There they are again — those strange scratching and skittering sounds that might be coming from the wall. Surely, it’s not what you dread most — a rodent infestation (ugh!). Unfortunately, mice, rats, and other rodents do move into buildings, seeking warmth, food, and shelter. While winter’s cold is a primary force driving these critters indoors, storms, rain, and drought can do so, too. Before you panic over the sounds, look for other signs of a rodent infestation. Rest assured, if you need rodent control, Mosquito Joe® will handle it for you.

Droppings

If you discover dark gray, brown, or black pellets that look like grains of wild rice scattered in a drawer, on the breadboard, or in your cupboards, those are likely rodent droppings. (Cockroach droppings look similar.) Droppings left near a food source are often the first signs of a rodent infestation people encounter in their homes.

Gnaw Marks

Mice and rats chew through cereal and cracker boxes in search of food. If you find bite marks on cardboard boxes or plastic bags, it’s a good indication that you may have rodents in the house. The larger the tooth marks, the bigger the beast that left them.

Chewed Wires or Materials

Rodents chew on everything. Once they are in your home, they continue chewing — on the baseboards, drywall, doors, electrical cords, ledges, and anything that gets them closer to food.

Urine Stains

Urine stains are another common sign of a rodent infestation. The urine may be soaked up by cardboard, paper towels, and other absorbent materials. In that case, you’ll just see the stain left behind. You may also notice a dirty smudge or smear along your baseboards. These are urine stains tracked by tiny feet as they move about your home.

Nesting Materials

If you discover shredded paper, paper towels, fabric, or other small bits of soft material gathered or in a pile, you have found a rodent’s nesting materials. While they sometimes nest for comfort, the most common reason they nest is because they are planning a family.

Scratching or Scurrying Sounds

Back to the unexplained sounds: Gnawing can sound like scratching, and rodents make scurrying, scuttling sounds as they race across the floor, along the baseboards, or within walls. Chances are you are hearing rodents if you’re also hearing high-pitched squeaking.

Pets Acting Strangely

Sometimes, the first indication of mice or rats in the house is the reaction of your cat or dog. If you notice your pets acting strangely, scratching at a wall, or gravitating toward one specific room, look for other signs of rodent activity.

Strange Smells

Strange smells like stale ammonia are another sign of a rat infestation, as they are indicative of rodent urine and droppings. A potent smell reminiscent of rotting cabbage is another odor associated with mice and rats. It is the smell of a dead, decaying rodent. (Blech!)

Live or Dead Rodents

If you spot a rodent in your home, living or dead, there’s a good chance you have more. They are social creatures and reproduce quickly.

Why Is Identifying Signs of a Rodent Infestation Important?

While some people would shriek in fright at the very notion of a rodent in the house, others take a live-and-let-live approach. That can be a fine attitude with wildlife outdoors, but you really must avoid a rodent infestation in your home. Protecting your family’s health and preventing property damage are the best reasons to watch for signs of a rodent infestation.

Rodents are known to carry many diseases, including several that can spread to people directly and indirectly. Diseases like Hantavirus, Tularemia, and Monkeypox are spread directly through contact with an infected animal, such as eating contaminated food, touching their urine or feces, or getting bitten or scratched. Other diseases like Plague, Lyme disease, and Colorado tick fever are contracted indirectly by beIfflea, tick, or mosquito that previously bit an infected rodent.

In addition to carrying disease, rodents cause tremendous property damage. Americans splash out hundreds of millions of dollars repairing property damaged by rodent infestations every year. Most insurance companies do not cover the damage rodents do to HVAC equipment, electrical wiring, roofing, flooring, walls, baseboards, or furniture.

How to Prevent Rodent Infestation

The very best rodent control is rodent prevention. The goal is twofold:

• Stop attracting rodents to your home and property, and
• Deny them entry to your home.

What attracts rodents, pets, or any wildlife to your property are the things they need to survive. Food, water, warmth, shelter, and propagation support are the resources they are hunting. If your property provides what they need, they’ll move in, which brings them closer to your home. If rodents take up residence in your garden, they’ll come into your home the next time they cannot meet their needs outdoors. There are several steps to effectively prevent a rodent infestation:

• Seal up entry points to your home.
• Install screens on chimneys and vents.
• Keep all food and food waste cleaned up and sealed away.
• Store firewood properly.
• Trim shrubs and trees.
• Keep the yard tidy and clean.
• Eliminate leaky fixtures.
• Use natural deterrents.
• Hire professional outdoor pest control.

Why Hiring a Professional Rodent Control Is Better Than DIY

Preventing a rodent infestation is where homeowners should focus their efforts. If you catch a single mouse investigating the premises, DIY efforts may be all that’s needed. But once the mouse’s friends and relatives have moved in, the situation quickly spirals out of control. Often, it’s difficult to find or reach the heart of the colony, leaving your best efforts just nibbling at the edges of the problem. A female mouse gives birth to a litter of five to six babies between five and ten times a year. This rapid birth rate plus the rodents’ extraordinary survival skills make professional rodent control a better bet than DIY strategies.

Worried About Rodents In Your Home or Business? Call Mosquito Joe!

When you see signs of a rodent infestation on your property, call the pest control experts at Mosquito Joe. Our comprehensive pest control services include keeping rodents out of your home or business. We evaluate your property to locate nesting sites and runways the rodents repeatedly use to get to their food sources. We treat these locations and form a barrier around your structures to keep the critters outside.

