Chalk up another worthy find on Yelp, let me explain. I was hesitant to pull the trigger and hire a pest control company in fear of associated cost's and contractual terms. With that said, I did what I could to eliminate a rise in crickets colonizing in our 3 car garage. I spent a weekend rearranging our shelves, surface mounted closets, and a few cardboard boxes with contents that don't see day light (Goodwill bound LOL). Fired up the old 2hp gas engine blower and went to town and I honestly thought I blew everything out with the amount of dust, dog hair, dog food, crickets and so on . . . . Mission accomplished, right?
That only lasted about a week before my daughter came across Ratatouille late one night feeding our dogs. She said her life was threatened and the sound of crickets was further more traumatic (miss drama).
The call:
Following day I reached out to X-Terminator Pest Control I found on Yelp who appeared local and answered phone after hours. My initial conversation with Jim was basically how soon can you schedule a home visit in 91739 of Rancho Cucamonga. I work all day and get home after 5'ish and can also make my home available on weekends. Not a problem Carlos, I can be at your place tomorrow at 6:30 for a free consultation.
The consultation:
Jim gave me a courtesy call before arriving and actually beat me home by a few minutes. I felt really good by this time knowing that a scheduled visit was on time. We did the initial handshake and got down to business. Jim gave me a brief history of his owner operated business between him, wife and newly addition, a 20 something year old son. He had me already when he mentioned a law firm he currently has on his route in downtown Los Angeles that he maintains bi-monthly like on the 17th floor. Yes, pests get up the far. I know requirements for any business to enter a commercial building and it's not a pretty penny, I knew Jim had the proper insurance with bonding and that was a selling point.
The Findings:
After walking my front, side, rear and garage, Jim reported finding California fire ants on my lawn, found traces of feces from Ratatouille in our garage, La Colonia de Crickets and a few miscellaneous spiders.
3 options:
1. A one time fee of applying his product with results within 3 +/- days
2. Monthly service with scheduled date (no contract)
3. Every two months with scheduled date (no contract) better value
. . . . . . and he also included the inside of home.
The product:
Jim came prepared and quickly went into operation "broken arrow" mixing a 2:1 odorless product called SUSPEND® SC INSECTICIDE and MICRO INCAPSULATED® INSECTICIDE. The entire process lasted about 30 - 45 minutes. He wore a large backpack type that houses a large plastic container with a self siphon and nozzle spray. Safety glasses, industrial gloves and carefully cased my entire property along every edge of home, planter, lawn, behind boxes. I declined to have interior of home sprayed only because I didn't know how the product would react. As for the method of attack, Jim was spot on, he said that typically it takes about 2 or 3 days for the product to kick in. It physically attacks the central nervous system and immune to pets and humans. On day three, La Colonia de Crickets marched out to public eye and laid to rest upside down.
Means and methods by X-Terminator Pest Control is the real deal and affordable. Most importantly, you're supporting small business with no upsell tactics. Professional and reasonable with follow up calls. That's right follow up calls.
I don't want to mislead anyone by disclosing price for this corner home with plenty of grass, planters and living space but I will add that I signed up for every two months with 2nd or 3rd visit if required with no added cost.
If you're wondering about Ratatouille, it vacated the property for now.
I would encourage anyone to look up MSDS reports on each product I mentioned for your reading pleasure, it's for your own peace of mind.
Pura vida :) read more