Sorenson Pest Control Blog

Halloween and the Fall Season: The Perfect Time for a Spider Invasion Fall has arrived, and Halloween will soon bring a variety of little spooks and goblins to your front door for a treat. Unfortunately, this time of the year also brings out some creatures that aren't quite so pleasant here in California, and you may find yourself facing some creepy spiders that have taken up residence in your home in preparation for the cooler temperatures to come. Here at Sorenson Pest Control, we're regularly called upon at this time of the year to rid homes of these common spiders. 1. Black Widow The largest of all of the web-spinning spiders, the shiny black widow is unmistakable thanks to the red-hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen. That marking signals a very real danger because this is a venomous spider that can deliver a painful bite, which sends a neurotoxin...

There is no question that mice and people intermingle, even though these chance meetings are unintentional. Throughout history, mice have been known to inhabit homes, churches, museums and other edifices. Somehow, a mouse manages to live and thrive without the need to work for a living. Some mice lead quite happy lives depending on the goodwill of humans who provide them with their daily sustenance. Look for the Obvious Signs It is easy to recognize the existence of mice in the house. The most obvious sign is the sound of mice scampering about in the attack or walls. If a home is the habitat of several mice, the sound is rather loud and reminiscent of a small army marching to and fro from one end of the house to the other. Little droppings closely resembling caraway seeds are the most obvious telltale signs that mice have invaded the home. Mice tend...

It's fast; it's walked the Earth with the dinosaurs; and it's one of the most common pests that homeowners have to deal with. You guessed it; it's an American cockroach. While most species of cockroaches - about 4,000 - inhabit caves and forests, about 30 types are known to invade human dwellings in states like California. With that said, here are three ways roaches cause harm to the people inside your home and the property itself. Roaches Can Create an Offensive Smell in Your Property Usually living in groups and mostly active at night, cockroaches are filthy pests that can ruin everything from fabrics to food. They discharge portions of their partially digested food and nauseous secretion in intervals from their mouths and the glands on their bodies. This leaves an offensive smell in the areas or on the food visited by them. Without proper treatment, this odor can become long...

Most people don't notice the physical characteristics of a bee or wasp when they see one or when one stings them. They also generally refer to these stinging insects as bees, but there are several differences between them. Along with physical differences, not all bees and wasps behave the same and require various techniques to remove in the event of an infestation. You can identify whether you have bees or wasps with the differences detailed below. Physical Differences A few key physical characteristics set bees and wasps apart. Bees have hairy, robust bodies, and their back legs are flat. Wasps have slender bodies and narrow waists that connect their mid sections to their rear segments. Additionally, wasps have shiny, smooth-looking bodies and cylinder-shaped legs. Differences in Behavior As pollinators, bees spend a lot of their time visiting flowers and plants to distribute and gather pollen. Their flat, hairy bodies are great...

The Top 3 Ways Pests Infest Homes No matter how well you clean and maintain your home, bugs will always have a reason to come inside. Pest insects may belong outdoors, but your home serves as a cocktail of sorts, providing abundant food, water and shelter for roaches, ants, silverfish and other bothersome pests. By closing off their entryways, you can keep pests out of your home and prevent infestations. 1. Vents and plumbing lines The space between a dryer vent and the wall provides enough room for roaches, millipedes and other crawling insects to pass through and enter your home. These pests also use the openings around your plumbing lines to invade your kitchen and bathroom. Silverfish are often seen in bathrooms and use the plumbing lines beneath the sink to infest your space. 2. Windows and doors Cracks around windows and doors appear over time due to old age...

Twas two months after Christmas...and all through the house...not a creature was stirring...except for a mouse! He runs through the house with the greatest of care and eats all of the food in your home - that's no fair! So what do you do with a mouse that's a louse? Do you drop cash on a cat or on a baseball bat? Or maybe you think, or exclaim "aww crap!" when you stop finding mice dead in your traps? Some people try for years to eliminate mice, but find out they're probably being too nice. They find the best way to stop mice today is by calling professional pest control. They'll search through your home and find all their houses and they'll get on a roll chasing down mouses. And when they are done you'll happily see that your house is completely and fully mouse-free! So stop leaving cheese out for...

Keeping your home completely ant-free can be a challenge, especially if you fall into one of the three categories listed below. Fortunately, no matter how ant-prone your home is, there's a simple solution.  Three Types of Households with Special Ant-Control Concerns: Households with Small Children Children bring a sense of wonder and whimsy to the homes that they inhabit. In their wake also come crumbs, dirt, and sticky messes. The more children in the house, the higher chance that they will leave food, drink, or some other ant-attracting substance out in the open.  Households with Pets  Although the pets themselves might not draw ants, their food dishes, litter boxes, or cages might. Although keeping such areas neat and tidy will go a long way toward discouraging ants, there's still a risk factor involved.  Historic Households While living in a home that could be on a historic registry does have its advantages, it also has its...

