As a homeowner, it often feels as though there are chores to do during every season of the year. However, chances are you don’t include pest control as part of your winter to-do list.
Most people don’t consider the colder months to be a time of year in which pests are a concern. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
This article explains the top five reasons why you need winter pest control if you want to keep your home free from unwanted critters. Once we do that, we’ll share a few of the best ways to keep your home pest-free when the temperatures start to drop.
#1 Pests Use Your Home for Warmth in Winter
As is true of any creature, pests require warmth and shelter to survive. The problem is that frigid winter temperatures can make it nearly impossible to survive outdoors. Naturally, this problem leads many insects and animals to seek warm, protected places where they can outlast the winter.
Your home is an obvious first option for many pests in your area. Since you use energy to keep your house warm and livable, many unwanted visitors may try to take advantage. As such, winter can become a time of year when pests have more motivation to enter your home than in any other season.
#2 Winter Weather Can Damage Your Home
During winter, pests not only have more motivation to enter your home due to freezing temperatures, but those same weather patterns may make it easier for entry to take place. The issue here relates to the harsh winter elements that can bombard the exterior of your home for months on end.
In many regions, winter brings strong winds, heavy snow, and plenty of ice. All of these elements can work to deteriorate the outside of your home, leading to small cracks and crevices that you might overlook before it’s too late. While you remain unaware of those openings, pests can get inside your house and make it their home for the winter as well.
#3 Many Pests Need a Place to Overwinter
Overwintering refers to a specific process that some pests go through during the winter season. This process involves finding a safe and warm location where the pest can rest and cease most of its activity until the conditions become more favorable. Many insects, including stink bugs, beetles, and ladybugs, rely on overwintering and see your house as the perfect place to do it.
If you have overwintering pests, there is a strong likelihood that you won’t notice their presence during winter. However, when spring arrives and these insects exit their inactive state, they’ll have the chance to spread quickly and infest your home before you even know they are there.
#4 Pests Can Cause Your Insulation to Suffer
Another important reason to rely on winter pest control is that the presence of pests can dramatically reduce your home’s ability to resist cold winter weather. Many insects and rodents chew through foam insulation, making your home more vulnerable to the extreme temperatures outdoors.
When pests destroy your insulation, your home becomes less energy efficient, leading to higher heating bills. Unfortunately, pest damage can also affect your home’s structural elements, leading to even more severe issues for your house. As such, keeping pests out in winter is all the more important.
#5 Some Pests Are Present Year-Round
Our final reason that winter pest control is important is that some pests are as active during the winter as they are during any other time of year. Since that is the case, it is crucial to control these pests regardless of the month.
Bedbugs, cockroaches, spiders, fruit flies, and more are all just as active during winter as they are in spring, summer, and fall. Relying on winter pest control is the best way to ensure they won’t wreak havoc in your home while you’re hunkered down and waiting for spring.
How to Prevent Pests this Winter
Now that you know some of the main reasons why winter pest control is important, it is time to learn about some of the measures you can take to make pests less likely during cold months. The list below includes some of the most effective measures for preventing winter pests:
- Close any gaps or cracks in your home: Sealing openings that appear on the exterior of your home is one of the best ways to stop pests at the source.
- Keep your home clean: Clutter and debris are both attractive to pests. Removing these untidy elements makes pests less likely to call your house a home.
- Use proper food storage methods: When you store your food improperly, it is more likely to attract hungry pests.
- Monitor for pests regularly: At times, vigilance is the best remedy for pest issues. Noticing pests and their signs makes it easier for you to find the most appropriate solution.
The list above reveals that there are plenty of measures you can take to make your home pest-free during the winter. However, the surest approach to pest prevention is to rely on advice from a pest control expert in your area.
Get the Pest Help You Need
Pests are not only unclean and unsightly, but they can also do considerable damage to your home. Controlling and preventing pests, even during the winter, is the best way to prevent this damage from occurring.
At Bigham Pest Services, we have extensive experience detecting, removing, and preventing a wide range of common pests, including ants, cockroaches, fleas, rodents, scorpions, and much more. So, if your home needs winter pest control services, we’re confident that we have what you need.
Bigham Pest Services operates in and around the Atlanta metro area and has a history of pest control success dating back to 2007. If you’re in our area and you need winter pest control, reach out to us today to learn more about what we can offer.