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Dogs and cats may be our faithful companions, but they sometimes bring some unwanted company – fleas – into our homes. Once you get fleas in your home, it’s a little bit challenging to get rid of them. Here are some steps you can take to prevent fleas from infesting your home:

• Check the outside areas your pets prefer. Make sure you pick up these areas each day.
• Take your pets to the vet for a flea check-up and treatment.
• Vacuum your home to get rid of fleas. You have to vacuum everywhere – your carpets, drapes, furniture, and pillows. After you’re finished vacuuming, throw the vacuum bag out. The fleas can survive in the bag and can come back into your home.
• Clean tile and wood floors with a strong cleaner to kill the fleas.
• Clean your cat or dog’s bed – or buy new beds.
• Get your lawn treated for fleas to stop your animals from becoming infested again.

There’s no reason to put up with pesky fleas – you dogs or cats will thank you for taking action. I’d be happy to check your home and lawns for fleas and give you advice on how to get rid of the critters for good. Call us Toll Free at 888-675-0258 or visit our website www.AccuracyPlusCalifornia.com

None of us like to think that we are creating a home that attracts pest or insects, but it could happen despite our best efforts.  Without realizing it, you could be providing the perfect access to your home, or creating an environment in which pests flourish.

With a few changes, you can easily eliminate the things from your home that make it easy for pests to gain access or food. Here are a few suggestions:

• There may be points of your home that allow pests to get inside. Seal all cracks around your home foundation, check to make sure your doors and windows seal properly, put screens on any ventilation areas.
• Put away all food, make sure you clean up counters or floors of spilled food, clean out garbage disposal and sink with bleach or vinegar mixture.
• Don’t leave pet food sitting outside of your home, or out overnight inside the house.
• Check your attic and crawl spaces to make sure there is adequate ventilation. If the areas become moist, they become havens for pests.
• Remove debris from around your home – piles of lumber, bricks or rocks can make great nesting areas.
• Store extra linens or out-of-season clothing in plastic bins or plastic bags.

With a little preparation, you can make sure your house doesn’t become a favorite home for pests and insects.  I’ll be happy to tell you more ways to “bug” proof your home, just give me a call Toll Free 888-675-0258 or check at www.accuracypluscalifornia.com.

Not sure which creepy-crawler is coming into your home? Summer is a great time for pests in California. Some of them are relatively harmless (merely annoying) and some bring in bacteria and other problems into your home.

Here are some of the pest/insects you may be seeing in your home this summer:

Ants – Two varieties of ants are common in California: the Argentine Ant and the Odorous House Ant. Argentine Ants are dark brown or black, about 1/8” in length, and will aggressively drive out other ants. Odorous House Ants are about the same size and black in color. These ants are known to build up a tolerance for many of the household pesticides people use for treatment. Ants are attracted to local fruit trees, such as orange and lemon trees, as well as rose bushes. These ants build nests under lumber or debris, or landscape mulch.

Cockroaches – In California, we have to fight off two types of cockroaches: the American cockroach and the Oriental cockroach. They vary slightly in appearance, the American Cockroach is reddish-brown in color, the Oriental Cockroach is all black (males have brown wings). Either variety is obnoxious to have in a home, tracking in all kinds of bacteria.

Fleas – Fleas can be hard to see because they are so small – about 1/6”. They are reddish-brown in color, and make their homes on the flesh of animals, such as cats and dogs. They survive on the blood of animals. While animals may bring fleas into the home, it usually requires more than mere treatment of the animal to get rid of fleas – you’ll probably have to treat your whole property.

Silverfish – Silverfish are small, gray or silver insects. Silverfish are especially destructive to fabrics and paper. Silverfish can ruin a good collection of books.

Spiders – Fortunately, there aren’t many varieties of spiders that are dangerous in most California homes. Simple house spiders can be annoying because of all the webs they create, but they also help control other insects around your home.

Yellow Jackets – Yellow Jackets are insects that do cause problems with their painful stings. Yellow Jackets are between ½” to 1 inch in length with distinctly black and yellow stripes. They look different from bumble bees, which appear fuzzy and brownish. Yellow Jackets are aggressive and often form colonies inside walls or in the ground.

