Which rodent pests live in Southern California?

In the fall, mice, rats, and other rodents are among Southern California’s most common pests. Specifically, homeowners can expect unwelcome visits from Mus musculus, Rattus rattus, and Rattus norvegicus — that’d be house mice, roof rats, and Norway rats. These pests are commensal, which means that just like cats and dogs, they’re entirely comfortable sharing living spaces, food, and water with humans. Mice and especially roof rats are prolific pests, and in warm climates, they breed year-round. “Which means SoCal is like rat heaven,” says Efrain Velasco, Lloyd Pest Control’s Technical Director and a certified entomologist.

How did a rat or mouse get into my house?

Even though SoCal’s weather remains more temperate than other areas of the country, cooler temperatures in autumn and winter drive mice and rats to search for warmth, food, and water. Each varmint has its own stealthy approach to entering your home. House mice can squeeze through incredibly small spaces — including entryways larger than a quarter of an inch. That means windows, ceilings, and gaps in your home’s foundation are fair game. Roof rats, on the other hand, get their name from their talents: they’re adept climbers, known for scaling walls, eaves, roofs, and even trees. Oftentimes they find gaps in ceilings and tiny entrances to your attic. The brown or Norway rat keeps closer to the ground. Like the much-meme’d Pizza Rat, their game is largely scavenging in subterranean areas, like your home’s crawl spaces, which they can enter through tiny access points. (Rats, like mice, can also squeeze through unbelievably tight spaces.)

How can I keep rodents out of my house?

There are three main reasons mice and rats enter residential homes: warmth, food, and water. Identifying your food and water sources is an important start to staying pest-free. Where is your food stored? Where do you keep your pet food? Did half your takeout Pad Thai end up under the couch? (No judgment here.) Are your pantries secure? Is open food being kept in secure containers? Do you have moisture problems under your floors? What about water bowls that fido might knock over daily? If food and water are hard to access, mice and rats might be less likely to visit.

How do I remove a rat or mouse from my house?

Unfortunately, because they’re such talented burglars, mice and rats do frequently find their way inside even the most well-guarded homes. If you see signs of them — like droppings, holes in food containers, and holes or rub marks in walls, ceilings, and floors — we’re here to help evict them. Lloyd Pest Control’s trained and experienced technicians follow a well-proven battle plan when servicing homes with rodents. The goal isn’t just to get rid of these particular rodents. The goal is to keep them gone. First, our technicians inspect the exterior and interior of your home to determine vulnerabilities. This includes a diagram of your home, highlighting potential entry points for sneaky rodents, and identifying whether your pests are mice, rats, or otherwise. Next, the tech will think like a mouse, identifying food and water sources, which they’ll help you make rodent-proof – and stat! Ditto those tiny gaps and holes in your home’s structure that may have allowed rodent entry in the first place. Trapping and removal is just the icing on your (un-nibbled) cake. Call us today – or use our online form for an instant free quote!

The post How to Protect Your Home Against Rats, Mice, and Other Rodents first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but commensal rats and mice (wild mammals that thrive in and around human habitations in Southern California) can be riddled with disease and contaminate your food sources.

While pet rats might be cuddly and cute, commensal rodents—including roof rats, Norway rats, and house mice—that infiltrate your home or business aren’t doing so to become your new kid brother. Rather, they are seeking out warmth, shelter, and a veritable smorgasbord of food to survive winter and propagate their species.

Unfortunately, once rodents have moved into your space, you can’t simply call up a Lyft and send them on their merry way. Adopting a new cat probably won’t work in your favor, either. (Just ask Tom.) Thankfully, our team at Lloyd Pest Control can help you learn how to bait and set a mousetrap properly, as well as guide you on the types of traps that can end up doing more harm than good.

The Best Mousetrap for Your Home or Business

Snap Traps

As the classic saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In business since 1898, Victor® has provided snap traps that are simple, utilitarian, cost-effective, and get the job done fast. An efficient way to get rid of rodents without using poison, snap traps feature spring-loaded pedals and arm bars that are triggered once a mouse encounters the bait.

