Sacramento Pest Control

Fire and cold weather bring unwanted rat visitors indoors

2009-10-05T20:26:54Z

As the cool weather approaches, so does the likelihood that rodents will be seeking warm nesting sites in the attics, garages and foundations of our homes and commercial buildings. In fact, some of our customers who live near wildfire areas have experienced an unseasonably early influx of these critters, driven from woods and fields by the smoke and flames.

The two most common rodent invaders are mice and rats.

In our region of Central-Northern California, the two most common species of pest rats are the roof rat (Rattus rattus) and the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), neither of which are native to California but originated in the Far East and spread across the globe centuries ago. The roof rat is the smaller of the two, averaging 5 to 10 ounces in weight, gray to white in color, with a pointed snout, long ears and a black tail as long as its body. The Norway rat is stockier, weighing 7 to 18 ounces, grayish in color, and with shorter ears and tail than the roof rat.

The roof rat is a good climber, nests in trees and dense shrubs, and may take up housekeeping in your attic, the space above dropped ceilings or even in high cabinets. The Norway rat is a burrower and indoors usually sticks to basements or ground floor spaces. You may spot its nest lined with shredded paper, fabric or other fibrous materials.

Although both these types of rat are common in our region, and highly adapted to residential neighborhoods and urban environs, our Earth Guard customers complain most frequently of the roof rat.

Sometimes depicted as funny and cute in popular media such as the Disney-Pixar movie “Ratatouille,” in fact Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus pose serious health and safety problems for home- and business owners. Rats eat and contaminate human and animal food and whatever container or packaging it is stored in; they gnaw on and ruin wooden doors and cabinets, chew through electrical wires and shred insulation to use for their nests. One of our customers recently had to place a service call to her security alarm company when a sensor stopped working; the mystified technician finally found a place in the attic where a rat had chewed through the alarm system wiring.

Rats also carry diseases such as murine typhus, leptospirosis, trichinosis, salmonellosis (food poisoning), ratbite fever and even plague that can be transmitted to humans and other animals.

The first signs of a rat infestation may appear in your yard or garden before the critters have moved indoors. Once they move into your yard, they will eventually move inside, so it’s preferable to catch them early. Common signs of rat activity outdoors include:
• Droppings near pet food containers or dishes or recycling bins;
• Nest materials in wood piles or brush piles;
• Burrows near compost heaps or garbage containers;
• Signs of digging under fences, sheds or doghouses;
• The sight of a rat traveling utility lines or fence tops at dusk;
• Rat carcasses in your outdoor pool or hot tub or dragged to the door by your family dog or cat.

Indoors, you may hear noises coming from your attic, especially at dusk or dawn, or discover a nest inside drawers or behind boxes in your garage, or you may see smudges along walls, pipes or rafters.

Homeowners and business owners can take some common-sense measures to prevent rat infestations, including keeping pet food containers and garbage containers tightly sealed and the areas around them picked up and clean.

Bird feeders also are attractive to rats. Another of our customers, who had multiple bird feeders in her backyard, noticed that the seed-covered bird bell she hung in one corner of her yard would repeatedly disappear almost overnight. She would replace it, and by the next morning, it would be eaten down almost to the plastic hanger. Hungry birds, she thought. The one evening, she happened to be looking out the back door just as dark was settling in and heard a rustling in the leaves above the bird bell. Grabbing a flashlight, she quietly walked over to investigate. The beam of the flashlight revealed an acrobatic roof rat, hanging upside down from the branch, nibbling away.

Storing wood off the ground and eliminating clutter and debris from around building foundations also will discourage rat activity. Roof rats, such as the acrobat caught eating our customer’s bird bell, may use overhanging tree branches, pergolas or dense shrubbery such as star jasmine or ivy as a highway to your roof, where they may find entry to your attic around eaves, pipes or chimney flashing. Trimming trees to leave 2 feet or more between plants and between branches and roof helps discourage these travels. Sealing, screening or plugging openings around wiring conduit or pipes with steel wool or sheet metal, both around your roofline and at foundation level, also are effective at keeping rats out.

