Jan 20, 2017 | Pest Control, Wildlife
Squirrels
Hearing noises at night? You may have squirrels nesting in the attic, looking for shelter from the cold. To get rid of squirrels, first you have to determine how they’re getting in. This can be tricky if you don’t have easy access to your roof and since squirrels can sneak into small spaces. Contact a wildlife removal company to fully inspect your home for squirrel access points, set up traps, and correct any damage caused by squirrels. It’s also a good idea to keep trees trimmed and away from your roofline to cut off direct access.
Raccoons
Raccoons are common home invaders in the winter months, looking for refuge in crawl spaces, attics, and chimneys. Similar to squirrels, effective raccoon control requires professional expertise – to identify and seal entry points, trap and remove the raccoons, and prevent them from coming back with exclusion techniques. To prevent a raccoon invasion, eliminate food sources that attract them by using outdoor trash bins with lids and removing pet food when it’s not being eaten.
Mice
Mice are year-round pest nuisances that typically nest in attics, basements, cabinets, and closets. And because mice can fit through gaps as small as 1/4 inch, keeping them out can be difficult. As with other rodent control methods, the first step is to inspect your home for cracks, gaps, holes, or any other openings and correct them. Secondly, eliminate food sources and hiding places by keeping a clean house, removing clutter, and storing food in sealed containers. If you see small, dark-colored droppings anywhere, call an exterminator – quarterly pest control treatments are recommended to get rid of mice and prevent a future infestation.
Rats
Similar to mice, rats are common winter invaders, searching for food and warmth inside your home, needing holes as small as a quarter to get in. To prevent this, and other rodent invasions, seal any gaps or holes in your home’s foundation, around your roof, in the crawl space or basement, or around doors and windows, keep garbage away from your home’s exterior in sealed bins, and check for evidence of rats – usually indicated by droppings (larger than those left by mice), gnawing, or footprints and tail tracks.
Roaches
Cockroaches, too, are looking for food and warmth during colder months. The best way to prevent roaches is with preventative pest control and by eliminating what attracts roaches – food left out, crumbs, pet food and water, clutter, and water leaks.
Spiders
Common house spiders will start making their ways indoors starting in the cooler, Fall months. Prevent spiders with ongoing pest control treatments, by eliminating clutter (spiders like to hide in dark, undisturbed places), and by knocking down cobwebs regularly.
Jan 5, 2017 | Going Green, Insulation, Pest Control
Winter can be harsh on our homes and our wallets. It can be a struggle to keep warm air inside, making us cold and driving heating costs up. But you don’t have to be cold OR empty your pockets this winter with these home winterization tips.
Tune-up HVAC Systems
Keeping your heating and air system maintained with regular HVAC tune-ups will ensure your unit is running at maximum efficiency, making your home warmer and your bills lower. Regular maintenance will also extend the life of your HVAC system! This includes cleaning and/or replacing filters, checking thermostats, and checking/cleaning heating system components, all of which are usually included in an HVAC tune-up done by a heating and air company.
Add Insulation
Most homes don’t have enough insulation which is needed to help your HVAC system run more efficiently, keep cold air out, warm air in, resulting in lower utility bills. Call an insulation company – most offer free inspections – to check your home’s insulation levels. Then you can decide what and where you need additional insulation and what kind will work best for your home. Consider a blown-in option, like TAP Insulation, which has the added benefit of permanent pest control.
Adjust Water Heater
Set your water heater’s temperature to 120 degrees or lower. This will save up to 10% on monthly water heating costs without you having to give up hot showers.
Turn Down the Heat
Don’t pay for unused heat by forgetting to lower the thermostat before you leave the house. To make this easy, consider installing a programmable thermostat.
Weatherstripping
Sealing gaps around your home is one of the easiest ways to keep warm air in, cold air out, prevent pests, and save money. Check around windows, doors, chimneys, and pipes for openings, gaps, and cracks, and repair as needed. For added protection, consider installing storm windows and doors.
Insulate Pipes
Lower water heating costs and prevent pipes from freezing by insulating them. Check your local home improvement store for insulation options; most are easy to install yourself.
Jan 5, 2017 | Going Green, Insulation, Pest Control
Winter can be harsh on our homes and our wallets. It can be a struggle to keep warm air inside, making us cold and driving heating costs up. But you don’t have to be cold OR empty your pockets this winter with these home winterization tips.
