Enjoy the Season and Ward Off Summer Pests
They say knowledge is power. And you’re going to need ALL of it to ward off the one thing we all can’t stand about summer: the pests. The best piece of advice we can give you is to just do a walk around your property. Pay special attention to the foundation, roof fascia, and soffit. Those are the areas pests love the most.
Ants are EVERYWHERE
Foraging for food in search of garbage and moisture may lead ants through your door. Some colonies can get very large, numbering in the thousands. You may also see ants swarming, where the reproductive winged ants emerge from the colony in large numbers in search of mates and new areas to colonize. Swarming usually doesn’t occur for an extremely long time and is typically over in a few days or a week. Even if these ants haven’t completely invaded or began to nest in a home, they will sometimes create trails and carry food from a home indoors back to their colonies outdoors and have even been found to forage up to 30 feet from their colony. Be sure to give us a call if you are finding pest ants around your home, so we can inspect and take care of any ants lurking around your home!
Shoo, Flies!
Flying and buzzing is a major nuisance, but far from the only problem flies cause. In fact, the more you know about flies the less forgiving of their presence you will be. House flies breed in filth and prefer decaying organic matter containing moisture like manure, decaying meat, garbage, and composted fruits and vegetables. Highly mobile, flies can quickly move from a bacteria infested egg-laying site to the hamburger you’re about to eat. House flies transmit a host of nasty pathogens like viruses, bacteria (like E. coli), fungi, and other harmful micro-organisms. Fly ‘feet’ are quite sticky, and they bring traces of where they just were with them. House flies clearly pose more risk than mere annoyance!
Paper Wasp Nests
In the U.S. alone, stinging insects send more than 500,000 people to the emergency room every year. Don’t be one of them! Paper wasps LOVE eaves and shutters and vent louvres. Those are the paper upside-down umbrella honeycomb-shaped looking nests that hang up high in undisturbed areas. They can be really dangerous and sting repeatedly if disturbed. A number of different stinging insects serve as important pollinators for the environment. However, when they build nests on our properties or inside wall voids in our homes, they can cause costly damage and become a health threat, especially for those that are allergic to them.
Termites
Termites are way more common than a lot of homeowners think. And they do more damage than any other insect we see on a daily basis. As you’re doing your exterior walk around your property, inspect your foundation for termite evidence. Not sure what to look for? Mud tubes are how termites tunnel into your home and feed on wood. You may also see swarming termites as another clue to termite presence. Finding small, translucent wings of termite swarms in spider webs, windowsills or anywhere else around your home is potentially a sign that termites are in your area. Minimizing costly damage to your home by identifying termites early. Learn how we use Sentricon to stop termites in their tracks.
Mosquitos
Standing water is one thing you don’t want anywhere near your house. Whether that’s caused by rainwater collecting in various planter pots or bird baths in a yard or because of Improper drainage around the foundation of a structure will cause the same problem. Mosquitos only need the amount of water that fits in a small bottle cap in order to breed. The adult asian tiger mosquito larvae develop rapidly. Breeding populations of these daytime-biting mosquitoes can become established on a property very quickly.
Summer Pests: Below the Deck
There are some simple steps that you can take on the exterior of the structure that will help to reduce the likelihood of pests invading. Removing and raking old leaves that have collected against the foundation of your home, under the deck, and inside the window wells will eliminate potential hiding and feeding places for many occasional invaders like millipedes.
Weeds around the foundation of the house can provide access to the building, hide evidence of infestation and trap moisture. Even though it might not be time to mow the entire lawn, the weeds adjacent to the foundation may need to be trimmed to eliminate this pest friendly environment. Vegetation next to the foundation can also make it difficult for termite inspectors to get a close look at the foundation wall, which is primary access point for termites to enter a structure.
Summer Pests: In the Yard
It might go without saying, but any debris that is lying in the yard can become a harborage area for insects like ants, crickets, pillbugs, and even rodents. Rats will often dig burrows beneath piles of debris because it provides shelter from predators. Firewood and brush piles should be relocated as far from the structure as practical. Ants will often nest beneath pieces of wood or other discarded items. If you think you have any evidence of these common summer pests, give us a call to thoroughly inspect your home and remedy any underlying pest issues.
We Are Here to Help!
Having trouble keeping up with summer pests? Rose Pest Solutions is here to help! Our professionals know just where to look to save you from your frustration. Rose Pest Solutions is here for you to get to the root of the problem and offer a solutions fit for the needs of your home. Ask us today for a free quote for The Healthy Home Maintenance Program (HHMP), our most popular residential pest service. It’s the gold standard in home pest protection and prevention. This ultimate protection package involves four scheduled visits, once every three months, to ensure you have the peace of mind and safety that comes from a pest-free home. We stand by our services and their 24/7/365 protection 100%, so we’ll take care of issues that pop up in between scheduled visits at absolutely no cost to you. That’s right, we’ll come back out for free.
Give us a call today at 800-GOT-PESTS? to set something up so you can get back to enjoying the weather without summer pests holding you back.