Once rats have moved in to your home or place of business, the best way to eliminate them is with the traditional snap traps. A major infestation may require the use of poison bait, which should only be administered by a trained pest control professional. Although customers sometimes request it, the use of live traps is not a good idea. Because the rats are not native to our environment, they cannot be released outdoors, where they pose a danger to humans, pets and property and—because they are an invasive species—to the native ecosystem. In some areas, rats have been known to decimate wild bird populations. Live traps also accumulate bodily waste from the rodents, creating a health hazard for our pest control technicians.

For more information about rats and other environmental and pest control issues affecting Sacramento-area homes and businesses, visit www.earthguardpestcontrol.com/blog. (Norway rat photo credit: National Pest Management Assoc. Inc.)

Tiny mice create big problems when winter weather drives them indoors

2009-11-29T02:29:46Z

They may be smaller and, some say, cuter, but in terms of pest control, mice are a more prevalent, more damaging and tougher problem than their two rodent cousins, rattus rattus (roof rats) and Rattus norvegicus (Norway rats). And as our Northern California winter grows colder and wetter, mice are more likely to set up housekeeping in our cozy homes and businesses.

The mice we see most often in our Sacramento pest control business are the house mouse (Mus musculus). Two other types of mouse, the deer mouse and the white-footed mouse, also may invade human dwellings but are most often found in cabins and homes in remote or rural areas.

The house mouse can be easily distinguished from deer and white-footed mice by its uniform gray or light brown coloration and a nearly hairless tail. In comparison, the other two species are darker on top with light-colored bellies and tails that likewise are covered with dark fur on top, lighter fur on bottom. House mice weigh about half an ounce and are 5 to 7 inches in length, including their 3- to 4-inch tails.

One reason mice present such a tough pest control problem is their small size. They need only a quarter-inch gap to gain entry into a building and require only minute amounts of food and water to survive. As a result mouse infestations are much more common and difficult to control than rat infestations—and every bit as hazardous to health and property.
Mice eat and contaminate human and pet foods, preferring grains but apparently willing to nibble on almost anything. One of our Sacramento pest control customers discovered a nest of mice in a trunk where she stored historic family documents, vintage clothing and other mementoes. Not only did she find the remains of precious keepsakes shredded in a pile, she found dry dog food nuggets the mice apparently had confiscated from her pet’s dish and tucked away for safe-keeping.

Mice transmit diseases such as salmonellosis (food poisoning) and can cause significant property damage, chewing through electrical wires, shredding insulation and gnawing woodwork.

Often people discover a mouse problem when they find tiny black droppings or notice the corner of a cracker box or bag of chips has been gnawed away. Mice also have a distinctive musky smell that may be noticeable. They are most active at night, can run straight up vertical walls and jump a foot off the ground. They reproduce rapidly, bearing as many as 10 litters of 5 or 6 pups per year; their life span is approximately one year.

The most effective ways to prevent mice are to keep all foodstuffs tightly sealed in glass or metal containers, to avoid leaving pet food out, keep all trash containers tightly sealed and to seal all gaps and crevices where mice can come in from outside, such as along pipes and wiring conduit. Self-installed metal barriers, such as tin can lids and steel wool, are effective barriers to gnawing but usually don’t provide long-term protection.

Apartment buildings are especially notorious for mouse infestations, in part because mice are able to move easily from apartment to apartment along pipes and conduits and because it is difficult to ensure adherence to pest control measures by all tenants.

Once there is an established infestation in a home or business, it is almost always necessary to use mouse traps or poison bait to eliminate the mice. Baits are dangerous and must be kept inaccessible to children and pets. Electronic devices that emit a high-frequency sound, though widely advertised, are generally ineffective in preventing mice. A good feline or canine “mouser” may help control the mouse population or discourage mice from moving in, but will generally not be able to completely eliminate mice once a site is infested.

To read more about house mice and other rodents and household pests, visit http://www.earthguardpest.com/blog.

Termite Swarm Season is Here!

2010-03-01T21:48:16Z

Termite swarm season is upon us, and it won’t be long before scores of households in our Sacramento pest control region will be horrified by the sight of small, winged insects emerging from living room carpets or cracks between walls and tiled floors.

A couple of years back, about this time of year, a young single mom called our Sacramento pest control office in a panic. She had just received a phone call at work from her junior-high-age daughter: on arriving home from school, the daughter had walked into the living room to find the carpeted floor swarming with tiny wiggling bugs. By the time our customer got home, her resourceful daughter had the vacuum out and was sucking the little critters up—exactly what we had advised mom to do until our crew was able to get there.

