There are over 12,000 species of ants throughout the world. In California, there are about 200 species but fewer than a dozen are important pests ( Table 1 ). The most common ant occurring in and around the house and garden in California is the Argentine ant...
Spiders
SLO Pest and Termite - Black WidowThere are two species of widow spiders in California, the western black widow and the brown widow. Both are in the genus Latrodectus and are characterized by a similar body shape, reclusive habit, and haphazardly constructed cobwebs.The western black widow spider—a native species—is widespread and is the spider posing the greatest threat to humans in the Western United States. It is well known in many localities, and nonprofessionals can identify it easily.In the first decade of the 21st century, the non-native brown widow became established in Southern California, and although it isn’t nearly as dangerous as the black widow, it causes alarm because of its potentially deadly relative. BLACK WIDOW SPIDERSSeveral species of black widow spiders are common in North America, but in the Western United States, the only species is the western black widow, Latrodectus hesperus. Its habitat ranges from British Columbia to Mexico and throughout the Rocky Mountains to the western portions of the Great Plains.In California, it is a common desert spider that is able to survive very hot, dry conditions. However, black widows also can be found in mountainous terrains above the 5,000-foot elevation in Southern California where snow covers the ground every winter. Outside of California, they are common in urban Colorado and in Central and Eastern Washington state.Because the holes, cracks, crevices, trash, and clutter associated with human structures attract the western black widow, these spiders are often very common around homes, barns, outbuildings, and rock walls. In supportive habitats, a mature female can be found every few feet.IdentificationThe mature female western black widow spider is about 1/2-inch long, not including the legs, and has a rounded abdomen and very characteristic coloration. She is shiny jet black all over her body and legs except for a red pattern on the underside of the abdomen, which looks, in perfect specimens, like an hourglass. Some specimens have a brownish or plum-colored tinge, but usually these are females that are so well fed the black pigment on the abdomen has expanded until it looks brown instead of black.The red hourglass can vary from two perfect triangles whose points merge to make a perfect hourglass to two triangles separated by a space, a triangle and small bar, or just minimal almost imperceptible red coloration. The false black widow, which is discussed below, is chocolate brown and never has red coloration, although many people frequently mistake it for a black widow.As easy as it is to identify an adult female black widow, the immatures look nothing like the mother. When baby black widow spiderlings emerge from their egg sac, they have tan legs and tan cephalothorax, the body part to which the legs attach, while the abdomen is mostly white with a few black spots.As the spider grows, the background coloration of the abdomen becomes olive gray, and there is a longitudinal whit
Termites
SLO Pest and Termite - The Vergeldt family owns and operates SLO Pest and Termite, exclusively here on the Central Coast of California. We service the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Our family goal is to give honest and dependable pest and termite service to our clients. After all, We live here too Who are we? We are a family run company, with 20 (plus) years of experience in pest and termite control on the Central Coast. New Times story on SLO Pest (link) No Contracts, everAt SLO Pest, we have no contracts. Our clients are not obligated to us. The only way we can keep our customer base is by doing a good job and proving to our customers every day why we were hired in the first place. Our competitors will use contracts to obligate their customers, you sign up and are locked in for a period of time (1 or 2 years) no matter what kind of job they do. No Renewals (The ability to re-new your warranty each year is called a renewal)SLO Pest has never offered a renewal warrantyWe give FIVE years on fumigation's and soil treatments, TWO Years on local treatments. (Click here for more info)Our clients have years to determine if our treatments have worked, at no extra cost. that's "peace of mind" The renewal is the biggest scam in our industry. This is how it worksA XYZ Corporation performs a job for you (fumigation, soil treatments, etc.) and gives you a warranty (usually 1 year). Then they say you can buy an extra year of coverage and they will come out and reinspect your property every year.The XYZ Corporation is reinspecting their own work and of course they always did a good job (or so they will say). The XYZ Corporation will increase the renewal fee every year until you go broke or get tired of paying for it. A customer could end up paying three times as much money for the same job. This renewal money is almost all profit for the company offering them (most customers cancel long before they need another termite treatment). ConfidentialitySLO Pest and termite values our client's privacy and does not make our customer list available. No telemarketersNo spam emails Let the large corporations say that. Showing up on timeThis is one way we shine in front of our customers is to show up on time. We make a appointment a 11:30 we'll be there at 11:30. Never "we'll be there between 10:00 and 2:00."Honest dependable service with honorWe treat you the way we want to be treated.Put us to the test (click here)This is who we are!
