Declutter
Pests love nooks and crannies and fun places to hide among your clutter. The holidays typically bring a massive amount of clutter into the home and outside of it. From gift boxes to wrapping paper, packaging to recyclables to food waste, and more, your property can become a haven for pests of all types. Roaches and rodents love clutter, so getting rid of breeding grounds is key.

Inspect
Another way to facilitate holiday pest control is by inspecting things that come into your home over the holidays. From bedding to boxes, pests can hitch a ride straight into your house on lots of different things especially if those things were being stored outside before they got to you. Cracks, holes and crevices make perfect entryways for unwanted visitors. Be sure to check your home regularly for these passageways and block them or fix them to prevent pests from coming in. Don’t forget, doors, windows and chimneys should be checked as well.
If you happen to find a bug or other sign that your home has pests, it’s time to bring in the professionals. Call Southern & Sovereign Pest Control and take care of that pest problem now (833) 952-1599.

Organize and Repair
During the colder months, pests are seeking shelter from dipping temperatures. Some of the most bothersome pets in January are rodents, and cockroaches – none of which you want to take up residence in or around yours.

Store your garbage in sealed containers and dispose of it regularly. Don’t keep stacks of broken-down cardboard laying around garages as this makes the perfect home for an opportunistic pest looking to get in out of the cold. Also, be sure to store your firewood at least 20 feet away from the house or any structure and 5 inches off the ground to avoid an infestation.Store your garbage in sealed containers and dispose of it regularly. Don’t keep stacks of broken-down cardboard laying around garages as this makes the perfect home for an opportunistic pest looking to get in out of the cold. Also, be sure to store your firewood at least 20 feet away from the house or any structure and 5 inches off the ground to avoid an infestation.

Since rodents and other pests can enter your home through the smallest of spaces, be sure to repair fascia and soffits. If they’re rotted, pests can access these areas and enter your home quite easily. Once pests, like rodents, get inside your home, not only will they seek out food, rodents can also chew through wiring, insulation, sheetrock and many other areas of your home.

Benjamin Franklin famously advised fire-threatened Philadelphians in 1736 that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Clearly, preventing fires is better than fighting them. As is the case with most things which is why the saying has stood the test of time.

It is more more cost effective to prevent an infestation. Southern & Sovereign Pest Control can help you eliminate an infestation or stop one before it starts.
Call SPC today! (833) 952-1599

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Some common pests hiding in your Christmas tree:

• Mites
• Sawfly
• Aphids
• Spiders
• Adelgids
• Bark Beetles
• Praying Mantises
• Pine Needle Scale

Pest Prevention:

• Vigorously shake the tree before bringing it into your home.
• Look out for bird nests, since they may contain parasites such as mites and lice.
• Beware Spruce Spider mites appear as tiny red and brown dots when shaken out of Christmas trees. Vaccuum all discarded fallen droppings.
• Cinara Aphids and their eggs are often hidden down inside the lower branches of Christmas trees where they are hard to find.
• The Praying Mantis and Gypsy Moth will lay eggs in Christmas trees. Look for the walnut-sized tan egg masses. If you find any, remove them.

The post Christmas Tree Hitchhikers appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

Thus far 2017 has been warmer than usual. Warm weather wakes hibernating pests from their winter hiding spots. Due to pests and insect species being able to survive the warm winter weather, they may appear earlier and more abundantly. When you mix the warmer weather with the amount of rain, expect to see more pest in the next few weeks, especially snakes, spiders and mosquitoes.

There are some things you can do to reduce the presence and the negative impacts of pests. One of the best control plans is to get an early start on control. If you wait until summer, you might lose the battle and have a heavy infestation.

• Check for debris around your house.
• Remove any firewood stored near the home.
• Remove leaf piles (perfect places for snakes to hide) and keep yard well landscaped.
• Cracks by doors and walls should be covered, and wooden boxes should be checked closely.
• You can disrupt the breeding of mosquitoes by eliminating areas of standing water (anything from flower pots, clogged gutters, birdbaths and old tires).
• To prevent ants, earwigs and other invasive pests from entering your home this spring, make sure your house is properly sealed, with window screens in good condition and weather stripping around the doors.

The post Warmer Weather Pushes Pests from a Winter’s Rest appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• Christmas trees can harbor various insects.
• Vigorously shake the tree before bringing it into your home.
• Look out for bird nests, since they may contain parasites such as mites and lice.
• Spruce spider mites appear as tiny red and brown dots when shaken out of Christmas trees.
• Some Christmas tree hitchhikers are Spiders, Cinara Aphids, Bark Beetles, Mites & Psocids (Bark Lice).
• Insects brought into the warmth of a home behave as though spring has come and become active again.
• Cinara Aphids and their eggs are often hidden down inside the lower branches of Christmas trees where they are hard to find.
• The Praying Mantis and Gypsy Moth will lay eggs in Christmas trees. Look for the walnut-sized tan egg masses. If you find any, remove them.