The right detection of insects, and the right treatment, is critical to keeping your home pest free and your summer a pleasant experience. Call me if you suspect you may have some uninvited guests in your home, and I’ll help you keep them from coming back. Our Toll Free No. is 888-675-0258 and our website is www.AccuracyPlusCalifornia.com.

Some bees are welcome guests around the house – after all, they do all the hard work of helping our flowers grow – at least, the honey bee does. But most people lump a lot of irritating pests into the “bee” category, including wasps, yellow jackets and Africanized bees.

So, how do you tell the difference between the bee varieties? Here are some tips for distinguishing them:

Yellow jackets and wasps – about the same size as a honey bee, but their yellow and black stripes are clearly defined – dark black, bright yellow. Honey bees have much more subtle coloring, almost a brownish tone to their stripes.

Carpenter bees – these bees are usually quite large, bigger than ¾ of an inch. Carpenter bees are harmless for the most part, although they do drill small holes to lay eggs.

Africanized bees – it’s hard to tell these bees from the European variety. Of course, these bees have different temperaments and are very territorial about defending their territory.

If you’d like more information about some of the bee varieties in California, click here.

If you believe you may have wasps or yellow jackets, go to www.accuracypluscalifornia.com.
We’d be happy to get rid of these pests, so you can enjoy the outdoors.

Summertime in Southern California is just about perfect – we love to hit the beach whenever we can, enjoy the balmy days and nights, and take advantage of the long, summer days.

Unfortunately, there are some pests that are enjoying the summer season just as much as we are – ants, spiders, cockroaches, and silverfish. This is prime time for them to build nests and breed. While you enjoy the beach, you may come back to a home with a lot more critters running around.

Here are my suggestions for keeping summer pests under control:

• Get rid of any piles of debris from your yard – this includes lumber, firewood, or even bricks. All provide great nesting places for pests, especially ants;
• Watch your sprinkler system – redirect your sprinkler heads if necessary so they don’t spray on your house foundation;
• Seal cracks in the house exterior;
• Keep garden mulch low – less than 2 inches thick. Keep it away from your house foundation;
• Put screens on foundation and attic vents;

These are some of the simple ways you can control pests. Give me a call and I’ll help you determine if you have a pest infestation and give you more ideas of how we can control it, so you’ll have a pest free summer, or go to www.accuracypluscalifornia.com for more information.

You could have pests in your home without even realizing they exist – all the while they slowly eat away at the wood in your home. Fortunately, the type of pests that eat into wood – such as carpenter ants, termites and powder-post beetle – aren’t necessarily fast acting. You can have an infestation without your home being quickly eaten away, but you do need to take action.

How can you tell if pests are eating away at the wood in your home? They usually leave behind some distinctive signs:

• Look for holes in your wood work (window sills, baseboard, trim). These holes are really tiny – about the size of a pencil lead.
• Check for signs of recent sawdust – if you see little mounds of sawdust near or on your woodwork, that’s a big clue to pests at work.
• Look for coarse sawdust near piles of wood outside.
• Check for damage by pressing on wood work with a screw driver. Termites hollow out wood work, so damage may only be visible by pressing into their hollowed out area.

If you suspect you have carpenter ants, you may hear the ants at work. If you hear rustling in your walls, you may have a problem with carpenter ants. Termites are more visible, you will see signs of termite mounds, or you may see a swarm of termites around your home.

I recommend that you take action as soon as you think you have a problem with wood damage. I’m happy to come out to your home to check your wood work and help you determine which types of bugs are affecting your home and assess how much damage has been done, if any. Contact me at www.accuracypluscalifornia.com.