Tune-up HVAC Systems
Keeping your heating and air system maintained with regular HVAC tune-ups will ensure your unit is running at maximum efficiency, making your home warmer and your bills lower. Regular maintenance will also extend the life of your HVAC system! This includes cleaning and/or replacing filters, checking thermostats, and checking/cleaning heating system components, all of which are usually included in an HVAC tune-up done by a heating and air company.
Add Insulation
Most homes don’t have enough insulation which is needed to help your HVAC system run more efficiently, keep cold air out, warm air in, resulting in lower utility bills. Call an insulation company – most offer free inspections – to check your home’s insulation levels. Then you can decide what and where you need additional insulation and what kind will work best for your home. Consider a blown-in option, like TAP Insulation, which has the added benefit of permanent pest control.
Adjust Water Heater
Set your water heater’s temperature to 120 degrees or lower. This will save up to 10% on monthly water heating costs without you having to give up hot showers.
Turn Down the Heat
Don’t pay for unused heat by forgetting to lower the thermostat before you leave the house. To make this easy, consider installing a programmable thermostat.
Weatherstripping
Sealing gaps around your home is one of the easiest ways to keep warm air in, cold air out, prevent pests, and save money. Check around windows, doors, chimneys, and pipes for openings, gaps, and cracks, and repair as needed. For added protection, consider installing storm windows and doors.
Insulate Pipes
Lower water heating costs and prevent pipes from freezing by insulating them. Check your local home improvement store for insulation options; most are easy to install yourself.
Dec 23, 2016 | Pest Control
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Unfortunately, it’s also when winter pests are searching for food and shelter inside our homes. Tis the season for mouse invasions!
So how can you prevent mice from eating Santa’s cookies this Christmas? Mouse-proof your home with these easy mice prevention tips:
Keep a Clean House
Mice need very little food to survive so eliminating their food sources can be difficult. So while keeping a tidy house won’t solely prevent a mice infestation, it will definitely make your home less attractive shelter. Clean up spills immediately, don’t leave dog food out, keep food in sealed containers, and de-clutter. You want to get rid of as many hiding places as possible, which will help to prevent reproduction.
Seal Openings
The best way to keep mice out is by not letting them in. This can be tricky since mice can fit through openings as small as 1/4 inch. You’ll want to inspect your home for any openings and seal them with steel wool, caulking, metal or concrete, depending on where the crack is. You’ll also want to check doors, window, and screens, and repair as needed.
Set Traps
If you suspect mice activity in your home, setting traps can be an effective way to get rid of them, without them dying inside your home leaving behind unpleasant odors. Placement of the traps is key so it’s best to contact an exterminator to do this. After inspecting your home, a pest control professional can determine where mice are getting in, where they’re nesting, and where traps should be placed to get rid of them quickly.
Nov 18, 2016 | Pest Control
As the temperatures start to drop, overwintering pests start making their way indoors. Although these pests are considered to be beneficial, they become a nuisance when moving into your home in overwhelming numbers.
The two most common overwintering pests are boxelder bugs and ladybugs (ladybird beetles). Here’s what you need to know about each one and how you can prevent & get rid of them:
Boxelder Bugs
Boxelder and silver maple trees serve as the spring and summer hosts for boxelder bugs (shown above). In the winter, they migrate by the hundreds and thousands out of these trees and begin to congregate on the south side of buildings and homes. After reaching a large enough population, they may fly off to nearby sites to hibernate for winter, or try to enter the structure they have congregated on.
To prevent boxelders bugs from infesting your home, use similar exclusion methods mentioned above, making sure entry points are sealed. If you’re already seeing boxelders inside, the best way to remove them is with a vacuum.
To control a boxelder invasion, professional pest control methods have proven to be effective when infested trees and the surrounding areas are treated with a residual product, along with treatments on the sunny/south side of the home’s exterior.
Ladybugs (Ladybird Beetles)
Ladybugs are very beneficial insects; they protect our plants by feeding on aphids, mites, scale insects, and their eggs. But with the onset of winter and colder temperatures, large amounts of ladybugs start invading homes, making them more of a nuisance pest. To prevent this, simple home exclusion – sealing around windows and doors, replacing broken screens, and caulking around the open voids around electrical and plumbing entry points – can be effective. You can also caulk above windows and doors on the inside of the home, as ladybugs tend to emerge from these areas often. For added preventative protection, consider contacting a pest control company. Exterior treatments can be effective if done before ladybugs are seen indoors. (Treatment inside is not recommended once there’s a problem because the products kill/trap the ladybugs in wall voids which attracts carpet beetles and larder beetles.)
