I would imagine a little tiny animal like a Miniature Doberman or Min Pin. You know they would have a problem.
Kelly: That's-- so current day, all the airlines are pressurized cabin for the pets and climate-controlled. So no worries there. I do have to tell you some funny stories that we've had a couple cute little Jack Russell terriers. They get bored in their crate on that long flight over. They've worked them-- their way out of the kennel somehow and they have caused. They've had fun on their travels over and there they are when you open the--.
Clint: Cargo hold.
Kelly: There they are happy as can be--.
Clint: Hey, guys.
Kelly: --waiting for you and made a mess.
Clint: Oh, no.
Kelly: So we do have a lot of tips from over the years and doing this. I have-- I will get your pets here in one piece without any distraction of any luggage or anything like that.
Clint: So make sure it's latched, right?
Kelly: Right.
Clint: So that's pretty fun. There's got to be a couple of funny stories that you got to tell me of.
Kelly: Well, we had a German Shepherd that he somehow got into an area he wasn't supposed to and got into some electrical areas and he caused quite a bit of financial damage.
Clint: Oh, no.
Kelly: So that'd be all. Yeah. So I mean over the years I've learned a lot of tips as well. So we want to make sure that we you know secure those crates properly so there's no chance of Houdini in escaping from his crate. If pets are traveling in cabin, we come right to the aircraft. We will be waiting right there as you walk off the jetway. So you don't have to go anywhere. We come to the airplane if the pets in cabin. We have an office on the airport grounds. If the pets in pet cargo, they are delivered to us at my office on the airport grounds. You pick up your luggage. You can walk over to my office or get the rental car and we will take care of the release right there at the office.
Clint: Oh, that's nice. Where is your office at the airline?
Kelly: Well, that's a good question because it's unmarked without an address or [--].
Clint: [And] hidden.
Kelly: It is. So I have the directions written in the emails so I can.
Clint: Oh, I got you.
Kelly: With the map because--.
Clint: Yeah, it's going to be hidden down this hall up these stairs--.
Kelly: Correct.
Clint: --around the corner.
Kelly: Correct so--.
Clint: How many-- just one last question because I'm always fascinated by the oddities of life. So how often has an animal escaped from the cage? Is it like three times, five times? I mean you've been-- how long have you been doing this by the way?
Kelly: Since the program started in 2003.
Clint: Okay. So quite a while.
Kelly: So from first, first day. Over the years, I would say not many. I would say less than five but those five are just very memorable. And they did a lot of damage.
Clint: I bet.
Kelly: And-- but everybody arrives safe and in one piece. And that's the most important thing.
Clint: Thank you so much for coming and again if you could share that contact information one more time. This is Kelly Heiman, by the way, helping with the Direct Airport Release Program. And I call her the pet concierge even though that's not her official name. So what's that phone number and email again?
Kelly: So it's 808-446-1521 or you can email me at Kelly, K-E-L-L-Y at West Maui Animal Clinic dot com. Either that or just give me a phone call and let's have a chat.
Clint: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure for coming in.
Kelly: Absolutely. Thank you. Okay.
Clint: Aloha.
Kelly: Aloha.
Clint: So this is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate on Maui Real Estate Radio broadcasting KAOI,11:10 AM, 96.7 FM and 98.7 FM broadcasting Monday 7:00 AM. I also have another guest with me today. This isn't just pets. It's also pests. I know our little pets can be passed some time but this is a little bit more on the official side of things. You all have seen their trucks rolling around town. They're a family operation. Bowman Termite and Pest Services. I have
Bruce Bowman with me here today.
Bruce Bowman: Hey, Clint. How are you doing?
Clint: Thank you so much for [coming]. Good, good. You just put in his headphones on right now. Can you hear me all right?
Bruce: I can hear you.
Clint: All right. Great. Great. Great. So you've been doing this a long time. You actually have a career. You went to college for such an education to help take care of our little pests.
Bruce: That's true. And I remember people looked at me as if I was crazy when I told them I was going to study insects.
Clint: Is that not just entomology? What is it again?
Bruce: Yeah, that's--.
Clint: It is entomology.
Bruce: It's entomology.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: But mine was economic entomology--.
Clint: Oh, much better.
Bruce: --which was controlling insects. Yeah. And all the various aspects.