Setting Snap Trap Bait

Contrary to popular belief, mice and rats prefer high-protein, oily baits—such as peanut butter—rather than cheese. Additionally, peanut butter works best when you sprinkle a small amount of dry oatmeal on top of it, as rodents will be attracted to both the smell of peanut butter and the grains of the oatmeal.

Avoid Poisonous Rodenticides

When it comes to indoor rodent infestations, using poisonous baits can cause more problems than they solve. When a rodent ingests poison, they will journey back to their nest—oftentimes within your walls—and die.

Because it’s extremely difficult to source these dead rodents, their stench can emanate throughout your space for days on end. If you have pets or children in your home, poisonous baits can also pose a great deal of danger to their well-being, so it’s best to avoid them at all costs.

Snap Trap Placement

Traditional snap mouse traps should be placed perpendicular to walls or baseboards, ensuring a mouse can be caught no matter which direction it’s coming from. Mice have poor eyesight and use their whiskers to feel around, hugging the walls to keep their bearings as they scavenge for food or seek out shelter.

Note: When setting traps throughout your building or home, look for droppings or oily brown streaks (from the oil on rodent fur) along the base of your walls and place your stations in areas with noticeably high traffic.

Other Types of Non-Poisonous Rodent Traps

While classic snap traps are a great and cheap way to deal with indoor rodent infestations, there have, over the past century, been a few other attempts at building a better mousetrap. Other types of non-poisonous rodent traps include:

• Glue Boards/Sticky Traps – These are pretty much what they sound like—a small, cardboard dish filled with the stickiest gel imaginable. These work best for mice. The rat ones are big and have been known to catch dogs and cats. One time, our technician had to respond to a rattlesnake that was caught in a rat glue board. (These work. But here is the all-caps CAVEAT: Ironically, they are far less humane than the snap traps. Rodents die horrible deaths in glue boards—most often through suffocation or heart attacks. Some customers have reported that they have heard horrid sounds when employing glue boards. And, very often, a homeowner will return to a placed glue board only to find a rodent body part that was gnawed off by the rat or mouse. If you are planning to use a glue board because you want to make things better for yourself and the rodent… this is not your best bet.) Sometimes, though, glue boards are really the only viable option in a given situation, and you have to steel your heart.
• Live Traps – Humane traps that allow you to capture mice and release them back into their natural habitat, all without having to see or touch a mouse. (These work…but…releasing rodents back into the wild is not strictly legal…nor particularly advisable. So…maybe give your newly-caught rodent to one of your more callous friends…who will lie to you and tell you that he sold it to a traveling rodent circus…and that your rodent is now a big star in Europe.)
• Scent Repellents – Featuring peppermint oil—a scent that’s despised by rodents—scent repellent stations are a non-poisonous way to ward off rodents from entering your home or business. (We like the idea of this…because scent repellents can be strong deterrents. Deer really do avoid rosemary bushes, for example…but we haven’t seen these work with rodents. Like…ever.)
• Ultrasonic Sound Repellents – Much like scent repellents, ultrasonic sound repellents are a humane way to keep rodents out, as they emit high-frequency sound waves that create an unpleasant environment for mice or rats to live in. (People really believe in these things. They swear by them. They tell their friends, “Man! These things really work.” You should know that these are the same people that told their third-grade class that they stayed up and saw Santa Claus. #fail.)
• High-Voltage Traps – Electronic traps that provide a high-voltage shock, facilitating a humane, quick kill. (Not recommended. Just…no.)

Glue boards and live traps (if you are up to the challenge of doing the legal and right thing) are your best snap trap alternatives. Are they better than snap traps? Meh. But sometimes—in certain settings—glue boards and snap traps can be the only viable solution.

Catch Rodents in Southern California Once and For All

Rodent infestations can feel never-ending, especially when you’ve gone the extra mile to eliminate them and they just keep coming back. Rather than carefully covering every square inch of your floor with snap traps, our rodent control experts at Lloyd Pest Control can step in and help.

When you call us for rodent control, one of our technicians will inspect your home from top to bottom, taking notes of any evidence—such as mouse droppings, nest materials, gnaw marks, or oil streaks—and making exclusion recommendations to prevent additional rodents from easily getting indoors.