Termites are small, white, tan, or black insects that live in large nests or colonies. Individual “castes” of insects within the colony vary in appearance and perform different jobs, much like other social insects such as ants. The large queen lays the eggs, sometimes thousands in a single day. She is always accompanied by a king. Soldier termites typically have large heads with powerful jaws used to fend off their enemies—usually ants. In some species the soldiers have snouts that squirt a poison liquid at the enemy. Most numerous are the workers, who tend the queen, build the nest and forage for food. In some types of termites, such as dampwood and drywood termites, workers are not truly different but are actually young termites. Many types of termites have long lifespans: queens and kings can live for decades; workers for several years.

Termites belong to an ancient order of insects, Isoptera, that has been in existence more than 100 million years. While humans think of them mainly as a destructive force, in fact termites make positive contributions to the ecosystem by breaking down and recycling wood and plant materials and aerating the soil.

However, when they move into our houses and buildings, termites become a destructive force that results in some $2 billion worth each year in the United States alone. Because they feed on wood, they can cause serious damage to our homes, apartments, commercial buildings or outbuildings such as barns or sheds, even to structures such as wooden mailbox posts or light poles.

There are some 2,500 different species of termites worldwide, and 17 types of termites in California. Termites that occur in California can be divided into three basic groups: dampwood, drywood and subterranean.

Dampwood termites are found only in a few parts of the world, primarily in California and the Pacific Northwest. The Nevada dampwood termite lives mainly in high, drier mountainous areas and along the Northern California coast. The Pacific dampwood termite is the largest of the California termites, growing to nearly an inch long. Dampwood termites live and feed in very moist wood, especially in stumps and fallen trees on the forest floor. In our homes and commercial structures, they are attracted by damp conditions such as plumbing leaks or leaky window frames. They nest in wood buried in the soil but can also be present in very moist wood that does not have contact with the soil.

Drywood termites are most common in Southern California but are also found in coastal regions and the Central Valley. They infest dry, undecayed wood, both in structures and in forests. Drywood termites can survive long periods of drought. They live above ground and do not connect their nests to the soil.

Subterranean termites live in the soil, sometimes several feet below ground, and must have moisture to survive. They stay in contact with the soil by building hollow tunnels, or shelter tubes, from dirt, wood or drywall particles, about the diameter of a pencil.

The western subterranean termite is the most destructive termite found in California, causing dangerous and costly damage to wooden foundation and structural support beams.

Often homeowners like our customer discover they have a termite problem when they discover a swarm, which in most species happens in spring or fall when the termites are ready to reproduce. Other signs of termite infestation are the presence of dirt shelter tunnels on walls, dark or blistered wood, or areas of thin, easily broken wood.

Termite infestations are difficult if not impossible to control with do-it-yourself methods. New technologies are extremely effective at eradicating termites and preventing reinfestation. In addition to traditional termite control measures, Earth Guard offers a line of earth-friendly treatment solutions.

To learn more about termites and our termite inspection and treatment services, go to: http://www.earthguardpest.com/commercial_real_estate/termite/.

Where pigeons of a feather flock together... there goes the neighborhood!

2009-11-26T20:50:50Z

Sometimes visitors to our Sacramento pest control company Website are surprised to find pigeons on our list of household pests. The fact is, if your home or commercial building ever becomes a popular roosting spot for these ubiquitous city- and suburban-dwellers, you have a pest problem that can encompass health hazards, safety hazards and property damage, to say nothing of an unsightly mess.

What we Americans call pigeons are rock doves that were domesticated and imported to North America from England and Europe in the 1800s. Over time, many of them escaped to produce large feral populations, and today their range covers much of the continent, including the U.S., southern Canada and Mexico, as well as Hawaii. In Los Angeles County, there is a population of native Band-Tail Pigeons; however, they live mostly in the foothills and do not usually inhabit urban areas. The pigeons that live in our cities and roost on our roofs are a non-native, invasive species.

Pigeons are comfortable with humans and are not easily scared away or deterred. Our houses and public buildings often have architectural features such as eaves, cupolas and drain spouts that make ideal nesting sites for a bird that in its native habitat would nest in the cavities and hollows of steep rock cliffs.

