Whether you’re receiving packages from a meal subscription plan or you’re temporarily handling child care, you’re probably focusing on getting out and about as little as possible. But, as you continue to use your living environment more than ever before, your day-to-day activities are likely attracting some unexpected guests: pests.

Here at Lloyd, we want to make sure your time at home is smooth and safe—which is why we are here to help you keep your home pest-free. With an increase in the amount of food we are eating, trash we are creating, and the life we are living in our spaces, all sorts of pests are catching on to our new routines.

From rodents searching for food in your kitchen to wildlife preying on your food deliveries, our team has a few pointers on what you can do to prevent unwanted houseguests during quarantine.

How to Prevent Pests During Quarantine

Unfortunately, the stay-at-home orders are happening during the spring and summer months, which is a prime time for pest activity here in Southern California. That means pests like rodents, roaches, ants, fleas, termites, and more are on the move in search of food and shelter. If the proper precautions aren’t put in place now, your space can become a pest paradise in the ensuing months.

Accept Package Deliveries Promptly

With an influx of package deliveries at your doorstep (especially grocery and meal subscription deliveries), your chances of attracting pests to your home increase drastically.

Because cardboard is a food source for cockroaches, these insects can get inside packages during the shipping process and lay eggs. If boxes are improperly disposed of in your home or garage, it could potentially lead to the beginning of a roach infestation. Cockroaches aren’t the only pest attracted to boxes on your porch, either. Rodents, ants, and squirrels can catch wind of grocery or food deliveries if these packages are left outdoors for too long.

Make sure to get your packages indoors promptly, dispose of cardboard boxes properly, and ensure your outdoor trash cans are sealed with a tight-fitting lid to prevent these pests from thinking your home is an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Clean Your Common Spaces Frequently

Whether you’re cooking more at home or ordering take-out frequently, food waste inside your space can draw in pests quickly. After cooking and eating, make sure you’re cleaning your countertops and dishware promptly. Dirty dishes in the sink, dried spills on your counters, and loosely sealed indoor trash cans can provide ample food sources for pests like ants and rodents.

If you have children home with you, there might be dirty dishware or snacks located in places they shouldn’t be. Be sure to inspect common areas regularly—including basements, bedrooms, coffee tables, playrooms, and breakfast bars— as even the smallest crumbs of food can attract unwanted bugs.

Inspect Your Outdoor Vehicle

If your car sits outdoors in your driveway or on the street, it’s important to check under your hood at least once a week—especially if you haven’t been driving much recently. When cars sit outside for too long, rodents like mice and squirrels can easily take shelter inside your engine bay, chewing on wires, cables, and even air filters in search of food.

To ward off these pests from being attracted to your vehicle, make sure all food bags, coffee cups, and spilled fries are picked up and properly disposed of. In addition, seal all openings—such as cracked doors or sunroofs—to the best of your ability and try to keep your car away from bushes, trees, or foliage. 

Call Lloyd to Stay Pest-Free at Home

While we are still under the stay-at-home order, it’s important to remember that pests are attracted to your house the more you live in it.

From consuming or cooking more food to creating more waste inside your space, you need to take the proper precautions to ensure pests don’t start sheltering in place with you and your family. And, if you want to truly implement an effective pest control strategy, the team at Lloyd Pest Control is waiting in the wings to kick bugs to your curb.

At Lloyd, our technicians work alone in the field and employ personal protective equipment—including wearing gloves and medical-grade respirators while we are inside or around your property. So, no matter what pest you are dealing with while you are staying at home, we will make sure you stay shielded while we take care of your infestation.

Don’t hesitate to give us a call today for minimally invasive, low-intensity pest barriers around the interior and exterior of your home.

The post Quarantining at Home? You Might Not Be Alone. first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Contrary to all the hysteria surrounding brown recluse spiders and the dangers they pose to humans, residents in Southern California don’t need to fret over the brown recluse spider.

Brown recluse spiders simply do not live in any area of Southern California, including:

• Palm Springs
• Coachella Valley
• San Diego
• Orange County
• Riverside
• San Marcos
• Los Angeles

Time for a deep sigh of relief, right? Don’t exhale just yet. Although there are no brown recluse spiders nearby, we do have a few spiders crawling amongst us that can be dangerous to our well-being.

At Lloyd, we want to settle the debate once and for all: The spider you are seeing in the warmer areas of SoCal simply isn’t a brown recluse, but rather, it’s likely a desert recluse—which is very similar to the demonized brown recluse.

