Often, pests invade homes looking for food, water, and shelter. They may leave behind pathogens that contaminate surfaces and foods, as well as allergens that trigger asthma attacks and allergies.
You can help prevent and control pests in your home by removing attractants, sealing entry points, reducing moisture, storing food properly, and cleaning up regularly. Regular inspections and maintenance, plus professional help for severe infestations are essential. Click here at https://pestcontrolkansascitypros.com/ for more details.
Ants
Ants may be the most common pests homeowners report, but they’re not the only ones. Flies, rodents, bed bugs, and other insects often invade our homes through the smallest cracks in search of food or shelter. Preventing these pests requires an understanding of their breeding and feeding habits and identifying entry points into the home.
Pest control services address the most common household pests, including ants, cockroaches, rodents, and stinging insects like bees and wasps. Regular pest inspections, sealing entry points, and removing attractants can keep these insects away from your home.
Spring and summer bring an increase in pest activity as temperatures rise and they’re out looking for food, water, and a new home. To prevent pests from entering your home, clean up spills immediately, store food in airtight containers, and empty trash regularly. Sealing cracks and gaps around your home’s foundation can also help prevent ants and other pests from getting inside.
Persistent ant sightings can indicate a large-scale infestation, requiring professional treatment. Over-the-counter sprays and baits may help reduce the population but can’t fully eradicate them. For complete eradication, a pest control expert should use targeted treatments that eliminate the ant colony and its satellite colonies.
Ants are the most numerous insects on earth and make their way into your home in search of food or a new nesting site. They can leave pheromone trails, which is how you can tell they’re present. To treat them effectively, pest control experts must find and remove their nesting sites and foraging areas, which can require multiple treatments. Identifying the signs and symptoms of an ant infestation can also be helpful, such as discarded wings near entry points or mud tubes in the foundation.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are the most commonly encountered pest in homes, and they are notorious for spreading disease-causing germs through their droppings, saliva, feces, and skin. The germs they carry can cause diarrhea, food poisoning, and asthma attacks, and trigger allergies in some individuals.
These nocturnal insects have flat bodies that enable them to crawl through narrow spaces and cracks. They can be difficult to detect in the dark, and many people don’t realize they have a cockroach infestation until it is severe. Infestations can be addressed by implementing good sanitation, storing food in sealed containers, and securing possible entry points, including gaps around floorboards and walls. Cockroach baits and traps can also help, as can regular pest control services.
There are hundreds of cockroach species, but the most common ones in the country include German, Oriental, and American cockroaches. Some signs that a home is infested with these pests include dark droppings that resemble pepper or coffee grounds, musty odors, and egg casings that are small, dark, and cylindrical.
The best way to prevent cockroach infestations is through proper sanitation, which includes cleaning kitchens regularly and storing food in sealed containers. Removing waste materials and clutter can also help, as can regularly disposing of garbage and reducing the amount of moisture in living areas. Keeping surfaces dust-free and sweeping often can also reduce the number of places that pests can hide, making it easier for pest control services to kill them. Regular inspections and professional maintenance can also significantly reduce the frequency of pest problems, as well as the severity of those issues that do arise. Home remedies that aren’t effective can make a pest problem worse, as they allow cockroaches to breed unchecked.
Fleas
Fleas are small, wingless parasitic insects that feed off warm-blooded animals (birds and mammals) using their piercing mouthparts. They can transfer tapeworms to cats and dogs, as well as cause dermatitis and itching in humans. The itchiness can even trigger allergies and lead to serious skin conditions like flea allergy dermatitis.
The life cycle of a flea begins when an adult female lays eggs, usually in a host animal’s environment. The eggs hatch into larvae that seek out moisture and food, such as dried blood and other organic matter. Larvae are nimble and can crawl 30 feet in one day, searching out dark areas such as pet bedding or carpet. Fleas can also enter homes, often through wood piles, tall grass, or shady spots in the yard.
As the larvae mature into pupae, they spin cocoons out of silk and wait for conditions to be right to emerge as adults. Once the cocoons are ready, the pupae can emerge on their own or are stimulated by vibrations. They can take on several forms including fur and feathers, which makes them very difficult to eradicate from the home.
Effective control of fleas requires a combination of adulticides to kill adult fleas and growth regulators to disrupt the development of larvae. These products must be applied to indoor and outdoor areas where fleas reside to break the flea life cycle.
Prevention measures include keeping a home clean by reducing available food sources, vacuuming frequently, and regularly disposing of the vacuum bag outside of the home. Fixing torn screens and repairing cracks and crevices can reduce entry points for pests into the home. Regular inspections and prompt action can eliminate pest infestations before they become severe.
Wasps
Often confused with bees, wasps are stinging insects that can be aggressive in their defense of their nests. There are numerous species including paper wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, and mud daubers. Some wasps are solitary while others live in colonies with multiple queens and workers. Their venom can cause painful, red welts that are often very uncomfortable for people who are sensitive to stings. In rare cases, wasp venom can also trigger systemic reactions such as hives, airway constriction, rapid pulse, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Pest control services can destroy and remove wasp nests from the property using a variety of methods. For instance, wasp nests can be treated with aerosol, dust, or liquid residual insecticide applications. These treatments are effective at eradicating wasps and preventing their return for six months.
Some wasps construct their nests in open areas such as trees or on the ground while others build them in eaves, gutters, or under decks. Generally, these sites are difficult for people to access for removal. However, nests can be treated with chemical sprays or fog that effectively eliminate wasps and their eggs.
Preventative measures like maintaining yard cleanliness, removing trash from the property regularly, and covering all outdoor eating areas with mesh or aluminum can liners will reduce the attraction of wasps to the site. In addition, making sure that screens on doors and windows are intact can help keep them from being accessed by wasps. Our technicians can take preventative actions to protect your home from 36 of the most common household pests, including wasps and their nests.
Rodents
Rodents can cause considerable damage to homes and businesses by chewing through wood, wires, furniture, and even foundations. They also carry several diseases that can spread to humans through direct contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva as well as through bites from infected fleas and ticks. The financial burden of a rodent infestation and the serious health concerns that these pests pose make it imperative for home and business owners to have professional rodent control services swiftly handle any infestation.
A pest’s appearance, habits, and telltale signs help determine what treatment options are most appropriate. For example, ants have distinctive physical features such as a snout or antennae while cockroaches are wingless insects with six legs and an exoskeleton made of overlapping segments.
Identifying the type of pest, and the extent of the infestation, is important as different pests require different treatments. For example, a small ant infestation can be handled by homeowners or a commercial food facility, while a larger problem requires professional intervention.
Preventative measures include regularly cleaning the interior of a house or commercial property to deprive pests of their food sources. Store foods in airtight containers, use garbage cans with tight-fitting lids and eliminate moisture sites like clogged drains or puddles. It’s also helpful to report pest sightings and conditions that attract them – like holes or cracks in the foundation, exterior walls, or eaves – to your landlord or local housing authority, and have these issues fixed promptly. This may reduce the cost of a pest control service.