Meigs health today: Home pest control

By Daschle Facemyer, Sanitarian In Training

Spring and Summer are approaching and it is time to start getting prepared for seasonal pest control Roanoke. It is best to keep the pests under control so you can keep your house, family and pets all healthy and safe. Pests, like any other living creatures, seek food, water and entry points to shelter. Some common pests around the area include cockroaches, flies, termites, ants, mosquitoes, wasps and rodents. Usually, year-round inspections and spraying by a certified pest-control company can help slow down infestation of your home. To make sure you have no infestation at all there are some things you can do as a homeowner to prevent your house from being infested with pests.

One main thing you can do is keep your house cleaned from trash, wipe off counters, keep up on taking your trash out, throw away old fruits and vegetables. These things can attract cockroaches and flies to your house. Cockroaches are filthy, carry germs and spread diseases. A cockroach infestation is difficult to control because the insects have numerous hiding spots and can breed quickly. Termites are another infestation that can be really damaging because they feed off cellulose which is found in wood and plant matter. They can really be a problem when they are found in your house or your commercial space. So, if you start to see a termite infestation, you might want to contact Commercial Pest Control Services immediately. They could create effective pest management strategies after inspecting your property. Fire ants can have a burning sting that you don’t want children or yourself to experience. They are another pest that you don’t want around your house because they can have large colonies and the queen ant can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day. You can spot a fire antinfestation by seeing their sandy mounds in your yard and the swarming of worker ants. Homeowners can apply products to ant mounds to kill the ants. Mosquitoes are another common summertime pest and can cause painful itchy bites and are also known to carry diseases that are dangerous to humans such as Encephalitis and the West Nile virus. Homeowners can manage the population of mosquitoes around your home by reducing the amount of stagnant water sources because standing water is the breeding ground for mosquitoes. Everyone gets stung at least once a year by a wasp and it is not a pleasant feeling. Wasps like to make nests under overhangs and gutters around homes as many homeowners have noticed. They are drawn to food and sticky spills so keeping food picked up outside can help keep wasps from making nests around your house. If you spot a nest around your home, there is wasp/hornet spray you can spray it with and then knock down the nest once the wasps are dead. A rodent infestation in or around your home can be a serious one. Common rodents such as squirrels, mice and rats can not only damage your property but can also contaminate food and spread disease. Rodents can enter houses by squeezing through holes much smaller than the size of their bodies so keeping small holes around your house sealed can protect your house. If you spot a rodent infestation in or around your home quickly try one of the many types of rodent traps or poison that you can buy or call a professional pest-control company (or search for animal control companies in your area). Late summer and early fall are when stink bugs and ladybugs are at their peak abundance. These stinking insects like to make their way in houses to find warmer temperatures when the outside temperatures start to drop. The best way to keep an infestation of these insects out of your house is to make sure windows, doors and other small holes are sealed around your home. If there is already an infestation in your home and you can’t get rid of them the last option would be to call a professional pest-control company.

There are several strategies for managing a pest problem. First thing to do is identify the pest, investigate the damage or impacted area and then figure out what you can do as a homeowner to get rid of the pest. Sometimes the infestation can be too much and a pest-control professional will need to be called.

If you have any questions about home pest control please call the Meigs County Health Department Monday-Friday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at (740)992-6626.