Additionally, Southern California features spiders like brown widows and black widows, although these spiders rarely bite humans unless aggressively handled or provoked. Bites are so rare that there hasn’t been a single bite amongst our field staff who tangle with them far more than a normal person would.

While we may be free from the dangers of the brown recluse, we have plenty of other spiders that should be on our radar as we’re in our yards, around our homes, or out and about. To better identify the exact species of spiders you might encounter, our pest control experts have put together this guide on all things dangerous spiders in Southern California.

Desert Recluse vs. Brown Recluse: What’s the Difference?

Southern California Recluse Characteristics

Both the desert recluse (L. Deserta) and the brown recluse (L. Reclusa) belong to the family Loxosceles, meaning “with slanting legs” in Greek. These spiders feature similar color variations, but the brown recluse typically features darker markings on their bodies than the desert recluse.

The brown and desert recluse spiders feature:

• Light tan, dark brown, or yellowish-brown color
• Uniform color across cephalothorax (fused head and thorax), abdomen, and legs
• Oval abdomens

Brown recluse and desert recluse spiders are known for their “reclusive” behaviors, avoiding potential predators at all costs. Because they are nocturnal, they do most of their hunting at night and hide during the day.

Violin or Fiddle-Shaped Markings

As the brown recluse’s claim to fame, they feature a violin-like marking on the top of their cephalothorax. Confusingly enough, some desert recluse spiders can possess similar violin-like markings on their backs, but not always. If they do, their violin mark will be much lighter.

Recluse Venom

The brown recluse and the desert recluse both cause Loxoscelism by injecting a small dose of venom—known as sphingomyelinase D, a dermonecrosis-causing enzyme—while striking their prey or a would-be predator. In layman’s terms, necrosis-causing enzymes cause human tissue to deteriorate, meaning severe bites can eat away at your flesh.

While desert recluses contain the same type of venom as brown recluses, the chances of you being bitten by one are extremely slim—and the chance of being mortally wounded by one is even slimmer.

In fact, there hasn’t been a single reported death caused by a desert recluse bite in Southern California. Additionally, most bites from these recluses won’t inject you with enough venom to eat away at your skin. Recluse bites typically go away on their own, leaving little to no harm done.

Regardless of this fact, if you think you’ve been bitten by a desert recluse, it’s important to seek out medical attention. Often, suspected recluse bites are bites from other arthropods or undiagnosed diseases and bacterial infections.

Brown Widows

Scientifically known as Latrodectus geometricus, the brown widow spider has been spinning webs across Southern California since the early 2000s. Thought to have evolved from Africa but discovered in South America, these arachnids are venomous and come in a variety of colors, making them difficult to distinguish from their eery cousin, the black widow.

Brown Widow Characteristics

The brown widow comes in a variety of brownish colors throughout its life stages.

Spiderlings and Adolescents

Brown widow spiderlings and adolescents look almost identical to their black widow counterparts, as they feature:

• Tan legs
• Tan cephalothorax with a black stripe
• White, rounded abdomen with black spots

To differentiate the two, always remember that brown widow spiderlings and adolescents usually have more brown on them—or lighter brownish variations—than their black widow counterparts.

Female Brown Widows

The female brown widow spider can look strikingly like an immature female black widow, especially once both spiders are about half grown. It’s important to note that immature female black widows have an orange-colored, longitudinal stripe that runs up the abdomen, while the immature brown widow has a darker, blotchier longitudinal stripe that only goes about halfway up the abdomen.

Common female brown widow features include:

• Light- to dark-brown cephalothorax and abdomen
• Tan and brown-banded legs
• Orange hourglass shapes on abdomens

While these characteristics resemble the most common variations of adult female brown widows, their colors can differentiate drastically. Some adult females can be so dark brown that they appear like black widows, with slightly reddish- or yellowish-orange hourglass markings.

Male Brown Widows

Adult male brown widows are significantly smaller than females and their black widow counterparts, featuring similar colorations as brown widow spiderlings with two large papal bulbs—copulatory organs of the male spider—near the front limbs.

For a highly detailed, comprehensive list of brown widow identifiers, check out UC Riverside’s guide on how to identify brown widow spiders.

Brown Widow Egg Sacs

Known as the easiest way to identify brown widows, their egg sacs are tan and spherical with sharp, silk points sticking out of them. These sacs help differentiate from the black widow’s, as their eggs feature white, smooth, and round surfaces.