Why do mice love living in your walls so much? Simple: they're warm, nothing else lives in there (beyond a few easily defeated insects), and there's plenty of room for growth. Why, by chewing through your walls, they can basically gain access to any area of your home in just a matter of time. And there's nothing worse than going to bed at night, knowing that there are mice running around in your home where you can't get them. And once they get in, they're probably pretty content to just stay right in there. They're under no impetus to leave quickly and they're ready for the long haul. Soon, they'll be pumping out all sorts of baby mice. And soon those baby mice will be making baby mice. And then those baby mice will be... Look: you need to stop this silly cycle dead in its tracks. There's no reason that...

Mice and rodent infestations are a common problem for both urban and rural homes and buildings. Mice can enter homes through small cracks in the walls, floors and foundations and be difficult to quickly detect. Most homeowners don't recognize that an infestation has taken place until they notice obvious signs, which usually means that the infestation has become quite advanced.  Luckily, vigilant homeowners can get ahead of a potential mouse problem by following a few simple steps that reduce the chances of infestation and remove mice from your home. Tip 1: Keep an Eye Out for Mouse Infestation Signs Effective mouse control starts with prevention. By keeping a watchful eye for signs of mouse activity, you can more quickly notice and deal with a potential infestation. Some of the common signs of a rodent infestation include; Mouse droppings Mouse tracks  Gnawing damage Grease marks on runways By keeping your eye out for the initial signs of...

Do you think mice are too cute to be any kind of problem in your home? If so, you're quite wrong: mice are a problematic vermin that cause a wide variety of problems. First of all, mice love eating you out of house and home. You'll quickly discover that as more and more of the food containers in your home develop holes. Mice will sneak through these holes and chow down. And when they are done, they'll leave behind small, round, hard, and smelly little souvenirs of their visit. If that wasn't bad enough, they also love eating holes in your walls. While you might not see a big mouse hole ala Tom and Jerry, you may see holes quite similar. And once they're in your walls, they are not afraid to chew more holes or even chew on electric and telephone wires. This can cause severe home damage and may...

During the 1930s, America was invaded by the Argentine fire ant (Solenopsis invicta).  The biting pests hitched rides on ships bound for ports across the Southern US. In the warm, humid regions that were similar to their Central American homeland, the fire ants quickly established and thrived. They drove out and killed native ants to establish their own colonies.  Unlike native ants, fire ants are extremely aggressive when disturbed. They inflict painful stings that cause itching fluid-filled pustules to form on the skin. Sensitive individuals often experience difficulty breathing, chest pain, extensive swelling, and nausea. The ants are especially dangerous when they take up residence in landscapes where young children frequently play. Even pets are not immune to the fire ant's bite. In some cases, fire ants have been known to kill small birds and other tiny animals that inadvertently disturb a mound.  Knocking down the mound, flooding it with water or spraying...

You're sitting on your couch on a Friday night, legs stretched out in front of you, a glass of wine at your elbow, and a good book in your lap. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see something moving... There is almost nothing worse than spotting a spider nearby. Nothing worse, that is, than having a spider jump straight at you! Unfortunately, that's exactly the sort of tactic that the bold Jumping Spider favors. Although he is small, this little guy is not afraid to jump straight at his prey, even if that prey is much larger than himself. Able to jump up to four times his own body length, the Jumping Spider is also quick, ensuring that even though he's one of the smaller members of the arachnid family, he has no trouble taking care of himself.   The rapid-fire pouncing allows them to ambush insect prey that they have stalked. It also allows for an unexpected...

Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock; The clock struck one, And down he run, Hickory, dickory, dock. Although this Mother Goose rhyme sounds quaint, there's actually nothing cute about having a mouse in the house. A mouse in the house is always bad news for three distinct reasons.  Three Reasons to Worry about Indoor Mouse Control: Reason One: Mice contaminate food. Aside from allergy-inducing mouse dander, food contaminated with rodent urine or fecal matter can lead to bacterial infections and other food-borne illnesses. Since a favorite mouse hobby is to snack in your kitchen after hours, chances are high that if you have a mouse in the house, your food could become contaminated and you could become ill.  Reason Two: Mice damage structures. Make no mistake: mice in the home always lead to some sort ofeconomic damage. Due to gnawing, nest-building, and feeding habits, mice always do their fair share of damage. The sooner they're...

