Pest Control Services proudly provides pest control to our customers in the Idaho Falls area. While it may still be a little chilly right now, it’s only a matter of months before the days start to get longer and the weather warms up. While we love the long summer days, they tend to bring out pests, particularly ants. Don’t worry. There are a few things that you can do to help control ants in and around your home. If you find yourself facing an infestation that is larger than you can deal with, contact-us for help. Our professional technicians will be happy to help you eliminate ants or other pests that have invaded your property. We happily serve both commercial and private customers with all of their pest control needs.

Indoors

There are many things you can do to deter ants from entering your home. Be sure to wipe down all of your kitchen counters and appliances each night and sweep your floor regularly. Remember, ants are very small creatures. Even a crumb left over can be an attractant to an ant. Likewise, remove all water from your sinks and tubs each day. Just like humans, ants get thirsty, and it’s not unknown for ants to venture into a home seeking fresh water on the hottest days.

Invest in a covered trash can, both inside and out. Make sure that all minor cracks are sealed well around windows and door frames to limit the areas ants can enter your home.

Outside

If you’re seeing lots of mounds in your yard, you understandably want them gone. Not only do ants bite and lessen your enjoyment of your lawn, but they can cause damage to grass in the surrounding area. You may have heard that you can remove an ant bed by flushing it out with water, but this simply isn’t true. The ants will leave the bed, only to create another within close proximity to the first.

To deter ants from deciding that your home is the perfect place to live, be sure to keep your grass neatly trimmed and remove all yard debris promptly. Your outdoor trash can should have a fitted, tight lid as well to keep your garbage from attracting ants. Try not to leave bowls of water or pet food outside, as these can also attract ants to your home.

If you woke up this morning to find a series of red, itchy and irritating marks on your body, you have likely fallen victim to bed bugs. Bed bugs are classified as pests, so it is very important to call your local pest control services so your bed bug problem can be dealt with as soon as possible.

In the meantime, there are ways in which you can search for bed bugs in the bedroom. However, it is important to first understand bed bugs.

Bed bugs can hide virtually anywhere and can fit inside cracks that are as thin as a compact disc. This makes searching for bed bugs rather hard to do, but it must be done to help pest control services find them more quickly, as well.

How Do You Inspect Your House for Bed Bugs?

You will need to wear gloves, in addition to having a flashlight and a straight edge object like a paint scraper or credit card. Look for bugs, in addition to eggs, droppings and shed skin.

Bed bugs not only like the warmth, but they also love to be where humans rest for a long period of time. Therefore, the number-one place to look is inside your bed or mattress. You should first look through your sheets. You should carefully inspect folds, tufts and seems in your sheets and blankets for possible signs of bed bugs.

As the weather starts to become colder, the pests in your neighborhood begin looking for a warm new home. These pests look for any opening that can give them access to your home. The opening size may range from tiny to large depending on the location. To combat your potential new house guests, you need to know some of the common entryways.

Foundation Cracks

As a house begins to settle, small cracks start to appear in the foundation and walls. These cracks are not uncommon. But if you do not repair and maintain them, they become the door for the pests to enter your home.

During late summer or early fall, you should inspect your home for any new cracks. If you find new cracks, you need to seal them properly. The sealant you will use depends on the location of the crack. For cracks in concrete or masonry, you need to use a concrete repair or a caulk specific to concrete and masonry. For cracks in the walls, you need to use a silicone caulk.

Windows and Doors

As your windows and doors age, the seals start to fail. When you are preparing your home for winter, you need to check the seals in the windows and doors. If they are not sealing properly, it could create a small gap which can then allow the pests to come into your home. You will also need to check the caulking around the windows and doors.

If either the seal or caulk is failing, you need to replace or re-caulk the window or door. Leaving any gaps or cracks gives your neighborhood pests an opportunity to enter your house. Remember, caulk needs time to cure and harden, so make sure you read the directions for optimum temperatures and curing time.

Oh baby, is it getting cold outside! While we love to play in the snow that the winter brings, we also appreciate being able to go inside, where our house is warm. Unfortunately, we’re not the only ones who appreciate a warm, dry home when the harsh winter hits the Idaho Falls, ID area. That’s right, pests are also out and looking for a more favorable spot to spend the next few months. They might find your home the perfect place and be reluctant to leave once the weather turns again.

