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Posted on December 8th, 2017
Pest Control 
Written by Jacob LanderYou’ve had your home treated for pests all summer long and now that it’s getting cold outside, you just might be wondering if winter pest control service really makes sense and if you need pest control through the winter. After all, the wasps seem to be gone, and you haven’t seen much in the way of stinkbugs or flies lately, so…
We get it, who doesn’t want to save a few bucks right before the BIG holiday shopping spree? December can bring with it many expenses, and pest control might not figure heavily into your plans. You might even reason, “when was the last time I actually saw a bug anyway? Maybe I could just temporarily suspend my pest service until next spring.” We’d like to explain some of the major reasons pest control is necessary in the winter, and why keeping your pest control service active in the winter is a good idea.
Allow us to explain these features in greater detail.
Many insect species do NOT go away in the winter. Their numbers can diminish, but their nests and life cycles do not. Spiders are still quite present during the winter. The cold outside cuts through their numbers heavily, but it’s not cold in your house. Any spiders who manage to make it into your structure, or are already present in, say, an attic or crawlspace, will do just fine through the winter and, like other pests, will eventually make their way into the more visible areas of your home. Spiders are not the only pests that remain through the colder months. There are several wintry pests that manage just fine in through the frost and rain.
Along with roaches, fleas, and spiders, ants are another pest well-suited to surviving the colder season. In fact, it’s a survival trait of our common sugar ants to seek out warmth and shelter when temperatures drop. If winter truly killed off ants, we’d never see them again come spring! As the frosts come and the rain becomes frigid, ants will actually seek out your home. Next to rodent control, ant extermination is still our number one requested service through the winter.
If you’re not seeing bugs lately, that’s because our current service is really working! Every time we have serviced your home, we’ve actually built upon previous treatments to establish a virtually impenetrable barrier against insect intrusion around your home. In order to better explain how this functions, let’s get into why we’ve chosen the particular products we use:
Unlike publicly obtainable pest control products you’d find in a big-box store, the commercial-grade products used by our technicians have a long lasting residual effect. In fact, they are often referred to as “residuals” in the pest control industry. These are pesticides that do not kill instantly like a “knock-down” pesticide, but slowly, the trade-off being that the treatment lasts for much, much longer. We use products designed to slowly remove any potential of the pests to enter your home, and once the insect population is gone or distant from your structure, we switch to a long-lasting “repellant” to KEEP them away. By refreshing that protective barrier every other month, a strong insect-killing base is established, which both repels and keeps your home pest-free.
Another trouble with ceasing pest control during the winter months is the weather, itself. If your pest service is stopped for the winter, then winter rain and snow, any harsh weather in general, erode the barrier quicker than in summer months. Soon, your home becomes vulnerable again, as the protective base wears thin or is removed completely. Since cold winter months push insects, such as spiders and ants, to seek shelter inside warm indoor environments like your home, this actually makes winter months a HIGH RISK time of year for certain pest infestations. In short, a bad time to have no barrier.
There’s more. Other insects, such as queen wasps, overwinter in old nests or in the ground, preparing to start a new colony in springtime. Winter preventative pest control treatments proactively work to limit overwintering insect reproductives, and they can drastically reduce insect populations in the springtime. What we do through the winter keeps pests from being able to proliferate in the spring.
We all know that rodents can quickly cause hundreds of dollars worth of damage to plumbing, electrical wiring, heating systems, and other components in your home. Chewed electrical wires and rodent-borne illnesses (like hantavirus) put homes, pets, and families at risk.
Our Silver, Gold and Platinum pest protection plans each include active detection and prevention devices designed to knock rodents down before they ever get inside your home. By maintaining these devices each service for active rodent prevention, our technicians are able to actively monitor problem areas, detect early signs of rodent activity and place control devices where they can protect your home. This low cost rodent prevention system drastically reduces the chances of you having to pay out big money to fix damage caused by rodents within your home. A big part of our ongoing service is inspection, and stopping problems early, before they can evolve into serious issues.
Whether it’s a vehicle, your furnace, or your pest control service, simple planned maintenance is easier and far less expensive than reacting to breakdowns. Here is a real example of how canceling your winter pest control service can actually cost you more in the long run:
Let’s say your home was last treated in September. With the holidays looming, you decide in October to look at how much you might be able to save by postponing your pest control service until springtime. Since we come every other month you won’t get your normal $68 bill in November or $68 again in January. By March, however, the bugs and rodents are out in force again. Spring is when most pests begin fast-tracking their reproductive advances and building their numbers. If they’ve managed to overwinter in or near your home, they’ll start advancing right there, from ground zero. This gives them free reign over your structure right from the get-go. If you’ve cancelled service for the winter, the protective barrier is gone and we’ll have to start all over to rebuild a complete barrier. The means a full interior and exterior treatment costing $199. You saved 2x$68=$136 ,and now are spending $199 to start service again! In the meantime, your home has been left at risk without the protection and warranty against ants, spiders, and other bugs provided by our ongoing pest protection plan. In the end, you would have been much better off keeping your home protected through the winter.
To summarize why winter pest control is important, on going service provides better residual protection, early rodent detection and prevention, and it actually SAVES you money. Letting us protect your home from pests year-round is the BEST pest control decision for your home!
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