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Coastal Critters: Rodents Plague Corpus Christi

. Posted by in • Corpus Christi

We Love Corpus Christi.

Did you know that Corpus Christi is made up of more water than land?

Corpus Christi is unique to other Texas cities in many ways. The Corpus Christi metro area is home to 400+ thousand residents, but we like to keep the small-town beachy feeling alive. When the summer tourists head home, we relax and enjoy our coastal lifestyle.

Living near the ocean has its perks, but our humid subtropical climate and proximity to sources of water has its downside, too.

 

Rodents Are On The Rise.

Our wildlife specialists see a steady increase in the number of rat, nutria, and mouse related calls every year. There are a few reasons why.

1. A Rodent’s Natural Environment Is Near Water.

Rats and mice are attracted to Corpus Christi for all the same reasons that we are! They like to hang out by creeks or lakes when the weather allows it. Along the Texas coast, … Read Full Post »

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6 Ways San Antonio Residents Can Lower CPS Energy Bills

. Posted by in • San Antonio
home automation can save texans energy

Did Your CPS Bill Go Up?

Everyone expects a utility bill spike in the summer, but it isn’t entirely uncommon to notice alarming rates in the winter, too. Even in the mildest of winter seasons, it is important to remember that old homes have old furnaces and old furnaces aren’t the most efficient. We love giving our customers insider tips when we can. Read through the following ideas so that you won’t waste a cent on your future CPS bills.

1. Plan Your Budget with CPS’s Help

CPS Energy has begun offering a Budget Payment Plan. The utility provider charges the enrolled customer an average of their previous bills’ amounts, plus a fee for environmental factors. There is an application and approval process. Currently, CPS requires you to call them by phone to sign up. The jury is still out on how useful this option is, but we’re very interested!

2. Learn About CPS … Read Full Post »

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Do Mice Really Like Cheese?

. Posted by in • Austin
Rats have become the most common pest in San Antonio

So, you have a mouse in your home, and you try to trap it with an old-fashioned (but still effective) mouse trap baited with cheese. It fails.

You just wasted a delicious piece of cheese, and the mouse trap didn’t yield any results. What went wrong?

 

What Do Mice Really like to Eat?

You may remember cartoons like Tom and Jerry from your childhood. The cat-and-mouse story is a very recognizable motif in media and especially in children’s cartoons and comics. The story usually goes like this: A curious cat spots a sly mouse on the hunt for a shiny, orange triangle of cheese, and a chase ensues. The cheese is the grand prize at the end of the story, and the mouse always manages to win this prize.

But do mice really like to eat cheese? If so, why did your mouse bait fail to bring the rodent out from hiding? And if … Read Full Post »

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6 Tips to Lower Your Austin Energy Bill

. Posted by in • Austin
Is your Austin Energy Bill to high?

Wondering Why your Austin Energy Bill is so High in the Winter?

Our customers have been fielding us with lots of questions about their Austin Energy bills over the last few months, and we are just as concerned as they are. Across the board, it seems as though our customers’ utilities are getting more expensive. KXAN investigated reports of abnormally high water bills back in the fall of 2015. Now that it’s winter, we’re getting calls about higher-than-average winter utility bills. And we think we know why.

Because Austin doesn’t reach freezing temps very often, most homeowners don’t think their heaters need as much attention as their air conditioners. But if your winter bills are sky-high, an old heater is the likely culprit.

You shouldn’t have to waste a penny to keep your family comfortable. Here are a few tips for general energy-monitoring and winter-specific ideas to lower those energy bills.

1. Take Advantage … Read Full Post »

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Tails of Horror: The Scariest Rat Problems We’ve Seen

. Posted by in • San Antonio
rats destroy homes and spread hantavirus

Our technicians have seen just about every kind of rodent problem you can have in San Antonio. We’ve also seen rats and mice in many different types of buildings, and we’ve seen the immense damage to structures that these animals cause. And when you ignore the problem it only gets worse — sometimes, devastatingly worse.

Here are a couple of the weirdest rodent infestation cases that ABC has ever seen in San Antonio. Keep in mind that these are very extreme cases, and most infestations can be handled by our staff very quickly.

One Hundred Traps. One Mouse.

A family of 4 contacted us when they realized that rats had infiltrated their home through an open food storage room in the back of the house. These rats entered the home by chewing through the walls of that unprotected food pantry.

Like many customers, the homeowners thought the problem would eventually take care of itself, … Read Full Post »

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2016 Predictions For Austin’s Rodent Dilemma

. Posted by in • Austin
Rat and mouse droppings can spread disease to humans.

