The fall season brings more moderate weather, autumn festivities, and a welcome change of colors in the foliage and landscape.
However, with the fall comes the increased likelihood of having unwanted guests staying in your home. We’re talking about pests– rodents and nuisance insects that have decided to spend the winter within the warm confines of your home.
Calling in the professionals to do a routine check of your home in the late summer or early fall greatly aids in ensuring that you don’t have a winter infestation on your hands.
Related article:
How Do Pests Gain Access to My Home?
Bear in mind that in addition to the warmth provided by your home, pests will also seek out moisture and food– all of which can be found (in relative abundance) within your property.
Now they don’t necessarily need to use the front door; instead, they will be just a little bit sneakier when gaining access to your home, which may be through:
- Little holes in your roof
- Broken attic windows
- Cracks and gaps in your external walls
- The subflooring of your home– through crawlspaces, under baseboards, through gaps in your foundation
- Holes through which cables and wires run through
- Drainage and sewage pipes
- Your garage, storage area, or outdoor sheds
- The firewood you bring into your home
- Decor you leave out in the fall (such as those for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas).
These little buggers don’t need a lot of space, mind you. Squeezing through the tiniest of gaps is certainly a handy skill to have this time of year.
What Kind of Pests Should I Look Out for This Fall?
Ants
While ants aren’t particularly harmful or aggressive (usually), they are incredibly bothersome. This is particularly the case when you leave a bit of food out and all of a sudden, you find an entire colony alerted to the presence of your crumbs and leftovers.
Ants prefer to hide out in the hollow spaces between your walls, giving them unfettered access to just about any room in your home. You might also be able to find colonies of ants hiding out under floorboards, carpets, or tiles, as well as in cracks of concrete, gaps in old wood, or even in certain houseplants.
Related articles:
- How to get rid of ants inside your house
- How to get rid of ants this spring
Bees
As summer winds down, a colony of bees might decide to relocate someplace warmer to ride out the winter cold. Of course, bees aren’t particularly nasty or harmful, but they do tend to get aggressive when you stumble upon their hives.
Typical hiding spots for bees in and around your home during the fall and winter may include under roof eaves, in rain gutters, in your chimney, and inside your walls.
If you spot a beehive or if you suspect bees hiding out in your home, do call the professionals right away so they can properly relocate the hive elsewhere.
Fall bugs
Common pests known to invade your home in the wintertime include ladybugs, box elder bugs, and stink bugs.
Stink bugs, in particular, are quite a nuisance because of the bad smell they emit when scared, stressed out, or squished. Late summer and early fall are the optimal times for treating your homes for stink bugs. Once they’re in and have decided to spend the winter in your home, they’re difficult to get out, so you want to make sure you deal with them before the weather gets cold.
Flies
The winter cold usually kills off most of the fly population, but there may be a few that would linger around towards late fall. Usually, it’s the south- and west-facing walls of your home that attracts flies in the fall as they seek out a warm place to overwinter.
Flies you’d typically see around the house during this time may be cluster flies and fruit flies rather than the common housefly you see in the summer.
Roaches
Roaches would prefer staying below ground, or closer to drainages, because of the moisture and the darkness. They’ll also hang around where they can find food, such as near garbage bins, but they’ll also scout out your kitchen from time to time, especially if there are crumbs and other bits of food always lying around.
While keeping your home generally clean goes a long way towards keeping roaches at bay, have the professionals check for cockroaches as well when doing their inspections.
Related articles:
- Tips for Preventing Cockroaches
- How Do I Keep My Business Safe From Cockroaches?
Rodents
Insects tend to get sluggish as the winter weather sets in. Rodents, however, don’t have this problem (because they’re warm-blooded), which is why, as far as pests go, they’re likely to cause you much grief if left unattended.
When rodents decide (i.e. rats and mice, mostly) to spend the winter in your home, they’re likely to nest in enclosed, hard-to-reach, typically undisturbed places, such as in the attic or in the space between your walls.
Be on the lookout for little claw marks, gnaw marks, or droppings closer to the pantry and food storage areas, as well as walls and closets– these are signs of rodents scouting out possible food sources while you’re not looking.
Wasps and Yellow Jackets
While bees may be typically found in the attic or closer to the roof, wasps will instead make their nest in garages in sheds, where things are likely to be undisturbed for an extended period of time.
These stinging insects can be even more aggressive than bees, so be warned– once you think you’ve spotted a nest or even a few of these insects lingering about, don’t hesitate to call pest control services.
A Final Word on Fall Pest Control Services
When Autumn comes around, various pests are already preparing for the winter by scoping out viable places to stay for warmth, shelter, and food. Securing your home against unwanted intrusions of bugs, rodents, and other critters should be one of your main considerations this season.
Although you could do a lot by checking the exterior of your home for holes, gaps, and other likely entry points, keeping your home clean and free from food remnants also discourages pests from overwintering with you for the holidays.
For your peace of mind, give the professionals a call to have a look at your home before winter comes. Rocklin Pest Control can come by and inspect your home, as well as your offices and commercial establishments and check for incursions of pests, as well as prevent them from setting up shop in your property this season.
Give the Rocklin Pest Control team a call today at (916) 943-7720.