A Spanish Colonial Revival home with a red tile roof in California — San Bruno, California service area

Flea & Tick Elimination

Flea & Tick Control in San Bruno, CA

Name: 101 Exterminators Inc.
Address: 635 Sanborn Pl Ste 12, Salinas, CA, 93901, US
Telephone: (831) 500-1613
Price range: $$
Rating: 5

101 Exterminators handles flea and tick control in San Bruno across the whole property: interior, yard, and the crawl-space openings wildlife uses to get under the floor. California licensed, SPCB Lic. #9119, since 2005. Cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) never get a hard stop here, because winter lows sit in the mid-40s and shaded ground stays humid all year. Ticks are a separate problem, and mostly a trail problem.

(831) 500-1613Free pest evaluation · no obligation

Local Context

Flea Pupae Wait Under the Deck, and San Bruno Never Dries Them Out

The stage of the flea life cycle that defeats most treatment is the pupa. Cat flea pupae sit inside a sticky cocoon and can wait weeks for the vibration, warmth and carbon dioxide that mean a host has arrived, and while they wait they are largely shielded from product. Humidity keeps them viable, and this city supplies it constantly: marine air through the gap, summer highs of only about 70°F, and shaded ground under decks, porches and raised foundations that never bakes out the way an inland yard does.

Wildlife keeps restocking the yard whether or not anyone owns a pet. Opossums, raccoons and skunks work the whole city, and the western boundary against the Sweeney Ridge slope and Junipero Serra County Park puts more of them into the neighborhoods along that edge. They use crawl spaces, deck undersides and garage gaps, and fleas drop off wherever the animal rests. A house with no pets at all can develop a flea problem from a raccoon that denned under the floor and then moved on.

Ticks follow entirely different ground. Western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) are a brush and grassland species, so in San Bruno that means the Sweeney Ridge trail up from the end of Sneath Lane, the paths out of Skyline College, and the scrub along the western city limit, rather than a mowed Belle Air lawn. Dogs collect them on the walk and carry them home. The tick check belongs at the car door, and the yard work belongs at the brushy property edge rather than on the grass.

How We Work in San Bruno

Flea work in San Bruno is a two-surface job and a timing job. Inside, we treat the resting areas, meaning carpet edges, under furniture, pet bedding and the base of upholstery, with an adulticide plus an insect growth regulator so eggs and larvae never mature. Outside, we treat the shaded humid ground where pupae survive: under the deck, along the north-side foundation, and around the crawl-space perimeter. We ask that your vet-approved pet product goes on the same day, and we check for wildlife entry under the floor, because a den beneath the house restarts the whole cycle.

San Bruno Climate

San Bruno has a moderate Peninsula climate — some marine fog influence from its northern exposure, but slightly warmer than Daly City. Both drywood and subterranean termites are active through extended seasons.

Housing Stock

Post-WWII tract development dominates — 1940s–1960s wood-frame homes across the city's residential neighborhoods. The Crestmoor and Portola Highlands areas have this typical mid-century stock. The Village area near downtown has older construction. Properties near the creek corridors have moisture exposure relevant to subterranean termites.

Why Local Expertise Matters

San Bruno's mid-century housing stock is a routine part of our Peninsula service area. We understand the termite risks associated with 1940s–1960s wood-frame construction and provide SPCB-licensed (#9119) inspections with WDO reports accepted for local real estate transactions.

Warning Signs

Signs You Need Fleas & Ticks Service in San Bruno

Inside the home we pair an adulticide with an insect growth regulator, which keeps eggs and larvae from ever reaching the breeding stage. Outside we treat the shaded ground where larvae survive, plus the fence lines, wood piles, and crawl space openings that wildlife uses as a highway. Tick work concentrates on the boundary between mowed yard and unmanaged brush, since that strip is where questing ticks meet people and dogs. We also walk the property for the entry points that keep bringing fleas back, and we explain what your veterinarian needs to handle on the animal, because the environment and the pet only work when they are handled together.

Pets scratching or chewing at the base of the tail, the belly, and behind the ears

Flea dirt in pet bedding: dark pepper-like specks that turn rust red on a damp paper towel

Bites in tight clusters on ankles and lower legs, usually a few in a row

Small dark insects that disappear into carpet pile the moment you part the fur

A burst of biting a day or two after a vacation, or on the first day in a vacant rental

Fleas in a home with no pets, which usually points to wildlife living under the structure

Ticks found on a dog after time in the yard rather than after a hike

An attached tick on a family member, or a rash, fever, or joint ache in the weeks after a bite

How It Works

Our Fleas & Ticks Process in San Bruno

Every job follows the same methodical approach — no shortcuts, no guesswork. Here is what to expect when you work with us in San Bruno.