Brown Widow Venom

Brown widows have a neurotoxic venom—a venom that affects nerve-muscle function—that causes Latrodectism, which can include symptoms like:

• Pain
• Muscle rigidity
• Vomiting
• Sweating

Thankfully, brown widows simply don’t have the power or the neurotoxin reserves to cause Latrodectism in most human bite victims. Brown widow bites often aren’t fatal either, as the effects of the toxin remain in the bite area and surrounding tissue. Normally, brown widow bites leave behind a red mark typical of a spider bite, healing on its own over time.

Western Black Widows

Arguably the most recognizable spider on the planet, the black widow—or Latrodectus hesperus—is a fear-inducing arachnid with a bigger dose of venom than the brown widow or recluse.

Black Widow Characteristics

Physical characteristics of adult female black widows include:

• Bright red, hourglass-like abdominal mark
• Shiny black pigment across abdomens, cephalothorax, and legs
• Rounded abdomen

Also, when female black widows have consumed a large meal, their bodies can become so enlarged and stretched that they take on a brown or plum hue.

Immature Female and Male Black Widows

Much like the brown widow, immature female and male black widows are tan with brown-banded legs. These black widows feature a white abdomen with brown markings and are significantly smaller than the adult female widow.

Black Widow Venom

Although bites from adult female black widows are rare, they can pack a serious punch. With a larger venom reservoir and stronger biting muscles than brown widows, these spiders deliver a dose of neurotoxin into their prey and potential predators. It’s important to note that neurotoxins do not function like dermonecrosis-causing enzymes, meaning their bites do not cause flesh to deteriorate.

Although a black widow bite is often painless—or simply feels like a pinprick—human bite victims will begin to feel symptoms within an hour. These bites appear as small red marks that sometimes feature red streaking away from the wound.

According to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, symptoms include:

• Rigid stomach muscles, which some medical professionals have misdiagnosed as appendicitis
• Sweating, sometimes of just the bitten body part, such as a bite to the hand that results in only the arm sweating profusely
• Pain that can be local, radiating, or regional
• Urine retention
• Numbness, agitation, fever, and patchy paralysis (less common)

While these are the most severe symptoms of a black widow bite, most human bite victims experience flu-like symptoms that last a few days.

Note: If you suspect a black widow bite—or spotted a black widow biting you—seek professional medical attention.

How to Protect Your Family from These Dangerous Spiders

All spiders—including brown widows, black widows, and the desert recluse—are fond of spaces like covered barbecues, covered patio furniture, and the inside of garden shoes that are often stored outside or in a garage.

It makes sense to exercise extra care when uncovering patio furniture or turning on the gas to the barbecue to make sure you’re not grabbing at any of these spiders. Also, if you store any shoes outside of your house, make sure you shake them before slipping into them.

Professional Spider Control in Southern California

At Lloyd Pest Control, we want you to know that there aren’t brown recluse spiders in Southern California, but there are a few other spiders—like desert recluses, brown widows, and black widows—that call SoCal home.

With more than eight decades of experience treating pest pressures in Southern California, we have professional spider treatments and pest barriers that can help. Contact us today for a free instant quote. But never forget that perhaps the best way to rid yourself of a spider is a swift whack with the bottom of a shoe. And don’t worry if you miss the first time; they won’t chase you. We promise!

The post Are There Brown Recluse Spiders in Southern California? 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.

Why Spiders Come Indoors

While shelter from the cold brings many pests indoors, it’s not a motivator for spiders. Arachnids can endure near-freezing temperatures, and with our Southern California winters rarely dropping below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they don’t need our warm buildings. In fact, most species aren’t even adapted for indoor conditions, as they’re too dry and have too few insects to eat. So, why do they come in?

The truth is that spiders don’t always come inside on purpose. When mating, male spiders become more mobile, making them likely to accidentally wander into homes and businesses. There are a few species (namely, house spiders) adapted to the indoors, spending most – if not all – of their lives within buildings. But many others may show up on your property, from the dreaded black widows and desert recluses to multiple types of sac spiders.

The Truth About Their Presence

Before we make spiders out to be the most dastardly pests in existence, we should state that they are fairly beneficial. Think of them more as your friendly, neighborhood spiders (remind you of any web-slinging superheroes?) than the ones from that terrifying movie Arachnophobia. While they’re still icky and may inflict a painful bite, spiders do eat many common indoor pests, including:

• Roaches
• Earwigs
• Flies
• Mosquitoes
• Moths

So, knowing this benefit spiders provide, the question becomes, “How do I stop them without letting the pests they eat run rampant?” The answer is simple: Be strategic.

