3 Tips for a Pest-free Home this Fall

Fall doesn’t just mean warmer clothes and pumpkin spice; warm homes attract pests, according to pest control services Jacksonville, Florida residents trust. It’s better to take steps in keeping pests like mice and insects out than to deal with them once they’re already inside your home, eating your food and leaving their droppings everywhere. Take the initiative and put up a solid defense for your home and family. Here are three tips to keep those nasty critters away.

Re-check Windows and Doors

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the most common entry points—your windows and doors—are secure. You wouldn’t believe how many homes have been invaded by rats that came through pet door installations that have become compromised in one way or another. Maybe the flap has become a bit unhinged or a toy got stuck and created an opening. These are perfect entry points. The gap under doors can also provide access to mice. A simple trick is to install a door sweep, which has the added benefit of keeping out drafts that slither in from under the door.

Reassess Repair Sites

Many times, the remnants of home renovations provide access to bugs and other pests. A simple example would be holes from nails that have been pulled out which can be entered by smaller insects. The bigger the renovation, the more likely for an unintended access point to be created. Give these sites a thorough look over once the project is done and ensure the integrity of your home.

Use Screens for Vents

There are a lot of other pathways that pests can use to access your home, and most of them serve a specific purpose (like managing airflow), so it’s not a good idea to just seal them up. The use of screens can cut off the area while still keeping the vent clear.

The key to keeping rodents and insects from your home is to make sure that they never gain access. In the event of an infestation, don’t hesitate to call the professional exterminators, Jacksonville, Florida home owners.

Dealing with Wasps in Fall

Wasps can be very pesky in the warmer months, but when fall comes around, their increased aggressiveness can be bad enough to necessitate pest control services, Jacksonville, Florida homeowners. This behavior shift towards aggression can be dangerous to children who can blunder in wasp territory that was safe just a few weeks back. As always, being properly informed of the details of wasp behavior is key to preventing attacks.

The most important thing to remember is that wasp eating habits change drastically when fall rolls in. In the warmer seasons, wasps go after proteins. During the fall, their tastes shift towards sugar. Leaving an open soda can lying about just became a bit more dangerous because of the bad company it may attract. That said, attending to soda or beer spills requires more immediate attention. And while it’s good practice to keep sugary drinks from open air, it’s even more important in the fall, when stinging insects are on the prowl for them. In the same vein, don’t go overboard with strong-smelling perfumes. The sweet scent can attract wasps.

Be on the lookout for crannies that can serve as good spots for wasps to make a hive. Loose siding and similar pockets of space are perfect places for a hive to spring up. Seal up these pockets as much as possible.

If you do encounter a wasp, resist the urge to swat it, as it’ll release a pheromone that’ll put other wasps in the area on the warpath. It’s better to avoid wasps altogether, and most of them should die off when winter arrives. If it becomes impossible to cohabitate, then they simple have to go. One quick call to exterminators, Jacksonville, Florida residents, is all it takes for the professionals to show up and take charge of your wasp situation.

Rat Alert: Autumn Tips for Dealing with Rodents

Rodent infestations have long been due cause to call the exterminators, Jacksonville, Florida residents. Colder weather means more mice and rats scrabbling to somewhere warm, and that usually means your home! And beyond being the cause of many bouts of panicked screaming, rats and mice are a legitimate threat to your family’s health. They can be vectors for many diseases and signs of their tampering with a bag of food is more than enough reason to throw the entire thing out. They also have a nasty habit of gnawing on electrical wiring, perhaps induced by the warmth they detect. Electrocuted rats rot in the most remote places, and the smell is a menace all its own. Bottom line: rodents are not welcome at any season. Here are just a couple of ways to keep them out:

Seal up entry points 

Rodents are masters at squirming through holes and cracks that they have no business fitting into. Mice and rats only need enough space for their head to fit through, and they can usually push the rest of their bodies in. Do an active search for cracks, holes, and other spaces they can exploit for entry. In the autumn, this has the added benefit of insulating your home—if you stopper any space a draft can flow in, a rat won’t be getting in through there.

Stop the buffet

If you can eat it, the rats can too. Human homes are veritable banquets for rats and mice, with an abundance of food that just mysteriously litter the floor and shelves! Make the effort to keep food sealed in secure containers, preferably ones that the pests can’t chew through. Be extra careful with preparing and eating food. Taking the extra step towards cleanliness isn’t just something to keep the mice away; it’s just a good thing to do overall!

As you may have already noticed, taking steps to keep rodents away has other benefits. In the end, the persistent little pests can just get in anyway. If a rat infestation is unavoidable, feel free to call pest control services, Jacksonville, Florida home owners.

