Well, we have it from the experts that even a volcanic eruption can’t discourage gophers from their daily tasks of digging holes and burrow systems and eating whatever vegetation they fancy. The May 8th, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens ripped the...
Corky’s Pest Control Blog
Ants Stop Epidemics and Keep the Colony Healthy!
Whether it’s people, living in jam-packed cities or groups of social insects, ants to be exact, living in teaming colonies, disease can spread quickly among these severely dense populations. Fighting disease seems to require the same efforts no...
Welcome to Mosquito Season!
Spring has come and gone, now welcome to mosquito season. As you pack your bags for the beach house or the mountain campground don’t forget to pack light colored clothing with long sleeves, long pants and a bucket load or two of insect repellent....
UPTICK IN TICK SIGHTINGS!
Now that the parks, hiking trails, and camping areas are open, more people are hitting the back country for much needed fresh air and exercise. What they are most likely not expecting are the denizens of the bush waiting in anticipation of...
IT’S NOT JUST PEOPLE CROSSING OUR BORDERS!
Border Crossings are happening every day, and it’s not just people looking for a better life. Humans, animals, fish, insects, plants and diseases (bacteria and viruses) cross our borders on a regular basis and have been since borders were...
The Covid-19 Pandemic and Rat Infestations. Now What!
A perfect storm of residential rat invasions has been created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, it is imparative to get rid of rats. People are producing more food waste at home, now that restaurant trash generation has decreased....
Ride-em Cowgirl! Welcome to the Rodeo of the Queens!
As industrious and hard working as the ant has been lauded to be, it has it’s own freeloaders and lazy, opportunistic individuals. Introducing the “Rodeo Ant”. This shiny, little reddish ant belongs to the species, Solenopsis, and is appropriately...
Rampaging Roaches Becoming Almost Impossible to Kill!
It’s the German cockroach that is now being dubbed the “Superbug” of the insect world. These tiny roaches are swift, prolific and love to live right up close and personal with human beings. Blattella germanica, better known as the German...
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2020 IS THE YEAR OF THE RAT!
According to the 2020 Chinese Zodiac calendar, the Lunar New Year starts on Saturday, January 25th and ends on February 11th, 2021. It is the 4717th Chinese New Year and the Rat is it’s representative. The Rat is the first sign from the 12 animal...
Is Your Personal Vehicle a Traveling Pest Hotel ?
Vehicles, cars, camper-vans, buses, and trucks, provide many pests with a warm dry environment that often contains food. Vehicles can also provide these pests with transport, spreading the pests to wherever the vehicle travels. Most Common Pests...
INSECTS: BE GRATEFUL FOR THE SMALL THINGS
We have a lot to be thankful for this year. But did you know that there are a lot of reasons to be thankful for insects, our co-inhabitants of this planet? Besides being a nutritious food source for millions of people, they provide their own form...
Rats and Mice, Fall’s Most Unwanted.
Fall (and continuing through winter) is the time of year that nearly all of the rat infestations occur, according to a survey from the NPMA (National Pest Management Association). With daytime and overnight temperatures falling, animals go into...
Tiny Demons Tend the “Devil’s Garden”.
An ant species which is found in the rainforests of South America, Lemon ants (Myrmelachista schumanni), live in and around Duroia Hirstula, a species of tree that provides them with protected nesting areas and offers nutrition in the form of extra...
Termites Have An Appetite For Life
It is a very depressing moment in a homeowner’s life when the pest control company issues the heart stopping diagnosis, “You Have Termites”! What runs through the mind at that point is, where did they come from, how could this happen, why my...
Spring Hordes of Earwigs Have Many “Wigging Out”!
There are more than 20 different earwig species making the United States their home. These fear inducing creatures get their name from the old European myth that they crawl into people’s ears and tunnel into their brains, laying eggs, while the...
Plant Attacking Insects. Bad Bugs in the Garden.
All bugs hatch from eggs, which usually live on the undersides of leaves or in hidden spots on plants. The eggs hatch into larvae (also called caterpillars, grubs, or maggots), which will later become adults. Adult bugs lay eggs and usually have...
BEES WASPS or HORNETS. WHAT’S BUZZING YOU?
There are lots of flying insects out and about in our gardens, fields and other open areas and they are all busy at work fulfilling nature’s directives. So, since we humans are also frequenting these same places it’s important for us to steer...
Spring Brings the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
Spring is the time of renewal and is associated with the beauty of the “reborn”. Birds are on the wing and so are beautiful butterflies, but there is something bad and ugly winging it’s way into our neighborhoods and right into our homes. It’s...
Spiders Are Flying High This Spring.
Spiders crawl around your house, some jump across your lawn — and others take to the air on transoceanic flights. With airships made from strands of silk, some species of tiny spiders take to the air in a process called "ballooning". Ballooning...
Living Rafts Carry Fire Ants to Safety
Huckleberry Finn was an amature raft builder and river rafter, when compared to Red Imported Fire ants. As fire ants are flooded out of their underground nests, they hold onto each other for dear life, forming a fire ant flotilla that allows them...
Dirty Rats and Marauding Mice, Harbingers of Sickness and Death!
Every time I sit with my grandkids and watch their favorite movie, Disney’s, Ratatouille, I can only picture in my mind the “cute”, humanized rats running around a kitchen, peeing and pooping uncontrollably even shedding hair and their fleas and...
California Has Fireflies! Who knew?
What better time to start planning a summer vacation than in the middle of a cold (sort of), wet California winter. If you are doing a little California dreaming right now, why not plan a summer adventure in the beautiful southern mountains. You...
Termites: From Wrecking Homes to Saving the Environment.
According to the National Pest Management Association, termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage each year. They can eat wood and extract energy from it, thanks to a few thousand microbes living inside their gut. This huge community of...
“It’s not The Planet of the Apes—it’s The Planet of the Arthropods.”
Who are the most successful beings on Earth? It certainly isn’t Man, Ape or any other mammal. The most successful animals on the planet are the arthropods. They have conquered land, sea and air, and make up over three-fourths of all currently known...
Christmas Crashers
There's nothing like the smell of an evergreen tree and a cozy wood fire, to get you in the holiday spirit. But when you bring a live or cut Christmas tree indoors, along with the necessary firewood, some of the insects that have called your...
Spiders Spin a Web of Fear!
Spiders and their webs are synonymous with Halloween. Spider lore has changed over time. According to medieval superstition, people believed that if you saw a spider on all hallows eve, it was the spirit of a dead loved one watching over you. ...
It’s Rodent “Beware-ness” week: “Batten Down the Hatches”!
Fall is a time of change. The weather is cooling, leaves are falling, plants and animals are going into overwintering mode and for animals this means heading out of the landscape for safer, warmer places, like inside your home, inside your car or...
Argentine Ants and Chemical Warfare
In their quest for world domination, Argentine ants have successfully conquered 6 continents and many islands. How did they do this? Easily, their multi-queen colonies, adaptive abilities (conquering changes in their environment) and their...
Dog Lovers Beware! Mans Best Friend is Under Attack!
It has been estimated that there are 899 species of ticks in the world, of which over 90 make their home in the continental United States. According to the California Department of Health, around 47 species have been identified here but only 15 of...
They’re Out for Blood!
A new “Red Dawn” is here. New invaders from all over the globe are taking over our neighborhoods and these guys and gals “Bite” and “Suck Your Blood”. The newest invader is the Aedes notoscriptus, the Australian Backyard Mosquito. Joining the...