Then, utilizing trusty snap traps, glue boards, and self-resetting live traps, a supervisor will strategically place these rodent snares in areas that see the most traffic. In some severe cases, we will also utilize child- and pet-resistant bait stations to help cut down on rodent numbers around your property.

The post How to Set a Mousetrap first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

The Most Despised of Mammals

Because rodents are mammals, it makes sense why they take shelter in Southern California homes. They do it for the same reason we do: to find a comfortable spot to eat, sleep, and raise their young away from outdoor weather hazards. Not surprisingly, the types we typically encounter are the most agile and determined rodent species: roof rats, Norway rats, and house mice.

Good at Getting In

Rats and mice may be small, but they sure are skilled. Even with a weak sense of sight, their strong sense of touch and taste are enough to guide them to a more comfortable environment. Once there, they get inside by putting their impressive climbing, jumping, and chewing abilities to use. They enter the following ways:

• Slipping through cracks and holes in walls (house mice can fit through a hole 1/4 of an inch wide)
• Crawling under doors (or simply sneaking in through open doors)
• Climbing onto roofs and slipping through openings (how do you think “roof rats” got their name?)
• Chewing into building material to create entrances of their own
• Tunneling through air vents and drain pipes

Sealing entry points is a good way to keep rats and mice out, but it’s not a perfect solution. That’s because, with incredibly hard teeth, rats are capable of chewing through brick, aluminum, and even cement. The most effective way of rodent prevention, then, is to not only seal cracks and holes, but to also make your home seem less appealing to rats and mice.

How Your Home Becomes a Haven

The major appeal your home has to rodents is the shelter and resources (think food and water). They know that to sustain populations, they need to protect themselves from outdoor predators. And who doesn’t like free-reign in an open pantry? Food and nesting spots are the prime reasons rodents will call your home their own – and the more available these are, the longer they’re likely to stay.

Nesting and Pestering

Like many other pests, rats and mice build makeshift nests to support colonies. In addition to gnawing an opening into homes, they’re also known to gnaw common household items like cardboard boxes, newspapers, and clothing into comfortable nests. While often difficult to spot, droppings and footprints are signs a nest is around.

Preventing the buildup of clutter is a surefire way to keep rats and mice from settling down – it eliminates the prevalence of hiding places and nesting materials. Your basement is likely a target (specifically, by Norway rats), meaning that deep cleaning you keep putting off may bring more benefits than you think. They look for warm spaces as well, so make sure to keep your attic (a prime spot for roof rats) clean and organized.

Scavenging and Ravaging

Rats and mice are scavengers: They seek food from the scraps we leave behind. In the wild, they usually feed on grains, berries, and nuts, but after coming indoors, they look for everything from crumbs to spills. As omnivores, they’ll go for just about anything, but they prefer:

• Cereal
• Seeds
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Oils and fats

Rodents, like us, need water in order to survive. While mice are often able to live on the water in food alone, rats typically need a consistent source of standing water. This is where rats get creative, drinking out of pet water bowls, recently watered plants, leaky pipes, and kitchen or bathroom faucets.

For the most part, all it takes to prevent rodents is good hygiene and cleanliness. Seal all containers, keep food in the refrigerator, clean eating areas daily, and wipe up spills. The less potential contact rats and mice have with your food, the better. That’s because they spread salmonella, the infamous foodborne illness you usually get by eating uncooked meat.

The Issue That Gets Worse with Time

Salmonella isn’t the only concern regarding rats and mice. They carry dozens of diseases, spreading them via saliva, droppings, and urine (of which is nearly constantly trickling out as they run around, depositing several hundred droplets all across your home within a single day). So, you could say they’re a pretty big health hazard. In addition, because they often nest in walls, their chewing habits can lead to destruction of wiring and drywall as they infest. Altogether, rodents’ health and structural threats are a dangerous combination.

If that isn’t bad enough, they’re incredibly fast to reproduce; meaning their population and associated risks grow at an exponential rate. In fact, it was recently found that a pair of rats is capable of producing half a billion descendants in three years. It’s no surprise, then, that with so many homes in our region, they’ve become an epidemic. Don’t make it easy for them to take over your home – take action before it’s too late.

