- What Is Pest Control?
- What Types of Pests Can Be Found in Properties?
- How Can Pests Affect You and Your Property?
- Pest Prevention: How Can You Protect Yourself Against Pests
- Call the Professionals for a Thorough Pest Control Service
- What Are the Signs of a Serious Pest Infestation?
- Need Help with Pest Control?
Did you know that termites can cause property damages of around $5 billion each year in the United States?
In a similar fashion, biting insects such as mosquitoes can send around 500,000 Americans to the emergency room every year.
If you see signs of pests in your home, asking for a high-quality pest control service is the right thing to do.
But what is pest control?
And how can it help you if you’ve already been infested with rodents or cockroaches?
This comprehensive article gives you the pest control definition and helps you understand what it involves.
Keep reading to become a more informed homeowner and learn how to prevent pests from affecting your property.
What Is Pest Control?
Pests are different types of insects or wildlife animals that can affect your health, contaminate foods, and even destroy items in your property such as wooden furniture.
Pest control refers to the totality of services designed to eliminate insects, rodents, and wildlife animals from your house and yard.
These services are offered by experts who are specially trained to eliminate pests from properties and have adequate equipment to do so.
Pest control specialists are also called exterminators.
Homeowners might need pest control to improve their living conditions and protect their health.
What Types of Pests Can Be Found in Properties?
When talking about pests, most people think of repugnant cockroaches, spiders, ants, or mice.
These are usually some of the most popular types of pests found in homes.
However, the list of pests is actually very long.
Most homeowners don’t have to deal with all of them, but just a few.
Here is a shortlist of pest categories that will help you identify them.
1. Insects
There are numerous types of tiny and large insects that might contaminate your food supply, affect your health, or eat your furniture.
For example, mosquitoes are common in summer months and they are usually attracted by stagnant waters and moisture.
Bed bugs can be found mostly beds and sofas and they can bite people.
These bugs are not known to be harmful to humans, but they can cause anxiety, unpleasant marks on your skin, and sleepless nights.
Cockroaches are another category of insects commonly found in kitchens and pantries.
They are attracted by food sources and they can create colonies quickly, spreading all over your house.
Cockroaches carry a lot of diseases, not to mention that they are also unpleasant at sight.
Ants and termites can also be found in crawl spaces, basements, and all throughout the home.
Termites feed on wood and over time they can create substantial damages to your wood furniture, structures, and other wood property.
Some termites eat 24/7, so you need to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Finally, you might have to deal with hornets and wasps.
These pests usually create nests under the gutters of the house.
Once a hornet or wasp stings you, it’s possible to develop a dangerous allergic reaction.
They need to be eliminated as soon as possible as a hornet/wasp colony is a significant danger to the health of your family members.
2. Rodents
In a lab, mice are useful for scientific research and studies. In cartoons, they can make you laugh – see Tom & Jerry cartoons.
However, rodents found in anyone’s property are a source of contamination and disease.
They can be small or large, they can cause massive damages to your food supplies, and they might even cause extensive damage to your property.
Rodents of all sizes usually gather in pantries and warehouses.
They are active mostly at night and they usually make weird sounds when they travel from one part of your house to the other.
An additional symptom of a rodent problem can be visual bite marks at entry points or sebum from highly trafficked areas.
3. Wildlife Animals
Certain wildlife animals might not be dangerous to you.
Squirrels are a good example in this case.
They can climb down from tree branches near your house and get in the attic looking for food or shelter.
However, other wildlife animals can be seriously dangerous such as bats, coyotes, skunks, possums, and so on.
Bats can usually be found in the attic.
They find shelter in your house and might spread a wide variety of diseases.
Bats can also scratch you if you get too close to them, that’s why you shouldn’t attempt to remove bats on your own.
Calling a professional pest control expert is the recommended option to get rid of bats.
Skunks might be inoffensive at first, but if they feel threatened, they can spray or bite your family members or pets.
Coyotes and snakes provide a real threat to your hens and rabbits as well as small children, so eliminating those animals from your area should be a top priority.
How Can Pests Affect You and Your Property?
As mentioned earlier, most pests spread different types of diseases, including malaria.
The mosquito is considered to be one of the most dangerous insects in the world because it feeds on blood.
It can spread all kinds of illnesses including malaria and the West Nile Virus.
The same story is true for rodents, bats, and other types of insects.
Even squirrels can be dangerous, although they look cute and fluffy.
How can squirrels damage your property?
By digging their teeth into the electrical wiring of your house.
Believe it or not, hundreds of electrical problems are caused by squirrels worldwide.
They get into the attic, find a wire, and begin chewing.
Obviously, the poor squirrel probably dies instantly, but it might cause an hours-long blackout for you and your family members.
It’s worth discussing termite damages here as well.
Termites don’t only eat the wood from which chairs and wardrobes are made.