Clint: That's a-- the process to go through to get that education. And was it more of like a two-year, four-year program like--.
Bruce: It was a full--.
Clint: A lot of biology intensive stuff.
Bruce: Yeah. Lot of biology. It was a four-year program, Cal Poly. And so I got a Bachelor of Science degree.
Clint: Very nice. Very nice. And then through your career here on Maui, how long have you lived here and how long have you been doing Bowman Termite?
Bruce: Let me see. I've lived here 43 years on Maui and doing-- the first company I started was called Maui Fumigation. Okay. And I was-- one of my friends I used to sell-- see when I first came to-- I'm going to back up a little bit.
Clint: Go all the way [crosstalk].
Bruce: Okay. When I first came [--].
Clint: It's important they know how long you've been working for Maui.
Bruce: Okay. When I first came to Hawaii, I was just six months out of graduation from college and I came to Oahu and I was selling-- I was a chemical rep and I was selling pest control chemicals to the termite and pest control industry. So I've been around this industry for 48 years something like that. Yeah. And but then in 19'--.
Clint: That amazes me. You got my family beat because you know we're a family operation and you know my mom's had her license for almost-- you know for 40 years now in real estate. That's amazing. The whole time that you've been doing that pest services here on Maui.
Bruce: And then in 1971, '76 is when we started Maui Fumigation. And I had that business for 18 years and got an offer that I couldn't refuse. And so started working with-- I worked with a company that bought us here on Maui for 10 years and then after the 10 year period, I decided I'd had enough working with my-- the other company. And I want to start again.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: Yeah. So that's when Bowman Termite started 19-- 2001.
Clint: Yeah, for those pest services, is it just insects and termites and powderpost beetles or do you guys also have like baiting services for rodents and things of that nature?
Bruce: Yes, we have almost everything you can imagine for--.
Clint: Really?
Bruce: For pest prevention for homeowners, primarily for homeowners in hotels and condos and stuff like that.
Clint: Okay. Here's one. This is way off topic but how do you know people love coming to Maui. And one of the things that they like of course is chickens. You know it's just randomly everywhere. But they can certainly mess up. I mean our farm up in Olinda. We had close to $1500 in irrigation damage from chickens coming in.
Bruce: No kidding.
Clint: And yeah, they just tore everything up. All the wiring. You know it was pretty bad. And there we lost huge you know thousands of gallons of water because they were just forcing the valves open all the time. So-- and we didn't realize that they all just kind of came within a one-month period. So it's-- our chickens it's something that you-- cause I would imagine not.
Bruce: You know. No, that's a good question.
Clint: That to me.
Bruce: But I think you know it was just going over in my mind about [probably] within the last two weeks because I've had feral pigs--.
Clint: Oh, no.
Bruce: --come into my yard. And do I'm-- I love landscaping and I'm very meticulous about it.
Clint: Your property is gorgeous by the way.
Bruce: But the pigs love to ruin it and they just looking for all because I keep it fertilized and watered and everything. So I got plenty of worms and the pigs are digging it up looking for worms. And so I said, gee, you know, I mean this is an afterthought because now, I am getting older but maybe when I was 23 or you know in that age I would have pursued it.
Clint: [crosstalk] or something like that.
Bruce: But you know feral pig management, chicken management, deer management. You know there's several things that really and feral cats.
Clint: Oh, man. Off the charts.
Bruce: You know and so I said, we could have a division in our company that does this but there's too many problems.
Clint: There is.
Bruce: You know you're dealing with domestic animals. I mean some are domesticated. Some are not domesticated but you're also dealing with. You know it's-- you come in different problem.
Clint: Yeah. I would imagine this--.
Bruce: --with dealing with those kinds of animals.
Clint: -- a whole new series of rules and regulations and licenses in order to you know take care and treat larger animals like yeah.
Bruce: So that thought was a real quick one.
Clint: Yeah, and it was a big no.
Bruce: Yeah, that's right.
Clint: So what are the common pests that you take care? Obviously, rodents. That's one of them.
Bruce: Okay. The number one pest I think in Hawaii now are ants.
Clint: Oh, yeah. Okay.
Bruce: You know I mean they're more of a nuisance pest. I mean we don't have a little fire ant other than in certain remote areas right now.
Clint: Yeah, they're doing like aerial [drop] from I understand.
