Exterminator's Tales of Bees and Bed Bugs

Mike Dougher is known in the Rivertowns as "Merciless Mike."

Co-owner of Dobbs Ferry-based Village Exterminating, Dougher and his business partner Kevin Kelly, are called on to drive out a number of pests ranging from termites and bees to bed bugs.

"In the last year, the incidences of bed bugs are up at least 50 percent," Dougher said. "You see them in all types of residences—they don't discriminate."

In fact, Dougher said the two most recent cases he's treated were in the homes of surgeons. "I think doctors are more prone to getting them because they're so close to so many different people," he said. "Bed bugs are spreading like wildfire. I believe we'll all have them at some point."

Dougher has been an exterminator for 27 years.

"When I was a kid, I was playing ball with a friend and I saw what I thought was a ball in the bushes," Dougher said. "I kicked it, but it turned out it was a hornet's nest."

Dougher said he was stung so many times that after his mom put him in the bath tub, she needed to call a plumber to get all the bees out of the drain.

"I've been getting my revenge ever since," he said, laughing.

Decades later, Dougher said he's not afraid of insects any longer. "I've been stung so may times, I've stated to like it," he said. "Now the only things I'm afraid of are lawyers."

Dougher said most people are fascinated by his career choice—constantly asking him for exterminator war stories and wincing as he tells them.

"One time, I was in someone's basement crawl space and saw a big black hose inside the wall," he recalled. "Then the hose moved, and I saw I was trapped inside with a black snake. That scared me."

What's the one thing Dougher won't exterminate?

Skunks!

"You have to put them in your car and drive them away," he explained. "They don't like that very much."

Reach Village Exterminating at (914) 674-1056.