When I first moved to sunny Los Angeles, I was excited to live in city that felt like summer year-round. Soon, I learned that our Silver Lake house came with a downside… bugs. So many bugs. 

I’d lived in apartments for the better part of a decade and couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a spider. My husband and I began navigating ways we could control the ants that inevitably found my cat’s food and the spiders that coated the windowpanes with webs. I didn’t think much of it until getting the mail one afternoon and coming back inside having been bitten by something poisonous that caused my arm to swell up like a balloon. (I can only imagine it was the world’s largest black widow??)

A friend encouraged me to look into Aptive Environmental to get the house in check—and it really was the best recommendation ever. Aptive takes pride in making sure their clients can enjoy their homes, and an enjoyable home is a pest-free home. Our specialist arrived early on a Friday, masked up and following Covid protocols, and did a thorough property inspection first. He shared a few areas that he thought might be causing infestations and said he’d address those first, without using chemicals. He went along the entire exterior of our house and removed all of the spider webs from along the eaves—a spot I hadn’t been able to reach without getting out a ladder. So, not only was the house more protected, but it looked a lot better aesthetically.  

Then he treated every inch of the property – including my patio furniture and mailbox, with a combination of premier, highly effective minimal toxicity products, botanicals and integrated pest management. The solution is designed with families and pets in mind, so I wasn’t stressed the cats would accidentally ingest something that would harm them. He came back a month later to repeat and make sure everything was under control, and now is scheduled quarterly. We haven’t had ants again and I haven’t been rushed to the hospital due to an allergic reaction – a win-win, if you ask me. 

If I’m being honest, I’ve told anyone who will listen about Aptive for the last few months. This isn’t a paid ad, but a service I’m genuinely passionate about. I asked Aptive if they’d offer our readers an incentive to try it, and are generously offering $100 of your first service with the code RueXAptive. You can sign up here anytime between May 1-31, 2021. It’s the perfect thing to get your home ready for summer’s warmer months!