From Prevention to Treatment

As we’ve mentioned, prevention is a great first step in combatting the presence of rodents in your home. But they’re like a disease, capable of spreading despite our best efforts. When that happens, treatments like baits and traps are a good route to go. Remember, though, that although you may catch one rat, there may be others lingering elsewhere in your home. If your problem doesn’t seem to go away, it’s time you call in the professionals.

Pest Control as a Dependable Rodent Solution

At Lloyd Pest Control, we’re the rodent experts you need to eliminate rats or mice – no matter the extent of their infestation. We approach rodent problems with strategic, state-of-the-art extermination techniques to stop this pest at the source. We’ll inspect your home to determine which treatment is right for your home, then place traps, glue boards, and bait stations accordingly.

Contact Lloyd Pest Control to get the best solution for your Southern California home’s rodent epidemic.

The post Your Home, Their Haven: All About Rodents’ Love of the Indoors first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Get your questions answered about rats’ health concerns, as well as how action can prevent you, your family, or a customer from getting sick.

Are Rats as Filthy as People Say?

It’s obvious why rats are thought to be unsanitary. One look at their furry bodies and fleshy tails, and words like “dirty” and “filthy” come to mind. They don’t often come out into the open, but if you’ve seen a rat scurry across your floor in the past, you probably remember how much it freaked you out. Still, are they as much of a sanitation risk as we might think?

The answer is a resounding “yes!” Rats’ icky appearance mirrors what they carry on the inside: diseases upon diseases. Among pests, only the Zika-carrying mosquito contains more. As rats munch on our food and water and leave droppings and urine behind, they spread illness, calling your property’s sanitation into question.

What Diseases Do Rodents Spread?

The presence of rats in your home or business should be of high concern, as the larger your infestation grows, the more pathogens there are to go around. The last thing you want, anyway, is a whole herd of rodents nesting in your walls. They spread several types of diseases, including:

• Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome: Symptoms include fatigue, fever, and/or shortness of breath. Initially, you may think you think you have the flu, but once diagnosed, you’ll realize you have a rat infestation. This illness is transmitted by direct contact with rat urine or feces, or a rat bite.
• Salmonellosis: Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and/or nausea. You probably know it better as a foodborne illness, but in addition to uncooked meat, it’s also caused by infected rats. Salmonellosis is transmitted by consuming food or water contaminated by rat feces.
• Rat-bite fever: Symptoms include rash, fever, nausea, and/or headaches. Like its name states, this illness is transmitted from rat bites or scratches. Rat-bite fever only pops up when in direct contact with a rat, and you may notice a rash where there’s broken skin.
• Lymphocytic choriomeningitis. Symptoms include fever, aches, nausea, meningitis, and/or encephalitis. This illness is transmitted through contact with rat saliva or urine. Often, symptoms go on long-term, and you could end up with neurological damage without treatment.
  

  

Why Else Are They a Danger to Our Health?

Rats carry disease in another way too: by hosting parasites. This pest is a popular host for fleas and ticks, who spread diseases of their own. Not only are rats affected, but as the parasites are carried indoors on their fur, they also have the ability to hop onto pets and people. A lot of what we think to be sickness spread by rats have actually been caused by parasites. The Black Plague that ravaged Europe in the 1300s, for example, was actually spread by fleas hosted by rats.

We know that rats bring in unsanitary conditions, but the opposite is true as well. This crawling pest is attracted to areas with poor sanitation already, scavenging for food in open containers, trash that’s been sitting around, and spills that weren’t cleaned up. If you run a restaurant, good sanitation is the best way to prevent a rat invasion – and a visit from the health inspector.

How Do I Keep Rats Away?

The best way to prevent rats is by sanitizing your home or business; be wary of anything that might attract them. Cut off available food and water sources, and they won’t have what they need to survive indoors in the first place. Covering up cracks, holes, and other entry points is effective, but it’s not an end-all solution; remember, rats have the teeth to gnaw through wood and siding.