Bed Bugs
Until recently, bed bug infestations were thought to be associated primarily with crowded and dilapidated housing. However, such infestations have undergone a resurgence and can be found even in the finest hotel and living accommodations. The reasons for the resurgence are not totally understood but appear to involve increased human travel, ease of movement of infested luggage and items, and changes in the pesticides available to control this pest.
Fleas
For controlling rats indoors, using traps is best. When rodenticides (toxic baits) are used in structures, rats can die in inaccessible locations such as within walls or ceilings. In hot weather, the stench of a dead rat can be unbearable and can necessitate cutting a hole in the wall to remove the carcass. Also, ectoparasites such as fleas and mites often leave dead rat carcasses and can infest the entire house if the carcass isn’t removed promptly.
Cockroaches
There are six species of cockroaches in California that can become pests: German cockroach, brownbanded cockroach, oriental cockroach, smokybrown cockroach, American cockroach, and Turkestan cockroach. A seventh species, the field cockroach, is not really a pest. It is usually found outdoors, but sometimes comes indoors when it is hot or dry and is often mistaken for the German cockroach. Of these seven species, the one that has the greatest potential for becoming persistent and troublesome is the German cockroach, which prefers indoor locations. Oriental and American cockroaches occasionally pose problems in moist, humid areas.
Bees
Ants belong to the insect order Hymenoptera and are close relatives of bees and wasps. They are familiar insects that are easily recognized, especially in their common wingless adult forms, known as workers. However, winged forms of ants, which leave the nest in large numbers in warm weather to mate and establish new colonies, are often mistaken for winged termites, which also leave their nests
Wasps
Sometimes a person may not be aware of having been bitten until pain and other symptoms begin to develop. Other species of arthropods whose bites or stings may be mistaken for that of a spider include ticks, fleas, bees, wasps, bedbugs, mosquitoes, the conenose (kissing) bug
Ticks
If you do get a necrotic wound in California, you and your medical professional should consider many other common causes to be much more probable than a bite from a brown recluse spider. If an arthropod is involved at all, one should first consider all those creatures that seek out mammals for blood meals and may cause necrotic-type wounds. These include mites, fleas, bed bugs, soft ticks, hard ticks, conenose bugs, and kissing bugs (see
Earwigs
Mosquitoes
Unlike mosquitoes, spiders do not seek people in order to bite them. Generally, a spider doesn’t try to bite a person unless it has been squeezed, laid on, or similarly provoked to defend itself. Moreover, the jaws of most spiders are so small that the fangs cannot penetrate the skin of an adult person. Sometimes when a spider is disturbed in its web, it may bite instinctively because it mistakenly senses that an insect has been caught.
Flies
Glue Boards. An alternative to traps are glue boards, which catch and hold mice that are attempting to cross them in much the same way flypaper catches flies. They are available at many places where other rodent control products are sold.
Beetles
SLO Pest and Termite - Cockroaches There are six species of cockroaches in California that can become pests: German cockroach, brownbanded cockroach, oriental cockroach, smokybrown cockroach, American cockroach, and Turkestan cockroach. A seventh species, the field cockroach, is not really a pest. It is usually found outdoors, but sometimes comes indoors when it is hot or dry and is often mistaken for the German cockroach. Of these seven species, the one that has the greatest potential for becoming persistent and troublesome is the German cockroach, which prefers indoor locations. Oriental and American cockroaches occasionally pose problems in moist, humid areas.PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH COCKROACHESCockroaches may become pests in homes, schools, restaurants, hospitals, warehouses, offices, and virtually in any structure that has food preparation or storage areas. They contaminate food and eating utensils, destroy fabric and paper products, and impart stains and unpleasant odors to surfaces they contact.People are repulsed when they find cockroaches in their homes and kitchens. Cockroaches (especially the American cockroach, which comes into contact with human excrement in sewers or with pet droppings) may transmit bacteria that cause food poisoning (Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp.). German cockroaches are believed to be capable of transmitting disease-causing organisms such as Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., hepatitis virus, and coliform bacteria. They also have been implicated in the spread of typhoid and dysentery. Indoor infestations of cockroaches are an important source of allergens and risk for asthma among some populations. The levels of cockroaches and allergens are directly related to cockroach density, housing