It’s Been a Busy Year.

ABC likes to give our customers predictions every year to help our neighbors make good home service scheduling decisions. 2015 was an interesting year in terms of rodent populations in Central Texas. ABC saw a 9% in rodent-related appointments in 2015, and we have a couple of thoughts on why this may be.

The Biggest Reason We’re Getting More Calls? Rain.

Austin saw an enormous amount of rain last year. May of 2015 was Texas’s and Austin’s single wettest month in recorded history. You may remember that weekend — there was a lot of flooding and dangerous road conditions. Several homeowners south of Austin, in Wimberly, saw their homes destroyed.

ABIA saw its highest rain totals ever recorded in a single day: 13 inches. Flooding was an issue one multiple occasions betweenMay and November of last year.

How does Rain affect Rodents?

Rats and mice are actually excellent swimmers, but that … Read Full Post »

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Is Your House Haunted? No, It’s Just Your Heater.

. Posted by in • San Antonio
abc will fix the crazy noises your heater makes

We’ve all heard the ghost stories; a loud pop comes out of nowhere; there’s a gusty breeze inside the home; you hear what sounds like whining and hissing. San Antonio is full of spooky old homes, some of which might even be haunted. If you hear the ghastly rumblings of a poltergeist in your house, stay calm. It’s probably not a ghost. More than likely, it’s just your heater.

We’re not paranormal experts over here at ABC Home & Commercial Services, but we are HVAC experts, and we have heard all sorts of noises coming from our customers’ heating systems.

The Sounds Old Furnaces Make, And Why

We’ve put together a list of common noises you heater might make. Take a look and see if anything sounds familiar.

Popping and Clicking Sounds

You’re drifting off into an evening nap in the middle of winter, and suddenly you’re startled awake by a loud ‘POP’ followed by that … Read Full Post »

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How Did College Station Get A Rat Problem?

. Posted by in • Bryan-College Station
rats are abundant in college station neighborhoods.

So much of what our rodent specialists and pest entomologists know today has its origins in research done by Texas A&M. We’re so proud to learn from and work alongside researchers at the University.

Rodents Have A Complicated Past

Recently, one professor of biology and researcher at Texas A&M, Rodney Honeycutt, decided to look into the evolutionary history of rodents. Specifically, he wants to understand how a certain species of larger African rodents ended up with distantly related cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean some 40 million years ago.

This story by ABC about Honeycutt’s rodent project perfectly describes what most of us are all wondering.

“They could have done it only one of two ways, as far as anybody knows. Either they swam across, which seems preposterous. Or they climbed aboard a raft and followed the currents across the Atlantic to the new world.” – Lee Dye

We know … Read Full Post »

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Heater Blowing Cold Air? How To Solve This Problem

. Posted by in • San Antonio
Heater Blowing Cold Air

If your heater is on and blowing cold air, it is most likely an issue with either your thermostat or your ductwork, but the complexity of heating systems opens up multiple possibilities. We’ll explore some of the more common reasons heaters blow cold air so that have so that you have the information you need to contact a trusted HVAC repair professional to get needed repairs done.

Heater Is Still Warming Up

Whether your heater is electric or gas, heat exchange is not an instant process. It will take a while after turning your heater on to initiate all of the processes involved in creating and moving heated air throughout your home.

Your heater has to first collect and compress the air in your home, then heat it and expel the cold air. Heating systems work by heat exchange, which means that your HVAC system returns the cold air to the outside of … Read Full Post »

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Can Carbon Monoxide Leak If The Furnace Is Off?

. Posted by in • San Antonio
Can Carbon Monoxide Leak If Furnace Is Off

Understanding how HVAC systems work and having an HVAC maintenance checklist can be helpful to avoid potential dangers from these appliances that many of us don’t completely understand nor have the knowledge to repair.

The main cause of carbon monoxide in homes is heating, although chimneys, space heaters, dryers, cars, generators, grills, stoves, ovens and tools can also generate this byproduct. Your heating and cooling system burns fuel to create cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter. Any time fuel is burned, the chemical processes create a byproduct called carbon monoxide, or CO. Cracks and leaks, obstructions and general malfunctions in your heating and cooling system can cause your exhaust system to fail and allow CO to seep into your home. When and if this happens, the consequences can be extremely serious.

Can carbon monoxide leak if a furnace is off? Technically, your system won’t produce carbon monoxide if your furnace … Read Full Post »

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