Jul 5, 2018, 14:04 PM by Fred Speer

This week, Californians celebrated America’s 242nd birthday, which typically might involve being outdoors with family and friends and enjoying cookouts, pool parties, baseball games, fireworks, or other fun activities.

Clark, your neighborly pest control expert, hopes your Fourth of July celebration did not include an encounter with some of summer’s unwelcome guests – flies, ants, stinging insects, and mosquitoes.

Flies: Keep these filthy insects from spoiling your picnic by covering your food with foil or tight-sealing lids, or set up the buffet inside a screened-in porch or tent. Also, remember to clean up food and beverage spills, because they are a major attractant to flies.

Ants: Like flies, ants are drawn to food, food spills, and leftovers. Ants – especially Argentine ants, one of the most commonly found species in California – thrive on sweet, sugary substances like spilled soft drinks. By cleaning up spilled food and drinks, and rinsing out cans and bottles before they go into the recycle bin or garbage can, you’ll deny ants their sought-after prize.

Stinging Insects: Inspect your property for any signs of bee or yellowjacket nests in trees, or under awnings and the eaves of your home. If you do spot a nest, call Clark immediately. Also, cover food and beverage cans or bottles, because many stinging insects are attracted to sugary substances, and no one wants to swallow a bee that flew into your beverage.

Mosquitoes: With mosquito activity on the rise – four confirmed illnesses have been linked to the West Nile virus in Los Angeles, Kern, and Riverside counties recently – it’s important to take the proper precautions to lower mosquito populations and lessen the risk.

Any source of standing water, big or small, can produce mosquitoes. To reduce the number of mosquitoes, it is important to eliminate any standing water (from rain or irrigation) from your home and yard. Cleaning rain gutters, turning over buckets, and draining wading pools are important actions, but there are other, less obvious places that mosquito larvae can develop. Flower pots, children’s toys, covered and uncovered boats, trash and recycle bins, and irrigation control boxes are all commonly overlooked mosquito breeding spots in your yard.

Your local mosquito and vector control district, a public agency, handles most of the mosquito control in California, and is a great resource for information on mosquitoes. You can find their contact information on the following web page: http://www.mvcac.org/about/member-agencies/.

If you are having issues keeping flies, ants, stinging insects, or other pests from invading your outdoor living space, call or text California and Nevada’s trusted, friendly pest management professional, Clark, at (800) WE-NEED-YOU, or send an email at clarkcares@clarkpest.com

Until next time, the pest management professionals at Clark Pest Control thank you for helping to keep unwanted pests out of your home.