If they do end up inside, you want to go with a bait or trap to eradicate them. The hope is to get rid of rats before an infestation grows, because – with their fast reproduction rates – they become incredibly hard to get rid of once inside. Place baits or traps anywhere you have noticed them. With a bait, you place poisoned pellets in tamper-resistant bait stations (safe against pets and children). For traps, you have multiple choices.

• Snap traps: This trap features a hinge that snaps shut once the rat grabs the bait. Rat traps are stronger than mice traps.
• Live traps: As implied, the rat goes through a hole in the trap to get the bait, and a door closes once it gets inside to trap it alive.
• Glue traps: Bait is placed on top of the glue in this trap. When the rat tries to grab the bait, it becomes stuck.

We also associate cats with rat control, and that brings up the question of how effective they truly are. It’s in a cat’s nature to prey on small creatures like rats, but their instincts only go so far as a solution. That’s because the fast breeding of rats prevents household felines from keeping populations under control.

Lloyd Pest Control: Rat Repellers

If you have a rat infestation that has become hard to stop, professional pest control is your best bet. Lloyd Pest Control provides rodent services to Southern California, with strategic bait and trap treatments that conquer even large populations of rats. We have the expert tools to keep your home or business free of this disease-ridden rodent.

Contact Lloyd Pest Control today to get your rat infestation under control – and keep your health in check.

The post Contaminating Crawlers: Why Rats Are a Health Hazard first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

The Drought: A Quick Recap

California suffered quite the dry spell in 2011 – one that lasted until earlier this year. It was so bad that in 2013, our state received the lowest rainfall we’ve ever recorded. The effects were devastating: lakes dried up, trees died, and the produce industry declined. You probably recall our state’s order to reduce water consumption by 25 percent a few years back.

The drought had major effects on pest activity. Because of the lack of sustenance in agricultural regions, pests – insects and rodents alike – began moving toward cities to survive. That’s where they sought out a friendlier environment. Pests were attracted to buildings with sources of food and water, and for some, a place to cool off as well. If you saw more pests around your home the past few years, the drought could be to blame.

Recent events have created a perfect storm for pests. While the drought-stricken desert pushed pests toward urban areas, other factors attracted them as well. The reduction in water usage – specifically from lawn sprinklers, hoses, and outdoor pools – also forced them indoors to seek moisture. In addition, tree deaths from fungal infections became common, urging pests to seek shade and fruit elsewhere.

The End of the Drought: Now What?

The drought has officially ended, but our state’s typically high temperatures aren’t set to change anytime soon. In recent years, summer heat has reached far above the regional average in Southern California – and that’s bad news for property owners. Pests looking for a cooler, darker alternative to the weather will continue to seek indoor habitats. Add that to the state’s recovering dry spell, and we should expect pest activity to persist.

The Return of the Summer Pests

Many pests are already active during the summer, and recent conditions continue to encourage their presence. Rats, mosquitoes, bees, and ants are four of the most common warm weather pests, and they seek shelter in or around homes due to the heat. Here’s what attracted each them during the drought and what continues to attract them afterward:

1. Rats: Like us, rats are mammals and need water to survive. Due to the harsh climate, they’ve been searching for cooler escapes with more moisture. While they don’t fly like other pests, they have sharp teeth that allow them to tear through siding and walls to get indoors. In addition, they’re excellent climbers – roof rats, especially – and they can scour the outside of your house for openings.

2. Mosquitoes: Mosquitoes seek water as a breeding ground rather than for consumption. Unlike rats, they prefer the heat. That makes outdoor features like pools and fountains hotspots for mosquitoes. During the drought, they flocked to urban California to find standing water. As one of the most common summer insects, mosquitoes are increasingly a problem due to the warm temperatures and abundance of water sources in the city.

3. Bees: Bees’ diets consist of two things: nectar and pollen. Since plants wilt without water, bees are another pest that migrated in large numbers to find nourishment during the drought. Following the drought, bees remain prevalent in green urban areas. If you have flowers that bloom during the summer, especially if it’s a full flowerbed, don’t be surprised if you encounter bees or even a nearby hive at some point.