disrepair, and sanitary conditions.IDENTIFICATIONCockroaches are medium-sized to large insects in the order Dictyoptera (formerly Orthoptera). They are broad, flattened insects with long antennae and a prominent, shield-shaped section behind the head called a pronotum. Some people confuse them with beetles, but adult cockroaches have membranous wings and lack the thick, hardened forewings (elytra) of beetles. They are nocturnal and have a tendency to scatter when disturbed. Immature cockroaches (nymphs) look like adults, but are smaller and do not have wings.Of the six common pest species, German and brownbanded cockroaches inhabit buildings, whereas the oriental, smokybrown, American, and Turkestan cockroaches usually live outdoors or in masonry enclosures away from buildings, only occasionally invading buildings themselves. It is important to correctly identify the species involved in a cockroach infestation so that the most effective control method(s) may be chosen.Table 1. Identifying Features of Indoor Cockroaches.GERMANAdult: 0.5 inch; light brown, two dark stripes on pronotumPreferred location: kitchens, bathrooms, food preparation and storage areasadultnymph BROWNBANDEDAdult: 0.5 inch; males are golden tan; fem
Mites
Spiders typically bite only once as a last ditch defensive effort before they are crushed between flesh and some object. Therefore, spiders are not the causes of skin lesions if 1) there are multiple lesions on one person at the same time, especially if the lesions are on widely separated parts of the body, 2) if there are multiple episodes of lesions on the same person over a period of several weeks or months and 3) if there are multiple people in the same house or facility showing skin lesions at the same time. Multiple lesions immediately point toward the more likely situation of a contagious bacterial infection like MRSA or possibly an infestation of an arthropod (fleas, mites, kissing bug, etc.), that is seeking out mammals for blood meals.
Aphids
Inside buildings, household ants feed on sugars, syrups, honey, fruit juice, fats, and meat. Long trails of thousands of ants may lead from nests to food sources, causing considerable concern among building occupants. Outdoors they are attracted to honeydew, produced by soft scales, mealybugs, and aphids. This liquid excrement contains sugars, and other nutrients. Frequently outbreaks of scales and aphids occur when ants tend them for honeydew because the ants protect scales and aphids from their natural enemies.
Slugs
Like Norway rats, roof rats eat a wide variety of foods, but they prefer fruits, nuts, berries, slugs, and snails. Roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus, and they often eat fruit that is still on the tree. When feeding on a mature orange, they make a small hole through which they completely remove the contents of the fruit, leaving only the hollowed-out rind hanging on the tree. They’ll often eat the rind of a lemon, leaving the flesh of the sour fruit still hanging. Their favorite habitats are attics, trees, and overgrown shrubbery or vines. Residential or industrial areas with mature landscaping provide good habitat as does riparian vegetation of riverbanks and streams. Roof rats prefer to nest in locations off the ground and rarely dig burrows for living quarters if off-the-ground sites exist.
Snails
SLO Pest and Termite - Rats Rats are some of the most troublesome and damaging rodents in the United States. They eat and contaminate food, damage structures and property, and transmit parasites and diseases to other animals and humans. Rats live and thrive in a wide variety of climates and conditions and are often found in and around homes and other buildings, on farms, and in gardens and open fields. IDENTIFICATIONPeople don’t often see rats, but signs of their presence are easy to detect. In California, the most troublesome rats are two introduced species, the roof rat (Figure 1) and the Norway rat (Figure 2). It’s important to know which species of rat is present in order to choose effective control strategies.Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, sometimes called brown or sewer rats, are stocky burrowing rodents that are larger than roof rats. Their burrows are found along building foundations, beneath rubbish or woodpiles, and in moist areas in and around gardens and fields (Figure 3). Nests can be lined with shredded paper, cloth, or other fibrous material. When Norway rats invade buildings, they usually remain in the basement or ground floor. Norway rats live throughout the 48 contiguous United States. While generally found at lower elevations, this species can occur wherever people live.Roof rats, R. rattus, sometimes called black rats, are slightly smaller than Norway rats. Unlike Norway rats, their tails are longer than their heads and bodies combined. Roof rats are agile climbers and usually live and nest above ground in shrubs, trees, and dense vegetation such as ivy. In buildings, they are most often found in enclosed or elevated spaces such as attics, walls, false ceilings, and cabinets. The roof rat has a more limited geographical range (Figure 4) than the Norway rat, preferring ocean-influenced, warmer climates. In areas