Two of the most common and frequent questions I get asked in Kansas City during the winter is: Why do I need pest control in the winter? Don’t all the bugs just die anyway?
The answer may surprise you!
Yes, generally pest activity (bugs anyway) dies down to a crawl during the colder months because of the temperature and their food sources are limited during this time. Outside, many bugs find areas to nest that are protected against the elements and provide good shelter. Here they will get ready for the warmer months and start to lay eggs.
Continued pest control on the outside of your home will help prevent early outbreaks of activity in the spring and summer. Also, we all know that winters can be schizophrenic in the Kansas City area. One day the temperature may be well below freezing, while the next it may be over sixty degrees! Having a pest control program during the winter will prevent spiders, bugs and other insects from entering your home on those warmer days.
However, have you ever considered why you may still see bugs in the spring and summer inside your home if “all the bugs die anyway”? Well, many insects start to nest during the winter months inside the walls and attic areas of your home. Since the temperature stays relatively the same all year round, bugs are likely to be just as active in the wintertime inside your walls as they are in the summertime. Bugs, insects and spiders look for good areas to nest and multiply during the winter. The best place to do that is inside the walls and attic areas of your home!
Brown recluse spiders, silverfish and other insects nest in the attic areas of your home and use this time to reproduce and lay eggs. While other types of spiders, roaches and crickets will use the voids in your walls to do the same. A thorough inspection and treatment during the wintertime of the inside is essential in keeping all those creepy crawlies from being able to reproduce and take over your home during the warmer months of the year.
If that isn’t enough reason to have a pest control program during the winter, than maybe the thought of mice or rats entering your home will be! Rats and mice stay active during the winter as much as they are active during the summer. Just as you like to be indoors out of the cold and snow, so do mice and rats. These rodents are very sensitive to changes in their environment and can sense warm drafts of air coming from your home. Since mice can enter your home through a hole the size of a dime, winter is the perfect time to prevent them coming into your home. Rodent proofing can be done by looking and feeling for warms drafts of air coming from the home. Sealing these areas up is essential to any good rodent control program in the winter.
Remember, the best way to prevent any of the pests we have discussed from entering your home is to have a regular pest control program throughout the year. Especially during the winter. It is never too early or too late in the year to start your program! Give us a call today!