Bruce: And then he go there and he [--] and-- but you know, we operate on the Big Island. And they do have the little fire ant on the Big Island. And we do fumigate and what I'll tell you about the little fire ant is it. It's really frustrating for our fumigators. They put these-- they roll up these tarps in people's yards. And they get the little fire ants on them at times.
Clint: Oh, geez.
Bruce: And then they put the tarps on their shoulders and then they get stung.
Clint: And most--.
Bruce: Now, that doesn't happen a lot. But it happens and it's just you know.
Clint: And in just in those isolated areas.
Bruce: Well, on the Big Island, it's not nearly as isolated as you know as it is over here.
Clint: I got you. Do you still have services over on the Big Island then?
Bruce: Oh, yeah. We have 10 employees on the Big Island.
Clint: I didn't even know that. Okay. Well, I only know.
Bruce: Yeah, that's--.
Clint: --you for Maui.
Bruce: I see. I started the Big Island before I met you. Yeah. That was about 12 years ago or so. My wife and I went over for three years kind of back and forth. We lived there most of the time.
Clint: All right.
Bruce: And we started that operation but to get back to your question about pests, ants, like I said, are probably the number one pest but they really don't do too much damage. So probably next in-- I mean termites, of course, they do a lot of significant damage. The drywood termite and the Formosan are subterranean termite but the cockroaches when I first got here to Hawaii in-- well first to Maui in 1976. When we were fumigating, we would fumigate houses that basically had more, much more of a cockroach problem than they did of a termite problem.
Clint: No kidding.
Bruce: And you would go to retrieve your fans and your shooting lines from the inside of the house and you would just crunch, crunch, crunch.
Clint: Oh, the dead ones.
Bruce: There was thousands of it in [--]. It's not nearly as bad now. There are certain baits that are sold over the counter.
Clint: Well, isn't that a lot less like [Kanak] and things of that nature that you know the drywall that have some of that edible materials, new products or--.
Bruce: No, it's humans.
Clint: It's human services cleaner now.
Bruce: Yeah, you know, we're [pretty exhaustive] of a-- you know. We need to have [crosstalk] our pest and then cockroaches are one of our pest. Not so much drywall. I mean there's lots-- that doesn't contribute the [Kanak] and the fiberboards and stuff like that they soak up moisture. So it's more conducive for them to live in that condition. But it's food. They get a little on food. It's the food that we leave behind. And we leave them in a perfect sheltered area, in our cabinets. We give them--. They have water right above where they can get the water out of the sink and then they have-- they need food, water, and shelter. And we provide that all for them.
Clint: I bet actually had a client of mine and every single time he would leave his property, he would saran wrap all his toilets and a sinks. And it worked. He'd come back and they didn't have a water source.
Bruce: You know that's the first time I heard that but that's a very good remedy because--.
Clint: They need water to live.
Bruce: -- the big American [roach] itself. It comes up through the cesspools. And so it comes up. And so if he's put in saran wrap over the top of it, he's blocking him inside that in the joint. but yeah, if you have a major problem with American roaches, the great big one. They call them the B52 bombers.
Clint: And you feel when they hate you. That's for sure.
Bruce: Yeah, that's usually a cesspool situation.
Clint: Yeah. So they're actually coming up through the pipes then.
Bruce: They come up to--. Yeah.
Clint: Wow. I wasn't aware. I mean it does make sense though. You know they like moisture. They like nice damp environments and you know whenever I'm walking by just a simple drains in our neighborhood, it's like a city coming alive out of those things so--.
Bruce: Almost every cesspool if you open the cesspool cover. You can see American roaches in there.
Clint: No kidding.
Bruce: Yeah.
Clint: So people tell me there's a big difference between the American roaches and the German one. Like that, if you have the American one it's just common. You have it. But the German ones are usually a bit more of a sign of an infestation. It doesn't make sense to me. Is that true?
Bruce: No, that's basically true.
Clint: Oh, okay.
Bruce: The American roaches can get infested in you know in your cabinets and stuff but that's not real common. It's more common for the German roach and even we have another one called the brown-banded, brown-banded roach and they have different-- they're similar but they have different life methods and so we have to treat a little bit differently and so forth.
Clint: And is that a baiting process for a cockroach [--]?
Bruce: You know this is what's happening. Yeah. Since you know I've got some history to go on as you know. And we used to use long residual chemicals back in the days--.