To be sure, mice are a problem any time of year. The problems they cause and the potential diseases they carry are a concern for any homeowner, especially those with young children or indoor pets. Mice create nests inside homes, and can have as many as 100 babies a month. What's worse, what begins as a first floor problem, can easily migrate upstairs, ending in the insulation inside your attic or crawlspace. Further, in the cooler months, mice seek warm shelters. Placing a large target on your home and landscape. Interested in learning more about why controlling mice is more important in the cooler months? Read on for more information. - In cooler months, mice find entry into your home through cracks and crevices. Unfortunately, people don't realize it's happening until they witness evident signs of a mouse intrusion, like mouse visibility or signs of bedding. - Mice also find entry gaps...

Spiders are easily one of the most feared creatures you would ever expect to encounter inside of your home thanks to widespread arachnophobia, a few deaths from Brown recluses and black widows, and Hollywood films like eight legged freaks. You may have tried some insect spray or even some glue traps to vanquish you’re newly found menace, to no result. If you’re tired of fighting spiders and ready to start getting some real results, here are three reasons why you should call a spider control professional. 1. Spiders are hard to kill. Now obviously, if you smash a spider with a boot, unless it’s the spider that bit Peter Parker, it’s going to die. What I’m saying is that spiders don’t pick up pesticides from sprays quite as well as ants or roaches and that glue traps only cover a limited area making a spider a rather elusive target to kill...

Wolf spiders are common around the United States and are distinguished from other household spiders by their black, gray and brown hues, and their formidable speed. Wolf spiders can grow to be 1 ½ inches in size and are often confused with tarantulas, nursery web, and brown recluse spiders. Wolf spiders do not build webs; their namesake comes from the wolf spider’s ability to stalk and hunt their prey. Wolf spider habitats are diverse, and unfortunately sometimes include your basement.  Wolf spiders generally seek indoor refuge in the fall as a result of the changing weather. The easiest way to keep them out of your home is to close off any potential entry points. These include windows and doors that are drafty or lack weather stripping. A gap under a doorway is a welcome invitation for spiders and other pests. Also, check the outside perimeter of your home and the basement foundation for cracks or...

When we think of roach control, perhaps our minds leap immediately to the food service industry: stores, restaurants, and industrial kitchens. This is logical, since food safety issues are paramount to health and safety. However, roach control is important for everyone, not just industrial kitchens:  Cockroaches 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. (UC Davis) Roach populations, once they take root inside, expand very quickly, ensuring that there's no such thing as having a small roach problem. Because adult cockroaches can live for up to a year and because females can produce one hundred and fifty young during her lifetime, it is vital that both home and business owners keep on top of roach control so that situations do not get out...

Humans have been using the peppermint plant for centuries as food, fragrance and homeopathic medicine. There is proof that it works in all three of those areas but what about when it comes to mouse control? Can laying a few hard, peppermint candies out on to the counter or spraying oil in front of a suspected den keep the furry critters at bay? Chances are they won’t provide the type of mouse control home and business owners need. So why does the myth persist? Perhaps it has to do with rodent biology. Scientists have long known that mice have an acute sense of smell, which they use for survival. It helps them do everything from identify friends and foes to food. But study research published in Nature Neuroscience, during the summer of 2014, show that there are limitations to the little creatures’ sniffing power. Like humans, mice have a tendency to get distracted...

When you think of a spider, you probably picture a big, round web with its resident spider poised in the center, waiting for a hapless fly to land in the web's sticky strands. With few exceptions, you would be thinking of an orb weaver spider of the family Araneidae. (About Insects) Most commonly found near human habitations, orbweavers spin large webs in which to trap their prey. Their hope is to catch many flying insects. Later, these webs are almost entirely consumed before new ones are built, since by eating their own webs, orbweavers are able to recycle the silk. One of the larger varieties of orbweaver is the Golden Silk Spider, better known to many as the "banana spider." These spiders prefer a tropical climate, and often spin their large, sticky webs in the branches of trees or in the dense undergrowth of the woods, where they become the bane of hikers and hunters. In more inhabited...

The best way to handle roach control is not a secret. In fact, here is the solution! Hire a professional. Yes it really is that easy!  People try several techniques to solve their problems with roaches once and for all, but have to keep fighting them month after month anyway. You can search for 'cheap and easy ways to do it yourself' but you'll never be rid of the problem using any of those methods once and for all. The one method you can use which will fix your pest control problem for good is to hire someone to do it for you. We can help you find a professional fast and easy. But first here are 4 reasons why it is better to hire a pest control company. Reason number 1 to hire a professional: When you bring in the professionals they can recommend the best solutions for you as an individual....