Monterey Bay Pest Control takes a gentler, less toxic approach to household nuisances.

Taking a step back to adjust her glasses, Virginia Courtney motions towards the slide on the microscope. I look through the lens. With my eyes still focusing, it takes a minute to realize huge bulging eyes are peering back up at me. Compound eyes that look crazy and drunk.

This weird thing seems straight out of a cheap monster movie. Black, orange and sunfire-red colors pattern its back. Courtney, the owner of Monterey Bay Pest Control, tells me I’m looking at a boxelder bug, magnified 100 times.

Courtney, casual in bleached jeans and blue sneakers, says the infamous boxelder is an exterior pest that feeds mostly off the seeds of elder trees. Their weird appearance, coupled with their habit of congregating on trees, gives the uneasy impression of surfer bums loitering on the beach all day.

Courtney and her staff work to educate their customers about pests like these. And for a fee they’ll take care of the problem, from gophers to fleas.

Secretary Brandy Gobbell pilots the front desk of MBPC’s office space, patiently fielding calls that fall into two categories: neurotic and legitimate. She says this protocol is absolutely necessary. For example, one caller who claimed to have a bedbug infestation was actually seeing scabs dislodged onto pillows, by scratching his head.

Courtney’s parents established MBPC in 1950, but young Virginia wasn’t all that interested in pest control. She graduated from San Jose State University in 1991 and spent the next decade working as a drug counselor in cities across California. But as her parents aged, Courtney returned to the Central Coast to take over the family business.

The MBPC logo shows a mouse running past a green heart, with the slogan “Woman Owned and Operated.” Pest control is a predominantly male industry, but Courtney says her gender has actually helped her business.

“Most homeowners are women, so it makes it convenient that I’m a woman and can be presumed as trustworthy,” she says.

Mike Rodriguez, who runs Rose Automotive next to the MBPC office and is one of Courtney’s clients, appreciates what she’s doing on a larger scale.

“Virginia is one of the few leading the charge to cutting back on pesticides,” he says. “She firmly believes that a lot of what pest controllers do is an unnecessary and unforeseen cost.”

Courtney is a big advocate of non-toxic pesticides. Her website offers customers the option of all-natural pest control, including the EcoSmart Technologies product line.

Another service: live bee removal also without pesticides. Bees are important pollinators, and they’re already facing a colony collapse epidemic, likely due to pesticides. MBPC’s bee keeper takes a gentler approach, removing the bees alive and placing them in a permanent hive body. Then Courtney’s team cleans, disinfects and seals the area.

For common indoor and outdoor pests, Courtney uses an approach called integrated pest management (IPM). She’ll educate clients in how to keep their homes clean and free of bugs through basic maintenance like trimming back plants, screening windows and vacuuming. In IPM philosophy, harsh chemicals are a last resort.

Gophers may drive many local gardeners crazy, but MBPC’s website reports the typical home lawn usually has fewer than four. MBPC can usually trap them in three visits, avoiding the poisonous gopher bait that can potentially harm other wildlife, pets or kids (and pollute the watershed).

As for rats and mice, Courtney advises “rodent-proofing”: cutting off their access to food, eliminating their living and breeding spaces, and making simple home improvements to seal them out.

Courtney’s green approach may seem intuitive, but it’s not shared by mainstream exterminators. The rest of the industry is unlikely to follow suit, she says, until more customers demand it. “So long as the public wants instant results and wants them cheaply, pest control will remain the same,” she says. “It takes more time and expertise to inspect, review and make corrective, non-toxic solutions.”

So if you come upon a party of boxelder bugs, lounging like drunk surfers in the sunshine of your windowsill, don’t freak out. Don’t smoosh them, either – they let off a stink. You don’t need chemical weapons to deal with a pest like this, just some gentle education from the likes of Virginia Courtney.

Or save yourself the trouble, grab a standard-issue garden hose and spray them off.

Kera Abraham contributed to this report.

MONTEREY BAY PEST CONTROL is open 7am-4pm Mon-Fri at 1997 Del Monte Blvd., Seaside. 394-7378 www.montereybaypestcontrol.com