Clint: Longlifes.
Bruce: Yeah, Longlife and they're more repellent than you know. But now, we're using a lot of baits. We use a lot of--.
Clint: Better for the environment. Better for the family.
Bruce: Much better for the environment. Much better. Yeah. And growth regulators they will not generally not permit the insects to go through molting process which they have to shed their outer skin. There's a lot of much safer insecticides that are used commonly by even you know even sold over the counter and by the pest control industry.
Clint: Is that almost like a birth control too for insects?
Bruce: Yeah, they-- there are well--.
Clint: That's a chemical [compound].
Bruce: It's more of an agricultural type of thing when they use soil sterile. I mean when they use insect sterilants and stuff like that. It's not so much in our industry. I can't think of anything right off the top my mind. It is a birth control remedy.
Clint: I see people though when they're spraying around the outside of homes. Those are really more you know poisons and things of that nature and short-lived ones.
Bruce: Yeah, most of our accounts are-- that we service are we suggest a monthly basis because the chemicals in our Hawaii sun as it just doesn't hold up that well. And they're also safer. They're not the long residual chemicals. So we do a lot of homeowners on a regular just monthly basis. It doesn't take us long to treated it. It's very-- there's not much that the homeowners have to do in preparation and so it works quite well.
Clint: And how's that work? You know we earlier we're talking about pets. How does that work with animals and pets and cats, dogs?
Bruce: We just tell the owners to keep their pets off the treated surface until it dries.
Clint: So for you know a few hours.
Bruce: You know the products we use are insecticides and so they're designed to kill insects, not mammals or not rodents and you know change the subject who are rodent. We do rodent control with baits. We usually--.
Clint: Boxed.
Bruce: Yeah, we bait on the outside. Because we don't want them to die and live. I mean die on the inside and we trap on the inside. So if we trap them, we can take the traps out. There's no stink. No major problem. And then we bait on the outside and they generally will die on the outside.
Clint: Yeah, and of course, you always got to be careful that your animal doesn't eat it after that.
Bruce: No, these are not. They don't have--. You know before we used to use rodenticides that had secondary poisoning where the rat would die. The cat would die. I mean the dog would die after he ate the cat and you know.
Clint: From what I understand now--.
Bruce: They don't have a secondary poisoning.
Clint: --they're mostly like blood thinners or something like that.
Bruce: Yeah. It's like yeah warfarin.
Clint: Warfarin.
Bruce: Yes. You've heard warfarin sold. I mean an advertise over the TV. That's a product that we use to thin our blood. That's what we use for rat control.
Clint: Just higher concentrations.
Bruce: No, it's not even. I don't even. I would have to [crosstalk]. I don't [crosstalk] that. Well, we-- I'm sure it has higher concentrations because we want to kill the rats. And we don't want to kill the humans.
Clint: No, definitely not.
Bruce: We don't advise people to eat the rat bait.
Clint: No doubt.
Bruce: And I actually have a friend of mine who had their puppy eat like an entire block of one of those things and they said, I called poison control and are like uhm. If it's just one, he'll be fine. It's a puppy. Are you sure?
Clint: Yeah, no problem. And then, sure enough, the dog didn't have a problem. I was astonished that that was--.
Bruce: No.
Clint: [--] overdose.
Bruce: Yeah. Yeah, they have to feed several times. It's multiple feeding. It's not like we used to have a rodent base that were a one-time kill. They take a bite and they're dead.
Clint: Wow.
Bruce: And yeah, but those aren't around anymore.
Clint: No, probably not legal, right?
Bruce: I've seen a lot of changes. I saw when I first got into the industry, there was a person who I later got to know a little bit but I didn't really-- I mean he was an owner of a pest control company and they were banning DDT. This is how back far back I go. And he had some capsules in his hand and he was taking DDT capsules to prove that it wasn't you know. But that was ridiculous. Ago one thing about DDT, DDT was probably the most miraculous chemical ever come up with. I mean as far as the benefits of DDT but man misused it by far. And so the eggshells of birds got thin. We almost wiped out our American Eagle and so but those chemicals. That classification of chemicals are no longer around.
Clint: Because of the abuses of them you know not properly--.
