Pest Library

What You Need To Know About Pests In Lancaster, California, And Surrounding Areas

Take the time to learn about the pests that call our region home. The more you know about their behaviors and preferences, the easier it will be to keep them away. 1st Response Pest Control is here to meet your home pest control needs in Lancaster, California.

Ants

Ants are social insects, meaning they live and work together to ensure the success of their colony. The following characteristics make it easy for most people to identify these insects: three distinct body parts, six legs, short, bent antennae, and a thin waist. Our region is home to many species of ants, including Argentine, carpenter, crazy, fire, harvester, odorous house, pavement, and pharaoh ants.

Ants are among the most common pests to find their way into our Lancaster homes; the reasons why include:

Moisture in the soil around the perimeter of our homes attracts their attention.
Ants are tiny, making it easy for them to exploit small openings leading into homes.
Our homes offer a safe, temperature-controlled place to nest.
Kitchens, pantries, dining areas, and bathrooms provide multiple places for ants to forage for food and water.

Ants multiply quickly and maintain multiple nests, which makes it challenging to get rid of ants and prevent their future return.

Implement year-round ant control services to keep ants living in Lancaster and surrounding areas out of your house. Professionals know how to identify ants, find nesting sites, and effectively treat an infestation. In addition, inspecting your home’s exterior and sealing possible entry points in the foundation and around windows and doors helps to prevent issues with other pests.

Bed Bugs

The bed bug is a blood-feeding ectoparasite. These insects are oval, wingless, and mahogany in color. They are structural pests living where their preferred hosts live. While bed bugs will feed on the blood of rodents, birds, cats, and dogs, human blood is their preferred food source.

Bed bugs live worldwide, and because we are their favorite hosts, these pests are closely associated with human habitats. Bed bugs gather in houses, apartment buildings, and commercial properties like:

Hotels
Laundromats
Movie theaters
Airports
Libraries

These nocturnal pests hide during the day in tight cracks and crevices that place them near their sleeping hosts. At night they emerge to feed on their sleeping hosts.

Avoid problems with hitchhiking bed bugs by inspecting secondhand items for these insects, especially furniture and mattresses. After returning home from travel, always wash and dry your belongings on a high-heat cycle. After washing and drying clothing at a laundromat, take it home to fold. Regularly vacuum your home and clean your family’s bedding. Eliminating bed bugs is difficult and should always be handled by a professional. For information about our home pest control options, call now.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are at the top of the list of pests homeowners never want to find in their houses. This difficult-to-control, disease-spreading pest thrives around our homes, taking advantage of the food, moisture, and shelter our properties offer. Cockroach infestations cause health risks, allergies, asthma attacks, and foul odors; they also contaminate stored food and make people uncomfortable in their homes.

California is home to many types of cockroaches, including American, Australian, German, oriental, and smoky brown cockroaches. These cockroaches live successfully in our outdoor and indoor spaces and can become a problem on any Lancaster property. Cockroaches can travel into our homes by hitchhiking or with the help of their own six legs. The multiple ways cockroaches can enter our homes make controlling these pests challenging.

Use the following tips to assist in keeping cockroaches out of your home.

Regularly inspect your home’s foundation and roofline, repairing any cracks or crevices.
Install door sweeps and weatherstripping.
Place screens on vents, drains, and chimneys.
Fix leaks in and around your home.
Maintain a clean kitchen and regularly wash dishes.

For professional cockroach control, call now.

Rodents

Rodents are a pest problem that most homeowners will have to deal with at one time or another. Mice and rats are the most common rodents to find a way into our yards and homes. These rodents have adapted to living with people and learned that our properties offer them reliable sources of food, water, and nesting sites.

Rodents are more than a nuisance; they are dangerous to people and property. Rodents carry and spread bacteria, pathogens, and parasites that cause illness in people. They use their sharp front incisors to damage landscaping, trees, gardens, and the interior and exterior of our homes. To limit their dangers and damage, contact a professional as soon as you discover evidence of rodents on your property.

Some of the most common signs of a rodent infestation include the following:

Noticing a foul, musty odor in your home
Discovering dark, rice-shaped droppings in your home
Hear scratching or running sounds behind walls or above ceilings at night
Finding holes or chew marks in food packaging, clothing, upholstered furniture, or walls

Call now to learn about commercial pest control in Lancaster and surrounding areas.

Stinging Insects

Bees, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets are flying insects equipped with stingers. These pests are eco-important, but when they nest in high-traffic areas of our yards, they become a danger, and you need to take action to remove them. Stinging insects can take over our yards and make it difficult for you and your family to enjoy your outdoor space comfortably.

Stinging insects are outdoor pests that frequent our yards because we offer them a variety of food sources (trash cans, gardens, flowering trees) and sheltered nesting sites (tree branches, roof eaves, and ground holes). Because our outdoor spaces benefit them keeping these stinging pests away can be a difficult but necessary task. Stings from these insects are painful. Additionally, people severely allergic to their venom can experience a severe or life-threatening allergic reaction to stings.

If stinging insects have taken over your yard, contacting a professional is the safest and easiest way to eliminate them. Professionals can identify the type of stinging insect and provide the treatment necessary to remove them from your property. Never approach a stinging insect nest on your own; call today to learn about our stinging insect control offerings at 1st Response Pest Control.

Spiders

There is a long list of spiders that call California home.

Black and brown widow spiders
Black house spiders
Daddy long legs
False widow spiders
Grass spiders
Orb weaver spiders
Tarantulas
Wolf spiders
Yellow sac spiders

Most common spiders to find their way into our Lancaster yards aren’t harmful; while they have venom, it isn’t potent enough to cause people health issues. The black widow spider is a spider you must watch out for in our area. Their venom attacks our nervous system and causes serious health consequences.

Spiders are predatory arachnids, feeding on insects and other spiders. The insects in our trees, gardens, and flowerbeds attract hungry spiders to our properties. When insects enter our homes, spiders follow them through gaps around windows and doors, vents, plumbing, and other openings.

The best way to get rid of spiders and their insect prey is to partner with a professional. Along with professional care, help keep spiders out of your home by sealing cracks in your home’s exterior, filling in spaces around pipes and wires, and not propping open windows or doors. To learn about spider control in Lancaster, call today.