Prepare Your Home

At Pest Control Services, we often get calls from distressed homeowners when they realize that unwanted guests have invaded their home for the winter. While we love providing our clients with the best possible pest control services, we would also like to help you avoid these situations. Here are a few tips on preparing your home for the winter that will make it a little more difficult for the pests that no one wants to find their way into your home.

• Pre-treat your home. It can’t be overstated how effective a professional pre-treatment can be in preventing any pests from inhabiting your home can be. Ideally, this should be done before the cold weather hits, but there’s never a wrong time to get started. Our technicians can treat all areas of your home, including attics, to help keep you pest-free all winter
• Visually inspect your home and roofline for defects. Any area where your siding might be loose, or your eaves and gutters have separated, is an ideal spot for an opportunistic pest to find an entry point.
• Don’t forget your vents. Dryer and other external vents are often favored spots to nest, due to the frequent heat that comes through them. Be sure all are covered to help deter entry.
• Don’t forget your landscaping and foundation. Shrubs, bushes and trees can be sprayed in the fall, and your foundation can be treated in spring and fall. Pre-treating these areas will help prevent both your yard and your home from becoming host to pests.
• Don’t use sprays, deterrents or other pest control with questionable ingredients when DIY-ing the job. Our technicians use eco-friendly formulas to protect your home and your family.

If you’d like our professional services to help ready your home this winter, or anytime, contact Pest Control Services today. One of our licensed technicians would be happy to help you prepare your home for an enjoyable season.

An infestation of rodents can be a significant problem for any home, building or office. However, there are steps which can be taken to minimize any harm rats or mice might cause. Here is a guide to handling your rodent problems as efficiently as possible.

Many might find it easier to turn a blind eye to the rodents living around them, considering they may not seem to be causing a tremendous amount of problems to your household. However, there are good reasons to be proactive about rats and mice.

Signs of Rodents

Rodents will gnaw on everything from chair legs to wall insulation, damaging your property and the structural integrity of your building. They will also chew on electrical wires, creating fire hazards if not eradicated. Furthermore, rodents rodents are also unsanitary. If not handled, they will spread diseases around the house and contaminate food, while leaving droppings all over the floor. This can lead to diseases like leptospirosis, plague, salmonellosis, rat bite fever and murine typhus.

Implementing heightened sanitation measures and repairing damaged property destroyed by rodents is essential. However, directly addressing your rodent problem is the only long-term solution. Some quick ways to kill rodents fast are by using rat poisons and traps. Rat poisons, while useful, can be unsafe, especially around small children and pets.

Traps are more convenient than poisons. Not only do they kill or incapacitate rodents, but they hold them in one place so you will not have to search for the bodies of rodents all over the house. Traps might be useful for handling a few rodents. However, if they are invading your home faster than traps can catch them, professionals may need to be called in.

Fall doesn't slow down some pests in our area. In fact, it drives many species indoors to look for food and shelter for the coming winter. It takes preventative measures to keep pests outside where they belong. If you don't act quickly enough, you could end up with an infestation in your home. Pest Control Services has a few pests to look out for as fall enters Idaho this year.

3 Pests to Look Out for This Fall

Stinkbugs

Stinkbugs are notorious fall pests, showing up as summer comes to an end. They crawl on most every exterior surface looking for ways inside your home. These pests look for warm places in which to nest through the winter, and your home is the ideal place for them. They come in when you open windows and doors and will sneak through cracks and crevices around your home's exterior.

Rodents

Rodents are seen more often in the fall than in other seasons. They come indoors for shelter when cooler weather moves in and will build nests in attics, basements and other areas of your home. These pests contaminate food and surfaces, leaving behind feces, bacteria and viruses as they travel indoors. They also chew through walls and wires and create costly damage in a short time.

Ants

Ants also come indoors during the fall to search for food and water. Some ant species will stay indoors and create a colony in random places such as behind baseboards and inside kitchen cabinets. Odorous house ants and pavement ants are two common species that you might encounter during the fall. If you see one or two ants on the counter or the floor, it won't be long until you see more showing up inside your home.

