May 12, 2021 | Wildlife
It’s true – many wildlife creatures invade and infest homes during the colder months of the year. However, there are still plenty of pests that are active and looking for a place to inhabit. Knowing which types are prevalent this season and how to prevent them can help you protect your home and family.
Snakes
As coldblooded animals, snakes get their energy from the sun. Because of this, snakes are more active during the warmer months as they require more energy to mate. You’ll typically see snakes out in the early morning and late evenings to avoid the high heat of midday. When they aren’t out, snakes like to hide out in cool, dark places such as underneath rocks and decks. You could also find them hiding out in your basement if they’ve gained access.
To keep nuisance pests from infesting your property it’s important to keep your lawn neat and clean. Clean up any yard clutter, such as piles of leaves and wood. Keep your grass mowed to eliminate coverage and trim bushes and hedges regularly. Always check your garage, garage doors, windows, and exterior doors for gaps and seal any openings.
Opossums
During the spring and summer, opossum females care for their young, meaning they are more active in searching for food to nourish them with. These animals are nocturnal and search for food at night. During the day, possums will hide in trees where they will stay until the evening. While they eat unwanted pests such as snails, cockroaches, spiders, and rats, they also eat garbage, fruit, grass, and roadkill.
To prevent opossums, keeping food from being left out outside your house is crucial. Make sure you bring in pet food and water from outside. Pick up any fruit that might have fallen from trees, including tossing out the rotten ones. It’s equally important to keep your garage doors, pet doors, or unscreened windows closed during the night.
Rats
Rats are active year-round, but the warmer weather provides them with more sources of food. These rodents can reproduce very quickly and controlling them can become difficult once they’ve infested. Rats will typically make burrows before wintertime, building these under buildings, concrete slabs, around lakes and ponds, and even near the garbage. These wildlife creatures can be a risk to humans as they can contaminate food, chew wires causing fire hazards, and their urine and feces can cause health concerns.
Taking necessary precautions before you start seeing rats is the key to preventing them. Check around the exterior of your home and seal up any cracks, crevices, and holes found in the foundation or siding. Remove clutter throughout your garages and storage areas, along with using plastic storage instead of cardboard. Keep your kitchen clean from any crumbs and spills and take your trash out regularly.
If you’ve taken the necessary steps to prevent these common wildlife but are still seeing them, it might be time to call your local pest control company. They’ll be able to assess the wildlife issue and provide you with the best wildlife control and wildlife exclusion options.
Apr 15, 2021 | Wildlife
Warmer weather triggers the emergence of animals from hibernation. What many homeowners don’t realize is that wildlife will sometimes take refuge inside your home during the cold winter months. Once the weather starts warming up, these overwintering pests will start waking up and come out in droves looking for food and water. While some wildlife may be harmless, others can cause significant damage to both your home and your health. Some pests leave feces behind that can contaminate your food, kitchen surfaces, and even the air inside your home. Other pests can chew through wood and wires in your attic and walls, putting you at risk for fires.
Some common spring wildlife that can cause issues for homeowners include birds like swallows and sparrows; rodents like rats and mice; bats; squirrels; and raccoons. Birds use eaves, vents, and holes in the roof to make nests. Bird nest removal and bird control is regulated and usually best left to professionals. Rodents are some of the most common nuisance pests, getting inside through tiny spaces and reproducing quickly. Chewing and contamination are huge problems with rodents. While not as common as some of the other wildlife mentioned previously, bats can cause problems for you in the springtime. Bats will usually roost in gable vents and soffits but can also get into your home through the chimney or holes that they can use to access the attic. Larger mammals like squirrels and raccoons can get into attics and chimneys and even crawlspaces and basements. They are some of the most destructive spring wildlife, chewing through materials in your home and leaving behind huge messes.
So what can you do to keep these animals from seeing your home as a safe haven? Check out these tips to help control wildlife this spring.
- Check the outside of your home for any possible entry points and seal them.
- Repair any leaks or damaged and rotted wood around your home.
- Repair or replace damaged window and door screens.
- Use chimney caps.
- Use screens over dryer vents, air vents, and stove vents.
- Trim back trees from your roof line and shrubs from the sides of your home.
- Seal trash in containers with lids and don’t put it out until the day of trash pickup.
- Don’t leave pet food or water out overnight.
- Store unused pet food in sealed containers.
- Empty bird feeders daily.
- Keep your gutters clear or consider installing gutter guards.
- If you suspect you have a wildlife problem, contact a professional wildlife control company to safely remove any animals you may have.
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Apr 7, 2021 | Pest Control
The weather is warming up, many of us are starting to spend time outside with our friends, family, and pets. Enjoying the outdoors has its benefits but also the disadvantage of coming across nuisance pests! Two common spring pests that can be harmful to both humans and pets are ticks and fleas. These insects will typically latch onto us or our animals, making their way inside homes, bringing the risk of infestation.
Fleas
Fleas tend to be dark red or brown, with their size varying between ½” to 1/6” in length. Fleas have a flat body, two antennae, and six legs. These pests will bite both humans and pets such as dogs and cats. Fleas have the incredible ability to jump to great heights, sometimes up to eight feet high! Jumping allows them to hitchhike into homes while hidden in pet fur. Dogs and cats will often get infested with fleas through contact with other animals or spending time outdoors. Once fleas have latched onto an animal host, they tend to stay there and then will easily transfer over to furniture or other animals. Fleas can be a health risk as their saliva is known to cause anemia, dermatitis, and facilitate and transfer tapeworms.