Pigeons have thrived so well in the wild in part because they are prolific breeders, hatching several broods a year and sometimes laying a new clutch of eggs before the previous batch of fledglings has left the nest.

Pigeons are creatures of habit and highly social. Once they home in on easy food sources and comfortable nesting and roosting sites, they will return again and again, along with a few hundred of their closest friends and relatives. Unfortunately, they make unsanitary, unhealthful and destructive neighbors.

Pigeon droppings not only look and smell terrible, they damage buildings, statues, equipment and other outdoor structures, kill landscape plants and attract flies. Pigeon droppings, especially when dry and airborne, can expose humans to several diseases, including aspergillosis, candidiasis, encephalitis, histoplasmosis, Newcastle disease, ornithosis, salmonellosis, toxoplasmosis, and cryptococcosis and coccidiodomycosis, which cause meningitis.

Pigeons carry parasites, including mites, fleas, ticks that are dangerous to humans and domestic animals. Pigeons may also encourage other pests, such as rats, which feed on dead pigeons and the food sometimes scattered for pigeons by well intentioned bird-lovers. Wheeling in large flocks, pigeons pose a hazard to planes in airport settings, and often outcompete our native birds for food and habitat.

Pigeons are not protected under federal law, but many local governments do have laws regulating pigeon deterrence or removal. Domesticated homing or hobby pigeons should be identifiable by a band on one leg, and in many areas it is a misdemeanor offense to harm or kill them.

Once a flock of pigeons has made itself at home on your house or commercial building, it can be stubbornly resistant to removal, often requiring the services of pest control or animal control professionals. As is true of many household pests, a first step to controlling feral pigeons is to remove their food source. Keep areas around trash bins and outdoor dining areas clean; encourage children to pick up spilled treats—and teach them NOT to feed the pigeons. Eliminating water sources such as overwatered lawns, bird baths, or kiddy pools, and screening drains and gutters can also make your property less attractive to pigeons.

Other methods of eliminating pigeons are more difficult. Using plastic owls or other props to scare pigeons away usually is NOT effective for more than a day or two, simply because a stationery object quickly becomes familiar to pigeons who return day after day to the same roost. Have you ever spotted a pigeon or seagull perched happily on the head of a plastic owl?

Excluding pigeons by covering or screening roof openings, alcoves, chimneys and pipes can work, but every opening must be covered; otherwise the stubborn pigeons will simply move to another, more accessible spot. Other methods to discourage nesting and roosting are repeated and ongoing nest removal, installation of spikes or spring-loaded wire devices, application of sticky repellant material along roosting surfaces and nesting areas, netting, live trapping, and baits and poisons. As with exclusion methods, every accessible part of your property must be treated, or pigeons simply will migrate to untreated areas. With any method of pigeon control, local ordinances, public perception and environmental health and safety must be prime considerations.

To read more about pigeons and other household pests, integrated pest control methods and environmental issues, visit http://earthguardpest.com/blog.

The Ants Go Marching...

2009-11-05T20:48:35Z

You remember that old song we used to sing on school field trips or at summer camp—“The ants go marching one by one....” The chorus ends: “And they all go marching down—to the ground—to get out—of the rain—boom boom boom.”

As in many fairy tales and childhood songs, there is a kernel of truth in that verse: Rainy weather does send ants scurrying, long columns of them rushing here and there, searching for any crack or crevice that will take them out of the drowning wetness, into someplace warm and dry.

Our Sacramento pest control company recently got a frantic call from a woman who had put off dealing with an enormous ant infestation on a large crepe myrtle tree that hung over her driveway. On a recent rainy morning, she walked out through her garage to pick up the morning paper, only to step, barelegged, into a swarm of ants that were using the concrete seam in the center of her garage floor as a highway under the garage door and into her dry garage.

Once ants are present in large numbers, they can be exceptionally difficult to eliminate. Inspection and identification of the type of ant is critical to effective treatment—and may be an argument for calling on a trained pest control professional rather than depending on a can of spray and a prayer. (For more information about common Sacramento-area ants, visit my blog post at http://earthguardpest.com/blog/?p=13.)

For customers who choose a “green” pest control solution, which most often involves placing baits that the ants carry back to their colonies, follow-up monitoring, refilling of bait stations and reinspection are required, and it usually takes longer to be completely ant-free.