Fall Pest Prevention for Your Home

Pests don't always disappear when the weather turns colder. Sometimes they show up inside your home and invade your living and sleeping areas, making your life miserable throughout the fall and the long winter. Contact Pest Control Services for a free estimate and to schedule an inspection with our trained pest management technicians. We'll inspect your home for pests, eliminate the infestation and provide recurring services to keep out nuisance insects and rodents from season to season.

Keeping your lawn luscious and green requires maintenance all throughout the year, and winter is no exception. Your winter preparation is critical for your lawn's health in the following spring; don't neglect your lawn just because the temperature is dropping and the nights are getting longer. Spending the time to properly winterize your lawn will ensure that it comes out of the long winter in top shape.

Feed the Roots

As winter approaches, your lawn will begin to shift into its winter growth habit. Most grasses will prepare for the cooler season by shifting their food reserves from their leaves into their roots; the roots will remain active throughout the winter even as snow covers your lawn. Apply winter fertilizer in the fall before the first snow to give your roots plenty to feed on until spring returns.

Mow Regularly

Your lawn may not grow as quickly in the fall, but it's still important to keep it mowed. Each type of grass has an optimal length; mow your lawn as necessary to keep it trimmed to this length. A properly trimmed lawn is more resistant to fungal growth while covered in snow, and maintaining your lawn's length will also keep your yard in control for the early days of spring.

Keep Leaves Tidy

Allowing leaves to sit on your lawn will block sunlight and promote fungal growth on your yard. As leaves fall throughout the autumn, keep them raked up and dispose of them in your compost bin as needed. Keeping your leaves under control will prevent dead spots from forming over the winter.

Stop Regular Watering

As freezing temperatures approach, watering your lawn may do more harm than good. Leftover water can form ice overnight, potentially damaging sensitive plant tissue. Your lawn should be able to subsist on natural precipitation; if you must water your lawn, try to do it on warmer days that don't present a freezing risk.

Businesses face a variety of consequences if the building is infested by pests. Many types of pests will enter the commercial property in search of food, water and shelter from the elements. They can quickly build nests out of sight, so it is important to be able to recognize the early signs of an infestation. This information is valuable when you need to make a decision on how to deal with the problem. Businesses can face fines, fees and other penalties if the pest infestation is not eliminated.

Pest Infestations, Commercial Properties

Pest infestations are common in residential buildings, and most people understand that this happens when the pests are searching for food and water. However, the attraction to a stable source of nourishment is not limited to homes. Pests will also enter commercial buildings, warehouses, offices and other businesses. They will also seek shelter from harsh elements, and they tend to infest the property during times when the temperatures are extremely hot or cold.

You can detect these pests by looking for the early signs of an infestation, which include the following:

1. Pest feces: Many pests leave a trail of urine or feces behind, and this substance can leave a foul odor in the air. Although it is distressing to see this particular sign, it does allow you to become aware of their presence and take action.
2. Nesting materials: Many insects and rodents will build nests from different types of materials, which they can find lying around on the floor. They can also build their nests by using parts of the building itself, and this activity usually leaves some kind of a trail behind. Be aware of any unexplained debris that appears suddenly.
3. Damage to the building: Pests like rodents and termites will actually use the wood that they can find inside of the building to construct a nest. Some of this damage will be invisible, but some of it might show. Be aware of any structural damage that could be caused by pests. Some rodents will chew into wires, for example.

Pest Control Services

Our service providers have the experience and skills necessary to detect and eliminate various types of pests from your commercial property. We can help you to prevent damage to your reputation by efficiently exterminating pests from the building. To make an informed decision, you require reliable information about the early signs of a pest infestation. For the best results, act as quickly as possible. Our service representatives can answer any questions you may have about the specific types of pests that tend to enter commercial buildings. For additional information, or to get a quote on our services, contact Pest Control Services today.