Ticks
There are two categories when identifying ticks: soft ticks and hard ticks. The soft tick will feed on bats and birds while the hard tick will feed on humans, pets, and nuisance wildlife. People and animals are likely to encounter ticks during the warmer months. Ticks can pose several health threats to humans and animals as they can transmit serious diseases such as Lyme disease and “tick paralysis.” Some tick species, such as the American Dog Tick, prefer to attach and feed on domestic dogs, which in turn allows them to sneak into our homes. When ticks feed, they can grow up to four times in size when engorged with blood, making them much easier to spot.
Controlling fleas and ticks can sometimes feel like an impossible task, especially if you have animals. If you suspect that you have a flea and tick problem, consider calling your local professional pest company who can thoroughly inspect your entire property and provide you with a treatment and prevention plan.
Mar 9, 2018 | Fire Ant, Pest Control
Ants have been named the #1 nuisance pest in the United States. Ants are social insects that live in colonies. They enter our homes looking for food and shelter. Ants primarily look for foods that are sugary and sweet or greasy and protein-based. Once they find food, they leave a pheromone trail behind that other ants will follow.
There are over 700 species of ants in the United States. At least 20 of these species are known to infect homes and other structures. There are several species of ants that are common to our area. The 5 most common are:
FIRE ANTS:
Fire ants build large, raised mounds. They prefer to nest in open, disturbed areas. They commonly nest in yards, fields, and roadsides. Fire ants are known to devastate local insect populations and small wildlife. They are also known to eliminate ground nesting bird species because they attack their newly hatched nestlings. Fire ants cause painful stings when they bite and will bite humans when threatened.
CARPENTER ANTS:
Carpenter ants are black in color. They are nocturnal and will exit their nests about 15 minutes after sunset in large numbers. Carpenter ants will invade kitchens in the summer months in search of food and water. They will invade structures if moisture is present. Carpenter ants can be very destructive to homes.
ARGENTINE (SUGAR) ANTS:
Argentine ants are light brown in color. They can easily squeeze through small cracks and holes. Argentine ants are known to set up colonies in the ground, in concrete walls, between boards and timbers, and among the belongings in your home. These ants are commonly seen in homes and will enter them in search of food and water. They are especially common during dry or hot weather or after a heavy rainfall. Argentine ants exhibit strong trailing behavior and can exist in high numbers. They move very quickly and are named among the world’s 100 worst animal invaders.
ACROBAT ANTS:
Acrobat ants are dark colored with a heart shaped abdomen that they will hold up in the air like a flag when disturbed. They will nest inside decaying wood. Acrobat ants form single file trails and leave behind small sawdust piles that are similar to those of carpenter ants. These ants produce a mild sting when they bite. Acrobat ants may move into your attic to incubate their eggs and will tunnel into water damaged wood.
ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS:
Odorous house ants are dark colored and give off a strong rotten coconut smell when they are crushed. They exist in large numbers where there is plenty of moisture. They form trails similar to Argentine ants. Odorous house ants are one of the most difficult pests to get rid of from structures. They will often establish their colonies in earth filled porches and block walls.
PREVENTION:
Since ants are one of the most difficult pests to get rid of, what can you do to keep them from invading your home in the first place? Check out these tips for keeping the ants out of your personal space.
LOCATION:
- Learn where ants are common and routinely inspect those areas for activity.
- Ants will frequently infest kitchens because of the ample supply of food and water.
- Ants are also commonly found in bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, basements, attics, inside walls, and in and around HVAC units.
FOOD:
- Ants will come into your home in search of food for themselves and their young.
- Keep your kitchen clean and tidy.
- Wipe down counters routinely.
- Sweep on a regular basis.
- Clean up crumbs and spills immediately.
- Store your food in air-tight containers.
- Keep ripe fruit in the fridge.
- Wipe down sticky jars such as jelly or jam.
- Use lids on trashcans and empty them regularly.
- Make sure sink drains and filters are cleaned regularly.
- Enclose mulch and compost heaps when possible.
WATER:
- Reduce moisture and standing water around your home.
- Repair leaky pipes and check under your sinks routinely for drips.
- Use a dehumidifer in damp basements, crawlspaces, and attics.
- Consider enclosing your crawlspace to eliminate moisture.
- Make sure gutters and downspouts are clear and functional so water flows away from foundations.
- Paint or seal any exposed wood before it gets wet.
- Replace or remove any water damaged wood.
ACCESS POINTS:
- Ants can squeeze through extremely small openings.
- Inspect the outside of your home for any easy access points and eliminate them.
- If you are having trouble identifying the access point, follow the trail of ants.
- Once you find the entry point, clean around it with detergent to remove the pheromone trail that attracts fellow ants.
- Trim trees and bushes away from the exterior of your home.
- Seal any cracks and crevices in the outside of your home with silicone-based caulk. Make sure to check around areas where utility pipes come into your home.
- Remove dead stumps from your property.
- Store firewood off the ground and at least 20 feet from your home.
- Flying ant season begins in spring/summer. During this time of year keep doors and windows closed as much as possible.
PETS:
- Pet food and water bowls also attract ants.
- Keep pet food bowls clean and clean up any spilled food or water immediately.
- Don’t leave pet food bowls out overnight.
- Store dry pet food in sealed plastic containers instead of bags.
- Inspect dog and cat doors to make sure pests can’t get through them.
CALL THE PROS:
Eliminating ants can be an uphill battle. If they aren’t properly treated, the infestation can continue to grow despite your best efforts. Some ants like carpenter ants can cause serious property damage. Other ants like fire ants can pose a serious health threat to your family. Other species, while not necessarily a threat to your family, can still contaminate your food. If you suspect you have an ant problem call a professional pest control company. A professional can identify what species of ant you have which is the first step in eliminating these nuisance pests. They can also find the entry points and provide you with a thorough and comprehensive treatment plan.
