Is there anything better than football season in the South? Tailgates, bonfires, leaves changing, mild weather…anticipation fills the air every Saturday morning. Even knowing that winter is right around the corner isn’t so bad when you’re in the South. The pests, however, don’t like the fall weather and the imminent winter is just too cold for them, so they’ll start looking for warmer places to reside. They don’t travel further south, though, they simply try to get into your house.
Wintering Pests
As the cold weather creeps in, many pests in the Opelika area will try to get into your house to find a warmer place to stay. In order to get out in front of this issue, Fall pest control is essential to having a pest-free home for the winter. Nuisance pests like ants and crickets will often try to find their way in, while more serious and dangerous pests, like roaches and rodents, will also ramp up their invasion efforts.
Many ants, even though ones that don’t sting, can spread diseases in your home and contaminate your food supplies. The ones that do sting can also be dangerous, as their bites can sometimes lead to anaphylactic shock.
While you don’t want ants roaming around your house, you definitely don’t want roaches. The German cockroach, American cockroach, and the Oriental cockroach all plague Alabama homes, and they all carry a lot of bacteria. As they hunt for food, they’ll spread this bacteria all over your meal preparation surfaces.
Mice and rats, similarly, will also spread diseases around your home, and cause a lot more destruction. They’ll chew through insulation and electrical wiring, which can create hundreds of dollars of damage. One thing to understand about mice and rats is how prolific they are. If you spot one or two, you’ll have a bunch more running around your house very quickly.
Prevention Techniques
To avoid dangerous and unsettling pests situations in your home, you need to get ready for wintering pests. When preparing to protect your home for winter, you’ll want to start with four prevention strategies:
- Start with a deep clean. Cleaning surfaces in the home will reduce pest attraction. Don’t forget about the low-traffic areas like under appliances and in the backs of closets.
- Reduce clutter in the home and in the yard. Clutter creates cover for pests that leave them less exposed and open areas are very intimidating.
- Properly store food and trash. Food and trash left out will attract pests very quickly, so store all food securely. You should also do the dishes regularly rather than leaving them in the sink.
- Address any moisture issues. Use a dehumidifier in the crawlspaces and consistently checking for any leaks. This can help create a dry, less attractive environment for pests.
- Seal up potential entry points. Install weather-stripping under doors and seal and caulk around the windows. If you have screen doors or a screened-in porch area, you should also monitor these screens for large holes or rips that would allow for any pest entry.
Other than these maintenance strategies, there are not a lot of do-it-yourself pest control options that are effective. Sprays can be dangerous or just plain ineffective in the pest battle. You might catch a few rodents with traps or poison, but they’ll reproduce too quickly for you to really get out in front of the problem. With the potential for dangerous diseases to spread in your home, do you really want to leave it up to your own efforts?
The best form of pest protection is with ongoing assistance from the professionals at Prewett Pest Control with their proven prevention and control plans. Call today to learn more about our home pest control and commercial pest control services.