Where Were Pests Problems In Southern California? 2013 Data

Invasive pests are scattered throughout most of the world creating havoc for property owners. However, not all pest infestations in homes and structures are destructive, some are just unbearable or unsanitary. The geographical features that immediately surround the area can heavily influence the common types of pest problems within a region. Pest problems more specific to our service area in southern California include:

• European & Africanized Honey Bees
• Argentine ants
• Silverfish
• Pocket gophers
• German Cockroaches
• Cat fleas
• Roof rat
• California mice
• California gull

In our service area of San Diego, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties, we receive service inquiries in every region for all the bugs mentioned above. We also service for other common bug infestations that can be found throughout most of the nation.

Although all of the above mentioned insect problems can occur in any of the regions we service, it’s interesting to discover which areas host a majority of these problems. In order to find popular areas for the different types of pest infestations, we have pulled data from our customer relationship management (CRM) software. Each call, inquiry, estimate, or service was counted towards that specific service type. Duplicate entries such as households that were marked for multiple services for the same problem were removed for accuracy.

To illustrate our findings, heat maps were used to highlight areas for that corresponding pest. So that smaller cities with fewer households to service were accurately represented, each city is weighted by the total number of households (total count of pest inquiries within city/total number of households within city). Consequently, the areas highlighted in red on the maps below do not necessarily indicate the highest count but the largest percentage ratio of the pest problem to total number of household within the designated area.

Explore the heat maps below by zooming in and out on the maps for a aggregate reading or a more granular view. Also, leave comments or questions in the comments below about infestations in your area.

Bed Bug Distribution

Bed bugs continue to be an epidemic around the globe. Reports of bed bug sightings at hotels have sprung up on third-party websites to inform people before booking accommodations. Now, travelers can easily become more aware and cautious of these pest and prevent bringing this relentless problem back into their homes.

However, bed bug invasions are still occurring with the most activity per household in our service area being in Los Alamitos.

Bird Control Distribution

A variety of nuisance birds can sabotage your property in the southern region of California. These birds include pigeons, sparrows, starlings, gulls, and swallows. Their weapon of destruction is littering structures with droppings, damaging siding and outdoor equipment with nesting material, and emitting high-frequency chirps at the crack of dawn.

While the percentage of bird control services are typically less than other service types, we did see the most bird deterrent services per household in Winchester this year.

Flea Control Distribution

Pets are the most probable culprit for welcoming these miniscule, blood-sucking annoyances into your home. Fleas can easily hop onto a pet passing by to become a parasite on its new host. Eggs are laid on the host and will eventually fall off onto carpeted areas where they can hatch and thrive in your living space.

Fleas appeared to be thriving in Newport Coast with the highest percentage ratio for 2013 in southern California.

General Pest Control Distribution

Our general pest control service encompasses an array of pest problems so the term is not specific to any single pest. This heat map will cover treatments for ants, spiders, silverfish, earwigs, crickets, and moths. Since this service cover multiple pests, it tends to have the highest count in all of our serviced cities, but one city stands out the most in relation to inquiries per household. That city is yet again Winchester in Riverside County.

Rancho Santa Fe and Newport Coast are not far behind in the ranking for general pest control service.

Gopher Control Distribution

It’s a world down under with these burrowing rodents. With one of these infestation, you may not see much of this critter, but you may notice their dirt mounds in your yard or the damaging effect they have on plants/trees. The underground infrastructure they create allows them access to feed on unexposed roots and hide from predators.

Gophers can be found all over southern California, but where our control services were most likely to be needed this year was in Romoland.

Cockroach Control Distribution

Extinction of cockroaches is nowhere in sight and it rang true this year with a high inquiry/service count in all cities and a high percentage ratio in multiple areas. Nuevo, Del Mar, and Perris are neck-and-neck in the rankings with a few other cities not far behind. You can see the distribution of cockroach control inquires below.

Rodent Control Distribution

Our rodent control service includes exterminations for rats and mice. While we receive more inquiries for rats than mice, as a whole this service makes up for a large percentage of all our jobs. Requests for rodent control service tends to occur more during cold and rainy seasons since this is when these furry creatures seek shelter indoors to stay dry and warm.

This year it seems that if you lived in Newport Coast or Winchester, you were more likely to house a rodent infestation.

Wasp Control Distribution

Wasp control services were spread across the board in 2013, but if you were in Riverside & San Bernardino County the need for service was less likely. Our data shows that homes in coastal cities from San Diego County to Orange County were more likely to have a wasp nest attached to their structure.

La Jolla, Villa Park, and Del Mar had the highest percentage ratio of wasp problems. You can explore some of the other popular wasp areas for 2013 below.

Conclusion

We hope this article was beneficial to you or at least a bit interesting. We plan to make this analysis an annual occurrence and eventually build up a larger sample size for refined accuracy and to see if any shifts occur from year to year and as a whole.

Remember, the highlighted areas in the map are not necessarily the highest count of inquires for each pest, but rather the largest percentage ratio. Don’t forget to leave your questions and comments below!

_{Data for number of households provided by U.S. Census Bureau}