Slipping Through the Cracks

Spiders – like most other pests – get indoors by exploiting available openings. While it’s easy to think that keeping doors and windows closed is enough, small holes and gaps are equally vulnerable. Sealing the following often-overlooked places can keep out not only arachnids, but many of the bugs they eat as well:

• Door and window gaps
• Broken door and window screens
• Cracks in walls
• Attic and basement vents

Strategies: Caulking is an effective way to seal any cracks or gaps. You might also consider installing door sweeps on all your doors to keep spiders from squeezing under them. If you notice any screens that are broken, get them fixed or replaced. Also, installing wire mesh on your vents is a good idea; the tiny holes allow air to ventilate but keep spiders and other pests out.

A Place to Hide

Taking away entry points is a great start; still, no home is 100 percent insulated from outside intrusions. Eventually, you may have an infestation on your hands, and you won’t know it immediately. Remember that spider you spotted in your basement? It likely didn’t show up yesterday. Don’t freak out too much, but it may have been there for weeks, or even months. It’s fair to say that spiders are fantastic at hide-and-seek. Be proactive, and keep them from winning.

Strategies: Spiders love dark places with lots of clutter, like basements, garages, attics, or closets – clean them out if they seem at risk. Vacuuming and sanitizing discourages the building of spiderwebs. Outside, remove firewood and foliage to keep them away from your property. By doing all of this, you’re also making it unlikely other pests will find nesting places, either.

The Food Chain’s Chilling Impact

As we stated earlier, spiders are beneficial because they eliminate other annoying (and often harmful) pests. As carnivores, they consume 16 times more meat than we do each year – estimates are as high as 800 million metric tons worldwide. That just goes to show how important the presence of other pests is to their survival in your home or business.

But if you don’t want them in or around your property (and we totally understand if you don’t), the solution is obvious. Get rid of other pests’ food sources, and you’ll be getting rid of spiders’ food sources at the same time.

Strategies: Every food group supports pests of some sort. Roaches crave sweets, meats, and starches; earwigs gravitate toward fruits and vegetables; and flies go for just about everything. Taking away their access to food and water is crucial. Cleaning up spills, keeping containers closed, and fixing leaks are the most effective ways to prevent pests – and resultantly, spiders – from flocking to your home or business.

When All Else Fails

Even by using all these previous strategies, you might still have spiders show up. Despite our best efforts, they’re still experts at entering, hiding, and hunting (it’s not always easy to stop pesky insects like flies and mosquitoes, as you probably know from experience). As a result, you may still run into spiders and need to take more drastic measures to stop them. Yes, we’re talking about confronting them head-on.

Strategies: “Contact kill” is a great way to get rid of spiders; grab your nearest newspaper, shoe, or other object you don’t mind getting guts on, and smash them on sight. If you’re nimble (or brave) enough, catching them in a jar to release outside also works. However, spraying your home with pesticide isn’t as effective, as the chemicals only get on spiders’ legs and are not ingested.

A big issue with spider killing is that the species you’re taking on might be venomous. For all you know, you could be dealing with black widows or desert recluses. To be safe (both figuratively and literally), you may be better off calling in a professional at this point.

Say Goodbye to Spiders with Professional Help

Even with the ecological benefits spiders provide, you may still want them gone. In addition to their downright ghastly appearance, their potentially hazardous bites are a good reason to get professionals to do the job. At Lloyd Pest Control, we’ll safely eliminate the most problematic species while also offering specific preventative tips. Contact us to get a free quote for spider control for your Southern California home or business.

The post So Long, Spiders: Making Infestations a Thing of the Past first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Why We Need to Pest-Proof Our Properties

You may think you only need pest control after you notice an infestation, but you should take action long before that. Spiders are scary enough when they swing down out of nowhere. But what’s even more frightening is that they may have been lurking in your home for weeks before you see them. The same is true for many other pests: By the time you see them, your property may already be overrun. Stopping them from ever coming in saves you time and money – and staves off stress.

Know Your Most At-Risk Spots

The first step to prevent pest invasions is having an understanding of where on your property they’re likely to enter. We’d like to think we’re insulated from the outdoors, but no building is perfect. Tiny insects like flies and ants squeeze through the smallest of holes. Even larger pests like mice and rats also fit inside narrow gaps as small as a dime. That doesn’t even factor in their teeth, which allow them to chew through drywall and other building materials.