There’s one word that strikes fear in the hearts of homeowners – termites. We all hope we never have to deal with these persistent and destructive creatures. I’ve seen too many homeowners ignore the signs of termites around their home. Believe me, if you suspect that your home may have an infestation of termites, the last thing you want to do is ignore it. You need to take immediate action, before they do more damage to your home or property.
There are some common signs that indicate the presence of termites:

• Swarms of winged “ants” in the fall or spring;
• Evidence of tunneling in wood, such as small holes with saw dust surrounding them;
• White trails leading from what appears to be mounds or tunnels in the ground

If you’ve seen any of these signs, you may have a problem with termites. Termites are sometimes confused with regular ants. If don’t know what termites look like, click here.

If you believe your house may be infested with termites, go to www.accuracyplus.com for help. We can tell you within minutes if termites are present and give you options to get rid of them quickly, safely and permanently.

Are you looking for a less toxic way to treat termites in your home? One option to consider is the use of a substance called orange oil. Orange oil is made from the rinds of oranges. The active ingredient is called D-limonene, which is a common ingredient used in many household cleaning products.

Orange oil offers low toxicity, and is an effective spot treatment for dry wood termites. With orange oil, we drill into the areas of the home that are affected by termites and inject orange oil into the termite galleries. The orange oil kills termites and termite eggs as it comes into contact with them. It also kills other termites that later come into contact with the wood treated with the orange oil.

It’s a great option when you are catching the termites early on, before they’ve spread extensively through the home. Orange oil is a good option to consider, but it’s certainly not the only option for treating termite infestation.

The goal of treating termites is to eradicate them from the home. Because orange oil is applied to areas that are directly affected by termites, its best used when the exposed areas are small, easy to see, and fairly easy to get to. If you have large infestation, a better option may be to fumigate.

I can help you determine which option is best for your home, based on the amount of damage and the extensive spread of infestation. Contact me at www.accuracypluscalifornia.com for more information.

Cockroaches are one of those insects that literally make your skin crawl. You see them swarming across the floor, and it’s hard not to have an involuntary shiver. Cockroaches track in germs from all over – they can bring in bacteria that cause diseases and illness, along with allergens that make breathing difficult for asthma sufferers.

What’s the best way to get rid of cockroaches? My advice is simple – try to keep your environment free of the things that cockroaches love – access to food and water.

Cleanliness is important – since cockroaches look for food and debris, keep your home tidy. Clean up spills and crumbs from food, even vacuum in cracks and crevices.

Take the trash out – keep garbage in trash containers with tight lids. Don’t allow newspapers, magazines, or other papers to pile up. Look for places that make great hiding places (such as rag boxes) and get rid of them.

Look for leaks – are there spots where moisture is collecting in your home, such as leaky plumbing? Make sure you get any leaks or condensation problems taken care of – cockroaches love moisture.

Keep food tight – keep you foods, cereals and other items in containers, such as glass jars or plastic containers.

Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum – when you vacuum, you vacuum up cockroach egg capsules and other cockroach debris. Regular and frequent vacuuming slows development of cockroaches.

Finally, I recommend using a cockroach trap to eliminate cockroaches from your home. If you’d like more information about getting rid of cockroaches, go to www.accuracypluscalifornia.com.

Living in Southern California is great – especially with the easy access to the beach, and all the sunlight. That kind of environment is attractive to people, and unfortunately, it works just as well for rats.

Rats are scavengers that look for opportunities – opportunities for food and shelter. You can do a lot to keep your home from becoming a welcoming environment for rats, by controlling their access to food and shelter. Here are some tips:

• Keep garbage can lids shut tightly so rats can’t get into them.
• Cover all openings to your home with screens – remember rats can squeeze through tiny openings or cracks.
• Stack fire wood at least 18 inches off the ground and away from your home.
• Don’t leave pet food in your yard – this is an invitation for rats.
• Keep tree branches trimmed away from your roof and eaves.
• Rats live in sewers – keep your kitchen sink clean, don’t throw grease down the drain, rinse your sink and pipes with bleach or a bleach alternative.
• Keep your toilet lid down when not in use.

The best way to get rid of rats permanently is with the use of rat traps. If you poison rats, you run the risk of the rat ingesting the poison, then working their way into your walls or crawl spaces to die and decompose.

If you’d like more information on the type of rat traps I recommend for keeping rats off your property, go to www.accuracypluscalifornia.com