If you’re already seeing ladybugs indoors, remove them carefully being careful not to squish them; they produce a yellow, foul smelling defensive liquid that may stain whatever it comes in contact with. Below are two pictures showing a larva Ladybug (left) and what the overwintering adult (right) look like.
Nov 18, 2016 | Pest Control
As the temperatures start to drop, overwintering pests start making their way indoors. Although these pests are considered to be beneficial, they become a nuisance when moving into your home in overwhelming numbers.
The two most common overwintering pests are boxelder bugs and ladybugs (ladybird beetles). Here’s what you need to know about each one and how you can prevent & get rid of them:
Boxelder Bugs
Boxelder and silver maple trees serve as the spring and summer hosts for boxelder bugs (shown above). In the winter, they migrate by the hundreds and thousands out of these trees and begin to congregate on the south side of buildings and homes. After reaching a large enough population, they may fly off to nearby sites to hibernate for winter, or try to enter the structure they have congregated on.
To prevent boxelders bugs from infesting your home, use similar exclusion methods mentioned above, making sure entry points are sealed. If you’re already seeing boxelders inside, the best way to remove them is with a vacuum.
To control a boxelder invasion, professional pest control methods have proven to be effective when infested trees and the surrounding areas are treated with a residual product, along with treatments on the sunny/south side of the home’s exterior.
Ladybugs (Ladybird Beetles)
Ladybugs are very beneficial insects; they protect our plants by feeding on aphids, mites, scale insects, and their eggs. But with the onset of winter and colder temperatures, large amounts of ladybugs start invading homes, making them more of a nuisance pest. To prevent this, simple home exclusion – sealing around windows and doors, replacing broken screens, and caulking around the open voids around electrical and plumbing entry points – can be effective. You can also caulk above windows and doors on the inside of the home, as ladybugs tend to emerge from these areas often. For added preventative protection, consider contacting a pest control company. Exterior treatments can be effective if done before ladybugs are seen indoors. (Treatment inside is not recommended once there’s a problem because the products kill/trap the ladybugs in wall voids which attracts carpet beetles and larder beetles.)
If you’re already seeing ladybugs indoors, remove them carefully being careful not to squish them; they produce a yellow, foul smelling defensive liquid that may stain whatever it comes in contact with. Below are two pictures showing a larva Ladybug (left) and what the overwintering adult (right) look like.
Sep 2, 2016 | Pest Control, Wildlife
While we’re enjoying more time outdoors this fall, pests and wildlife are making their way indoors looking for warmth and shelter to survive the winter. Here are 15 easy ways prevent a pest invasion this fall:
1. Thoroughly inspect your home for gaps around windows and doors and fix any areas in need of repair
2. Wildlife commonly enter your home through the attic which you can help to prevent by screening attic vents and chimney openings
3. Eliminate excess moisture by fixing leaking pipes and correcting drainage issues
4. Keep gutters cleaned and clear of debris
5. Seal any crack and crevices around your home’s exterior with caulk and steel wool, especially around utility pipes
6. Install door sweeps on any exterior doors and replace window & door screens that have been damaged
7. Keep a clean home – wipe up spills immediately, don’t leave food out, store leftovers in sealed containers, and take the garbage out daily
8. Store garbage in sealed receptacles away from your home’s exterior
9. Don’t leave pet food out, inside or outside your home
10. Replace weather stripping and loose mortar around basement foundation and windows
11. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from your home’s exterior
12. Keep shrubbery and trees trimmed
13. Avoid bringing in boxes or storage containers into your home; instead, go through them outside and bring in what you need after inspecting the items for pests
14. Use yellow bug lights around exterior doors; while they don’t deter bugs, they also don’t attract them like standard white light bulbs
15. Pest control and wildlife control from a professional exterminator – preventative treatments, usually on a quarterly basis, are the best way to eliminate current pest problems and prevent future infestations
Aug 26, 2016 | Pest Control
Ants are one of the most common household pest invaders and often one of the hardest to get rid of. Here’s why:
There are over 12,000 species of ants worldwide and about 1,000 here in the U.S. They’re social insects so they live in large colonies, some with millions of ants depending on the species. Ant queens can survive for several years and have millions of ant offspring, compared to many other pests that tend to have shorter lifespans and lower reproduction rates. So it’s likely you have several ant colonies around your home with queens that are reproducing, male ants to mate with the queens, soldier ants to protect the queens and babies, and worker ants to gather food and build anthills, mounds, and nests.
