Seasonal Information

Spring Pest Advice

These are but a few of the more common springtime pests you may encounter in the Northeast. For more detailed information and identification of other pests please visit our Pest Identification section.

Termite
Seeing small, dark brown to almost black insects with wings? Piles of wings without insects? Could very well be the dreaded termite! Their annual mating ritual (or the termite's reproductive stage) occurs in the spring. This ritual can last from one day to several weeks. During this time, they drop their wings. This is an indication that there is a well established colony of termites on the property.

The termite workers of the colony can do substantial damage to your home and are known as the hidden invaders. They are milky white in color and do not have wings (some people say they look like albino ants). Professional service is highly recommended. More info

Carpenter Ant
Large (1/4"-3/4") black ants showing up in the kitchen or bathroom? When the temperature reaches approximately 50 degrees at night and the forsythias are in bloom, it's time for the Carpenter Ant workers to come out of their winter dormancy and begin the process of finding and retrieving food and water for the colony. This is the time of year these ants become active both inside and outside the home. Typically they are seen in the kitchen and bathroom areas.

They could be coming in from an outside nest that is nearby looking for supplies. Or, there may be a colony of ants already established within the walls of your home. If activity is being seen in areas of the home besides the kitchen and bathrooms, or on rainy days or when outside temperatures are below 50 degrees, they no doubt have an existing colony within the structure.

These ants are typically more than a nuisance. Their name is derived from the fact they excavate tunnels in wood to create a nesting site. The damage they do can be substantial. Professional service is highly recommended. More info

Citronella Ant
Orange/Yellowish colored ants (mostly with wings) showing up inside the home? Not to worry, they do no damage. It's their annual ritual and should be over in a short period of time. Don't spend any money on treatment for these ants. Before you know it the swarm is over and the ants are gone. To verify it is the Citronella Ant, pick one up in a napkin and crush it. If you can detect a citrus smell it's the Citronella Ant. More info

Honey Bee
Buzzzzing in the walls? Fuzzy, little bees showing up inside the house around the windows? With winter behind them, the Honey Bee will once again begin the process of pollination along with producing and storing up honey for next winter's food supply. The earlier in the spring you deal with these intruders the better. As the seasons progress the development of honey in the nest increases. These bees are extremely beneficial to our environment outside, but they become a true structural pest once they establish their colony within the walls of your home. Professional service is highly recommended. More info

Paper Wasp
Brown to reddish brown, thin-waisted wasps hovering around the sunny side of the home, seemingly not knowing precisely where they're going? Well, it's probably the reproductive queens of the Pollistes Wasp known as the Umbrella or Paper Wasp, looking for this year's nesting sites. The most likely nesting sites would be inside the attic, out along the roofline and behind window shutters, attic vents and other areas protected from the rain on the sunny sides of the home.

There is also a new species of Paper Wasps which are yellow and black resembling a yellow jacket. The most distinguishing characteristic of this new species of Paper Wasps would be the back legs dangling down in flight.

The queen is the only member of the wasp colony which survives the winter frost. She emerges from her protected shelter in the spring and begins nest development once again. The earlier in the year treatment is performed the better, before nests are fully established and new eggs begin to hatch. A professional treatment will not only eliminate present activity but will also create a residual barrier which will prevent further nesting, making for a more enjoyable summer season outside. More info

Carpenter Bee
Large bee that resembles a Bumble Bee making dime-sized holes in wood, such as the siding on your home, fencing, wooden picnic table etc...? This is the time of year the Carpenter bees emerge from their wooden tunnels, then mate, and the females will bore a new tunnel in wood to deposit her eggs. She will first enter the wood cross-grain, then turn and tunnel with the grain. The first egg is deposited, and then a pollen cell, then another egg and pollen cell, etc. The pollen is food for the newly hatched eggs which will emerge in the late summer. When the next generation emerges they will often develop their own nesting tunnels in the same area. Damage can start off small and end up substantial with dozens of holes and tunnels. A professional treatment will not only eliminate any present activity but will also create a residual barrier which will prevent further nesting, making for a more enjoyable summer season outside. More info