Bruce: Well, they lasted so long. Chlordane was one of them and some of the old-timers will know the word chlordane and it just-- you could treat a soil underneath a slab or something for termite prevention and 20 years later dig up that soil. You could smell the chlordane.
Clint: Wow. I mean there is something-- the new developments in order to prevent ground termites, they do put a treatment down and what I know I think it was starting 2005 or something along those lines. What chemical is that [--] down?
Bruce: I think it was--. Let me see. 2005. What year we have right now? This is almost 20 years ago. I think when Sentricon came.
Clint: Okay, yeah.
Bruce: And Sentricon is a bait that the termites will take back to the colony. The worker termites are the ones foraging for the food. They'll take it. They're social insect like ants are and they'll take it back to the colony. And but it'll collapse the colony. It prevents them from molting and shedding that are skin. It is a real important process the insects have to go through. And so it just will-- it will totally kill the colony. And the colonies of the foremost and termite can exceed 5 million termites. And so to kill that colony what we have seen in the last 20 years and I've been doing this 47 years. The last 20 years we've seen a reduction of Formosan termites. When I first got here, every year it would increase, increase, increase.
Clint: And Formosan is the underground termites.
Bruce: Formosan is a subterranean termite.
Clint: Okay.
Bruce: Yeah, it would increase and increase and then when Sentricon came out, it's a miraculous product.
Clint: Fantastic.
Bruce: It was really, yeah.
Clint: Now, we just got to make sure we don't abuse it.
Bruce: No. And it's one [crosstalk] of those green-friendly products. You know it's very, very, very safe. It's going after one [mode] of the insect. So it's not a poison.
Clint: Speaking of green products that don't necessarily work. Orange oil. Oh my gosh. That drives me crazy. People are like, Oh, yeah. But we treated it with orange oil and I'm like, you know you're really just buying a warranty with that. And every time in my long career of selling real estate, somebody has gone to treat termites with orange oil. It is-- it might reduce their numbers but it has done nothing to eradicate them.
Bruce: The thing about orange oil if you come in direct contact with the termites, you're going to kill them. You can do that with a lot of things.
Clint: Soapy water.
Bruce: Yeah, okay. But as your dad knows well, I--.
Clint: Bob, yeah.
Bruce: was called out on one of your jobs and this house was under orange oil treatment for many years and it kept on having--.
Clint: I wonder why.
Bruce: Yeah, kept the many years that he kept on having termite droppings, termite droppings, termite droppings. And in fact, where other than the termite colonies decreasing, they're increasing. And so we took care of it. But fumigation you know it's not the most friendly method of treatment but in some cases, it's--.
Clint: The only one.
Bruce: --required or only one really viable until we come up with something different. You know--.
Clint: You have to take extra diligence when you're in an oceanfront house I'm assuming you know.
Bruce: Yeah, there's a lot of things you have to do. I mean and we have to comply and that's fine. We comply with all the regulations and so forth. And that's very important but we don't want to make false advertising like we've heard on this orange oil that it can replace fumigation and stuff like that because it can't.
Clint: Now, the one thing that I think that can replace it is actually increasing the temperature of the home, right? Can't you dehydrate them to death?
Bruce: Yeah, you know.
Clint: Hard to do though.
Bruce: No. Yeah, it's very hard to do and the experience [that]-- what we've seen is and literature will tell you that if you can get the heat up, you have to get up the heat up to 140 degrees for a certain period time.
Clint: Yeah, like 12 hours [crosstalk].
Bruce: No, not even that long. It's only like 40 minutes or something. It's in the literature. Okay. But to do that, you're going to get the temperature up but not the core of the wood to maybe a 160, 180 degrees and then you're starting to do damage to the paint and so forth so--.
Clint: Your finishes, your candles are going to just be a puddle.
Bruce: So little things so you can do the heat treatment but bigger things, houses they've had very little just too many problems. They don't even do-- I don't see any heat treatment done for houses anymore.
Clint: Okay. So here's one. I know we talked about termites and we know our remedies for that obviously baiting you know in order to prevent proliferation and stop [their growth]. And when it comes to that point where they've gotten out of control, tenting is obviously one of the best remedies. Orange oil doesn't work. You know for alternative methods, raising the temperature of the housing and people do really like to be as green as possible for alternative methods. But most people don't realize that beyond termites, there's other wood-boring insects like powderpost beetles. I mean we've had a few situations in the past where powderpost beetles come into play and you know now, I'm a little bit more educated because they seem to be a bit more prevalent of a problem is they're more difficult because they fill their holes, right? And then it makes it hard for pet poison to penetrate.