If you find yourself, like our customer, with ants crawling up your legs, or you walk into your kitchen to see a trail of ants across the floor and up your cabinet doors, here are some immediate steps to take—instead of grabbing for a can of bug spray:

• If ants have been attracted by a food source, locate the source, remove it and clean the area thoroughly.
• Clean the trail with soapy water or spray cleaner and wipe up or vacuum up ants.
• Try to determine where the ants have entered your home, and caulk the opening or plug it with petroleum jelly.

With the rainy season upon us, ants from your yard or garden will be looking for ways into your warm, dry home. Take a look around your foundation, doors and windows; check around spas, storage sheds and garbage cans. Take quick action to prevent ants from moving in for the winter!

For more information about ants, rats, mice and other pests that also come inside during our Sacramento winters, visit http://earthguardpest.com/blog.

Rats grow fat and happy, thanks to mild Sacramento winters

2010-01-27T06:23:27Z

Calls have been pouring into our Sacramento pest control office, with homeowners and business owners reporting that, suddenly, rats have moved into their attics and garages.

Now rat problems always grow worse during our chilly, rainy Sacramento winters, because, like us, the rats are looking for a cozy, dry place indoors where they can build nests and have babies... lots and lots of babies—three to five litters per year, and as many as eight rat pups per litter!

But this year we’re seeing something a little different: The rats our expert pest control technicians are pulling out of the traps they place are huge... some of them nearly a foot-and-a-half long, measuring both body and tail.

What could be creating this bumper crop of plus-size rats? People pouring multi-vitamins down the kitchen sink? Radiation from so many people constantly using their cell phones?

No, far from being a plot line from an upcoming sci-fi movie, the fat and happy rats we’re seeing are simply the products of a series of fairly mild winters in the Sacramento region. Whereas in a normal winter, a large proportion of rats naturally succumb to cold, exposure and scarcity of food, in a mild winter, more rats live to see the spring. A rat whose normal life span might be two years may live to be three, growing correspondingly larger with age. Foods that rats like, such as seeds and grains, are more abundant during mild years, so the surviving rats get plenty to eat.

There are numerous examples of mild winters leading to a boom in rat populations. In 2002, the city of Boston was overrun with rats; thanks to a series of mild New England winters, instead of some 30 percent of rats dying off in frigid cold, only about 5 percent succumbed, according to the Boston Phoenix newspaper (http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02194425.htm).

A 2009 article in the UK Guardian newspaper reports the worst rat infestation in 30 years, due to a run of mild winters, and warns consumers that the overpopulation of rats, combined with a bumper wheat crop could increase the danger of rodent droppings in whole-grain breads. Foods made with whole grain flour were more susceptible to rat droppings, the article stated, because they are less processed than goods made with white flour.

Perhaps the most amusing—if alarming—example of rats gone wild was the 2002 Los Angeles Times article reporting that rats seemed drawn to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. One well-to-do Beverly Hills doctor and his party guests were horrified to discover three rats helping themselves to his outdoor buffet. Just a few days later, on a warm Saturday afternoon, the physician found five rats swimming in his marble pool. The culprit: several mild Southern California winters in a row, coupled with near-drought conditions (similar to recent climate conditions in our Sacramento region) that drove the rats from fields and vacant lots into the lush, well-watered gardens and patios of upscale L.A. (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/17/us/up-down-in-and-out-in-beverly-hills-rats.html?pagewanted=1)

While such tales may make us laugh, the fact is that rats pose a danger to our homes, families and businesses and to the public health. In addition to carrying diseases and contaminating foodstuffs, rats pose a fire hazard due to their constant gnawing.

Because their four long incisor teeth grow very rapidly and continually throughout the rats’ lifespan, they must constantly gnaw to keep the teeth worn down (http://www.ratbehavior.org/Teeth.htm). If they were to stop, their long, sharp front teeth would grow in spirals and impale them. Among rats’ favorite teething toys appear to be electrical wires, telephone wires, satellite and cable TV wiring and alarm-system wires—at best a nuisance or a repair bill, at worst a fire that destroys a home or place of business.

Rat infestations are a stubborn pest control problem best left to licensed and trained pest control professionals. To learn more about rats and other rodents and how to prevent infestations, read our earlier blog post at http://earthguardpest.com/blog/?p=21 or visit www.earthguardpest.com.