Well Fall is here and Thanksgiving is next week! Most people think that this means the pest control season is over but as a business located in North Richland Hills and someone who resides here as well I can tell you that the pest season is not over. In some cases the pest problems can get worse due to a few factors. For one thing this time of the year when the temperature is dropping the heat is being turned up. We are spending more time indoors and insects are wanting to keep us company. They like us like warm places with food and water so why not your home ? A.N.T.T.S = A North Texas Termite Specialist receives more calls for spiders, ants, roaches & rodents sometimes than we do in the dry heat of the summer. You have to remember this summer was extremely dry and hot so now with lower temps and a little rain we see these household pest entering structures looking for the same basic survival needs food, water and shelter. Actually this fall is different than most it is still fairly warm and I think the bugs are being tricked into thinking it’s spring again ? Other weird things are happening. The other day I was washing my truck and on the ground were little white flower pedals ? I started to look around and see where they were coming from and noticed one of my Bradford Pear trees was starting a bloom which usually only happens in the spring ? About the same time I received a call from a frantic customer saying she thought she had evidence of a termite swarm ? Well after I tried telling her that it was almost out of the question for termites to swarm this time of the year I began to look at the ground and was reminded that things are different now so took the call a bit more seriously. I set a time to go take a look at what she was seeing and sure enough it was new termite mud poking through her wall behind her shower and looked like termites were getting ready to fly ? They never did but we do know the mud was new because she had painted that wall 2 weeks ago! We drilled the plumbing against that wall treated and patched it up so they did not have time to do anymore damage but I feel like they could have actually swarmed in the fall ? Crazy things do happen these days. So back to these fall pest and how to prevent them ? We normally offer pest control service 4 times a year so most customers we have will get a good fall service but the ones that only want semi-annual may want to sign up for a quarterly pest service now. When treating a house for pest such as spiders, ants and roaches in the fall we do the same thing as in the spring but also add extra treatment of the heavy foliage areas that touch the house. We treat all areas of the soffit where branches lay on the roof but recommend trimming them as well. We also see a lot of leaves/ debris in the gutters and around the perimeter, this should definitely be removed. For one thing it holds moisture and gives mosquitoes a place to breed. When we treat the outside perimeter of the home we need to see the foundation and weep-holes so we can spray and dust them because this is one area the pest love to enter your home. After treating low and around flower beds, pipelines etc we look to other ways pest enter such as telephone and electrical wires that run through trees straight to your attic. Our technicians will carefully dust around them and dust your attic. Rodents are another fall pest that love to enter your home around this time so you need to look for any entry points and block them as well. If a existing rodent problem is evident then we can bait and trap for rodents but you want to try to exclude them first with preventative measures such as blocking with steel wool, caulk etc. So with all that said we at A.N.T.T.S hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving and the only guest you have are the ones you invited!

On November 20, 2011   /   Ants, Fleas, Pest Control, Roaches, Rodents, Spiders, Termites