4. Ants: The top reason for ant infestations is access to food and water, and this motivated them during the drought as well. Many species of ants moved toward homes to support the existence of their colonies. While they often favor the heat, their search for sustenance is enough to keep them coming back to kitchens and bathrooms.

Strategies to Combat Summertime Infestations

The California drought is over, and life is going back to normal for you and your family. But with our region’s hot and dry weather tendencies, pests are sure to come knocking. Their presence is frustrating, as summer should be a time for leisure and relaxation. Still, there are many steps you can take to stop them in their tracks.

Natural pesticides and traps are a solid pest elimination option, but remember that they don’t do anything for prevention. Also, if possible, they should be avoided when dealing with bees due to their dwindling numbers. Here are a few ways you can combat summer pests from the get-go:

• Drive away bees and mosquitoes: Limit the presence of outdoor water and plant sources that attract bees and mosquitoes. Introduce plants like lemongrass and feverfew that repel mosquitoes, and place peppermint and cinnamon near your outdoor plants to repel bees.
• Keep out rats and ants: Eliminate food and water sources rats and ants crave (i.e. open containers, spills, and dripping faucets), and clean behind fridges or other places they’re likely to hide. Seal home entrance points and make sure they can’t enter through windows or doors.
• Eliminate persisting infestations: If problems linger, or you’d prefer professionals handle them, contact us at Lloyd Pest Control.
  

  

Lloyd Pest Control’s Approach to Warm Weather Pests

Pests are typically most active during summer months. Many of them enjoy the warm weather and settle in backyards where they’re able to raise a colony. Others prefer the indoors, as they hope to find refuge, food, and water. While the five-plus year drought in California is over, pests aren’t going away anytime soon. In fact, they have plenty of reasons to stick around.

At Lloyd Pest Control, we have what it takes to force warm weather pests out. Our experience and pest-specific solutions will eliminate pests from your Southern California property for good. Regardless of which pest is plaguing your summer, Lloyd Pest Control is here to help. Get an instant quote or call us at 1-(800) 223-2847.

The post The Great Pest Migration: A Consequence of Drought and Heat first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Every year, as summer turns to fall, the other technicians and I are given a moment to catch our breath.  The ants – which represent about 65% of our emergency calls each year generally stop trying to invade Southern California homes by late October.  Right around Thanksgiving, though, the winter pests come knocking – rats, mice, spiders.  They want in.  Here are some tips to keep them out.

TIPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR YARD

Cover your trash cans.  And keep them away from your home.   Trash cans attract rats, mice, and larger pests like raccoons and opossums.  Ants and roaches are also big fans of your trash – don’t let their parade take a detour into your living space.

Move wood piles.   Move any wood piles (or clutter piles) away from your home.  Pests very much appreciate piles of stuff, and wood piles provide perfect shelter for rodents, black widows – and especially termites.

Adjust sprinklers.  Switch from your summer watering schedule.  Too much water in the yard makes attracts spiders, slugs, snails and other pests.

Remove fallen fruit.  I always recommend to my customers that they pick up all fruit that has fallen to the ground to prevent rats, mice and other pests from being attracted to the scent of decaying fruit.

Store your pet food.  Don’t leave pet food out overnight because it – you guessed it – attracts pests of all stripes.  (This also really applies to pet food on the inside of your the home.)

SEAL OFF PEST ENTRY POINTS TO YOUR HOME

Trim overhanging branches.  Tree branches that hang over your roof create a superhighway for pests – especially roof rats, which love the quiet shelter of attics.

Maintain your roof.  Broken tiles, missing shingles, and roofing soft spots provide opportunities for pests to get in.  While you’re up there, check your chimney, too – and make sure that the flue is clear before the first use of season.

Weather-strip your doors.  If you can see light beneath your front door, rodents can probably squeeze right through (this also applies to garage doors!).  Weather-stripping is cheap and easy to attach.  This is also a good time of year to make sure that your windows are properly sealed, too.  This keeps out cold – and roaches and earwigs and spiders!

Repair vent screens.  In my experience, about 50% of all interior rodent problems start with damaged or missing vent screens (to crawl spaces, garages, and attics).  It’s much cheaper to replace vent screens than it is to chase rodents!