where the roof rat occurs, the Norway rat might also be present. If you are unsure of the species, look for rats at night with a bright flashlight, or trap a few. Figure 5 illustrates some of the key physical differences between the two species of rats, while Table 1 summarizes identifying characteristics.While rats are much larger than the common house mouse or meadow vole, a young rat is occasionally confused with a mouse. In general, very young rats have large heads and feet in proportion to their bodies, whereas those of adult mice are proportionately much smaller (Fig. 6). While both rats and mice gnaw on wood, rats leave much larger tooth marks than mice do. For additional information on mice, see Pest Notes: House Mouse and Pest Notes: Voles (Meadow Mice) listed in References.Table 1. Identifying Characteristics of Adult Rats.CharacteristicRoof ratNorway ratgeneral appearancesleek, agilelarge, robustcolor of bellygray to whitemostly graybody weight5 to 10 ounces7 to 18 ouncestailextends at least to snout, uniformly dark with fine scalesshorter than body, dark above and pale below, scalyheadpointed muzzle
Pill Bugs
Because of the misinformation surrounding the brown recluse‘s presence in California, many spiders that are virtually harmless are submitted by the public for identification. Most of them are not from the recluse family and some are not even spiders. A nationwide study was undertaken from 2000 to 2005, offering to identify any spider that was considered to be a brown recluse spider. Nearly 600 specimens were submitted from California, many from people who were adamant that they had a brown recluse. Only one of these specimens was a brown recluse, from a house where the family had moved from Missouri. No additional recluses were found in the house. The occasional finding of a translocated spider is not overly surprising, however, it still does not happen often. There were 17 desert recluses in this study, all submitted from the desert regions of southeastern California where the spiders are known to occur. Yet nonrecluse spiders were submitted in great numbers including many false black widow, woodlouse, and yellow sac spiders. Presented below are descriptions of spiders that share some of the same physical features as the brown recluse and have been misidentified as recluse spiders. For additional information on these spiders, consult a spider identification book such as Kaston‘s
Peromyscus maniculatus, (Figure 2), which sometimes invades cabins and outbuildings in California, harbors the Sin Nombre virus, which causes a rare but often fatal illness known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). The house mouse is distinguished from the deer mouse by its overall gray coat. The deer mouse has larger eyes and a white underside with a distinct line of demarcation between the dark coloration on top and the white underside. In addition, the tail on the house mouse has almost no fur on it, whereas the tail of the deer mouse is moderately to well furred and is light underneath and dark on top. Before attempting to clean up premises where deer mice have been present, contact your county health department or the California Department of Public Health, or see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site (www.cdc.gov/rodents/) for information about how to prevent hantavirus exposure.
Mice
Droppings, fresh gnaw marks, and tracks indicate areas where mice are active. Mouse nests are made from finely shredded paper or other fibrous material, usually in sheltered locations. House mice have a characteristic musky odor that reveals their presence. Mice are active mostly at night, but they can be seen occasionally during daylight hours.
Rats
C. lectularius is optimal when it feeds on humans; however this insect also feeds on other species of mammals and birds found near the home including chickens, mice, rats, and rabbits.
Squirrels
Because of the potentially greater hazard of second-generation anticoagulants to children, household pets, and nontarget wildlife, these active ingredients are no longer allowed to be manufactured for sale to the general public. Homeowners will be able to purchase only prepackaged, ready-to-use bait stations containing the first-generation anticoagulants (i.e., warfarin, chlorophacinone, or diphacinone) or the nonanticoagulants bromethalin or cholecalciferol. The second-generation anticoagulants (i.e., brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, and difethialone) have never been approved for use in field situations or for use against ground squirrels, meadow mice (
Voles
Gophers
Microtus ), pocket gophers, or any other rodents except house mice, Norway rats, and roof rats. Some of the second-generation rodenticides now labeled for use only by agricultural producers or professional pest control personnel may be restricted to applications in and around agricultural buildings.
Chipmunks
Among the diseases rats can transmit to humans or livestock are murine typhus, leptospirosis, salmonellosis (food poisoning), and ratbite fever. Plague is a disease that both roof and Norway rats can carry, but in California it is more commonly associated with ground squirrels, chipmunks, and native woodrats.