Fall Pest Prevention

August 28, 2020 Michele Prevention, Seasonal

Fall is the best time to prevent new pest infestations. With the weather cooling down, insects and rodents are looking for a place to bed down for the winter. Don’t make your house more attractive to these critters. Follow these tips to keep pests out of your home this winter.

Locate Pest Entrances

Take the time to inspect the outside of your home. Insects can enter through any small gaps in your home’s exterior. Look for gaps in the caulking around windows and doors, around vents and pipes, even around cables. (Be extra careful around electrical wires.)

Next, check along the edges of your siding and where your siding meets window and door frames. Note any gaps. Look for small gaps where insects could get behind the siding and nest. Also look for larger gaps and holes or signs of rodent damage. Squirrels and mice will enlarge smaller gaps to accommodate their size. Look for chew marks or darker patches around holes. These are signs that small mammals are using these as entrances into your home.

Inspect weather stripping around your doors. Look for missing or worn areas. Next, check your screens. Look for holes in screens or gaps between screen and window frames. Repair, if possible.

Eliminating Pest Access Points

If it is safe for you to do so, fill small gaps and holes with a high quality caulk or other appropriate material. Use weather stripping around windows and doors. And don’t forget around your garage door. Adding weather stripping around your garage door will not only help keep pests out of your garage, it will keep your garage warmer and save you money on your winter heating bill.

If gaps are larger or show signs of rodent usage, stuff holes with steel wool or copper mesh. Rodents will not chew through metal mesh. You can also use expanding foam to fill larger gaps. Once foam has dried, use a utility knife to cut off excess.

Making your home less attractive to insects

Remove sources of moisture. Insects and rodents need water to survive. Make sure you are not providing it. Look for leaks in and around your home. Check your attack spaces for roof leaks and excess moisture and remediate these. Add a dehumidifier to your basement and keep the humidity at 40% or under. This will make your basement less hospitable for insects.

Around your exterior, clean out gutters and remove leaves and mulch from contact with your home’s foundation. Trim shrubs and trees away from your home and remove dead vegetation including autumn leaves promptly. Stack firewood away from your home’s exterior.

Deter Rodents from Your Home

Remove food sources by keeping rubbish contained in appropriate bins. Secure pet food and bird seed in metal containers with latching lids. Examine your home for other possible food sources and remove them.

Eliminate possible nesting areas my removing clutter from your garage and in dark hidden areas of your home such as in closets and under cabinets. Store items on raised shelving units that allow you to clean debris from beneath. You will be able to see signs of an infestation immediately, allowing you to remediate before the problem has a chance to grow.

While it’s impossible to make your home immune to pests, by following these tips you will make your home less attractive to them this fall. If you find signs of an infestation, give us a call. We can help you to locate the source of the problem and tailor a solution specific to your needs.

Stink bugs: How to Eliminate them

August 14, 2020 Michele Prevention, Seasonal

Fall is almost here and with it comes stink bugs. Find out how to keep them from ruining the changing seasons.

Where did they come from?

If it seems like stink bugs are a newer phenomenon, you are right. Stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys), also know as shield bugs, are an invasive species from Asia. Introduced to the United States in the mid-nineties, these pests have no natural enemies and as a result the population over the past thirty years has exploded. First identified in Allentown PA, the stink bug has since spread across much of the eastern United States. And every year, the problem seems to be getting worse.

Why are they called stink bugs?

The name stink bugs refers to the pungent scent the insects release when they are either disturbed or their bodies are crushed. While they are active through the summer, they are usually found inside and clustered on the sides of buildings during the late summer and early autumn until the first hard frost. While these insects are good flyers, they are slow-moving on legs making them easy to trap.

Are they dangerous?

Stink bugs are not dangerous. They do not bite or sting or transmit any known diseases. While they can cause damage to crops and ornamental plants, the main concern with this insect is the smell they generate, and their tendency to congregate in large numbers along and inside buildings.

Identifying an infestation

While it’s impossible to eliminate stink bugs in the environment, stink bugs infestations in and around your home can be treated. If you have a large cluster of stink bugs on or around your windows and doors, this is a sign of an infestation.

Controlling Stink Bugs

Your pest control professional can help you control your stink bug infestations. Our exterior power spray treats overhangs, vents, around windows, foundation and peaks. Interior windows and chimneys can be added if necessary. At Mulholland, we will customize your treatment to your existing problem.

Discouraging Re-infestations

After your treatment, you can help discourage stinkbugs from entering your home by sealing up cracks and crevices with a high quality silicone caulk. Repair holes in screens and plug any gaps in your home’s exterior. Stink bugs can are attracted to light, so consider changing your outdoor lighting to yellow bulbs. For stink bugs in your home, use your vacuum to capture them, but dispose of the bag or empty the canister to avoid spreading the scent through the rest of your home.

Stink bug infestations do not have to be an inevitable sign of fall. Let us help you regain your outdoor spaces in time for you to enjoy your pumpkin spice latte.

Eliminating Fleas from your Home

August 7, 2020 Michele Treatment

Surprised you have fleas?

Any pet can get fleas. This can happen not only when you bring your pet outside, but when it is exposed to other animals. This can happen at the kennel, doggie day care, or even at the groomers.

While fleas are a common problem in households with dogs, it is possible to get fleas in your home even if you don’t have pets.

Any rodent can carry fleas. If you don’t have a pet, that could mean there is something else lurking in your walls. Mice, rats, and other small mammals can bring these pests into you home.

Once fleas are in your home, they will start breeding and infest your entire home.

Getting rid of fleas

Effective flea treatments must eliminate all sources of infestation. Only treating your pet won’t solve your flea problem. Fleas can be lurking anywhere your pet has visited throughout your home. This means if your pet has been on a surface, (carpet, upholstery, bedding) then these must be treated as well, and at the same time your pet is treated. If you stagger treatments, even by a few days, your pet and your home will continue to re-infest each other.

Treatment options

Pinterest is full of home remedies for fleas. Many of them are little better than old wives tales, and those that do trap fleas will not eliminate the entire population from your house. The only effective solution is to treat both your pet (or eliminate the rodent infestation) and household surfaces aggressively and simultaneously.

For your pet, ask your vet for recommendations for removing these pests from their coats. Different pets will require different treatments, so your vet is the best resource for this information.

For your home, talk to your pest control professional. He or she will be able to identify areas that need treatment and have the expertise to eliminate the problem without over treating, keeping you and your pets safe.

After your initial treatment, vacuum your home at least every other day for the first week, and twice a week for a month. Do a thorough job, making sure to get along baseboards, and in the hidden nooks and crannies where flea larva hide. This will eliminate any remaining fleas that may have developed resistance to conventional treatments before they have a chance to complete their life cycle.

Bringing home fleas doesn’t have to become a nightmare. If you find your pet has been exposed, don’t wait until the problem spreads through your entire home. Call your pest control professional right away.