Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

Have you lived in a home where you thought you were bug free and then all of a sudden in the corner of your eye you see a bug scurrying across your kitchen counter? Surprise! Well you are not alone, we get customers calling in all the time saying, “I’ve lived in this house for years and have never seen a bug; all of a sudden I’m seeing them in my kitchen and bathrooms.”

Why am I starting to see bugs now?

If you think about it, we’ve built our homes on “their” land; therefore it’s a fact that they will always be in “their” neighborhood. So the pests have always been there, even if you have not seen them.

Bugs, like humans, need water to survive. Hoses, sprinklers, water boxes, and plants provide the necessary moisture for these little guys to thrive. On a hot summer day the air conditioning is an essential part to being comfortable in our own homes. Having the air conditioning on builds condensation in our walls and that condensation needs to escape so that the home’s walls don’t get moldy. Each house is purposely built with “weep holes” or “J-rails”, holes or gaps to allow that condensation to escape outside. Bugs will sense this moisture escaping and eventually make their way inside the walls of your own home through these openings. Once inside your walls they grow in population and eventually they will put pressure on you. Imagine years of bugs breeding inside your walls, it’s getting crowded and they have to go somewhere. Do you think they are more likely to move back outside or further into the moist rich environment of your home?  What better place is there than our kitchens and bathrooms? Having a bug problem isn’t an over night thing. It takes time. It all starts out in your yard. It could take months and even years to finally see them inside your house. Why not stop it before it happens?

In order to stop future surprises in your home, it’s important to stop it where it first began. Bulwark Exterminating does this by maintaining a protective barrier around the perimeter of your home to stop them breeding and sneaking their way inside the walls of your home. So unless you want to stop running your A/C, protecting those cracks that breathe out the inviting moist air is a must.

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Coweta Pest Control

I would often be called to a clients home around this time of the year for ants in the pantry.  Most of the time we were dealing with either Pavement or Argentine colonies; but they were both attracted to one thing, “SUGAR.”  I felt bad requesting that I be allowed to throw away the Cap’n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, and pop tarts that the ants have by then- thoroughly besieged; and an even harder time requesting that we also get rid of anything not sealed properly.

Thoughts come to mind of this woman in tears who had just gone shopping the day before and could not afford to throw away the new pantry goods.  I advised her that I was merely suggesting that we throw the food away; however she can keep the goods if she would like if she would store them in the freezer for a couple of hours in ziplock bags or sealed containers.  Ultimately there was a compromise that she would keep the food that was “barely infested” and throw the cereal box (Frosted Flakes) that was heavily infested.  I recommend that all known food sources that have been tainted to be trashed; but I hear its fashionably fitting to eat insects in communities around the globe.  Maybe some of that extra protein will provide a more balanced breakfast. (Trying to be funny)

Something not so funny are the pantry pests that I would like to quickly introduce.  My least favorite pantry pests are:

1. Indian Meal Moth
2. Mediterranean Meal Moth
3. Sawtooth Grain Beetle

These are the pantry pests that show up in your flour, rice, nuts, herbs, dog food, fish food, pasta, grains, dry-goods, etc.  The Indian and Mediterranean Meal Moths look like maggots/caterpillars when they are in their larval stage.  This is often when they will be found infested in flour, grains, herbs, etc.  If you find small beetle looking creatures in your flour, grains, etc, it is most likely the Sawtooth Grain Beetle.  These buggers are persistent once in the home and because of their “saw teeth” can get into most packaging.

The worst part about infestations with these types of pantry pests is that it is usually necessary to empty out the whole pantry; and the subsequent use of plastic storage containers is required/suggested to be used from ‘there on out.’  Providing a crack and crevice treatment with your choice of insecticide will help solidify that these pantry pests problems do not persist.

If you have pantry pests and need an exterminator click here.

KT