You come to expect a few things when living in California’s Central Valley: triple-digit weather in the summer, loads of fog in the winter, and all of the fresh produce you can handle. But our status as the agricultural backbone of America also leaves us susceptible to plenty of pest problems. Here are three of the most common pests found in the Valley:
1. Mice
With all of the vast agricultural land in the Valley, as well as our acres of undeveloped grassland, there is plenty of room for mice to find food and shelter. And because of their reproductive cycles, a small group of mice can quickly transform into a huge horde. In a given year, female mice can have 15 litters with an average size of 10-12 pups. I’m not great at math, but even I can figure out that a single mouse can produce nearly 200 pups in a single year!
2. Mosquitoes
Despite our four-year-long drought, there’s still plenty of watering going on in the Valley for our crops. And when that water starts to pool in the fields, that’s like a haven for mosquitoes. When you factor in all of the small natural and man-made lakes in the region, and backyard pools, you realize there are plenty of places for mosquitoes to gather and lay eggs. During the spring and summer, it’s dangerous to be outdoors around sunset without spraying some mosquito repellant on yourself first.
3. Bees and Wasps
All that standing water also attracts wasps and yellow jackets, and our agricultural powerhouse status provides plenty of sweet nectar for bees to feast upon. As long as bees and wasps stay in the wild, there’s no problem, but occasionally wasps will try to build nests under the eaves of your home or in big trees in your backyard. If that happens, you’ll soon be sharing your outdoor time with ornery wasps, which don’t make for great party guests.