Earth Guard's Blog

PCT Magazine, a professional pest control trade journal, runs a lot of great stories that are applicable to any small business, not just the pest control biz. This one provides some food for thought about what it takes to survive this tough economy. Here’s an excerpt from the PCT article:

This declining economy certainly is affecting everyone, especially small business owners. And as I constantly interview them and observe how they confront the situation, it is clear to me that we are like turtles in a forest fire. We have two choices: 1) We can pull in our heads, necks and feet and tighten up and wait for the fire to come and cook us, or; 2) We can stick our necks out and run like hell in a different direction and make every possible effort to avoid the flames. Not surprisingly, it’s mostly this second group that you see out crawling around after the fire is gone.

It‘s a fact that a turtle can only stand so much heat. The problem is…it doesn’t come natural for turtles to run from trouble. Their natural inclination is to pull in their necks and feet and sit tight and ride it out. They just don’t like to stick their necks out at all. It makes them vulnerable. It’s taking a big chance.

After all, conventional wisdom says a running turtle is easy prey, but I disagree. Could it be this is one reason why 82 percent of small businesses fail within the first two years? Could it be this is why the vast majority of those that do survive the first two years are reduced to burnt turtle shells by the end of year five?

We at Earth Guard have been taking this advice, by upgrading our Website and expanding our online marketing, and by looking for other ways to build business.

Here’s the link if you want to read more:
URL: http://www.pctonline.com/articles/article.asp?ID=3494&IssueID=258

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:// 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 and other household pests, visit www.earthguardpest.com, or call us at 916-457-7605.

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 how you can prevent or eliminate infestations, visit www.earthguardpestcontrol.com or contact our trained Sacramento pest control professionals at 916-457-7605 (877-328-4468 toll-free).