Five Biggest Pest Control Problems For Fall And Winter

By Author: Anna Finley
Total Articles: 1
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Many things in the world have seasons. Sports, trees, school life, fishing and hunting all are examples of areas subject to seasonal changes and similarly, so does pest control.

Most pests can surface at anytime and some can be year round yet there is definitely seasonality for different pests to become more prevalent. Spring is always a time for increased carpenter ants, box elder, and carpenter bees activity. Once summer rolls around, sugar ants, bees and fleas start to get out of control.

Likewise, fall and summer have their own unique pests. Rodents (mice and rats), moles, spiders, box elder bugs, carpet beetles become more evident in our interior living spaces once the warm weather starts to leave us. Here a quick review.

Starting with first with fall, mole activity commonly increases. After the drying and hardening of the soil during summer, the fall rains start to soften the ground. Often new landscaping was installed over the late spring or summer. This frequently results in the ground being disturbed and softened. Regardless of the cause, softer ground brings the moles and their food sources back ...
... closer to the surface. What might have been a barely perceptible cracking of the ground in summer now becomes a fluffy, brown mound.

Box elder bugs are another pest that often rear their heads in the fall. They also are active in spring before subsiding during the summer heat. Sometimes the best results over the long term are obtained by treating in both spring and fall. As anyone who has ever had them can tell you, box elder bugs love to cling to the siding of your house and while not destructive, are very high on the nuisance scale.

As temperatures steadily decline from the beginning of fall through the middle of winter, spiders start a slow migration closer to your house. From surrounding trees and shrubbery they will first get to the exterior of your home in such places are eaves, doors and window frames. Finally when the first frosts come, they start working their ways inside. Like us, they prefer a warm spot to a cold one.

Carpet beetles certainly like to live in your carpet. However, they will also gladly habitate in other areas such as furnishings and cabinets where there can be a good supply of grains, cereals or flour. As exterior food sources such as pollen and bird and bee nest diminish over the colder seasons, these bugs look to migrate inside.

Finally, one of the most common wintertime pests are rodents. While there are plenty of mouse and rats problems year round, winter is when they make the biggest push inward. Being warm-blooded mammals, rodents search out heat and comfort like the rest of us. Doors that stayed a jar during summer to let a nice breeze in now can be a quick entry point for these critters, even if left open for only a minute or so. When faced with the cold of the outdoors, their timidity wanes as they will make a quick break for an interior home. Gaps in siding or foundation vents that kept rodents out during the warm months now are worth chewing on in an attempt to expand the opening wide enough to enter.

Here are a couple of quick pointers to help fight off the wintertime invaders. Visit your local garden center for a lawn pesticide that will reduce, not eliminate, the food sources that moles eat. You still want a reasonable population of worms in the ground for soil heath but you certainly don't need all the grubs that moles love.

Keeping your exterior siding, decks and patios periodically washed helps make them less hospitable to box elder bugs. Ensuring that bushes are kept away from is a simple, low-tech way of reducing spider activity. Also sweep or rinse the eaves of your home to reduce existing webs and spiders. The chances of carpet beetle infestation can be minimized by searching for and removing from the yard old bird and wasp nests that act as food sources. Good sanitation habits during fall will help minimize the chance of winter infestations.

Lastly, rodents will always search out the point of least resistance. Walk the perimeter of your home looking for gaps and cracks that could be sealed. Removed any garbage or debris near the houses foundation and try feeding pets inside so that excess food is not left lying around.

While winter might bring a new group of pests knocking at your door, there are always things a homeowner can do to keep the door shut tightly!

Portland Pest Control Company is a family owned company based in Oregon. Our exterminators know that having a pest invade you home can be a scary time and know how stressful it can be on you. If you have issues with Carpenter Ants, Odorous Ants, Spiders, Wasps, Mice, Rats, Moles, and more we can help. Call our Portland Pest Control today at 503-590-9274 for quick and professional Portland exterminator services.