Licensed pest management professionals:

The Vertebrate Pest Council is hosting a seminar series this year in conjunction with new partner Target Specialty Products. Don't miss this unique opportunity to learn about wildlife management of a number of bird and mammalian species from staff at the University of California, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Pesticide Regulation and more!

Both structural and DPR continuing education units are available and Vector CEUs have been approved for some venues. For more information on these workshops, hosted in Sacramento, Oxnard, Anaheim and Visalia this year, please check out

The UC Statewide IPM Program's online information was recently announced as #5 out of the top 6 pest management online databases by the Northeastern IPM Center!

The infographic shows the top 6 in the nation, but since it's just an image I borrowed, below are the links so you can check out these useful resources yourself.

1. National Integrated Pest Management Database
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Registered Pesticides
3.

As I sit in my hotel room tonight and work from atop my bed, I thought it would be useful to share the practice I always use each and every time I stay in a hotel: checking for bed bugs.

Bed bugs can occur in any hotel whether it's a 5-star or 1-star hotel. No matter where I stay, I always check for bed bugs before putting down my bags or even sitting down.

It doesn't take long and you will be glad you did it. Please watch this short video and keep yourself safe from bringing home these very troublesome pests.

For more information about bed bugs, how they feed, and how to manage them, see the UC IPM Pest Notes: Bed...

No we aren't here to tell you we found one. Because brown recluse spiders do not live in California.

Don't believe this last statement? Then please read the recently updated publication Pest Notes: Brown Recluse and Other Recluse Spiders by UC Riverside spider expert Richard S. Vetter.

Brown recluse spiders are among the most talked about spiders in California and one that many other brown spiders from different and non-threatening groups get confused with. But there are actually no populations of brown recluse spiders in California.

We encourage all our subscribers to read the