If you are like other people who are looking forward to a fun and exciting summer, you are probably making plans so that you can get the most from the warm weather. You could be planning a vacation to one of your favorite destinations, which is a thrilling experience. You don't want to get so caught up in the excitement that you forget to protect yourself from bed bugs because these pests are nearly impossible to manage. Luckily, you can keep bed bugs at bay by following a proven plan and keeping some tips in mind.

Safeguard Your Belongings

Placing your clothes and bags in a hotel room that has bed bugs will give them a chance to come home with you. You can reduce your odds of facing the threat by putting your personal belongings on the sink or in the bathtub the second you arrive. Even though these parasites are resourceful and relentless, they can't climb smooth surfaces, so your items will be safe for now. If you later notice any red flags in your room, you can leave the area and go to another hotel without bringing bed bugs along for the ride.

Inspect Your Room

You are ready to inspect your room once your clothes and bags are out of harm's way. You will want to start by the bed and check the mattress and sheet for possible warning signs. When bed bugs finish consuming a blood meal, they will often leave small red stains behind. You can also check for fecal matter if you don't want bed bugs to catch you off guard. Looking under and around the furniture is another step that will help you uncover a bed bug infestation before it's too late to respond.

Seal and Sanitize Your Clothes

Despite your best effort to locate bed bugs before going to a hotel, you won't always detect them since they are good at hiding. If you are serious about keeping them at bay so that you won't need to worry about the problem, seal your clothes in trash bags before you go home. With the clothes still in the bags, you must take them to the bathroom and place them in the dryer on the hottest setting for at least an hour, which will kill bed bugs and their eggs.

Few things in life are better than spending time with family and friends in your backyard on a summer day. This is a popular time of year to enjoy outdoor barbecues. Unfortunately, many pests like ants, flies, mosquitoes and other stinging insects are more prevalent during warm weather. In addition to being a nuisance, these pests may also pose a health risk. While ants and flies contaminate food, mosquitoes are known to carry diseases like malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus. Bees and wasp stings can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction. To keep your backyard barbecue or picnic as pest-free as possible, consider the following tips.

Remove Sources of Standing Water

Take the time to inspect your property for anything that could collect rainwater. This includes empty planters, birdbaths and other open containers. These standing pools of water attract mosquitoes and serve as breeding grounds for the dangerous insects.

Take the Sting Out

Stinging insects are drawn to scents. You should avoid cooking overly pungent food and wearing perfumes or colognes. Inspect your property for beehives and wasp nests. If you notice any, contact Pest Control Services. Removing bee and wasp colonies will reduce the chance that these stinging insects will attack.

Be Careful When You Eat

Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk. If you are planning an afternoon barbecue, try to serve the meal so that everyone can finish eating before these party crashers descend en masse.

Cover Food

Keep all food and beverages in sealed coolers or containers. This will prevent pests from contaminating your food. If possible, serve and store food indoors. Reserve your outdoor spaces for dining and entertaining.

Feeling proud of what you have done, you sit back and admire the lush and attractive color of your lawn, which was not easy to achieve. But the unthinkable happens a few days later; you notice your lawn is starting to fade and lose its vibrant appearance, and you don't know where to turn. If you are facing this problem and hunting for a way to solve it as soon as possible, common pests are likely to blame for the changes in your grass. Learning about the top three signs that pests are getting the best of your lawn will get you moving in the right direction.

Wilted Grass Blades

If you look at your lawn and noticed wilted blades of grass, beetles could be the source of the problem. These pests will lay eggs in your soil, and you will have trouble when they hatch. As larvae, the young pests will consume the roots of your grass, causing damage over time. By next summer, the larvae will grow into adult beetles and lay their own eggs, allowing the process to repeat until you do something to stop them in their tracks. You will want to move quickly when you see the red flags if you would like to keep your lawn in top shape for as long as possible.

Discolored Grass

Discolored grass probably means that chinch bugs have found your property and decided to call it home. When they feed on grass, they attach themselves to the blades and consume the nutrients. To get the most from each meal, chinch bugs release an anticoagulant from their saliva to keep the liquid flowing, but the effects don't wear off when they finish the meal. As a result, the remaining anticoagulant prevents your lawn from absorbing and retaining enough water to survive.

