While they may be best known for their allusion in the famous bedtime children’s rhyme, bed bugs are a real and rising concern in American households. Primarily nocturnal and parasitic, bed bugs are so named because of their preferred habitat: warm houses, particularly around and inside bedding. What the name doesn’t signify is the fact that bed bugs feed exclusively on blood, usually from a sleeping human host.

Although nearly wiped out in America by the early 1940s, bed bugs reemerged in the mid 1990s as a legitimate concern. While it remains unknown why and how they made a comeback, the subsequent rise in home infestations has led to exponential increases in bed bug bites and related health conditions. Read more

Flea collars aren’t the best way to keep fleas off your cats and dogs. Watch this video to learn why. Read more

Flea prevention and control are needed all year round in California for all animals, especially kittens and puppies. According to Dr. Kristina Hansson, a veterinarian with North Bay Animal Hospital, a Diamond Certified company, small animals are more at risk.  Dr. Hansson warns, “With the chronic ingestion of blood by the fleas, it can actually lead to anemia and stunted growth because the animal is not growing as fast as it normally would with the nutrient loss from the blood.”

Flea collars aren’t recommended for prevention. They often contain toxic chemicals that can irritate your pet’s skin, and they’re uncomfortable. Flea combs are useful to check whether your pet has fleas and whether your flea control is adequate, Read more

When it comes to dealing with termite infestations, prevention is always the best policy. Regular monitoring can prevent up to 90 percent of termite damage, so watch for telltale signs of termites and have them exterminated before they get too out of control.

One of the most obvious signs of a termite infestation is the presence of earthen tubes (also called migratory tubes) outside your house. These tubes are the result of termite swarms during the spring and fall, when it first starts to rain. Another thing to watch for is irregularly shaped piles of a powdery, brown substance protruding from your structure’s framing—usually in attics and crawlspaces or on windowsills.

There are several steps you can take to prevent termite damage and sustain an effective termite treatment plan throughout the year. Read more

You can have an ant problem all year round in the Bay Area, if you don’t take some precautions. Richard Estrada, owner of ATCO Pest Control, a Diamond Certified company, says the first step is “getting rid of fruit, garbage, sodas and other food items that attract them. They love the same things we do!” Mr. Estrada doesn’t recommend spraying store-bought repellents because that just scatters the ants. What you want to do is apply bait primarily to the areas where the ants originate in order to get things under control.

Inspecting the outside of your home is also a good idea. Mr. Estrada says maybe a bush or tree touching the house is infested with ants. Read more

These kinds of questions come up all the time when you’re managing a household. Do I need to buy new tires yet? Should we replace the furnace now, or can we wait another year? And the latest one, do I have to remove the stump under my house? I called a Diamond Certified company for the answer, John Kunkel, owner of Termite Police.

This pest control expert explained that you no longer have to excavate the stumps. It’s better to treat the stump with chemicals that poison termites. The termites ingest the poison, carry it back to the colonies, and that eliminates the problem.

So when you have a question and you need an expert answer and some help, Read more