Inspection & Source Identification

We look for flea dirt where it collects, check crawl spaces and the shaded ground under decks and hedges, and note where opossums, raccoons, and ground squirrels are moving through the property. For ticks we walk the line where kept lawn meets brush, since that strip carries most of the exposure. What the inspection turns up sets the treatment, rather than a standard package set in advance.

Interior Treatment

Interior work pairs an adulticide for the fleas you can see with an insect growth regulator for the ones you cannot. The growth regulator keeps eggs and larvae from developing into breeding adults, and it goes where eggs settle: carpet, the base of upholstered furniture, pet resting spots, and along baseboards. On hard floors we work the edges and cracks, where debris feeds developing larvae.

Yard & Property Edge

Flea larvae do not survive in open sun, so yard treatment targets shade: under decks and stairs, beneath dense shrubs, along the north side of the house, and wherever the dog lies down. Tick treatment follows a different line, the border where mowed yard gives way to tall grass, leaf litter, and brush. Treating the whole lawn misses both.

Pet Coordination & Follow-Through

Treating the house without the animal, or the animal without the house, puts you back where you started. We coordinate timing so your veterinarian's product goes on the pet the same day we treat, and we walk you through the vacuuming schedule that pulls pupae out of the carpet. Vacuuming does more than clean here, since the warmth and pressure signal cocooned adults to emerge onto treated surfaces.

Why 101 Exterminators

Fleas & Ticks You Can Count On in San Bruno

Growth Regulator in the Plan

An adulticide handles the fleas jumping today. The insect growth regulator works on the eggs and larvae buried in carpet and yard shade, which is where the great majority of the population is sitting at any moment.

Yard and Property Edge Treated

Indoor-only treatment leaves the outdoor source running. We treat the shaded ground where flea larvae survive and the brush line where ticks wait for a host to walk by.

Wildlife Source Assessment

Homes along open space, creek corridors, and farm edges get fleas delivered by opossums, raccoons, and ground squirrels. We find the openings those animals are using and tell you what needs closing.

Coordinated With Your Veterinarian

We time the visit around the product your vet has prescribed, and you get written prep and re-entry steps so the two halves of the job line up instead of canceling each other out.

Common Questions

Flea & Tick Control FAQs for San Bruno

We have no pets — where did the fleas in our San Bruno house come from?

Almost always from wildlife denning under the floor. San Bruno's post-war raised-foundation houses have crawl-space access that opossums, raccoons and skunks find easily, and the pressure runs heaviest on the blocks below the Sweeney Ridge slope and along the Junipero Serra County Park edge. Fleas drop off wherever the animal rests. Once the host leaves or is excluded, the hungry fleas move up through the sub-floor looking for a replacement, which is when the ankle bites start. Screening the vents and closing the deck skirting is the half of the job that lasts.

Should we worry about ticks on the Sweeney Ridge trails?

The risk is real but manageable with habit rather than treatment. Western black-legged ticks sit on brush and tall grass along trail edges, so staying to the middle of the trail on the climb from Sneath Lane and checking dogs and pant legs at the car covers most of the exposure. They are most active in the cool wet months here, which is the opposite of what most people assume about tick season. If you find one attached, remove it slowly with fine-tipped tweezers close to the skin and keep it, because identification matters if symptoms follow.

Why are fleas back a week after treatment at our San Bruno house?

That is usually pupae hatching, not a failed treatment. Flea pupae are protected inside the cocoon and can hold for weeks until vibration and warmth signal a host, so a wave of new adults after treatment is expected. Vacuuming actually triggers hatching, which is why we ask you to keep vacuuming rather than stop. The growth regulator in the treatment prevents that generation from reproducing. In San Bruno's humid shaded yards the outdoor side of the cycle runs longer, so the follow-up visit carries more weight here than it would inland.

Local Pest Pressure

Common Pests We Treat in San Bruno

Every area has its own pest profile shaped by climate, housing, and geography. These are the pests we see and treat most often in San Bruno — tap any one to learn how to identify it and what treatment involves.