Bat
Squeaking, scratching or fluttering noises in the walls or attic at night? Seeing bats around the roofline, particularly at dusk or dawn? This is the time of year these creatures emerge from their winter hibernation. Other possibilities causing the commotion could be mice, rats or raccoons. Squirrels or birds would be active during the daylight hours. Call to discuss the signs, and determine what will need to be done to evict these creatures from your home. The earlier in the year exclusion is accomplished the better. They will be reproducing and giving birth to their young in the summer months. This makes exclusion more difficult and at times requires a waiting period to allow for the newborns to develop the ability to fly before total elimination can be achieved. More info

Pest-Proofing Tips:
Research has found that spring and summer are when pest problems are of most concern to homeowners. A variety of pests including rodents, flies, mosquitoes, ants and termites can move in without leaving many visible warning signs during early spring.

To ensure that your home is less inviting to unwanted pests, follow these tips:

Seal up cracks and small openings along the bottom of the house.
Remove or drain any sources of standing water in your yard that could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes including birdbaths, wading pools or garden ponds. Mosquitoes feed on blood causing painful bite marks and carrying diseases such as Malaria, Yellow Fever and Encephalitis. When outside, wear insect repellent on exposed skin to prevent mosquito bites.
Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house.
Keep kitchen clean by wiping counters frequently, emptying the garbage regularly and keeping food containers sealed.
Avoid leaving pet food dishes out for long periods of time.
Keep trash containers clean and sealed both indoors and outdoors.
Ensure all doors and windows in your home have mesh screens that are in good condition and keep doors closed when possible so pests cannot enter your home.
Make sure that firewood and building materials are not stored next to the home.

Summer Pest Advice

Summer pests are not only annoying; they also threaten our health and property.

These prevalent summer pests can cause painful stings and carry diseases, as well as become a nuisance for you and your guests.

Recommended precautions to discourage some unwanted pests:

Plan to serve food and beverages indoors, keep any food that must be outside under screened tents and try to reserve outdoor space for eating and entertaining.
Keep food sealed in containers whenever possible and wipe tabletops frequently. Bring utensils and dishware indoors shortly after the meal. Rinse all beverage bottles and cans and dispose of them in tightly closed garbage containers.
Mosquitoes feed on blood, causing painful bite marks and carrying diseases such as Malaria, Yellow Fever and Encephalitis. Remove or drain any sources of standing water in your yard that could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes including birdbaths, wading pools, or garden ponds. When outside wear insect repellent on exposed skin to prevent mosquito bites.
Wasp stings can be painful and even send guests with allergies to the emergency room. Avoid decorating with fragrant candles or planting fragrant flowers that may attract wasps.
Ensure all doors and windows in your home have mesh screens that are in good condition and keep doors closed whenever possible so pests cannot enter your home. Make sure to seal cracks or small openings around the house.
Make sure that firewood and building materials are not stored next to the home.
Keep tree branches and other plants cut back from the house.
Check yourself and your pets regularly for ticks.

Not only are some of these pests persistent and annoying, they can also cause health and safety concerns. Mosquitoes can transmit both West Nile Virus and Malaria among other diseases, ticks can spread Lyme Disease and ants, spiders, wasps and hornets can produce painful bite/sting marks and pose a larger threat to those who have an allergic reaction. If a person is experiencing an allergic reaction or signs of illness from an insect bite or sting, they should seek immediate medical attention.

Five helpful tips to avoid the top five summer pests:

Clean out all parts of your kitchen where food products are stored to ensure that there are no crumbs or spills. Keep foods like cereal, crackers and cookies in sealed containers. This eliminates the food supply that attracts ants, mice and cockroaches. Dust and vacuum regularly to prevent cobwebs and the spider that weaves them.
Many pests invade from the outside by way of vegetation that runs along side your home. Make sure all tree branches, shrubs and plants are trimmed back and that an ample barrier exists between your shrubbery and your home. Check for and seal off any holes on the outside of your home that might have been caused by winter damage. This will eliminate entry points for small pests such as mice, spiders, termites and ants.
Eliminate all sources of standing water around the home. Still, stagnant water attracts mosquitoes that can transmit harmful viruses. Also be sure to regularly check gutters, windows, grilles, porch lights, etc., for wasp and hornets nests. These stinging insects build nests in and around most solid surfaces outside the home.
Check yourself and your pets for ticks regularly before coming indoors, especially if you've been in high grass or wooded areas. If a tick has latched on be sure to completely remove it from the bite mark, especially its head. This can be done using a hot matchstick or vegetable oil.
If your pest problem persists, contact us to professionally eliminate the problem.