Holes and Mounds

In addition to damaging your grass, some pests can also harm the soil and create unsightly holes or mounds on your property. If you notice holes that were not there before, you have a mole infestation you need to manage before it's too late to contain the damage. Ants that decide to call your yard home will build large mounds that reduce the visual appeal of your lawn in a way you won't be able to overlook. As the ant colony grows over time, you will spot even more mounds in your yard unless you are proactive.

Pest Control Services Inc.

You might be searching for answers that will empower you to remove pests and get your lawn back to its former beauty. If you don't want to take unneeded risks when it comes to your yard, reach out to Pest Control Services Inc., and you will be glad you did. Our dedicated and kind experts will locate and eliminate the pests that are harming your lawn and provide you with impressive results. If you are ready to get started so that you can make your pest control problem a thing of the past, contact us today for a free quote.

Termites are small insects with segmented bodies that have a reputation for destroying any structure that is made from wood. Understanding the tastes of these insidious pests can help you to minimize the damage to your home or business property. Some scientists assert that these insects are related to the ancient cockroach, and their bodies appear to have traits similar to both roaches and ants. The soldier termite has a reddish tint to their head, and worker termites have translucent heads that are similar to their bodies. They will consume a large quantity of plants, feces, decaying leaves, and paper products. This is important to know because many of these other items may provide the termites with an initial attraction. Once they are in the area of your home, they may begin to smell the aroma of the wood inside the building.

Termites and Wood

Termites are primarily attracted to any materials that contain cellulose, which is an organic compound. They are capable of digesting wood and paper products because of the particular types of bacteria that grow inside of their abdomen. Their guts also contain a substantial amount of protozoa, which enables them to break down wood inside of their bellies. Other pests don’t have these traits, and this is a distinguishing characteristic. However, many customers may wonder if this creates a situation where the termite will end up preferring particular types of wood.

Termites tend to like digesting wood that has a decent level of moisture. They can consume water indirectly by eating wood that has the ability to retain moisture. For example, damp-wood termites will feed on stumps of trees that have been cut down, but they can also attract other types of termites into your area. Spring-wood is an example of a wood that will attract termites. Other types of wood that may attract these pests include:

• Spruce
• Teak
• Peruvian walnut
• Yellow pine
• Birch
• Red Oak

Pest Control Services

Termites can invade your property and damage the structure of the building without drawing attention to their presence. These pests are attracted to wood that contains moisture and cellulose properties. However, they will also enter your home if they detect the smell of decaying vegetation in the yard. This may bring them close enough to your door to allow them to smell the wood inside of your building. There are only a few types of wood that will repel termites. They have the capacity to consume almost any type of wood, but they also have their preferences as well. For example, homes containing furniture made from teak or Peruvian walnut may face a higher risk of termite infestations. For additional information about pest control, contact our team.

You spend a lot of time treating your grass and taking other steps to keep your yard in good shape, but you can’t seem to get your weed problem under control. A lot of people face this issue and don’t know what solution they should try to overcome it for good. 

Weeds will harm the look of your lawn if you don’t find a way to get rid of them, but they can also steal nutrients and water from your grass and the plants that you want to keep. If you would like to contain weeds before they get out of hand, learn about the most common ones and how you can address them. 

Crabgrass

Learning how to handle crabgrass is a wise step if your mission involves keeping your lawn at its best throughout the year. This weed will be a challenge to control if you don't eliminate it right away, but spotting and removing it in the spring will help. You can pull them up by the roots if you don't have a lot of crabgrass, but you can use an organic herbicide to treat large areas. 

Pigweeds

Pigweeds are a problem that your lawn will probably face in the late spring and early summer because they prefer a warm climate. Promptly pulling these weeds up from the root as soon as you discover them will make your job much easier. If pigweeds keep popping up in your garden and you need a viable solution, sprinkling some winter mulch will work wonders. With a little effort and a lot of vigilance, you should not have trouble keeping pigweeds at bay. 

Dandelions

Of all the weeds that you will battle in your quest for a green lawn, dandelions are among the most formidable. By the time they become visible, they have already established strong roots underground, so you will need to pull them up by the roots if you want to prevent them from coming back. 

