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Have you noticed cockroaches scurrying around your floors or countertops? There’s probably no pest that sends a shiver down the spine quite as much as cockroaches. With their abilities to track in bacteria and disease, the difficulties of getting rid of them, and their persistence, cockroaches can be very frustrating.

Many people are interested in trying to get rid of cockroaches by using non-toxic approaches. We all would like to reduce the toxicity of our environment, but do non-poisonous cockroach treatments really work?

Well, the answer is both yes and no. The best way to get rid of cockroaches is to find their hiding places, and reduce their access to water and food. No matter what approach you use, if the cockroaches continue to have access to water and food, you’ll continue to have a cockroach problem.

We recommend an integrated approach to getting rid of cockroaches. This means you have to use several approaches to eliminate the problem:

Reduce food and water sources – this means cleaning carefully and reducing any standing water. It involves cleaning surfaces of counters, cabinets, and floors, cleaning out drain traps, etc.

Eliminate hiding or access spots – have your home inspected for cracks and crevices that can provide continued access and hide the cockroaches.

Use baits – once you eliminate the food sources, cockroaches get hungry. Offer them a bait – something that kills the cockroaches.

Lay traps – cockroach traps are a great way to get rid of cockroaches and make sure that you are controlling future infestations. Traps are sticky substances that trap the cockroach inside, and prevent it from leaving.

We’ll help you discover all the hiding spots that keep cockroaches coming into your home, and we’ll work to keep them from coming back.

For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.

Have you seen some lumps in your cereals or flour supplies at home? What you may be seeing are a type of insect known as mealworms or mealworm moths. You may be seeing just the larvae stage of the bugs, and these little lumps can be hard to find.

These insects live in grain, rice, grain dust and cereal. If you aren’t careful, you could ingest these worms and find yourself with considerable gastro-intestinal distress.

The best way to keep meal worms out of your food supply is with diligence. Start by scrubbing out your cabinets with hot water and a good disinfectant. As you replace cereal boxes, consider storing the cereal and grains in air tight containers that keep them clean from pests.

Regularly refresh your flour, cereal and rice supplies. If you have them for more than 6 months, it may be time to replace them. Better to throw a little cereal out than risk a serious illness.

Meal worms can also be an indicator of other pest problems. If meal worms can find access to foods and grains, there’s a good chance cockroaches can also. We recommend that you have your home inspected, to make sure that further pest problems aren’t occurring.

For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.

Have you suddenly discovered small pin-point holes in the wood work around your home? Do you occasionally see small piles of saw dust near them? What you may be seeing is the result of a termite infestation.

No need to panic – termite infestation is very treatable. You won’t find your house suddenly falling down from termite damage, but you do need to take action. Those termites are slowly eating away at the wood surfaces of your home.

You have two options to consider:

Localized treatment – Localized treatment addresses the problem by treating the wood that is infested. With localized treatment, the affected wood may be replaced, or a pesticide or foam treatment applied to the wood. This effectively treats those areas, but if you have wide-spread infestation, you may be missing a big part of the termite population.

Integrated Pest Management – Instead of only treating the affected area, the integrated method treats your whole property. It starts with a thorough inspection to uncover other infested areas. With an integrated approach, we look at treating the entry point, the food source, and ridding the home of the termites permanently.  There are several different methods for eradicating termites – including tenting the home, treating the soil, spot treating wood, replacing wood, and foam treatments. The integrated pest management solution uses a combination of options – the best way to rid the home of termites permanently – and continues to inspect the home to make sure there are no new infestations.

Termites can be a persistent problem. I recommend taking an aggressive stand and making sure the problem stays gone with the integrated approach.

For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.

Pigeons may seem like an innocuous creature. They hang around your garden, yard or business and “coo” – so what’s the problem?

Pigeons are carriers of mites, ticks and fleas. While this represents a possible health problem, there’s another issue – pigeon droppings.  Pigeon droppings can ruin the paint finish on cars, buildings, and homes.  Their nesting materials may create potential fire hazards in gutters, drains and vents.

The best way to get rid of pigeons is to make your property an inhospitable environment to pigeons. They like to nest in high, out-of-the-way places – they will search out awning, attics, ledges, etc.  We can inspect your property for these places and seal them off with screens.

Another option is to make their landing or roosting place inhospitable. One of the best ways of doing this is to place small spikes or a sticky chemical in the roosting area. This will prevent the pigeons from landing in the area and they will seek other roosting areas. Another option is the use of a “scarecrow”. In this case, pigeons don’t like owls or snakes, and small models of either can prevent pigeons from nesting in your yard.

Give us a call for an inspection and we’ll help you get rid of your pigeon problem.

For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.

Does the idea of killing mice or rats give you the creeps? You’ve probably wondered if there’s a humane option for controlling rodents. Why not catch them and release them – away from your home?

While humane rodent traps might sound like a good idea, it can bring some serious problems back to your house. There are two things you have to realize about rodent problems:

Mice and rats present health hazards to families and homes. These rodents carry a variety of bacteria, fleas, ticks and other health problems. When these rodents run through your home, they could be leaving some serious germs and health hazards behind.

Mice and rats have navigational instincts. In studies, mice have been humanely trapped, tagged and released from the home. These mice were released at increasing distances from the home, but most returned within 24 hours of release. Even after being released into an area over ¾ miles from the home, some mice returned – though it meant traversing streams to do it.

Once rodents have found a comfortable home they are likely to return to it. Instead of spending time escorting the same mouse or rat from your home, it makes more sense to eliminate their access to your house, and remove them permanently. We can help you find those entry points that make access to your house possible and prevent further infestation. We’ll also help you quickly eliminate rodent problems from your home.

For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.

As much as you may love your cats or dogs, you hate the fleas that come with them. Fleas are a difficult problem to get rid of, especially in the dry Southern California climate that seems to provide an ideal breeding ground.

A single pet can bring a lot of fleas into the home; one pet can introduce a hundred new flea eggs to your home each day. Of course, the ideal way to deal with fleas is to prevent them in the first place, but once fleas have found their way into your home, it can be a challenge to get rid of them.

Consult with your vet to find the best way to control fleas on your pet. We can help you get rid of the fleas in your home permanently. Each home is different, and the level of infestation requires unique solutions. That’s why we recommend an inspection first – so we can put together a comprehensive plan that works best for your home.

We may suggest one or more of the following approaches:

Treating bedding and carpets: Wash all pet bedding, and if the pets sleep on family member beds, that bedding must be washed as well. Vacuum carpets and floors throughout the home; dispose of the vacuum cleaner bag. Consider having your carpets steam cleaned – this gets rid of the larval fleas and any organic material that they may feed on.

Spray treatments: There are a variety of chemical sprays that will target adult fleas in carpets. We recommend a spray that kills both the adult flea population, as well as one that prevents eggs from hatching.

Fog treatments: It may be necessary to treat the home with a fog or tent. In this case, an aerosol insecticide is released as a mist into the home.

We inspect your home carefully and work with you to produce a solution that will get rid of fleas permanently.  For a free inspection, give us a call at 888-675-0258 or go to http://www.accuracypluscalifornia.com/.