The post Fun Fact Friday – Christmas Tree Pests appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• Chinch bugs in large numbers, can devastate a lawn.
• Chinch bugs flourish during summer months, with infestations peaking in July.
• Adult Chinch bugs overwinter in leaf litter and other dense thatch areas that offers them shelter.
• Infested lawns display discolored patches, which are usually circular in shape and found in sunny locations.
• Adult Chinch bugs rarely measure over 6 mm in length, are small, black bugs with white wings folded over the back. Nymphs are bright red after hatching, then darken as they approach maturity.
• Proper aeration, fertilization, irrigation, mowing, and pest control will reduce the potential of Chinch bug infestations.
• Chinch bugs will continue doing damage year round. Two generations typically occur each year, and a partial third generation occurs during years with long summers.
• Keep lawns well-watered, especially during hot summer months. Mow lawns at the recommended maximum height and apply insecticide to the infested areas.
• As they feed, Chinch bugs inject a toxin causing the grass to wither, turning from a healthy green color to a brown-yellow color, and finally dies. Damage typically occurs first in water-stressed areas along the edges of the lawn or where the grass is growing in full sunlight.

The post Fun Fact Friday – Lawn Pests that Destroy Your Lawn Part IV appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• An adult female flea bites up to 400 times a day.
• Some ants can lift 20 times their own body weight.
• Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a person’s head.
• A queen termite can lay as many as 1,000 eggs a day.
• Fleas can jump up to eight feet, which is 150 times their own height.
• Mice can live up to 2 years, however they can produce up to 60 offspring a year.
• Firefly light is unique to each species. Each blinking pattern is an optical signal that helps fireflies find potential mates.
• Ladybugs bleed from their knees when they feel threatened. The foul-smelling fluid seeps from their leg joints, often leaving yellow stains on a surface
• House flies taste with their feet, which are millions of times more sensitive to sugar than the human tongue. House flies also generally stay within one mile of where they were born.

The post Fun Fact Friday – Interesting Bug Facts appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

Tis the season of the fresh pine smell of evergreen needles, holiday spirit and gifts that keep on crawling.

There is nothing festive about uninvited holiday guests that overstay their welcome, nesting beneath your floors, under carpets or in the walls. Once inside, they will seek out and contaminate food supplies. And since prevention is always better than reaction, when choosing a tree, be sure to inspect it carefully for those unwanted invaders; aphids, ants, bark beetles, mites, moths, insects, and spiders. Examine the undersides of the branches for egg cases and check out the trunk, too. Any small holes with sawdust trails? If so, sign of bark beetles. Always remove any bird nests, as these can contain mites. Reject any tree that appears infested with insect pests.

Don’t forget to vigorously shake the tree before bringing it indoors. In addition, decorations made of cloth can be bug magnets, especially for moths. When storing decorations include cedar blocks and/or mothballs.

The post Fun Fact Friday – Tips for those Uninvited Holiday Guests that Overstay their Welcome appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• Assassin bugs or “kissing bugs” get their names from their habit of biting humans on the face near the lips while they sleep.
• Assassin bugs can transmit serious diseases, such as Chagas disease, to humans.
• Chagas disease, can lead to long-term cardiac damage.
• At night, Assassin bugs are attracted to bright white house lights.
• Assassin bugs lie in ambush for their insect prey.
• Assassin bugs particularly like hiding between mattresses.
• Assassin bugs look for cracks or crevices as entry points into the home.
• Assassin bugs work their way into homes and search out dark, cool places to stay during the day, only leaving again at night for food.
• Cockroaches will die 3 to 4 seconds after the bite of assassin bug.

The post Fun Fact Friday – Assassin the “Kissing” Bug appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• Except Antarctica, Bees are found on every continent.
• The walking stick has the ability to regenerate lost limbs.
• Grasshoppers are herbivores, which means they eat only plants.
• Carpenter Ants originate from large nests in dead or dying trees.
• Approximately 2,000 silkworm cocoons are needed to produce one pound of silk.
• Ants communicate with one another by using pheromones (chemical signals) on their trails.
• Rumor is the Earwig got its name from crawling into your ears while sleeping on the ground.
• Using its highly toxic venom to kill insects and other small animals, the “Death Stalker” scorpion is one of the most dangerous scorpions.

The post Fun Facts – Insects, Bees & Bugs III appeared first on Southern Pest Control.

• A snail can sleep for three years.
• A snail’s reproductive organs are in its head.
• The average housefly lives for one month.
• A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
• A dragonfly can spot an insect moving 33 feet away.
• The blood of insects is yellow, green or blue due to lack of hemoglobin.
• The largest cockroach on record is one measured at 3.81 inches in length.
• Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
• A bee must visit several thousand flowers in order to make one tablespoon of honey.
• In order to collect enough nectar for a pound of honey, a honeybee will travel an average of 43,000 miles.

The post Fun Facts – Insects, Bees & Bugs appeared first on Southern Pest Control.