While most dandelion seeds only travel about 30 feet from their source, ideal conditions will allow them to float for nearly a mile. You can make a lot of progress when it comes to reducing the number of dandelions in your yard, but getting rid of all of them is next to impossible. 

Pest Control Services

Dealing with weeds in your lawn can take a lot of time, and you won't always be able to handle the problem on your own. When you need to improve your results and take your lawn to the next level, you can't go wrong when you enlist the help of Pest Control Services. When you turn to our trusted team, we will provide you with a lawn of which anyone would be proud. We offer a number of specialty services, so be sure to give us a call and see how we can help!

Trying to identify an insect pest can be difficult at times, especially when looking at species as similar as termites and carpenter ants. The two groups are of similar size and shape and both tend to swarm around the same time of year, spring. Perhaps most importantly, both can cause significant structural damage to the home by wearing down wooden structures. However, there are several physical and behavioral characteristics that can help one distinguish between the two groups, making it easier to determine the best course of action for removal. 

Physical Differences

Color is often a helpful identifier, as carpenter ants tend to be some shade of red-brown, while worker and soldier termites are predominantly a very light cream color or even transparent. Color is not always helpful, however, as swarming termites tend to be similar in color to ants. Another way to tell the difference is the overall body shape of the insect. The last two segments of an ant’s body are clearly separated by a narrow area, often called a “waist”, while termites lack this obvious delineation. 

Other characteristics can be subtler but still helpful in identification. Both carpenter ants and termites have four wings during swarming, which are not present the rest of the year. Termite wings are all the same size, while the back pair of wings on carpenter ants are smaller than the front pair. The antennae are also distinct with ants having a clear bend in their antennae while those found on termites are straight.

Behavioral Differences

Perhaps one of the most apparent differences between these pest animals is what they are doing to damage the wood. Termites are capable of digesting wood products, which is relatively uncommon among animals, so the damage is caused by them eating the material. Carpenter ants do not ingest wood but cause damage by burrowing into it to create their nests. Small piles of wood shavings near holes are a sign of carpenter ants, since they push out the wood scraps rather than eating them. The wood chosen by the two groups can also vary, as carpenter ants typically seek out wet or rotting wood, while termites will even eat strong, fresh materials. 

The nest designs themselves are substantially different. Ants create very clean, smooth tunnels, but termite tunnels usually have a less finished appearance with some debris found inside. Another clear indication of termites is the presence of small tunnels of dirt and wood debris around the nest called mud tubes. Termites use these tubes to protect them when venturing outside the nest, as they must avoid drying out and typically stay out of direct light. Ants, however, can often be seen foraging in the open, even in bright rooms.

Bedbugs continue to plague the country as they spread out of control. It's difficult to keep them confined to a specific area since they're adept at hitchhiking to new locations. Once they're indoors, it doesn't take them long to move throughout a building and to infest every room. Bedbugs have a bad reputation, and we're here to bust certain myths that have spread over time.

3 Bedbug Myths

They only come out at night.

Though bedbugs are active mostly at night, they will look for a blood meal during the day. If these pests are in couches and other places where people sit, any movement could draw the bugs from where they're hiding. They'll feed day or night depending on when they ate their last meal.

They're only found in beds.

Bedbugs are found in many different places, such as in couches, between bus cushions, in carpets and behind baseboards. They can even hide behind the picture frames on the walls in a hotel. These bugs are great at hiding and will use most any crack and crevice to conceal their presence.

They don't transmit diseases.

Bedbugs have never been known to transmit diseases through bites. In most cases, people with insect-bite sensitivities only develop large welts and rashes. Other people may not develop any symptoms whereas others develop itching and sleeplessness. According to a recent study, Penn Medicine researchers found that bedbugs could spread a parasite that causes Chagas disease. This disease occurs mostly in Latin America and is spread through the bug's feces. This news makes the bedbug as threatening as the kissing bug, which is responsible for spreading the same disease.

Professional Bedbug Control

Bedbug infestations cause problems for businesses and residences across the country. They can infest everything from a house to a taxi and multiply by the hundreds in a few months. Without professional bedbug control, these pests will continue to infest your living space, increasing the risk of you carrying them to other locations. Pest Control Services provides residential treatments for bedbugs and will eliminate them from your home once and for all.

