Carpenter Ant
Successfully controlling carpenter ants requires certain skills, knowledge and experience. Carpenter ant control involves tracking down and treating as many satellite colonies as possible inside and outside of the home as well as attempting to find and treat the parent colony. Accessing the parent colony may be difficult because it might be located high in a tree or on a neighboring property. In such cases, your service professional may use carpenter ant baits, but these may have varying results because of the carpenter ants’ finicky feeding habits. If conditions on your property (such as a large number of trees) create a high risk for reinfestation, your service professional may recommend regular pest management services to help prevent new infestations.
These tips will help you limit carpenter ant infestation:
- Store any firewood away from your home and remove any dead wood or wood scraps from around the foundation.
- Trim dead limbs from trees and remove stumps. Rid your yard of these potential nesting sites.
- Make sure that all plumbing or roof leaks are sealed, and check crawl spaces for excess moisture.
- Water from rain gutters should be directed away from your home and not be allowed to accumulate close to the foundation.
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Fire Ant
Because of the health threat posed by fire ants, it is important to take steps to control the ants around the home and in the yard. Over-the-counter fire ant baits can be effective if properly used, but regular applications are necessary because the ants readily reinvade from neighboring properties. Many homeowners employ the services of a professional company, such as Terminix, to provide fire ant services.
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American Cockroach
The key to control is to find and treat these sources directly. In many cases, the services of a professional company, such as Terminix, are required to achieve long-term relief. In southern states where this cockroach lives outdoors, successful control involves treating the attic, crawl space, and exterior cracks in the home and finding and treating likely cockroach harborages over the entire property.
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Smoky Brown Cockroach
The best way to control smoky brown cockroaches is to determine the source and treat it directly, usually with a cockroach bait product. To keep these cockroaches from invading, the following steps are helpful:
- Ensure the attic and/or crawl space has sufficient ventilation. Research has shown that proper ventilation creates an environment unsuitable for cockroaches and other pests. It also improves the heating and cooling efficiency of the home.
- Make sure that all foundation and attic vents are equipped with tight-fitting screens.
- Seal as many exterior cracks and holes as possible on the outside of the home.
- Do not allow pet food to sit out overnight. Pick it up after outdoor pets are finished eating.
- Store firewood as far from the house as possible, locating it off the ground and covering it with a tarp or plastic.
- Eliminate piles of lumber and debris where cockroaches could harbor.
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House Spider
- Regular removal of spider webs is the best way to limit these spiders.
- Sealing up cracks around windows and doors helps prevent their entry.
- Switch exterior lights to the yellow "bug" light bulbs which attract fewer flying insects on which spiders feed.
- Treatments to exterior spider nesting sites can help reduce the numbers of spiders when combined with an overall pest management program.
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Wolf Spider
The best approach for controlling wolf spiders is through placement of sticky traps to capture the few spiders that may have entered. Maintaining sticky traps behind furniture, to either side of exterior doors, and in the garage is an excellent way to intercept most spiders as they enter. Steps that should be taken to prevent new spiders from entering, include:
- Removing or limiting heavy, ground-covering vegetation near the building.
- Sealing cracks and holes in the building's exterior.
- Installing tight-fitting screens on all attic and foundation vents.
- Sealing holes around pipes indoors to prevent spiders from entering the living spaces by following plumbing lines in basements and crawl spaces.
Where wolf spider invasions are persistent, a professional should be consulted to conduct a thorough inspection and recommend possible treatments.
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Cat Flea
Controlling a flea infestation successfully requires four steps:
- Preparation for treatment.
- Treatment of pets.
- Treatment of the inside premises.
- Treatment of flea activity sites outside.
Obviously, the pet is critical to minimizing flea infestations and regular grooming helps to limit fleas on the pet. For this reason, customers need to keep the pet groomed and treated with on-animal flea control products.
Step One. Any flea treatment will be less effective if the home is not prepared properly by completing the following steps:
- Remove all items, such as toys, clothes, and pet food from all floors.
- Remove all items from under beds and in the bottom of closets.
- Wash or replace pet bedding.
- Vacuum all carpets and rugs thoroughly, including beneath beds and upholstered furniture.
- Clean all wood, tile, and linoleum floors by sweeping and mopping.
- Clean concrete floors with soap and water in the garage,basement, or enclosed patio where pets rest or stay.
- Remove all pets including birds and reptiles. Cover fish tanks with a damp towel and turn off the air pump.
- Replace any pet bedding outdoors and make all shaded areas, crawl spaces, etc. available for treatment.
- Arrange to be out of the home for several hours until the treatment has thoroughly dried.
Step Two. The homeowner needs to arrange for treating the pet. A number of on-animal treatment products are now available. Treatment of pets should be done under the direction of a veterinarian.
Step Three. In homes that have an active flea infestation, a residual treatment combined with an insect growth regulator should be applied. A professional, like Terminix, can best accomplish this treatment by using specialized equipment. Efforts should be focused on the areas where pets rest or sleep. These are the sites where the most fleas will be located.
Step Four. Outside, treatment should be applied to shaded areas and beneath shrubs and decks where pets rest or sleep. Again, a professional has the right equipment to provide this treatment effectively.
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