What Winter Pests Are Common to Homes in the St. Louis Metro-East Area?
Since the weather has cooled and people have headed indoors to warm up, pests often get the same idea. Unfortunately, it may be your house that they’re retreating to. The homes in the St. Louis Metro-East area are prone to a variety of household pests, particularly in the winter. Here are a few to watch for.
Spiders
These creepy crawlies are among the most common winter pests that you’re likely to see. While the St. Louis Metro-East area is home to over 400 species of spiders, only two of them are dangerous: the brown recluse and the black widow. The odds are that the spiders you will see in your home this winter are the common house spider and the cellar spider. Neither is dangerous, but if you want to prevent them, simply ensure that you fill in all cracks and holes in your walls, and keep clutter to a minimum.
Mice and Rats
While spiders are a minor nuisance, rodents like mice and rats can be downright destructive. They’re masters at raiding food supplies, chomping their ways through linens and documents, and even causing house fires by chewing up electrical wires. They’re also notoriously filthy, carrying a wide variety of diseases.
Rodents are highly adaptable, and once they’ve found their way into your home, it is very difficult to eradicate them without the help of a professional. Your best bet is to keep them out in the first place. Fill in holes, install weather stripping around windows and doors, and keep the inside and outside of your home clutter-free.
Carpenter Ants
Unlike little black ants that commonly plague homeowners in the spring and fall, carpenter ants can cause significant damage. These pests chew tunnels through the wood in your home, including your attic, crawlspace, and deck, to form their colonies. As the colonies grow, so does the destruction caused by carpenter ants.
Roaches
When it comes to pests, roaches are among the biggest nuisances. They can adapt to almost any type of condition, making them extremely difficult to get rid of. Roaches may live in your appliances, pipes and plumbing fixtures, electronics, baseboards, cupboards, drawers, and just about anywhere else you can think of. They’ll eat nearly anything, so simply attempting to starve them is impossible.
If you’ve discovered any of these common household pests, don’t try to get rid of them yourself. Permanently eradicating them requires special knowledge of their biology and behavior, as well as chemicals and tools that aren’t available at your local retailer. Brady Pest and Termite Management’s experienced professionals can help you identify pest problems and take care of them quickly and safely.
