Summer is here, which means more time outdoors for many of us! Despite the summer heat, there’s still plenty to enjoy outdoors — and indoors as well.
Unfortunately, humans aren’t the only ones who get more active in the summer months. All sorts of pests come out in force in the summertime, and they can put a real damper on our outdoor summer fun.
Here at EcoTek Pest Control, we understand the frustration that summer pests can bring, and we’re happy to help you with residential or commercial pest control services in the greater Spokane, Washington, area.
But before we come out and treat your home or business, we want to arm you with knowledge about the most common summer pests. Plus, there are plenty of strategies to try before calling the pros.
Below, you’ll learn about the most common summer pests in our area, plus prevention tips for each one.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are the most common summer pests. They love summer because they have more food sources to choose from— specifically, you and your family! These blood-sucking insects are more than just a nuisance, too. While most mosquito bites merely cause an irritating, itchy bump, some can do a lot more.
Every year, around 700 million people globally contract an illness via mosquito bite, and over a million die from mosquito-borne illnesses each year. These diseases include malaria, dengue and West Nile virus.
What You Can Do
Mosquitoes breed anywhere they can find standing water, and they don’t need much water at all to do so. The simplest way to reduce mosquitoes on your property is to reduce or remove standing or stagnant water, reducing their ability to breed.
Cleaning your gutters can also help, as gutters are often a hidden location for standing water. Basic lawn and property maintenance can also help.
If you’re struggling with mosquitoes indoors or on your screened-in porch or sunroom, make sure that your doors, windows and screens are properly functioning. Mosquitoes are pretty good at finding gaps under doors and holes in your screens, so shoring up these points of entry can help a lot.
Of course, store-bought mosquito repellant is another option. Citronella candles or sprays featuring certain botanical oils may offer limited, temporary protection.
If your efforts don’t do enough to reduce the mosquito population, reach out to mosquito removal and control experts, and we’ll take care of the problem for you.
Ants
Ant populations are widespread, and finding some ants in your yard isn’t necessarily a problem. But when those ants start to invade your home or otherwise become a nuisance, you’ll want relief, and fast.
Thankfully, Spokane is not home to many biting ants. Two types of ants commonly become a nuisance here: carpenter ants and odorous house ants. Carpenter ants do burrow into wood and can cause structural damage if not addressed. Odorous house ants are more of a nuisance: they’re those tiny black or brown ants that seem to find any and all sweet foods or sweet food residue.
What You Can Do
Dealing with ant infestations can be very challenging. It’s hard enough to find and eliminate points of entry to your home, and it’s extremely difficult to eliminate entire colonies yourself. Ants build vast underground networks that can be hard to penetrate, and you could end up doing collateral damage with harmful insecticides in your effort to get rid of ants.
Ant bait traps often work on a short-term basis within your home, discouraging a particular colony from coming back to the location with the bait. However, they rarely if ever kill the colony. There are many “natural” home remedies for ants as well, like diatomaceous earth, hand soap or even peppermint. These solutions are hit and miss and will pretty much never work long-term.
With ants, the truth is you need professional ant removal services if you want to deal with the infestation properly. When you’re ready to do it right, give us a call.
Ticks
Ticks love the summer, too. In fact, they’re more active in spring and summer than the rest of the year—as it happens, the same parts of the year where we tend to be outdoors, too.
While ticks aren’t as widespread in Washington as in other parts of the US, they are widespread enough to be concerning, especially if you have wooded or natural property. Also, one species of tick that is present here, the Western Black-legged Tick, is known to carry Lyme disease, which can lead to a host of complications if contracted and not quickly treated.
Ticks are small and don’t cause pain when they latch on, making them hard to catch. Once a tick has fully attached itself, removing the tick can be quite difficult.
To prevent ticks, reach out to the tick removal and control experts at EcoTek Pest Control.
What You Can Do
Ticks are a challenge to deal with on your own. You can keep the risk down by mowing your property, eliminating the tall grass that allows ticks to hop onto your legs more easily. The CDC offers guidance which mostly boils down to “stay away from the places where ticks live” or create barriers that ticks won’t want to cross.
There are consumer-grade pesticides available as well, but it will be difficult for you to apply these uniformly everywhere that ticks live (like in the tops of trees). Again, the best solution for complete tick control is to contact us. The professional pest control experts from EcoTek team will completely address your tick issues.
