I called Earth First because i avoid cancer causing chemicals like pesticides around my home.
Recently i had carpenter ants, there was something that looked like sawdust under the bench of my outside picnic table and in my house, i kept seeing single ants, not many, but they weren't the usual kind i've always seen before, i googled it and learned if it's carpenter ants it can seriously damage your house structure.
In looking for a pest company, i came across Earth First, on yelp, i looked at their website and liked how they described their mission and their approach. I called, Marlon answered the phone. I told him that my main concern was these ants, the night before, one ant would crawl on me while i was watching TV. I would kill that one and another would come, they didn't come together in a group. i also told him i was suddenly having a lot of flies and i wasn't sure why. He said they could help with the ants but flies were another matter as far as getting rid of them. He told me to put pennies in a ziplock bag with water in it and hang the ziplock bag up in the room and they would go away. wow. So that was good to know. I made an appointment for the next day for them to come out.
Leo came and looked at the place where the sawdust was. He said they could take care of it, he told me how much it would cost and he told me the method where you drill holes and put the stuff in. But he said what he saw there looked more like there had been some termites in the bench, and the ants are territorial and it appeared that they had come into the termites' place and made it unusable for him. He said the ants "took care of your termite problem." He said it was possible that the ants might not come back, and since there weren't any in sight, i might want to wait and see if they come back before spending the money.
I really appreciate that. It wasn't that he didn't want to do the work, he was there to do it and he told me how he would do it, but he wanted me to have an informed choice. He was not in a hurry to leave, he was informative, he spent quite a lot of time talking to me about other recent pest issues i'd had (i had a rat) and he told me about Earth First services and that they could take care of any kind of pest problem. i wish i had known about them before i had the rat taken care of because Earth First had a much better price.
As Leo was leaving, he saw this dark spot about 5 inches in diameter flat against the wall above my front porch. I had been wondering what it was. He said it was a mud wasp nest. I had wasp nests before over my backdoor and got stung many times before i realized where they were coming from. He said this was a different kind of wasp that was not usually aggressive or attacking, but he said since it was right in front of my front door, i might want to spray this peppermint oil on it that i had gotten from Amazon as an insect repellant and then take a hose and squirt it off. Otherwise, he didn't think they were dangerous but because it was in front of my door, i might want to remove it.
After he left, i looked at it and i noticed it was bulging out. It had been flat at first, like it was painted on, but now it was a bulge, and i saw the mother wasp flying up to it and kind of doing nurturing behaviors toward it. I felt kind of bad about destroying it, but when she went away, i hosed it. If not for Leo being observant and informative, i would've ended up with a bunch of wasps right outside my front door, after they were born.
Earth First, both Marlon and Leo, helped me out by telling me things i could do easily, no poisons, to get rid of three different kinds of pests, without having to spend any money. I was given clear information about their prices, and i will gladly call them next time i have a pest problem, this is the pest control company i've been searching for. i have no doubt that if there is a problem, they will take care of it. Very professional and expert knowledge
Update 10/1/17 2 weeks later, carpenter ants came back en masse, thousands in my backyard. i called Earth First. Nathan came out. He told me what he would do & was sure he would get rid of them all. He would spray EcoSmart all around the house, which is made of some oils like wintergreen. I still had the occasional one indoors but he thought it unnecessary to spray indoors due to how few it was. He said they wouldn't die immediately, they had to carry the spray back to their nests and infect everybody. The next day, no more sign of ant life, just 100s of ant carcasses everywhere. 6 weeks later, not an ant has been seen. i feel safe and protected as i walk around my yard. I now know the few in the house came in on me and my dog after we were outside. i saw this when they infested the outside. $215 to get rid of ants with 60 day warranty. I love this pest control company. Happy. read more