As the last warm days of fall fade away, you might feel relieved at the lack of bugs you see while around your Davenport property. While it’s true that pests, including many insects, are more noticeable during the summertime, it’s still important to protect your home from pests during the winter months.
Some pests are more aggressive about invading area homes and businesses when the weather gets cold as they look for shelter and food sources. Some of the most common overwintering pests in Davenport are carpenter ants, cockroaches, termites, and rodents.
What Do Common Winter Pests Look Like?
Even though you might not always see these pests as they hide in walls and other hard to reach places during the winter, knowing what they look like is still useful for identification in case of a pest sighting.
Carpenter ants are a species of ant that ranges in color from red to black. They are usually less than half an inch long, and they are known for tunneling through wood to create nests.
Cockroaches are long, oval-shaped pests that can be anywhere from tan to reddish-brown to black. They have a long pair of antennae and six legs and are known for carrying diseases.
Termites range from pale white to dark brown, but they are rarely seen in the wintertime. Only the reproductive termites, called termite swarmers, have wings.
Both mice and rats look for shelter during cold times of the year. Mice are smaller and have thinner tails and more pointed noses while rats have thicker, scaly tails and blunter noses.
Why Are Overwintering Pests Such A Problem?
Even nuisance pests aren’t enjoyable to have around your property as they can make your home or business feel unsafe and unclean, but the truth is that most overwintering pests are more than just an annoyance. In fact, many of these species cause property damage or pose health risks to people.
Both termites and carpenter ants can damage wooden structures including furniture, flooring, support beams, and door frames. While termites are often harder to notice and carpenter ants don’t eat wood, they can both do a significant amount of destruction if the infestation isn’t addressed. Rodent behavior also includes constantly gnawing on anything from wires to pipes to furniture.
If property damage wasn’t a big enough issue, pests like cockroaches and rodents are also considered dangerous to human health. They can carry and spread many pathogens, and in some cases, these germs can lead to diseases including salmonella, E. coli, and hantavirus. They are also known to cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks, and rodents can carry parasites like fleas.
What You Should Do To Prevent Winter Pests
The most effective way to deter winter pests is to take steps during the fall to prevent them. Fall prevention combined with ongoing professional pest assistance is the best way to deal with these pest problems. However, there are still some prevention tips you can follow during the winter to deter any further winter pest invaders, including:
Sealing up cracks and holes in the exterior of your home or business to prevent rodents from getting in.
Storing firewood at least 20 feet away from the exterior of buildings to keep both rodents and carpenter ants from coming indoors.
Getting rid of moisture issues by fixing leaky pipes and clogged drains to help deter cockroaches.
Fixing any broken screens in doors and windows to seal up more access points.
Installing door sweeps and weather stripping.
Making sure that attics, basements, and crawl spaces are well-ventilated as many winter pests seek out humidity.
How To Effectively Control And Remove Winter Pests
Protecting your property from pests is a year-long process, but you don’t have to handle the stress and upkeep on your own. To prevent and eliminate common wintertime pests in Davenport, let the experts at Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators take over. As a second-generation family-owned and operated company with nearly 100 years in business, we have the expertise to eliminate any overwintering pest problem.
Find out more about our residential and commercial pest control options by giving us a call at (888) 672-0022. We also offer free inspections.