STINGING INSECTS 101:
A LESSON IN PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

It's that time of year again - unwelcome pests are putting a stinger in everyone's fun. Stinging insects are most active in the summer and early fall when their nest populations exceed 60,000. Some 500,000 people are sent to the hospital emergency room every year due to stings from insects such as Yellow Jackets, Honey Bees, Paper Wasps and Hornets.

Tips for preventing stinging insects and treating stings:

Eliminate standing water and other sources of moisture in or around the home.
Keep trash cans covered and sealed.
When dining outside, keep food covered until ready to eat.
If approached by a stinging insect remain calm and quiet. Avoid swaying or swinging, as this may provoke an attack.
Avoid wearing dark colors and floral prints, loose-fitting garments, open-toe shoes and sweet-smelling perfumes or colognes.
A licensed pest professional will be able to use an integrated pest management approach around the home to inspect, treat and keep stinging insects at bay while giving homeowners the peace of mind they need to enjoy their backyards while the warmer temperatures stick around.

Flies, how bad can they be?
"Filth Flies" are aptly named. They breed in filth such as moist or decaying organic matter or excrement, and they feed by "spitting out" saliva and former stomach contents onto their intended next meal. After a few seconds they suck up the fluid they spit out, along with anything it might have dissolved.

Not a pretty sight! But what's worse is that they spread serious diseases.

Filth Flies love to invade our homes during the warm summer months along with other unwanted pests such as silverfish, millipedes and centipedes, Honey Bees, skunks and bats- although, hopefully, not all at once.

No, you don't want them around to ruin an otherwise pleasant summer.

They don't really cause significant damage to your house or business, but could cause damage to your health as it's very easy for Filth Flies to transmit diseases to humans.

Filth Flies - (there are about 200 species of them) - have been proven to spread more than 65 kinds of human diseases including leprosy, typhoid and several kinds of food poisoning.

Problems with humans arise when a fly feeds on a type of filth such as dung or garbage, then a few seconds' later lands on a sandwich or dinner plate intent on eating the same morsel we plan to eat. Both their hairy bodies and the habit of regurgitating some of their stomach contents when they feed, make it easy for Filth Flies to transmit pathogens to humans.

Sanitation and mechanical controls have the greatest long-term effect on reducing Filth Fly populations.

In an integrated pest management approach, the five basic steps taken for unwanted pests are: inspection, identification, the establishment of threshold levels, the employment of two or more control measures and the evaluation of effectiveness.

Bats
Biologists have identified 925 species of the scary-looking bat, one quarter of all known mammal species. The oldest bat fossils are 50 million years old and paleontologists assume bats had been flying around for a few million years before that.

The bat most Americans probably know best in the summer is the Little Brown Bat, which roosts in attics and barns and prowls for insects at twilight. Although their eyesight is better than most people think, bats routinely depend on their sonar-like location system to hunt flying insects.

Medical concern about bats is mainly the very small, but real, risk of rabies, which is found in less than 1% of the bat population.

The main situation in which humans are at risk is when the bat is either sick or injured and falls down within a human occupied area or at least to within a human's reach.

Control of bats, within the continental U.S. and similar temperate regions, is mainly a combination of removal followed by exclusion.

Occasional summer invaders
Silverfish and their close relatives, firebrats, are small, wingless, tear-drop-shaped insects generally covered with, respectively, grayish or brownish scales. They hide in cracks during the daytime and become active after dark. They survive best in high relative humidity and at the higher temperatures of summer. Most feed on starches, sugars, and proteins they can get from book bindings, glazed paper, or similar sources, including dead insects. In the home, they may severely damage older books, papers, or other sweet or starchy materials in warm, moist, dark areas. They are often introduced into a home within cardboard or other paper products.