The size and mobility of pests make them a constant threat to your property. After sneaking in through vulnerable spots, they settle in dark, tight spaces – feeding and growing their populations undetected. As they multiply, pests make life for home and business owners incredibly difficult. These are the common at-risk spots on your property:

• Walls and ceilings
• Siding and roofing
• Doors
• Windows
• Crawl spaces
• Attics
• Vents and ducts
• Pipes

It’s important to closely monitor these areas of your home and do your best to close them off to pests.

Seal Doors and Windows

The most common entry points for pests are doors and windows. After all, they’re your home or business’ connection to the outside world. To keep out pests, fit your windows with screens if they don’t already have any, and replace any that have holes in them. Make sure your doors and windows close correctly to prevent gaping holes from rolling out a pest’s welcome mat. Look for any cracks in door and window frames, then seal any that you find with caulk. Weather stripping is also beneficial; it not only defends against the elements, but adds one more thing pests would have to get through.

Be Wary of Your Attic and Crawl Space

Since pests look for secluded spaces, attics are a prime location for them to settle down. A common attic dweller is the roof rat, which uses its strong climbing ability to get onto roofs and eventually into buildings. Flying insects also get up high into attics. To keep pests out, occasionally check your roof for holes, trim tree branches, and install a cap on your chimney (if it crosses through your attic).

Most Southern California homes don’t have basements, but many have crawl spaces. This three-foot-high area is like a shallow “basement,” but it’s usually reserved for plumbing and wiring. That makes it a perfect hideout for pests. Sealing openings is a good prevention technique. In addition, installing a crawl space vapor barrier prevents condensation from accumulating, and keeps away moisture-loving pests like silverfish, earwigs, centipedes, and more.

Watch Your Vents

While vents carry air outside, they may also allow pests inside. Most critters don’t like to be around flowing air (they don’t like the dry conditions), but vents may still play an important role for them: as tunnels to get to more hospitable locations. Two of the typical pest travel routes for homes and businesses are:

• Kitchen vents: If you own a restaurant, you probably have a ventilation system for safely removing steam from the kitchen. Pests use them to get inside, and since they come indoors seeking food and water, they flock to kitchens, too.
• Dryer vents: If you own a home with a dryer, your dryer vent gets rid of moist air. After entering through the laundry room, pests move to nearby kitchens and bathrooms in search of food, water, and shelter.

If you’re afraid your vents are vulnerable, update them to keep pests out. Get covers for any vent you fear might serve as a transportation route. Also, check to make sure that pests – specifically, rats – haven’t been chewing into any of your vents.

Take Care of Your Plumbing

Since most pests are attracted to water, the allure of pipes often brings them inside. Most pest problems related to plumbing also stem from a plumbing problem – typically, leaks. That’s why ants and roaches often end up in kitchens and bathrooms. It’s also why dampwood termites show up to munch on moist wood. Other pests may even cause blockage by gathering in pipes. If you notice a plumbing issue, get it fixed before pests make it worse.

Keep Containers Free of Pests

When your home or business is fortified against infestations, pests have to get creative. To the dismay of home and business owners, they often sneak in via containers, packages, and bags. A brief inspection of new ingredient shipments or grocery bags may catch them in the act. Be sure to quickly dispose of packaging as well. Cutting down on clutter is also key, as otherwise, pests that slip inside may hide in tightly packed areas.

Get the Professionals at Lloyd Pest Control

The best way to stop infestations is preventing them from happening at all, and that means focusing on the at-risk parts of your property. But when your own efforts aren’t enough, let the professionals give you a hand. At Lloyd Pest Control, we offer both residential and business pest control throughout Southern California. Our focus is on prevention, in addition to eradicating pests that may already be on your property. We’ll work with you closely to fortify your home or business against infestations. Contact us for a free quote.

The post Keeping Them Out: A Home and Business Guide to Pest Prevention first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Southern California: A Dastardly Antscape

Before examining what sets each species apart, let’s first examine the origin story of California ants in general.

Along with bees and wasps, ants emerged as a member of the Hymenoptera order. This may seem odd, as ants don’t seem too similar to the other two members on the surface. But, like bees and wasps, ants are social insects. This means they live together in colonies led by queens. In addition, their segmented bodies look like those of the flying, stinging insects, and many ants possess flying and stinging abilities.

