Spiders are the most common pest in the United States, so there's a good chance you'll have them or see them soon in or around your house. While generally harmless (unless you're an insect), their cobwebs can be unsightly and some can be dangerous to children and pets, such as brown recluse spiders. The United States is home to several termite species, the most common of which are underground termites, wettwood termites, and drywood termites. Subterranean termites are known for their ability to build mud tunnels, allowing them to travel from the ground to and through wooden structures. Even if you don't see common household bugs, you should watch for subtle signs that your new home has an insect problem.
Depending on the types of insects in your home, the risk to you can range from mild to potentially serious (for example, when termites cause structural damage), so you'll need to see a professional who specializes in pests to help you solve the problem. In the case of insects that infest wood, the most serious problem requires a more serious solution.
You may have to shell out the money for an exterminator or pest control expert to get
the best results. According to the National Pest Control Association, ants are the biggest nuisance in American homes.This includes carpenter ants, odorous house ants, and pavement ants, among hundreds of other ant species found in the United States. They can enter homes through very small cracks or openings and are more common during certain seasons of the year. While carpenter ants can damage wood, it's not known if they carry diseases. Because many types of ants are attracted to sweet smells, they quickly clean up any food that crumbles or spills. To make matters worse, they reproduce quickly.
If you find cockroaches in your home, it would be best to call a pest control expert. Termites are perhaps the main insect that truly scares homeowners, and they can wreak significant havoc on short time. Known as “silent destroyers,” termites can devour wood, including the poles and beams that keep the house standing. Although termites often remain hidden behind walls, signs that they are close include bubbling paint, mud tubes and discarded wings.
If you suspect or know that there are termites in your home, call a pest control expert as soon as possible. Known to carry more than 100 potential pathogens, flies are more than irritating to hear their buzzing sound. Especially attracted to food, flies can leave bacteria on the things they touch, which can lead to food poisoning or other serious illnesses. Common flies include gnats, fruit flies, house flies, and more. You may be able to control the problem yourself with natural efforts to mitigate pests.
Just make sure to fix it quickly to prevent flies from multiplying. Although most spiders found in North American homes are harmless to people, seeing one of them can be unsettling. Since most spiders live in solitude, you should be able to deal with them one at a time. To prevent spiders from entering, be sure to tightly close outside doors or windows and seal outside cracks.
If you find one inside, you can catch it and return it outside. But remember that spiders naturally help control pests, so they can serve a purpose within your home. Creatures and bugs are essential to the balance of the world's ecosystems, but when found in places where they don't belong, such as your home, they not only cause problems because they're a nuisance, but they can also transmit diseases and cause serious damage to your home. According to the National Pest Control Association (NPMA), termites alone cause five billion dollars in damage each year. Insect sprays are not particularly effective at getting rid of cockroaches for a long time, but with careful effort they can be eliminated. Locate and eliminate all sources of water and food for insects, and eliminate any hiding places for them.
Setting traps for them will also help you know when they reappear and will allow you to manage them more quickly and effectively. They may not be as big or as unattractive as rats, but mice are capable of much more than their size suggests. Even if you don't see them running around your house, a clear sign that there are mice in the house is their excrement, which looks like pimples of large coffee. Mice do most of the damage by leaving urine and excrement on household items and clothing, although they are also known to nibble on books, pillows and other soft objects.
As mice reproduce up to ten times a year, it is essential to control their population as soon as possible. In addition to making sure they don't have access to food inside the house, it's also important to make sure that anything they consider food (for example, seeds for birds) outside the house is also well sealed in the garage or surrounding outbuildings. Mice can get through even the smallest holes, so it's also essential to seal any cracks that could give them access to the house or garage. Homeowners can also set traps, rodenticides, or adhesive boards to capture and kill mice. Rats cause apprehension in the best people.
If you have obvious evidence that you find them in your pool, if you have had the cat drag them or have seen them run around the yard or through electrical cables, it is important to start the control processes of immediate. However, there are other signs of the presence of rats, such as burrows in the garden or in a compost heap, creaking in the attic at dusk, or finding rat droppings (which are similar to those of mice, but larger). In addition to eating food products, rats also like to gnaw on wood, wires (which sometimes cause fires) and insulating materials, which can become costly repairs. Salmonellosis, rat bite and typhus are just a few of the diseases they can transmit to humans.
To control the rat population, it is not only necessary to eliminate food sources for rats, but also to protect your home against rodents by sealing any space larger than a quarter of an inch with steel wool or sheeting made of metal that they cannot gnaw. If they are still a problem, it is best to set traps to catch them, since poisoning rats could cause them to die on walls or other inaccessible places, and the stench that is created can be unbearable and require further repairs in the house. There are many species of termites and the methods for getting rid of them will depend on the type you have, but no matter what type of termites have infested your home, they usually need to be disposed of by a professional. To help prevent them from entering, keep the wood 12 inches above the ground and properly ventilate the structure so it doesn't hold moisture, which is a common attraction for termites.
Some types of wood are more resistant to termites than others, so when building a new construction, choose termite-resistant woods, such as cedar, redwood and white oak. There's no question when the ants have invaded. Once you see one, there's always another one nearby. And whether they're running across countertops or parading from outside to find a solitary crumb in the ground, getting rid of them quickly will prevent massive infestation.
To eliminate ants from your house, take all containers or objects that are covered outside with them. Clean crawling ants with soap and water and make sure all food debris or sticky objects have been cleaned. However, getting rid of ants from the house will not prevent other ants from entering the house. Use putty to seal any holes in doors or moldings to keep them from getting inside.
To prevent ants from approaching the house, stop planting and cover with mulch one foot from the foundation so they don't colonize there. And if the problem persists, consider using baits outside to deter them before placing them inside. At the top of our list are cockroaches. We can usually associate this pest with a vacation abroad in warmer climates, but there are actually two species of cockroaches that are very common pests in the UK.
They can spread quickly and transmit diseases such as dysentery and gastroenteritis. These creatures are nocturnal, so you might not see them running around your property at night, but you'll see the droppings they leave behind.
