Respecting the swarm

Shane Graves, a 37-year-old Paradise resident approaching 17 years of experience in pest control, isn’t made the slightest bit squeamish by cockroaches, rats or black widows. During a recent interview, the owner and sole employee of Graves Pest Control—opened for business just last month—even expressed admiration of his adversaries, particularly those of the insect variety.

“I’ve always been into insects and nature,” he said. “Yes, I do kill them and control them for people, but there’s a reason they’re here: They’re part of the ecosystem. You have to respect the bug.”

But, largely due to a nasty experience early in his career, Graves draws the line at entering close, dark places on his hands and knees.

On a sweltering midsummer day during Graves’ second year working for a local pest-control company, duty called for him to crawl underneath a building on The Esplanade to eradicate a particularly resilient flea infestation. Graves—wearing two layers of clothes, gloves, a mask and glasses—was already sweating when he entered the crawl space.

“As I’m crawling, I’m getting fleas in my ears, fleas in my nose, fleas in my eyes,” he recalled. “Luckily, the mask was over my mouth, or else I would have been swallowing fleas.”

Graves was unaware that the crawl space’s dirt surface gradually rose toward the building overhead, the space closing in tighter as he inched along. At the end of his crawl, where the dirt met the bottom of the building, he got stuck.

“I had a panic attack and bumped my head,” he said. “I had to sit there for five minutes and do some breathing techniques so I didn’t lose it. When I got out, I told [my boss], ‘I can’t do that anymore.’”

Appearing very much relieved, Graves explained that the power sprayer he now uses has a range of about 30 feet, making nightmarish crawls underneath bug-infested buildings no longer necessary.

For Graves, a husband and father of three children—including twins with special needs—the decision to open his own pest-control business was made with his family in mind. The longtime amateur cook briefly considered going back to school to pursue a career in the culinary arts, but ultimately decided he could best support his children by staying in the field he knew best, even if it involves battling creepy-crawlies on a daily basis.

“If you want to go anywhere, having your own business is where it’s at,” Graves said, adding that, despite the inherent risk of launching a business, he’s found the challenge tremendously rewarding thus far. “I was nervous at first, but having my own business is exactly where I want to be.”