Another summer pest, millipedes, sometimes called "thousand- leggers" because they have 30 to 90 pairs of legs, are not really insects, but they can be pests. Their close cousins, centipedes, have fewer legs.

Most common centipedes rarely grow beyond a few inches but can grow up to six inches, which will scare young children and adults alike. Millipedes can grow up to about four inches long.

Honey Bee
While Honey Bees are among the most beneficial insects, they can be pests when they end up in our living space after they build hives in walls or in nearby bushes.

Problem is, Honey Bees can sting, and some people react violently. Worse, the much-publicized Africanized Honey Bees, or "Killer Bees," have now reached warm areas of the country and are moving further north each year.

By midsummer, Honey Bees reach very high populations. Interiors should not be fogged if Honey Bees are found because Robber Bees may reoccupy the hive, thus perpetuating the bee problem. Instead, a professional Pest Elimination Service should be called to alleviate the problem with maximum care and minimal risk to the occupants.

Skunk
An especially stinky pest in summer is the skunk. In the suburbs, skunks frequently set up housekeeping under decks and in crawl spaces where they raise their litter of four to six young, which are born in the spring. In the human environment, skunks will feed on garbage or pet food left outside.

As with all mammals, skunks can carry rabies. As always, homeowners should leave the control of skunks to a professional pest management company.

Fall Pest Advice

FALLING TEMPERATURES SEND UNWANTED PESTS INDOORS

Tips for Fall Yard Maintenance:

In the fall, homeowners should clean up their yards to protect their homes from pest-related health and property threats. Without proper precaution, pests such as termites, Carpenter Ants, spiders and rodents can find paths into homes and put families and their properties at risk.

In the winter, some pests want to come inside for the warmth and easier access to food.

Fall yard maintenance does not have to be a time-consuming and tedious task. There are simple steps that every homeowner can take to protect their home from many insects and pests.

Here are a few helpful tips:

Clean out gutters thoroughly after the majority of leaves have fallen.
Avoid letting trash pile up in outside bins.
Remove old tires from the yard that can fill up with water and provide a breeding ground for pests.
Pull back or remove shrubs and tree branches from the side of the house and roof, which serve as pathways into the homes and food sources for ants, scorpions, rats, mice and other unwanted pests.
Stack firewood and lumber away from the house to eliminate harborage for rodents, spiders and centipedes.
Keep up on home-repairs such as restoring loose shingles and rotted boards, which can attract pests such as Carpenter Ants.
Pull soil or mulch back from the foundation of the house to prevent termites.

If pests have already entered the home or there is a serious infestation, you should contact us for professional advice.

Winter Pest Advice

With the holidays in full swing, the last thing any host wants to deal with is unwanted guests - specifically household pests such as rodents, ants and spiders.

Pests adapt to the changing environment and seek refuge indoors during the colder months. During the winter, rodents, such as mice, become one of the most common invaders and can cause serious property damage in and around the home.

Mice can squeeze through spaces as small as a nickel making it easy to get into homes through cracks and crevices. Once inside the home, pests can cause major problems including tearing insulation, chewing electrical wires, contaminating food and leaving unpleasant odors.

Tips for winter pest proofing:

Seal up any cracks and holes on the outside of your home including areas where utilities and pipes enter your home.
Screen vents and openings to chimneys.
Keep tree branches and shrubbery well trimmed and away from the house.
Inspect boxes, grocery bags and other packaging thoroughly to curb hitchhiking insects.
Keep basements, attics and crawl spaces well ventilated and dry.
Store garbage in sealed containers and dispose of it regularly.
Store fire wood at least 20 feet away from the house and five inches off the ground.
Repair fascia, soffits and rotted roof shingles; some insects are drawn to deteriorating wood.
Replace weather-stripping and repair loose mortar around basement foundation and windows.

Index

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