When pests take up residence, what’s a homeowner to do?
Pushy guests are one thing, but when an uninvited colony of ants takes up residence in your shower or roaches decide to roost behind your refrigerator, it’s time to clean house, literally.
Plenty of pests may find water or warm spaces alluring, but the reason that most common pests end up in a home is sanitation, according to Noor Tietzey, an entomologist with the County of Santa Clara Mosquito and Vector Control office in San Jose.
Most insects are attracted to food sources within the house such as pet food, crumbs ground into the carpet and food that’s fallen into the spaces between stove tops and cabinets, said Travis Mickel, manager for the Salinas branch of Clark Pest Control, which serves Gilroy, Hollister and Morgan Hill. Cleaning up these trouble areas is the first step toward getting rid of pests, Tietzey said, but it won’t work on its own.
“It’s usually necessary to combine (sanitation measures) with something else like baits or home and garden sprays for best results,” said Tietzey. “It’s all of those things together that will drive pests away.”
For at-home users, a variety of product are available, from pre-mixed sprays like Raid to concentrated chemicals that are mixed and sprayed over large areas by the homeowner, said Kate DeSantis, manager of Ace Hardware in Gilroy. Most home and garden sprays are all-purpose, but they have the hardest time killing spiders, she said, so it’s best to read the instructions carefully.
“Most of the chemicals will have directions on how to take care of yourself,” said DeSantis. “You want to protect yourself, so you should wear long sleeves and long pants, gloves and some sort of mask to keep from inhaling the stuff.”
For indoor areas, especially those frequented by pets or young children, it may also be advisable to seek out poison-free treatments, said DeSantis. Look for items with orange or mint oils at the main ingredients, since both of these are toxic to insects, she said, but don’t worry too much about the chemical content if you follow the package instructions and heed warnings, said Tietzey.
“Most chemicals today have a fairly low toxicity,” said Tietzey. “Generally the pesticide-free aren’t as high of a percent efficacy. Some may work very well, like boric acid, which has been used for ants for years and years. It’s non-toxic, but it dries them up when they walk over it and it eventually kills them.”
Still, most pest problems in the home don’t just involve the home, said Tietzey. Ants often build super-colonies, making their home in the earth outside a home, and venturing into nearby buildings and trees to forage for food. Cockroaches, particularly oriental cockroaches, the most common kind in the South Valley, are the same way, he said.
“That species doesn’t usually prefer to come in the house because it’s too dry,” said Tietzey. “They’re usually in the driveway or in the garage because they’ve come out of their habitat. They like areas with thick vegetation and they survive where it’s moister under the ground, say in the water meter box, or in juniper bushes or ivy.”
Homeowners can avoid transporting pests into their homes by checking used appliances and old boxes – particularly the creases and flaps – for bugs before bringing them into the home, said Mickel. They should also be sure to treat their entire property, not just a home’s interior or exterior perimeter.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make (when they hire a pest control service) is they go with a service that does not treat out into the yard at all,” said Mickel. “We typically treat up to 30 feet from the outside of the house, treating all the areas that could harbor insects.”
Mickel’s crews spray the ground to ward off ants and roaches, and a home’s eaves to deter spiders, but the eight-legged critters are the most difficult pest to get rid of.
“You can physically remove the webs and kill the spiders you see, but it’s not going to be hugely effective,” said Mickel. “The main thing we have a problem with here are black widows. They like to hide in dark areas that aren’t used that much, like a garage with storage items that aren’t messed with or under the house. The best advice there is don’t have excess storage in the garage, just things you use pretty regularly.”
Once your home is pest-free, keep it that way by following a few simple steps, these experts advised. Clean up crumbs and keep food products, including grains, in sealed containers, said Tietzey. If old dry or pet food becomes infested with weevils or grain beetles, throw it away and clean out your larder and pantry, he said.
Pay attention to the outside of your home, too, said Mickel. Most ants and rodents enter a home through foliage, so make sure that bushes and trees are trimmed back away from roof lines, windows and walls, he advised.
For more information on pest control, including individual consultations with trained staff members, call the Santa Clara County office of Mosquito and Vector Control at (408) 792-5010. For professional services, try Clark Pest Control at (831) 636-0151. For at-home pest control, stop by your local Ace Hardware. Their Gilroy location is at 1260 1st St. Ace Hardware in Morgan Hill is located at 600 Tennant Ave. and in Hollister, it’s located at 1707-A Airline Highway.