Make sure your dog door shuts properly.  The good ones often use magnets to seal themselves shut.  A loose dog door puts out the welcome mat for rodents – and opossums, skunks, and raccoons.

It will take very little effort to keep this winter’s pests out of your home.  Minimizing the things that attract bugs to your yard – and sealing the entry points to your living space – will make for a much more pleasant holiday season, and guarantee you many a silent night.  If pests do somehow breach your perimeter, though, don’t hesitate to give me a call.  Happy holidays.

The post Keep Out the Bad Bugs (and Little 4-Legged Beasts) of Winter first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Spiders

Spiders can be found in California throughout the year, but they are spotlighted at Halloween for a few reasons. Not only are some spiders venomous, but they also tend to build webs in dark and vacant spaces, like scary abandoned houses. Spiders tend to move indoors during the colder months to protect their webs and babies from frigid winter winds. Fortunately, our Halloween pest control experts in San Diego can help you scare these creep-crawlies away with ease.

Cockroaches

Like spiders, different types of insects are often used in Halloween decorations. The cockroach is a prime example. Online, you’ll find tons of ads for bags of plastic cockroaches to use as creepy Halloween decor. You’ll even find recipes for Halloween treats that look like the pest. Cockroaches have probably won this Halloween honor because of their association with the dead. Their deadly image comes primarily from their connection to disease and unsanitary conditions (although they can live anywhere). It’s also perpetuated by the death’s head cockroach, a specific breed of roach with an eerie skull-like marking on its head. There are several types of cockroaches in Southern California. If real cockroaches are invading your home instead of fake ones, make sure to give Lloyd a call for a little Halloween pest control treatment!

Rats

Rats are also linked to both Halloween and death. This dates back to the days of the plague. Mice and rats carried the deadly plague from house to house and town to town before pest control or modern medicine were available. A particularly violent outbreak known as the Black Death killed an estimated 75-100 million people in Europe and the Mediterranean, solidifying the rat’s historical association with death. Rats are still known to spread disease and destroy property today. So, while plastic rats are a necessary Halloween gag, no one wants real live rats in their house. Fortunately, rats in Southern California today can be easily and quickly eliminated with the help of our certified, Halloween pest control experts at Lloyd!

In fact, pest control in Southern California can keep your home free of spooky spiders, bugs, rats or mice throughout the entire year. Contact Lloyd Pest Control for all your pest control needs. Halloween or not, we are not afraid of your dark attic, musty basement or creepy closets. Get rid of scary Halloween pests before they get rid of you!

The post Halloween Pest Control: When Halloween Decor Becomes Reality first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

PLAGUE

In 1347, the infamous Bubonic Plague, Black Death, hit Europe and wiped out a third of earth’s population. The plague is a deadly disease carried mostly by rats and spread to people by their fleas. The plague can contaminate food sources, spread from direct contact or be airborne. Pain from the disease is usually caused from deterioration of the skin. But, how did such a nasty infectious disease make its way through Europe and wipe out nearly a third of all humans?

The rats is said to have originated in China. The disease had spread rapidly until the Mongols had cut off a trade route leading into Europe. Italian Merchants in the Black Sea fled back towards Europe unknowingly carrying rats on the ship with fleas that carried the disease. From there, the disease spread wildly throughout Europe. The outbreak claimed the lives of nearly 200 million people. The bubonic plague is one of the most infamous diseases that rats have carried. Rats also carry many more infectious diseases, that if not treated can cause serious damage.

Salmonella

Is a potentially deadly disease if not treated carried by mice and rats. The spread of this disease is usually through the rodent’s droppings. Consumption of contaminated food is quite common. If mouse or rat droppings are noticed around your home contact a Pest Control Expert immediately to remove the infestation and potential for contamination.

Tapeworms

Infect the digestive track and begin to feed on consumed food. These parasites are commonly carried in rat droppings. Although tapeworms usually cause no symptoms to its host, some do experience abdominal pain.

Rat-Bite Fever

As one can suspect this is caused through a rat’s bite. Contamination of food from the rat’s urine can also cause the condition. Symptoms are commonly seen in inflammation around open sores, rashes, chills, fever, vomiting, headaches and muscle aches.