The types of weather that most often bring ants indoors are wet winters and hot summers. Dense downpours and scorching heat – both common in Southern California – make the outdoors too harsh for them. To support their colonies, ants often enter homes to seek food and/or shelter. But the habits of each differ by species, and your likelihood of an encounter depends on what your property offers them.

The Notorious Odorous House Ant

Odorous house ants’ villainous characteristics make them hard to escape. They’re clever, hiding in walls and under floors to avoid detection. They’re always at work, foraging for food at all times of the day. To add to that, they crave your food, making them one of the most likely culprits of a home infestation. You may spot them in your kitchen, as they eat what we eat: sugary foods, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and even proteins.

This species of ant got its name from the odor it produces when crushed (many compare it to the smell of rotten coconut). Odorous house ants form massive colonies that often number in the thousands. Given their powers and abundance, you might consider ant baits to eliminate infestations. When worker ants bring the poisonous bait back to their nest, the entire colony is destroyed. But to keep these wrongdoers away for good, the best thing you can do is remove open food sources.

The Invasive Argentine Ant

Picture a supervillain so power-hungry that it eliminates other competing villains. That’s the Argentine ant, who has largely displaced the odorous house ant throughout California. Unlike odorous house ants, Argentine ants prefer to nest outside, coming inside to retrieve food to bring back to their colony. Since they arrived in the US in the late 1800s, these miscre-ants have dominated our state through an enhanced set of superpowers. Their strengths include:

1. Ability to survive in conditions that other ants can’t
2. Destructive tendencies toward other ants
3. High tolerance of neighboring Argentine ant colonies

There’s good reason Argentine ants are considered one of the world’s Top 100 worst animal invaders (#48, to be exact). Not only are they a risk to other ants, but they’re also a risk to the California ecosystem. Because Argentine ants outlast native ants, they endanger plants and insects that need natives to support the local ecology. What’s worse is that our homes tend to really attract this enemy. Sweet foods like syrups and jellies make them swarm kitchens. To best control Argentine ants, baits are employed indoors, while granule or spray treatments are performed to build a perimeter outdoors.

The Destructive Carpenter Ant

Carpenter ants’ most notable superpower is their ability to chew through wood. But they don’t eat it like termites do. Instead, they take advantage of their power to tear through the wood and create nests. Carpenter ants build their homes in wooden structures, specifically ones that are moist or hollow. This includes trees, logs, fences, and window frames. If they’re on your property, you might see worker ants foraging for food, or – if you’re listening close enough – even hear a slight crackling sound as they gnaw through wood.

Like many ant species, baits are often effective against carpenter ants. But to keep the frustrating foes away for good, remove rotted wood, tree stumps, and other attractive habitats. This species is known to be more destructive than odorous house ants and Argentine ants, so professional pest control is imperative to limit their damage. Our termite division at Lloyd Pest Control also takes on carpenter ants, which – as wood-destroying organisms – require a separate license and training.

The Threatening Fire Ant

Compared to the other three ant supervillains, fire ants are by far the most aggressive. Be careful when approaching them, as they will use their power to sting if they feel threatened. They’re not afraid to get their hands dirty, and often feed on insects and rodents. Even more frightening is the chance they’ll nest in or under your home. But on most occasions, you’ll spot them nesting in a large, open area like your lawn (look for multiple large dirt mounds).

California fire ants mostly wreak havoc in Riverside and San Bernardino. While they also infest parts of Los Angeles, the closer you live to the desert, the more likely you are to encounter them. Again, baits are an option for self-eradication, but these ants require a slightly different approach. Treat each mound until all ants are knocked out. We use special granule treatments that trick the ants into destroying themselves. Who’s dastardly now?

Stop the Most Heinous Ants with Lloyd Pest Control

Southern California is a haven for ant supervillains. Our homes and businesses offer them everything that they need. Each species has different powers that aid them in their pursuits. Lloyd Pest Control understands their schemes, and our technicians are the heroes standing ready to save the day. If you’re having a problem with ants or another mal-intentioned pest, we’re here to help. With our tried-and-true techniques, we’ll allow you to live in your home without the menace of pests.

For your ant control solutions, get an instant quote or call us at 1-(800) 223-2847.

The post Profiling California’s Least Wanted: Ants first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.