Setting Things Straight: Misconceptions about Mosquitoes that Jacksonville, Florida Residents May Have

One strange thing about hate is that even though it is an intense emotion directed at something in particular, it's an emotion that also makes us less interested in knowing about the things we hate. This means that the stronger our hatred, the less we tend to know.

This makes sense on a superficial level. For example, people generally hate mosquitoes, but do not know much about them either. Before calling Bug Maniacs or other reliable exterminators, Jacksonville, Florida residents should probably take some time to learn a few things about these flying insects. As they say, to know the enemy is to win the war.

You See One, You've Seen Them All

All most people look for are six legs, two wings, and a long, straw-like proboscis that can prick into human skin. If ever one cares to look more at the differences between mosquitoes, it's automatically assumed that the differences do not matter much. The thing is, these differences are much bigger than we usually think.

The difference between a mosquito with stripes on its legs and one without stripes can be as big as that between a house cat and a lion. An urban mosquito will not do as well in the country, and some species will thrive only in specific areas. What's more, some mosquitoes can thrive only in specific areas, and only female mosquitoes actually bite humans.

They All Can Make You Sick

It's been said that out of more than 3,000 mosquito species worldwide, only a couple of hundred are medically important. That's largely because most mosquito species do not even care about biting humans, preferring to attack amphibians and reptiles instead. Mosquitoes that actually carry diseases tend to be concentrated in specific species. For instance, West Nile Virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus come from the genera Culex. But that doesn't mean those are the only insects capable of transmitting the viruses.

Mosquitoes Have a “Sweet Tooth”

Some believe that mosquitoes prefer to get blood from people who have high blood sugar, or people who smell slightly sweeter. While sweet scents and flavors can be a good attractor for pollinating insects, the same is not true for the parasitic mosquitoes. Instead, they tend to be attracted to people who exhale more carbon dioxide and lactic acid according to research. Also, people tend to be more attractive to mosquitoes after heavy exercise.

These are just some mosquito myths that have been dispelled. If you happen to live in Florida, where mosquitoes are fairly common, you'll probably find this information relevant. If you think that the mosquitoes in your residence are the harmful sort and should be eliminated, call Bug Maniacs, one of the insect exterminators Jacksonville, Florida residents trust and rely on.

Different Ways of Dealing With Termites

We all know them, and we all hate them. When you say “property destruction” and “insects” in the same sentence, chances are you're talking about termites. Every year, millions of dollars are spent by Americans repairing damage caused by these pests. It is therefore not surprising that there are different methods of dealing with them on the market. According to most pest control services Jacksonville, Florida residents rely on, there are three main classifications of pesticides and these are:

Repellents

As the name suggests, a repellent is a substance that can be applied to a surface in order to discourage insects, and other pests from landing on or crawling along that surface. This is very useful if your house is newly built or renovated, and you want to take preventive measures to keep termites away.

While mosquito repellents are not long-lasting, repellent termiticides are formulated to last for months. However, it may be necessary to periodically reapply the pesticide in order to keep its effects from going away. But keep in mind that since repellents just drive termites away from a certain area, they may just move to another area of your house.

Non-repellents

Unlike repellent termiticides, non-repellent termiticides cannot be detected by termites. This means that they can tunnel into a treated area without even realizing it. Affected termites can even take some of the termiticide back to the colony with them, potentially causing a devastating effect on the termite population. Apart from that, poisoned termites can effectively poison their nestmates. This shows a greater degree of pest control than typical non-repellent termiticides.

Studies comparing the effectiveness of repellent termiticides and non-repellent termiticides have shown that non-repellent termiticides take fewer reapplications in order to be effective in controlling pest populations.

Baits

The third option, baiting, is arguably the most effective approach. While non-repellent termiticides are just not detected and inadvertently encountered by tunneling termites, baits are pesticides that are packaged in a way that is attractive to the insects.

Baits are made from paper, cardboard, or other palatable substances, which are treated with slow-acting substances that are lethal to termites, and then planted in strategic areas around the residence. The bait is appealing enough that it attracts the insects even if there are other materials like tree roots and woodpiles. Once they consume the bait, termites will effectively poison their nestmates once they return to their nest. The delayed action of the poison will enhance this “contagion” effect.

Even with these three main weapons, the war on termites rages on. It can be said that as long as people need houses, they will at one point or another have to deal with a termite problem. If you think that your home is infested or under attack, you will want to contact trustworthy pest control services. Jacksonville, Florida residents can rely on Bug Maniacs as one of their options.