You're guaranteed one thing for certain every year: Pests will always try to invade your home. The pest population rises and falls each year depending on the weather. Increased rainfall means a boom in mosquitoes. Drier conditions mean more rodent infestations. If you're sure about one thing going into the New Year, it's that pests will be a problem in our area and across the country.

A 2018 Forecast for Pests in Our Area and Beyond

South and North

Warm temperatures and wet conditions will give rise to mosquitoes, ants and termites in the summer. During the winter, rodents and crawling insects will seek shelter indoors to escape from the cooler weather. These pests will linger indoors during 2018 and cause severe infestations toward the summer.

Midwest and West Coast

These regions experienced a warm and wet summer, which led to an increase in ticks, rodents, crawling insects and mosquitoes. Both regions are forecasted to have wetter and cooler winters. The residents who live here should be on the lookout for rodent infestations and higher mosquito populations, especially as the weather warms in 2018.

Pests in Our Northwest Service Area

The summer here in Idaho was hot and brought severe heat and drought to some places. The warmer weather and drier conditions increased the rodent population and sent the pests looking for new places to find water and shelter. The dry weather is expected to continue into the winter but bring about cooler temperatures overall. Mice and rats that have invaded homes will stay indoors through the winter and breed in the crawlspaces, the attics and other hidden places in your home.

Protect Your Home from Pests in 2018

You don't have to suffer through another year with pest infestations. A drier winter may send more rodents inside looking for water, food and shelter. As the temperatures drop, they'll stay inside where it's warm and they have protected areas in which to build nests. Pest Control Services in Idaho Falls has pest protection plans to keep insects and rodents out of your home. Our technicians can kill existing infestations and prevent recurrences throughout 2018.

It's the Thanksgiving holiday again, and that means it's time to put on the feed bag, to turn on the game and to relax for a long weekend. If you want to enjoy your holiday, you need to make sure that nothing ruins your special dinner. Pests are always on the lookout for food, and Thanksgiving is the perfect time for them to show up and cause problems.

5 Steps to Pest-Proof Your Home

Start with the lawn

Pests belong outside, but once their numbers have expanded, they spread out and invade your living areas. You'll want to mow the grass, to pull the weeds and to cut back the shrubs if you want to take out the pests' breeding and hiding spots. Maintaining your lawn goes a long way to keeping pest populations low and preventing insects from coming inside your home.

Seal cracks around your home

After maintaining your lawn, you'll want to seal up any cracks and crevices around your home. After all, those insects will look for places to go. Invest in some tubes of silicone or foam sealant, and plug up the cracks and crevices along the foundation and around windows and doors. Hard-to-spot gaps like those around dryer and attic vents should also be plugged.

Relocate the trash bins

Although it's great for you to keep your trash in covered bins, you should move them farther away from your home. If you keep the bins next to your house, it's easier for ants and other insects to find ways inside your home. Setting the bins near the road puts added distance between the trash, the bugs and your house.

Bees are amazingly active insects, and they seem busy all year in preparation for the brutal months of winter. Once the temperatures begin to drop, these insects seem to vanish from sight. Our clients ask questions about the hives they leave behind, and these questions are well-founded. Many hives appear to be empty or abandoned, so we get calls about these nests whenever the temperature begins to drop. People who observe this pattern year after year often wonder what happened to the bees, so this article will attempt to shed some light on the subject. 

As a general rule, we discourage anyone from removing them from the property before the hives can be disposed of in a safe and sanitary manner. Attempts at moving a beehive without professional assistance could be dangerous. It is clear that the bees have to go someone during the winter, and it is also clear that they are able to survive. Since they appear every spring, it is certain that most of the colony was able to withstand even the coldest months. The answer to this interesting question has to do with the unique ability of bees to survive as a group. 