Often thought to burrow into people’s ears, the earwig is stuck with a reputation it doesn’t exactly deserve – even if it still wreaks havoc in California homes and gardens. Join Lloyd Pest Control as we explore the truth behind the insect world’s most misunderstood member.

A Misleading History

The history of the earwig is full of both fact and fallacy. Although native to six continents, the pest makes up one of the smallest insect orders in Dermaptera, which comes from the Latin words for “skin” and “wing.” The reason for the name is due to the presence of small wings on many earwig species. That said, it’s a somewhat misleading title, as the earwigs that do have wings don’t fly well, and not all of them can even fly.

While we’re at it, we should also debunk this common myth: No, earwigs don’t burrow into people’s ears, nor is that somewhere they ever think about going. In fact, it’s also wrongly believed by many that they lay eggs there, and sometimes go even deeper and burrow into our brains. This old wives’ tale has existed for hundreds of years, with mentions dating all the way back to the year 1000.

The bug’s name comes from this misconception as well. In German, it’s called ohrwurm, or “ear worm;” in Russian, it’s called ukhovertka, or “ear turner;” and in English, its name comes from the Old English word for “ear crawler.” These aren’t the most inviting of names, and they’ve only added to the fear we often have of them and their assumed potential for harm. Fortunately for us, earwigs are only pests in the sense that they can be annoying and difficult to manage.

Life in Our Backyards

The reason the earwig was incorrectly thought to enter people’s ears is because they love dark, cramped spaces. The truth is, they tend to find comfort in the outdoors rather than around humans. Some of their top places to inhabit include cool, moist areas where they can stay hidden. Here are a few places you can expect to encounter them:

• Under rocks, logs, fallen leaves, or chair cushions
• In flowerbeds or anywhere with mulch
• Around the home where moisture collects
• Around outdoor lights (like many insects, they’re attracted to light)

Earwigs also enjoy gardens where they can find a variety of food options. While they typically feast on the small, undesirable pests and decaying vegetation, they can be somewhat of a detriment to growing plants, too. That’s because they like to chew through fruits and vegetables, as well as plant leaves and flower petals. If garden populations get large enough, they can cause quite a bit of damage.

How to Prevent and Stop Infestations

Sometimes, earwigs find their way into your home – whether due to the outdoors growing inhospitable or the indoors better suiting their needs. The presence of water sources in the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room often attract them. The possibility for food and shelter is also a big motivator.

To make sure they don’t venture inside, follow these steps:

• Keep all windows and doors closed and sealed
• Assure there aren’t open cracks or screens for them to slip through
• Cut off potential sources that might attract them, including crumbs, leaks, condensation, and dirt
• Use a dehumidifier or fan to dry out areas you think they’re likely to inhabit
• Get rid of potential habitats near the outside of your home

If you notice earwigs have made it inside, getting rid of them may take some effort. Applying pesticide or granule treatments are easy and effective deterrents. But for an incessant problem, modifying the environment by following the above steps is your best bet. If they still don’t go away after that, or you’d feel better with someone else handling the issue, contact Lloyd Pest Control. We’ll check out the problem firsthand and provide you with solutions to keep these pests away.

But Are Earwigs Dangerous?

If you encounter an earwig in your home or yard, have no fear. After all, the rumor about them crawling into ears isn’t true. Overall, earwigs are practically harmless. They don’t bite or sting, nor do they contain venom of any kind. Some species produce an odor meant to fend off predators, but that’s the closest they come to any type of poison.

Its pincers are the only other weapon an earwig possesses – and a seldom-used one at that. Unless irritated, the earwig isn’t known to retaliate, and when it does, it won’t leave you feeling any more than a slight pinch from its set of forceps. Most of the fear of these insects is emotional or psychological, and is often brought on by their appearance or the mythology associated with them.

Lloyd Pest Control’s Approach to Earwigs

Earwigs are common throughout Southern California, and they can become a nuisance if the conditions are just right. Although they’re not harmful insects, they flock to wet, cool, and dark environments – many of which might exist in your home or yard. Fortunately, your ear will never be one of them.

At Lloyd Pest Control, we know all the details about earwigs and what it takes to combat them. We use pest control techniques that not only overpower them, but also outsmart them by forcing them out of their often-overlooked hiding places.

If you’d like to consider us for your earwig problem in Southern California, or you have another disruptive pest on your property, get an instant quote or call us at 1-(800) 223-2847.

The post All There Is to Know About the Often Misunderstood Earwig first appeared on Lloyd Pest Control.