Budding new leaves on the trees, the first spots of green grass, and birds coming back from their long overseas vacation, spring is the time of rejuvenation and renewal. Unfortunately, it's also the time when every hibernating four and over-logged pest pops its ugly little head out of its hiding spot and starts looking for a new home.
And like it or not, your home, with its well-stocked pantry, easy water access, climate-controlled environment, and predator-proof walls, starts looking mighty fine to them.
Owning a home in North Carolina has always been a balancing act, trying to stay as close as possible to the nurturing beauty of nature while doing your best to keep the myriad of unwelcome pests it produces from making their way into your home.
Let's take a closer look at the common pests you'll encounter in the spring, a few simple prevention tips, and natural pest control options recommended by Elizabeth City pest control professionals.
Common Spring Invaders In Elizabeth City
For a homeowner or a residential pest control professional, an effective DIY home pest treatment always starts with correctly identifying the Elizabeth City pests infesting your property. With spring upon us, the likely culprits invading your home are:
- Ants- acrobat ants, Argentine ants
- Termites
- Mosquitoes
- Mice
- Rats
- Flies
- Wasps
- Ticks
Once you identify the invaders, the key to success is to have a species-specific, safe, and preferably all-natural home pest control strategy developed and quickly executed.
The Many Problems Pest Infestations Can Create In Your Home
While every creature we designate as a pest fits a niche in the ecosystem and contributes greatly to the world around us, once they make their way into our homes or their numbers grow out of control, they become a problem that we need to reckon with.
Sharing your home with the most adorable little mouse or bee will have you deal with hundreds of their relatives running around your house, spreading diseases and contaminating your food in no time.
Mice, rats, and other rodents will make a beeline for your food, contaminating it and spreading a number of diseases on the surfaces they travel. They will also do their best to gnaw on everything within their reach and leave their droppings all over your home.
Ticks and mosquitoes bite can transmit whatever infectious blood-born pathogen their previous host carried, with West Nile virus and dengue fever among them.
Carpenter ants and termites, while rarely seen and never heard, can be responsible for thousands of dollars in home repairs thanks to their tunneling through the wooden members of the structure of your home.
Wasps and bees, while not likely to infect you with anything, will reward you with a painful bite for being careless and getting too close.
In addition to the damage to your home, ruined food, and exposure to pathogens and bacteria, many pests will bite or sting if feeling threatened.
Six Eco-Friendly Pest Prevention Tips For Your Home
Preventing pests from developing interest in and finding a way into your home or on your property is by far the most cost and effort-effective home pest control method in Elizabeth City available. Start with these six tips:
- Seal the outside walls and foundation to keep the critters out
- Fix plumbing leaks and keep water from pooling around your home.
- Clean up dropped food and spills as soon as possible
- Keep food stored in glass or metal, tightly sealed containers.
- Store garbage in covered garbage cans and empty them regularly
- Keep grass and other vegetation trimmed short around the perimeter of your home
While directing your efforts to prevention will give you a leg up in getting rid of pests on your property, considering the dangers and damage pests can account for, it might be a good idea to consider a yearly pest inspection by a residential pest control service professional as an additional layer of protection for your property.
The Advantage Of Professional Pest Control For Your Home
At Albemarle Termite & Pest Control, we have over 100 years of combined experience keeping Elizabeth City homes pest free.
Our friendly and experienced Service Professionals will inspect the interior and exterior of your home for signs of pest presence or damage, including checking your attic and crawl space for termite and rodent presence and your property for mosquito breeding grounds.
Once that's taken care of, we'll develop a treatment plan for the pests discovered on the property; if nothing is amiss, we will renew your protection barrier against termites and advise you on changes you can make to stop other critters from making their way in. For most of us, dealing with a pest infestation is a matter of when, not if. Protect yourself and your property from a pest invasion, and give us a call today to get started and to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in Elizabeth City.