They also eat the wooden beams and the floor joists of your property, compromising its structural integrity.
If the homeowner doesn’t discover the damages on time, the entire foundation of the property can be significantly damaged by something as tiny as a termite.
They eat everything in sight, leaving your house compromised and forcing you to spend a fortune on repairs.
That’s why you need to be particularly careful about termites and call the professionals as soon as you see signs of damages.
Pest Prevention: How Can You Protect Yourself Against Pests
Luckily, there are a lot of things you can do to protect your property against pests.
The following pieces of advice should be common knowledge in your household and practiced by everyone.
For example:
One of the most important prevention methods involves having clean countertops and kitchen sinks.
Don’t leave food on your kitchen table overnight.
Place food leftovers in a covered trash can and throw away food packaging.
Another good prevention method involves covering holes and gaps in the walls.
That’s where rodents and cockroaches can come into your house.
Routinely inspect your basement and pantry for signs of termites, ants, rodents, or other types of bugs.
Using different types of insecticide sprays might be a good idea, but only if you have to deal with minor pest infestations.
Call the Professionals for a Thorough Pest Control Service
Even if you follow these prevention tips, sometimes you might still get infected with different types of pests.
Remember that insects spread rapidly and form colonies everywhere.
In just a few weeks, they might infiltrate most of the rooms of your house.
Now it would be a good time to call professional exterminators to deal with this problem.
Here’s what a professional pest specialist will do.
1. They Will Come to Your House to Perform a Thorough Inspection
Pest control experts look for different signs of pests.
They will come to your house and do a complete inspection, including the basement, attic, and yard.
They will also look for entry points that can be used by different types of pests to get inside your house.
Covering these entry points is crucial, even if they look very tiny.
The specialists will also look for signs of moisture as various pests thrive in humid environments.
2. They Will Inspect Structures and Property
It’s important to take a closer look at the yard and check for small holes in the fence and other entry points.
Skunks, possums, and raccoons can use these entry points to get closer to your property.
Some homeowners also struggle with coyotes that can attack the domestic animals in your yard or even your pets.
3. They Will Create a Disinfection Plan
After a thorough inspection, the professionals will analyze the findings and come up with a conclusion.
This usually involves a plan of action to help eliminate the pests from your property.
You can decide to take action right away or schedule a particular day when the exterminators will come to fix your pest problem.
4. Adequate Equipment is Always Used
In some cases, hundreds of colonies of cockroaches or ants might live in a property.
It’s impossible to eliminate them with a few insecticide sprays and other pest control products.
This type of problem can be handled by a team of experts using strong disinfecting tools and products.
You will probably need to leave the house for one or more days to prevent exposure to dangerous insecticide solutions.
Reputable pest control companies also provide a year-round service at an affordable price.
This means that they will come back at no cost and eliminate any other pest problem you might have in that year.
What Are the Signs of a Serious Pest Infestation?
Some homeowners ask when it’s the right time to call the experts.
Should I use a simple spray to get rid of flies or call the specialists?
The following section provides you with a few signs that it’s time to call the experts and not attempt to eliminate the pests on your own.
1. You Have Bugs in Your Bed
These types of insects are intuitively called bed bugs.
They live in the frame of beds and sofas and they bite you in your sleep.
Even if you change the beddings and wash everything thoroughly, some bed bugs can still linger afterward.
To prevent having dozens of red spots on your arms, call the professionals to eliminate bed bugs.
2. You Hear Weird Noises in the Middle of the Night
These noises might be caused by rats wandering around looking for food or termites feasting on your furniture items.
You probably could turn on the light and begin hunting pests, but it’s better to simply schedule an appointment with the exterminators and have more peace of mind.
3. You Scratch Your Skin Daily as a Result of Mosquito Bites
Mosquitoes can be everywhere, including indoors and around your outdoor patio.
They can bite you while you sleep or are awake.
You might be able to use special solutions or tools to deter them, but sometimes their number is too great.
If you constantly find yourself with itchy skin, chances are that mosquitoes are causing all the trouble and you need to get rid of them as soon as possible.
4. Colonies of Bats Live in Your Attic
Bats are peaceful creatures, but if they feel threatened, they can bite or scratch you.
One way to get rid of bats is by leaving a light on in the attic.
Bats love darkness, so the light will deter them. However, if this method doesn’t work, don’t attempt to remove bats on your own.
The professionals have the required know-how to handle bats and they will remove them in a humane way.
Killing or injuring bats is illegal in some regions, so it’s best to let the professionals deal with this problem.
Need Help with Pest Control?
Hopefully, this lengthy article provided sufficient answers to your original question – what is pest control.
You now know how dangerous pests can be and how much damage they can cause if you let them.
To get rid of pests in an efficient and safe manner, make sure that you give us a call today.
We are pest control experts located in Waco, Texas, and we can humanely handle any types of pests at an affordable price.