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Common Pests
Spiders & Centipedes
Cockroaches
Entry: Cockroaches can enter your home in many different ways, from the outside through cracks and crevices, vents, sewer and drain pipes. We even bring them in on products like grocery bags, boxes, purses and on our person!
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Evasiveness: Because cockroaches typically are nocturnal, if you’ve seen one, you probably haven’t seen them all. The few cockroaches you see by day could mean they were likely forced out by overcrowding; a possible sign of severe infestation.
Ants
How Do They Get in the Home?
Spiders commonly enter homes in two primary ways: entering through open, poorly screened windows and doors and through cracks and gaps around door and window frames. Most of the time, spiders come inside the home looking for prey. The other common method of entry is accidentally hitchhiking inside boxes, on outdoor items and numerous other things that are brought inside a home or business. Contact your pest management professional if you find spiders in your home. Your pest management professional will conduct an inspection and create a comprehensive control plan that is based on the inspection findings.
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Termites
Termites are often called the “silent destroyer” because they may be secretly hiding and thriving in your home or yard without any immediate signs of damage. All termites consume cellulose-based plant materials. Unfortunately, all homes, regardless of their construction type, can provide cellulose food for termite infestation.
Ant control can be difficult, but there are some things you should know about how ants’ behavior can lead to big headaches for you and your home:
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Entry: Ants can enter through even the tiniest cracks, seeking water and sweet or greasy food substances in the kitchen pantry or storeroom areas.
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Scent trails: Ants leave an invisible chemical trail which contains pheromones for others to follow once they locate the food source.
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Nest locations: They can nest about anywhere in and around your house; in lawns, walls, stumps, even under foundations.
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Colony size: Colonies can number up to 300,000 to 500,000, and whole colonies can uproot and relocate quickly when threatened.
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Colony Lifetime: A colony can live a relatively long lifetime. Worker ants may live seven years, and the queen may live as long as 15 years.
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Do-it-yourself ineffectiveness: Most do-it-yourself ant control approaches kill only the ants you see. Some truly effective treatments can penetrate and destroy nests to help prevent these pests from returning. Also, home remedies don’t account for the fact that different kinds of ant infestations require different treatments.
Bed Bugs
Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation
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Seeing the bugs. Adult bed bugs are about the shape and size of an apple seed.
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Case skins. As the juvenile bugs grow, they shed their skins, discovery of which can indicate their presence.
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Defecation. After feeding, bed bugs return to their harborage to hide where they defecate black to brown stains on porous surfaces or black to brown mounds on nonporous surfaces.
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Bites also may indicate bed bug activity, but further signs will need to be found, since other sources can cause red welts on the skin.
Fleas
How To Identify and Manage a Flea Problem
Since fleas are relatively easy to see in their adult stage, most of the attention is directed at adult fleas. Adult fleas are usually easy to locate, especially if the homeowner and their pets return to the house after a long vacation or other absence during which the resident flea adults were not able to take a blood meal. Upon returning, the homeowners are often greeted by fleas jumping around and trying to land on them and their pets.
The flea eggs, larvae and pupae are another situation. Since these stages are much more secretive and much less active, they are found in out-of-the-way places like behind, under or in the furniture; in the pet’s bedding; inside cracks and grooves in the floors; and in the carpets. Flea eggs that were deposited by the female adult, fall off your pets as they move, allowing them to be disbursed throughout the environment where a pet spends time. Flea eggs represent about one-half of the entire flea population present in an average home. Larvae make up about 35 percent of the flea population.
Rodents
Rodents’ biology and habits can make them challenging to control, and they present a serious menace to your home. If you’re in need of rodent control services, here’s what you should know about these pests:
Rats
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Instincts: Rats are instinctively wary of things new to their environment, including rat control measures such as traps and bait, and colonize in attics, burrows, under concrete and porches, in wall voids and other hard-to-reach places.
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Disease: Rats can harbor and transmit a number of serious diseases. They can also introduce disease-carrying parasites such as fleas and ticks into your home.
Mice
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Access: They invade your home seeking food, water and warmth.
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Contamination: Each mouse can contaminate much more food than it eats.
Bees & Wasps
(Stinging Pests)
What to Expect From Your Rabka Man
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We can take the sting out of summer!
Warm weather tends to bring everyone outside, including stinging pests. While the stings from wasps, bees, hornets, or yellow jackets may hurt, they can also cause more serious health issues like painful swelling, infections, nausea, and in rare cases even death. Not only do you need to worry about the stinging pests themselves, but also about locating and removing their breeding places.
If you find a nest on your property, removing it safely and completely can be difficult. The Rabka Man can come out and perform an inspection of your yard and home. Once he locates their nest, he can treat the pests as well as remove the source.
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Stinging Insect Control Down to a Science
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We know how to stop the sting.
In the warm months, stinging insects buzz around your home, often building nests inside attics and gutters, or under decks or eaves. It is important to find and seal cracks and crevices to keep these pests from migrating indoors.
With award-winning training and advanced technology, your Rabka Man will look for conditions that invite stinging insects, tackle current infestations, and remove any nests to help prevent future stingers from showing up. With more than 160 hours of training just in the first year, your Rabka Man will know the classification and behavior of stinging insects so he can target his solution to your home.