Bruce: That's not the reason--.
Clint: Why?
Bruce: --why it's hard to penetrate. The powderpost beetles, the egg stage of insects is very hard to get the fumigate into and--.
Clint: They do everything they can to protect them.
Bruce: Even with dry wood termites, we don't kill the egg stage. But we don't have to kill the egg stage because the worker termite has to feed the other worker termites and they have a protozoa that is in their gut and they pass that protozoa. That protozoa is what breaks down the wood, the lignin in the wood. But with powderpost beetles, the newly hatched beetles can go ahead and eat the wood without any you know--. They can digest and eat the wood. So we have to use a concentration, a much higher concentration to kill powderpost-- to penetrate the egg. We kill the beetles at the same concentration for dry wood termites. But we don't kill the egg stage. So literature I mean our label calls for 10 times the amount.
Clint: That's expensive.
Bruce: It's expensive but also, it's a little dangerous. I mean we--.
Clint: A lot more [monitoring].
Bruce: --have to really, really work with our crew on beetle jobs and make sure that they're not exposed to you know-- make sure they do especially on the uncovers and stuff like that. I mean it's really important.
Clint: And is powderpost like not going to be as much of a structural issue? It's really going to be more of a cosmetic, right?
Bruce: Yeah. They--.
Clint: The termites are [more structural].
Bruce: --get in. They don't generally get in. They don't get into the conifers. The Douglas-firs are building materials. They get into more cosmetic wood and so the flooring, they can get into flooring. They can get in but if it's hardwood but we don't use a lot of hardwood in Hawaii other than maybe flooring. So the powderpost beetles-- you know I was looking at our numbers. We do roughly a thousand fumigations a year. And but with powderpost beetles, we [pay] only do 10 to 15.
Clint: Yeah, well it's good that it's not much of a problem.
Bruce: And I'm so glad. Yeah. It is just-- it's not a real big problem but I'm so glad that it isn't. You know let me backtrack on one thing that we kind of--.
Clint: Go for it.
Bruce: --as far as the alternative methods to drywood termite treatment. We've finally have a good product and we've had quite pretty good success on localized treatment but this is at the early stages. We don't recommend localized treatment if the house has--.
Clint: It's expensive.
Bruce: Yeah, well it's not that expensive. It's just--.
Clint: Extensive [--].
Bruce: Oh, it's extensive. Yes. If the termite damage is extensive, we can't because the only thing you can do with localized treatment is treat what you see and you can't treat what you don't see. And so if there's like and a house has never been fumigated, someone has three or four places. Sometimes, we can treat it by local treatment.
Clint: That's one of the reasons I've loved working with you guys.
Bruce: Yeah, the first is orange oil. We use a product called Termidor and it's--.
Clint: Oh, yeah. I've heard of that.
Bruce: Yes, very good product. And it's non-repellent. Orange oils repellent. It's residual which you want to a [residue]. You want some residual and orange oil isn't residual and it's toxic to the insects and so the key is that with the orange oil, you have to get him on.
Clint: Got you.
Bruce: Get a chemical on them or they're going to be repelled by it. The Termidor you don't. It's come to the foam. You get part of it and then the termites will groom themselves. They'll clean themselves. They lick themselves and by doing so, they'll pass the chemical and only takes--.
Clint: Spread it.
Bruce: --small amounts of chemical and it can--
Clint: What's the life on something like that? It's that like a 12-day [--].
Bruce: No, you know. It's a good question. It all depends on--.
Clint: I ask the hard question.
Bruce: I know. That's-- you know even if I looked in literature, it wouldn't come up with an answer to that.
Clint: You have to call the producer.
Bruce: But I know under a slab where we treat for subterranean termite prevention, it might last 10 years or something like that.
Clint: Yeah, when it's not. It's goes to the elements, air, and stuff like that.
Bruce: Sunlight is the worst. Yeah. That's what breaks down chemicals. Yeah.
Clint: So now back to the powderpost beetles. I'm really glad to hear that it's not becoming-- in the very few experiences I've had it's actually been contractors that bring it in. So they're bringing in materials from all over and they install these cabinets not realizing that they have you know these powderpost beetles. They may have treated it because most things come over through some sort of treated process you know whether that's lumber whether that's you know cabinetry but powderpost is a more difficult animal, right?