Bee Clustering

Bees are able to survive the coldest months through an organization practice known as clustering. They will retreat to the innermost areas of the beehive and cluster around the queen bee in order to keep her warm throughout the winter. The survival of the entire hive depends on the ability of the worker bees to keep the queen from freezing to death, so this becomes the highest priority. The bees will also rotate in order to minimize the rate of death for the worker bees. The cluster must be able to keep this up for months at a time in order to survive. In regions where the temperatures drop far below zero, this requires a tremendous amount of energy. 

Energy sources for this activity are essential for the survival of the entire colony. As the bees move around, they will also produce body heat by shivering. This is an intense motion that also requires a lot of energy. To maintain the temperature necessary for survival, the bees will rotate and shiver throughout the winter. This also requires huge amounts of energy, and this is supplied by the honey collected all throughout the year. 

The summer is without a doubt the busiest time of the year for pest infestations. But just because football season is back doesn't mean the pests have gone away for good. In fact, because of the cooling temperatures, many pests start to seek shelter to protect themselves from the winter ahead. And that means scurrying into your warm and cozy home. 

With that said, here are three pests to look out for this fall in Idaho Falls.

Bed Bugs

If you travel often and stay in hotels, a bed bug is a pest you need to worry about. That's because you can easily bring one home with you on clothing or in luggage. And it only takes one bed bug to turn into a major infestation. 

The bad news: Bed bugs will bite and drink a few drops of your blood while you're sleeping. The good news: You won't feel its bite, and you don't have to worry about a bed bug transmitting any type of disease to a human. 

When a bed bug bites, it might cause swelling and redness. But nearly half of the homeowners who suffer a bed bug bite report not seeing any evidence of it. To relieve itching, you can use antihistamines or corticosteroids. 

Although the most common spot to find bed bugs is in or around your mattress, you can also find them in sofas, chairs or behind wall paper. When trying to eliminate bed bugs, you need to search through every corner and crevice. Simply throwing an infected mattress away won't help; you need to contact pest control for complete extermination. 

Cockroaches

OK, so everyone knows what cockroaches look like. It's likely you've seen a cockroach at one time or another. Once your home becomes infested with this pest, it can take a prayer and a miracle to get rid of it for good. That's because cockroach populations multiply quickly, and they're also extremely adaptable to any environment.

Although there are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches, only 30 of them can live among humans. In Idaho Falls, there are four species that homeowners need to worry about: American, Asian, German and Oriental cockroaches. 

Cockroaches are nocturnal pests that can live up to a month without food. If needed, they can survive by eating everything from booking bindings and furniture to glue and shoe linings. Each egg case includes 30 to 50 eggs.

Hobo spiders originated from Europe and derive their name from the method that they use to travel to new places. They are an aggressive species of house spiders. These spiders are common in Idaho and throughout the Northwestern part of the U.S., and their reach is spreading. If you see one of these spiders in your home, you may want to schedule an inspection with Pest Control Services Inc. so that we can help you to rid your home of these spiders and to take preventative measures to keep them from coming back.

What Hobo Spiders Look Like

Hobo spiders are brown and are between 11 and 14 millimeters long. Male spiders have an appendage that is swollen, and females have slightly larger abdomens. They have oblong abdomens with posterior spinnerets that you can see from above. These spiders have a dark band down their midline, and they are sometimes confused with brown recluse spiders.

Dangers Posed By Hobo Spiders

Hobo spiders will bite if they feel threatened. People who are bitten by the spiders may develop pain and redness. Some people believe that they cause necrotic lesions, but experts do not believe that they do. Instead, experts believe that brown recluse spiders are the likely culprits when people develop those types of lesions.

Signs That You Have A Spider Infestation

Hobo spiders build webs that are in a funnel shape with openings at both ends. One end will expand outward into a slightly curved sheet. Male spiders wander in a hunt for mates from June to October. Because of their wandering habits, male spiders are likelier to come into contact with humans and to bite. If you see these spiders and the funnel-shaped webs, you may have a hobo spider infestation.

Preventing Hobo Spiders

To keep hobo spiders out of your home, seal all of the exterior cracks on your home. You should also make certain that all of your doors and windows have screens. Keep clutter picked up from the floor so that they don't have places to hide. Be careful when you are moving boxes as they may scurry out. Try to keep your basement and garage as clutter-free as possible. It is also important to try to keep these areas dry.