In New England, we know that warm spring months bring ants to our picnics, the hot summer months bring annoying mosquitoes and stinging insects into yards and gardens, and the cooler fall weather brings the invasion of pests inside our homes looking for a warm and safe place to spend the winter. If you have ever seen a mouse scurry across your kitchen floor, or heard bats flying around in your attic, you understand how annoying it can be to have pests inside your home. Fortunately, there are a few ways to keep pests from spending their winter inside your home, but it’s also important to know exactly what type of pests are going to try to make your home their own. A few common pests are:
Bats – most common in Massachusetts and the rest of New England are the little brown bat. These bats are small; typically only nine to eleven inches long and just as their name says, mostly brown in color. They will enter your attic, your chimney or the rooms of your home while looking for a warm place to spend the winter.
House Mice– the common house mouse is small, usually gray or brown and approximately five and a half to seven inches long, including their three inch long tail. They can fit through holes as small as one quarter inch, and will create their nests in the walls of your home. They will enter your home during the fall and winter months looking for a warm place, and they will eat through drywall and steal the food from your pantry. They breed very quickly; having just two house mice in your home can lead to a very large population in a very short period of time.
Lady Beetles– also known as lady bugs, they are tiny, usually about one eighth of an inch long. Often they are red with black spots, but sometimes you can find orange ones with black spots. They will overwinter inside the warmth of your home and they can be found clustered together in large populations.
The best way to prevent having to call a professional during the winter months is to make sure your home is safe from fall invaders during the rest of the year. There are several pest prevention techniques that you can use to make sure your home is closed up tight for the winter. If you find any holes in the structure of your home, sealing these up tight with caulk or weather-stripping can help defend your home against fall pest invaders. Purchasing and installing a chimney cap on your chimney can help prevent bats and other pests from entering your home, and using mesh screens behind attic vents and dryer vents can help make sure your home is protected from the mice, bats, beetles and other pests that may try to get in this fall. Inspecting the screens on doors and windows for any holes is also useful, and replacing any torn screens will help keep pests out. Keeping your home clean can also be a good pest prevention technique. If mice and other pests don’t have a source of food in your home, they cannot survive. Pest control professionals know where these pests will be trying to get into your home, and they can help you pinpoint any problem areas before they allow outside invaders to get in. These professionals have the tools and the knowledge base to keep your home and family free of annoying and damaging pests this fall. Prevention is key, and to make sure that you don’t have an infestation of mice, baths, bugs or beetles this winter, protect your home now. Contact A1 Exterminators if you have any pest problems
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How To Prevent Fall Pests From Entering Your Home
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