When fall comes around, various pests are already preparing for the winter by investigating viable places to stay for warmth, shelter, and food. Securing your home against unwanted invasions of bugs, rodents, and other critters should be one of your main considerations this season.
Ants
While ants aren’t particularly harmful or aggressive, they are incredibly annoying. This is especially the case when you leave a bit of food out and all of a sudden, you find an entire colony swarmed to that piece of food.
Ants prefer to hide out in the hollow spaces between your walls, giving them free access to just about any room in your home. You might also be able to find colonies of ants hiding out under floorboards, carpets, or tiles, as well as in cracks of concrete, gaps in old wood, or even in certain houseplants.
Bees
As the warm weather winds down, a colony of bees might decide to relocate someplace warmer to bunker down for the winter cold. Bees aren’t especially nasty or harmful, but they do tend to get aggressive when you stumble upon their hives.
Typical hiding spots for bees in and around your home during the fall and winter may include under roof overhangs, in rain gutters, in your chimney, and inside your walls.
If you spot a beehive or if you suspect bees hiding out in your home, do call the professionals at Budget Pest Control right away so they can properly relocate the hive elsewhere.
Fall bugs
Common pests known to invade your home in the fall and wintertime include ladybugs, box elder bugs, and stink bugs.
Stink bugs, in particular, are quite a nuisance because of the bad smell they emit when squished. Early fall is the best time for treating your homes for stink bugs. Once they’re in and have decided to spend the winter in your home, they’re difficult to get out, so you want to make sure you deal with them before the weather gets cold.
Flies
The winter cold usually kills off most of the fly population, but there may be a few that would linger around towards late fall. Usually, it’s the south- and west-facing walls of your home that attracts flies in the fall as they seek out a warm place.
Flies you’d typically see around the house during this time may be cluster flies and fruit flies rather than the common housefly you see in the summer.
Roaches
Roaches would prefer staying below ground, or closer to drainages, because of the moisture and the darkness. They’ll also hang around where they can find food, such as near garbage bins, but they’ll also investigate your kitchen from time to time, especially if there are crumbs and other bits of food always lying around.
While keeping your home generally clean goes a long way towards keeping roaches at bay, have the professionals at Budget Pest Control check for cockroaches as well when doing their inspections.
Rodents
Insects tend to get sluggish as the winter weather sets in. Rodents, however, don’t have this problem (because they’re warm-blooded), which is why, as far as pests go, they’re likely to cause you much grief if left unattended.
When rodents decide (i.e. rats and mice, mostly) to spend the winter in your home, they’re likely to nest in enclosed, hard-to-reach, typically undisturbed places, such as in the attic or in the space between your walls.
Lookout for little claw marks, gnaw marks, or droppings closer to the pantry and food storage areas, as well as walls and closets– these are signs of rodents searching out possible food sources while you’re not looking.
Wasps and Yellow Jackets
While bees may be typically found in the attic or closer to the roof, wasps will instead make their nest in garages or sheds, where things are likely to be undisturbed for an extended period of time.
These stinging insects can be even more aggressive than bees, so be warned– once you think you’ve spotted a nest or even a few of these insects lingering about, don’t hesitate to call pest control services like Budget Pest Control.
If you suspect you have an infestation, your first step should always be to call a qualified and licensed pest professional like Budget Pest Control. They have the tools and know how to properly identify your pest problem and recommend an appropriate course of treatment. They can also recommend DIY steps to prevent future problems. Contact Budget Pest Control today for a free estimate or more details. 412-318-4912
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