Bruce: Right. I don't see it too much in the cabinets. I see-- you brought up another point in my mind about drywood termites in cabinets. People are buying cabinets that are made out of birch and it's-- they're beautiful cabinets.
Clint: They're delicious too.
Bruce: But they're delicious to the drywood termites and they can have them. They can buy a brand-new house. I saw one last week but a brand-new house within a year, he had some drywood termites.
Clint: Birch.
Bruce: Birch drywood termites. But the powderpost beetles from what I see is more just like what I'm saying is a flooring primarily and sometimes siding. You know it's fancy wood. It's teak or you know some of the real hardwood.
Clint: Oh, really teak? Because I thought teak could be one of those resistant ones because I know that redwood and has that naturally-occurring I guess protective chemical on it. And then also, what's that wood?
Bruce: Cedar.
Clint: Cedar. That's it. So those seem to be one of the two most repellent but obviously expensive, anti-rot you know resistant. And if you know if you get the opportunity to build your house with redwood, do it. But it's so expensive. The thing that surprises me though, those carpenter bees love redwood. They come from miles to get that stuff.
Bruce: Good. You're right. You're right on this. Good. The old houses, [Arisumi] houses and stuff. A lot of those internal walls were redwood walls. And so they didn't get in and they back in those days, they had the copper chromate and arsenic, the Wolmanized wood. And so there's a lot of houses were built 50 years ago or so that don't have any termites.
Clint: So let's talk about the last thing. Is there any other additional treatments that you want to mention or services? Because one of the things I do want to talk about with Bowman Termite-- they're one of the reasons they're one of our top recommends is whenever we're in the escrow process, they'll come through. And they actually will do the inspection. Look for the termites and there's rare occasions in which we will not be able to close escrow. So first of all, they'll do an upcharge if there is a need to spot treat and which you know I appreciate. But they-- you guys usually do it right then regardless because you know it needs to get done and it's going to be an issue going forward. But the big plus is if it doesn't go through escrow, it doesn't close. You know that's not a bill that the seller has to pick up. So I really appreciate and love working with you guys because you know law of averages is not very common for them not to go through escrow. But thank you. I really appreciate that.
Bruce: No, and it's been a win-win for us too because if it doesn't close generally the realtors happy and the sellers happy and the seller will use us again. So it'll come down the line.
Clint: So what's your website by the way?
Bruce: Bowmantermite.com.
Clint: And what phone number do you recommend them calling?
Bruce: 244-0296.
Clint: All right. So today I've had
Bruce Bowman on. This is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate broadcasting on Maui Real Estate Radio, the KAOI radio group, 11:10 AM, 96.7 FM and 98.7 FM. You can get us Monday 7:00 AM talking about all things Maui and real estate. If you need more information or want to listen to any of our informative podcasts on this and other information, feel free to go to mauirealestateradio.com. That's mauirealestateradio.com. [music] But most people are just going through our website mauirealestate.net to find out all the new listings. But one of the most established real estate families on the island and we get actually close to 50,000 unique visitors on our website every single month. Yeah, it is big numbers. That's why people reasons people like listing with us because our are the top. So thank you for listening and have a great day. Bowman, Aloha. Thank you so much.
Bruce: Yes, it is. Thank you.
Clint: Aloha.
Bruce: Thank you very much.
List of Shows to Date:
Show 1: Mortgage vs. Rent
Show 2: Buying on Maui. Deciding where to purchase.
Show 3: Leasehold, affordable ownership and Na Hale O Maui
Show 4: Inspections with Beau Petrone
Show 5: 1031 Exchange
Show 6: Hospital
Show 7: Insurance with State Farm agent Kit Okazaki
Show 8: Understanding the escrow process with Pam Teal of Fidelity National Title
Show 9: Everything you need to know about solar on Maui as of 06/17/2019
Show 10: The Hansen's a family tradition in Real Estate
Show 11: Paul Brewbaker discussion on Maui
Show 12: Keli with Creative Financial
Show 13: Pets and Pests
Show 14: Clint Hansen with Kim Komando
Show 15: Clint Hansen with Bob Hansen and Donna Hansen
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