How Flooding Can Affect Pest Populations

By Author: Stephanie Larkin
Total Articles: 12
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Floods can be hazardous to human and animal lives and cause extensive, costly damage to land and property. As delightful as it to think that flooding at least rids us of unwanted pests in and around our homes, the opposite is true.

There are many pests that breed and thrive in flooded areas. They often use the excessive moisture provided by flooding along the banks of rivers and lakes and small pools of standing water to lay eggs in, and to incubate large colonies of larvae until they hatch.

Some pests don't like living in flooded areas, but they are quite resilient, and even intelligent in their ability to mobilize in rapid fashion and move away from threats such as flooding. Ants for example can relocate a whole colony to a dryer area in mere hours. They are especially adept at making themselves at home- inside your home.

Rats, mice and other pests are active year round although we don't always notice their population growths and activities as much in colder months. Hordes of insects and pests like mosquitoes, ants, beetles, lady bugs, crickets, bees, and others will be on the move in search of food, ...
... and more noticeable in the warmer months of spring and summer.

Act Now to Combat Future Pest Invasions

It has been an especially wet fall and winter season with many areas of the country experiencing flooding thus far, and spring rains are almost now upon us. We can expect there to be an overabundant amount of a variety of pests to content with as our temperatures heat up. You need to begin looking for and eliminating those things in and around your home that attract pests now, before they are able to invade.

Taking steps now to protect against an invasion of pests offers you the best chance to keep them in check so that they can't pester you and your family. It can be quite costly and extremely difficult to combat and eliminate pests once they have already invaded your property and home. Pesticides can also be hazardous to the health of family and pets when used in large quantities to combat an existing large population of pests.

Given the opportunity, pests can build multiple tunnels and escape routes that can be hard to find and eliminate every one of, in order to kill off an entire colony of pests. Pests can also hide themselves away in hard to reach areas in and around your home. The pests that remain even after you have used pesticides, traps, and other tools to kill them off after an invasion, will continue breeding and rebuilding their numbers.

You can make your yard and home less attractive to pests. Purchase items that are designed to repel pests and check them regularly to ensure that they are still functioning properly. Consider having your home and yard treated annually by an exterminator to stop pests from invading. Get rid of or make repairs to the things in and around your home that attract pest invasions and enable explosions in pest populations.

Fill holes in your yard with dirt or rocks so rainwater cannot collect in them and create appealing nurseries for pests. Trash cans should have locking lids to keep water, rodents, and pests out of them. Empty bird baths daily to keep any water in them from becoming stagnate and attracting pests. Clear away yard debris to eliminate the perfect habitat for many pests.

Check your homes foundation and exterior walls for cracks and gaps and fill them in because pests use these to gain entry into your home. You will also want to repair cracks and holes in concrete steps, porches, driveways, and sidewalks because these also provide pests areas in which to live and increase in numbers. Inspect the attic, and basement from inside your home for cracks, leaking pipes, loose boards and holes, and also check the caulking around windows and doors, and repair them as needed to keep pests out.

When to Call an Exterminator

You may wish to have an annual contract with an exterminator for the peace of mind and not having to monitor your home and yard for pests so closely. You may even wish to have an exterminator come out and evaluate the presence of pests in and around your home and to point out areas that need to be fixed to keep pests away.

Do-it-yourselfers should keep in mind that the number of pests they are seeing, although it may seem they are seeing a lot of them: is only a fraction of the actual number of pests that exist in a colony. If you have tried products that can be purchased at lawn and garden stores and well as larger chain stores in an attempt to get rid of pests, yet you are still seeing them-it is time to call a professional exterminator to rid your home and yard of pests.

About Author:
Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about large businesses for home owners such as Orkin and Terminix. http://www.bigbugs.com