Bugs-B-Gone

“*No room for amateurs in this game.*”
—Delbert McClintock[src]
**Bugs-B-Gone**, also called **McClintock Infestation Management**, was a pest control company run by licensed exterminator Delbert McClintock. The business was founded in 1988 and was headquartered in Canaima, advertising services to the Greater Canaima Area. Notably, the business held a patent for a particularly potent insecticide called Toxi-Max.

Two years after its establishment, Bugs-B-Gone, and its owner, were critical in the extermination of a deadly species of spider which had been mistakenly imported to Canaima and which promptly generated hybrid offspring. Later, the business was awarded a special assignment by the United Nations to destroy the remaining arachnids in their native habitat in Venezuela.

## History

### Establishment in Canaima

Bugs-B-Gone was established in 1988 by licensed exterminator Delbert McClintock, who hoped to provide pest control services to the town of Canaima, California and the surrounding area. For this purpose, he concocted and patented a toxic pesticide called Toxi-Max. At some point before 1990, Delbert misused his pest spray and accidentally fumigated some of his customers, leading to unfavorable coverage of Bugs-B-Gone in a local newspaper called the *Canaima Times*.

### Exterminating the Canaima spiders

In 1990, Bugs-B-Gone was hired by the recently relocated Jennings household to conduct a termite inspection, which Ross Jennings suspected were feeding on the wood of his wine cellar. Delbert found no termites. Bugs-B-Gone was later also hired by Harry Beechwood when a spider was found in their bathroom, but again Delbert failed to uncover the alleged arachnid.

However, when the spiders finally swarmed in full capacity, Bugs-B-Gone played a central role in exterminating the town's infestation of Venezuelan spiders and their cross-bred offspring, the former of which had been inadvertently introduced to the town through the casket of Jerry Manley, a Canaima native on assignment in Venezuela.

### Expanding operations

Later, Delbert would expand his pest control operations to other towns, including Webster, Dudley, Elias, Buggley, Infes Station, and Arachton, as similar infestations were discovered in these municipalities. As he was hired to control other infestations, Delbert retained more exterminators, which he called Arachnid Abatement Technicians, and issued a technical manual for their edification.

After successfully eradicating the arachnid threat in the United States, Delbert learned that the United Nations was looking to commission a competent exterminator for special assignment in South America. After his successful purging of the spiders from the infested towns, Delbert was commended by the President of the United States, and Bugs-B-Gone acquired even an international presence when Delbert was awarded the assignment. He destroyed the remaining spiders at their source in the Amazon rainforest of Venezuela.

## Organization

The business was initially run as a solo pest control service by its founder, Delbert McClintock. However, following the discovery of spider infestation in surrounding towns, Delbert hired and trained a number of other exterminators in techniques specific to the novel species' biology. These specialized exterminators were called Arachnid Abatement Technicians, who together formed the Spider Infestation Control team.

## Equipment

Exterminators (or Arachnid Abatement Technicians) of the company wore standard-issue McClintock uniforms, which were handwoven by the elderly residents of the Canaima Seniors Center to a thickness intended to insulate the wearer from the fangs of Venezuelan spiders or Canaima spiders. Exterminators also wore Regulation Issue Boots, which were crafted to crush the exoskeleton of an insect or spider and rearrange their internal organs. The simple "boot-meets-bug" methodology was highly effective and environmentally sound.

Exterminators were also assigned company trucks loaded with equipment for pest control operations. Offensively, Bugs-B-Gone exterminators were armed primarily with Insecticide Spray Guns loaded with Delbert's patented Toxi-Max solution. Additionally, exterminators carried a number of so-called Bug Bombs, which were small canisters of various chemicals, including Toxi-Max and other pesticides, which were capable of clearing the immediate area of pests. Exterminators were also taught some amount of improvisation; for instance, Aerosol Flamethrowers consisted of such domestic materials as cans of aerosol and matches and could even lay Queen spiders to rest.

Finally, during and after the Venezuelan spider crisis of 1990, Bugs-B-Gone issued to its exterminators an instrument which in common parlance came to be known as a Bugometer. The device capitalized on the discovery that the South American spiders and their cross-bred progeny, already unique in their self-organized hierarchy, emitted certain high-frequency signals which enabled intraspecific communication. It was thereby reasoned that these calls could be intercepted and analyzed to determine the location of emitting spiders. Exterminators found that, particularly after destroying an egg sac, the higher-caste spiders, such as Generals and Queens, would become stressed and increase signal intensity, allowing geopositioning.

## Appearances

1. ARACHNOPHOBIA (first appearance)
2. ARACHNOPHOBIA novel
3. ARACHNOPHOBIA Official Movie Adaptation
4. ARACHNOPHOBIA video game
5. *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ This name is used in the comic, video game, and game manual.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication*
3. ↑ *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication* at p. 2
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication* at p. 6
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 ARACHNOPHOBIA video game
6. ↑ *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication* at p. 4
7. ↑ *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication* at p. 5
8. ↑ Notably, however, larger pests such as General or Queen spiders were not susceptible of this attack.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Know Your Eight-Legged Enemy: The Authoritative Guide on Spider Eradication* at p. 7