SEASON OF VERNAL VERMIN; PEST POPULATIONS SKYROCKET IN AREA.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

It was the red dot that got Jan Brock's attention. The former Boy Scout knew a black widow spider when he saw one. And he saw a lot of them - in every nook and cranny of his ceilings and floors.

Brock called exterminator Charles Evans to zap the spider explosion having a field day inside his company's Canyon Country building.

``Those black spiders covered the corners; they were everywhere,'' Brock said Monday. ``It took about a week, but once the exterminators got through with them, the spiders were gone, and they haven't been back.''

Like so many other victims of sudden pest infestations, Brock still is puzzled by the speed of the black widow spiders.

High temperatures following a bit of humidity have the local insect and arachnid populations happily munching along, multiplying and gearing up for traditional summer torment.

And the weather reports aren't making it any easier for anyone - amateur or professional - fighting pests.

``Last year was unusually wet, about twice as wet as normal, and this year is unusually dry, about 1-1/3 dry as normal,'' said Bruce Rockwell, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

So it's anyone's guess what new infestations the Santa Clarita Valley can expect in May or June, local exterminators said.

Most local exterminators interviewed agreed mice lead the parade of ongoing pest infestations. Last year's rainy season resulted in a heavy crop of vegetation this year, with lots of seeds for rodents to snack on.

Rodents like to be indoors when the weather is cooler and will infest attics and garages whenever the notion strikes.

``Rodents like to come indoors, just like humans do,'' said Phillip Muniz, manager of Stanley Pest Control. Trapping is the best method of removing rodents from indoors.

``We also recommend that our clients trim tree limbs away from their houses and garages to keep rats from getting inside,'' Muniz said. Rodents get into attics through air conditioning pipes or telephone poles or climb through garage doors.

When his clients tell him they keep their homes clean, put food in plastic containers, scrub floors and keep countertops clean, he said he believes them.

``It's not what you do,'' he said. ``The problem is what your neighbors do - or don't do.''

Not only has his mice business been up 200 percent this year, Evans said calls to eradicate gophers are up 300 percent over last year.

``People don't realize, unless they've had them, gophers are an ongoing problem,'' he said.

Gophers take the cake in property damage, burrowing in their tunnels, chewing up grass roots while crisscrossing their way through Santa Clarita's best lawns.

And they are powerful for such a tiny critter. Evans said he's seen them whack through the roots of rose bushes, even through the roots of a good-size plum tree in Agua Dulce.

``And their destruction can be costly. They ruin curb appeal by puncturing the lawns,'' he said.

What the gophers don't manage to destroy, they entice the family pet to finish demolishing. Dogs can hear the underground gopher munch, and it drives them crazy, he said.

Elsewhere, ants are wreaking their own kind of havoc in Santa Clarita.

It will take more than spray to keep them in check, Evans said. The species seen locally is the Argentine ant - a critter that hitched a ride on a boat to New Orleans in the early 1920s and has slowly migrated to Southern California.

Ants are especially hard to eradicate, especially because many people use the wrong kind of bait, Evans said.

Ants are attracted to protein and carbohydrates at different times of the year, Evans said. Ants like protein in the summer, carbos in the winter, and anyone who wants to whack ants, according to Evans, needs to use the right bait combinations.

Terminating ants is not a piece of cake. With 5,000 to 40,000 roommates in a nest, the Argentine ant is unique, Evans said, because all the members get along and work together, contributing to their longevity.

``They're definitely in it for the long haul,'' he said. ``They don't go to war with one another, they don't self-exterminate. They're tiny, but they drive out species much larger because they work so well together.''