So where are these nests? Larger ant colonies require complex nests that often take up large amounts of space, often covering an acre of land or more! Their nests are usually underground with mounds or anthills that they use to gain access to the nest, in walls, and under fallen trees, rocks, or debris.
The most effective way to get rid of ants or prevent ants is to go after the colony’s queen. An ant colony will usually only survive for a few weeks to months, depending on the colony’s size, after a queen dies since the queen is the only ant in the colony able to reproduce. And colonies rarely replace a queen, therefore the entire colony is dismantled and without purpose. This process can happen naturally, when other ant colonies invade one another, or through targeted, integrated pest management (IPM) techniques. While on-contact pesticides can be effective in killing the ants you’re seeing, they do nothing to eliminate the thousands of ants you don’t see, hiding out in the colony. But because ants work in an organized system, we can “feed” the worker ants traveling to and from the colony poisonous baits. These baits usually contain a sweet substance that ants are attracted to and will take back to their colony to feed to the others (queen included). And because most baits are slow-acting, the ants have time to distribute the poisonous food to the colony before the bait begins to work. When the ants begin to die, the bait continues to work to eliminate other ants in the colony since the dead ants will be eaten by the colony, thereby continuing the spread of poison throughout the colony. This process of colony elimination can take a few days up to 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the size of the colony.
In order to get rid of ants through colony elimination, it’s important that baits are placed in the right areas and that you allow enough time for the bait to work before cleaning up dying or dead ants. If you’re unsure which products to use or how and where to use ant baits, contact your local exterminator. A pest control professional will inspect your home for ant entry points and provide you with a treatment plan that works now and for future ant prevention.
Aug 26, 2016 | Pest Control
Ants are one of the most common household pest invaders and often one of the hardest to get rid of. Here’s why:
There are over 12,000 species of ants worldwide and about 1,000 here in the U.S. They’re social insects so they live in large colonies, some with millions of ants depending on the species. Ant queens can survive for several years and have millions of ant offspring, compared to many other pests that tend to have shorter lifespans and lower reproduction rates. So it’s likely you have several ant colonies around your home with queens that are reproducing, male ants to mate with the queens, soldier ants to protect the queens and babies, and worker ants to gather food and build anthills, mounds, and nests.
So where are these nests? Larger ant colonies require complex nests that often take up large amounts of space, often covering an acre of land or more! Their nests are usually underground with mounds or anthills that they use to gain access to the nest, in walls, and under fallen trees, rocks, or debris.
The most effective way to get rid of ants or prevent ants is to go after the colony’s queen. An ant colony will usually only survive for a few weeks to months, depending on the colony’s size, after a queen dies since the queen is the only ant in the colony able to reproduce. And colonies rarely replace a queen, therefore the entire colony is dismantled and without purpose. This process can happen naturally, when other ant colonies invade one another, or through targeted, integrated pest management (IPM) techniques. While on-contact pesticides can be effective in killing the ants you’re seeing, they do nothing to eliminate the thousands of ants you don’t see, hiding out in the colony. But because ants work in an organized system, we can “feed” the worker ants traveling to and from the colony poisonous baits. These baits usually contain a sweet substance that ants are attracted to and will take back to their colony to feed to the others (queen included). And because most baits are slow-acting, the ants have time to distribute the poisonous food to the colony before the bait begins to work. When the ants begin to die, the bait continues to work to eliminate other ants in the colony since the dead ants will be eaten by the colony, thereby continuing the spread of poison throughout the colony. This process of colony elimination can take a few days up to 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the size of the colony.
In order to get rid of ants through colony elimination, it’s important that baits are placed in the right areas and that you allow enough time for the bait to work before cleaning up dying or dead ants. If you’re unsure which products to use or how and where to use ant baits, contact your local exterminator. A pest control professional will inspect your home for ant entry points and provide you with a treatment plan that works now and for future ant prevention.