Rat & Mice contamination is a serious problem that requires swift action. Be sure to survey your house periodically with an eye out for droppings. If you feel there may be an infestation, or would like a consultation, call us at 1-800-223-2847.

The post RATS: The Deadly Diseases they Carry first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Insects are always going to be in San Diego, California, but that doesn’t mean they need to establish a presence in YOUR commercial space. Whether you run a school, office, or restaurant, keeping pests to a minimum is crucial for the continued success of your business.

In the old days, a customer who saw a rat in your hallway or a cockroach in your kitchen might tell a few friends about it. Today, hundreds of people can read full reports and reviews on Yelp or Google. Don’t take that chance! Get rid of pests today with commercial pest control in San Diego to keep your reputation standing.

DIY Pest Control Mistakes Business Owners Make

Pest control issues affect some companies more than others, but every business has unique problems that deserve a targeted solution. Unfortunately, in the rush to get rid of unwanted pests, many owners make strategic mistakes in exterminating them, including:

• Difficulty locating pest harborage areas
• Wasting money on the wrong products and potentially endangering the health of clients.
• Failing to see the bigger problem, which may include a pest control prevention plan to keep the building pest-free and ready to pass health inspections.

Maintaining a pest-free commercial space year-round is imperative to your company’s bottom line, including your employees’ health, customer satisfaction, and maintaining uncontaminated products or supplies.

Commercial Pests in San Diego

There are a plethora of commercial pests in San Diego that can ruin your rep, including:

Roof Rats

The roof rat prefers gutters, power lines, and beams, but if necessary, they will also burrow. Cold weather will drive these rodents indoors, where they may live for several years. Dark gray or black in color, these rats can grow up to eight inches in length and are recognizable by their worm-like tails that trail behind them. Known to bite, roof rats can easily infest your commercial space and contaminate your supplies with bacteria and disease.

Cockroaches

Another pest that can carry disease is the cockroach. Roaches can live in any home or business for years without protection from professional pest control. They carry streptococcus, salmonella, dysentery, E. coli, hepatitis B, cholera, and plague. The most common roach species in Southern California are the American and Oriental roaches, and the smaller Brown-banded and German roaches.

Termites, Ants, and Beetles

Powderpost beetles and carpenter ants can cause damage to structures, but termites are the biggest threat to property owners in warm climates like San Diego. Termites—both drywood termites and subterranean termites—cause billions of dollars worth of damage to properties in Southern California each year, making them a bigger threat than wildfires, earthquakes, and floods combined. What’s worse is that these wood-eating insects can easily go undetected until considerable damage has been done.

Get Rid of Commercial Pests in San Diego Today with Lloyd

Get rid of these pests before they have a chance to establish themselves and eat their way through your building and furnishings as the weather warms up. If you are in San Diego, California and are needing a professional exterminator, call Lloyd Pest Control today.

The post Commercial Pest Control Solutions in San Diego, CA first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Creatures were stirring, including a mouse
Neither of us had a clue how they got here
Our house is infested I told my dear
The children were awake stirring in their beds
While visions of spiders danced in their heads
When out in the room there was a pitter patter
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter
The tree was crawling with insects below
A Christmas tree can have pests but how could I know
More rapid than cheetahs the ants they came
And marched to the kitchen in search of sugar cane
To the top of the ceiling! To the top of the wall!
How on earth could I get rid of them all!
What could I possibly have done differently?

Lloyd Pest Control

When buying a tree you should check for bugs and shake gently
Bring a flashlight to the lot in order to see
That no insects have infested the greenery
These few simple things are easy to do
And will help to prevent pests from bugging you
The bugs on the tree are seldom harmful
But exposed food in your house will make it an armful
So be careful to check the tree before you buy
Because a tree full of bugs might make you cry
We hope you have a joyous Holiday Season
A house without pests is a wonderful reason
To Celebrate
The Holiday

Happy Holidays from Lloyd Pest Control

Click here for a humorous post titled “Should I worry about bugs in my Christmas tree?”

The post above is an adaptation of the original work “Twas the night before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore

The post Twas the night before Christmas first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.