Trust Mosquito Joe to protect your family and property. All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and the Mosquito Joe Guarantee because the job’s not done until it’s done right.

Request a free quote today, and look forward to a rodent-free tomorrow — with Mosquito Joe!

Insects are incredibly diverse in form, behavior, and food sources. Those we consider pests feed on our plants, our animals, and even ourselves. Our activity impacts these insect populations and behaviors enormously. There is little overlap between the worst winter insects in urban areas and those in rural locations. Suburban pests are particularly interesting because they must contend with influences from both our urban and rural settings. Let’s take a look at these critters, as well as urban pests and rural farm insects, to see our influence at work.

Winter Insects in Rural Areas

Winter insects live in conditions as close to their natural habitat as can be found among humans. Their populations and behaviors are the least affected by us.

Asian Multicolored Lady Beetles

These ladybug look-alikes are not badly behaved. In fact, they devour aphids and other garden pests. But they also out-compete native ladybugs, endangering their survival. They hibernate in winter, finding shelter in small crevices, under bark, and in barn siding.

Wood-Boring Beetles

Larger and hungrier than termites, wood-boring beetles feast on wood furniture, support joists, and decorative wood inside homes. The females of these winter pests overwinter by laying cold-resistant eggs on wood.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB)

These rural farm insects do tremendous crop damage across the country. They seek out warm, sheltered locations in attics, barns, sheds, basements, and behind baseboards to overwinter. They also hide in wood piles and hay bales for warmth.

Aphids and other Houseplant Pests

Aphids and other soft-bodied houseplant pests typically survive the winter by laying their eggs in the warm, moist soil of our plants. The hatchlings awake hungry, sucking the moisture and nutrients from the plants.

Bees

There are more than 20,000 bee species in the world, and they are certainly not pests. These hardworking insects pollinate the plants that animals and humans rely on. These winter insects huddle together in their hives, eating honey, shivering, and vibrating their wings to stay warm.

Winter Insects in Suburban Areas

Suburban pests inhabit territory that retains many aspects of their natural habitat, with open fields, parks, and varied landscapes. But they are also affected by considerable construction and human habitation.

Ticks and Fleas

These winter pests harass and harm our livestock, our pets, and sometimes even us. Ticks enter a form of dormancy known as diapause to ride out the cold. Fleas, however, come right indoors where it’s warm, and they have a ready source of blood available.

Termites

Termites burrow deep into wood or soil to survive frigid winters. Where the temps remain more moderate, they continue to eat and lay eggs right through winter. However, winter swarms typically occur just in the warmest regions of Florida.

Bed Bugs

These nasty winter insects are bloodsuckers like fleas and ticks, but they prefer feeding on human blood. The more people who live close together, the worse the bed bugs will be, so this is definitely a suburban or urban pest. While they can be found in rural areas, the greater populations and mobility in suburbs and cities create an ideal habitat for them.

Boxelder Bugs

The biggest problem with boxelder bugs is the way they overwinter. They seek out the warmth in houses and other buildings, sometimes in very large numbers. They are suburban pests due to more homes providing the essential winter shelter.

Snow Fleas

“Snow fleas” are not fleas at all. They don’t feed on blood or even bite. But they jump around like fleas and are easy to see on the snow, hence their name. Snow fleas benefit the ecosystem by feeding on decaying plant matter and fungi, turning it into nutritious soil. These winter bugs actually produce a type of antifreeze that keeps them active year-round.

Winter Insects in Urban Areas

Like suburban pests and rural farm insects, urban pests are more common where their needs for food, shelter, and reproductive needs are best met. Urban insects are those that benefit the most from human habitation.

Ticks and Fleas

Ticks and fleas feed on the blood of their hosts, whether they’re wildlife, livestock, pets, or people. Naturally, they thrive where more of their prey congregate, making them our top urban pests. While ticks hibernate and fleas slow down a bit in cold weather, fleas that overwinter indoors continue to plague our pets in winter.

Termites

While winter termite swarms occur only in the very warmest regions of the country, elsewhere, termites remain actively eating and breeding throughout the winter. They are protected from winter’s chill by the buildings that they eat.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are truly urban pests. Contrary to misconceptions, bed bugs are not a sign of poor hygiene but of our mobility and socializing. Bed bugs hitch rides from one person to another, so where more people gather, these critters play.

Ants

Ants have adapted to make an excellent living off of humans living in cities. They clean up our spilled food and have developed an exceptional heat tolerance, making them ideally suited as urban insects.

Spiders

Spiders aren’t really pests; we’re just extremely uncomfortable in their presence. They’re happy to spin their webs and feast on the insects they catch. They thrive in cities where the artificial lighting draws in insects in throngs.

How Urbanization and Human Activities Impacts Winter Insects

When humans live in vast, sprawling cities, we have an enormous impact on the environment. We affect the lives of urban insects in several ways:

• Those who feed on our blood or those of our pets enjoy the bounty of having their prey gathered so close together.
• Other urban pests thrive off our food waste.
• Our artificial lighting attracts many insects that others feed on.

Our cities, with their endless expanses of concrete and asphalt, create urban heat islands far warmer than the areas surrounding them. This temperature difference can attract pests from surrounding areas and support them through the winter.

Keep the Winter Insects Away

Trust your local Mosquito Joe® to take urban pests and winter insects out of your way. Our comprehensive pest control services include residential and commercial pest control. We’re making the outdoors fun again and keeping pests out of your indoor spaces!

All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and the Mosquito Joe Guarantee, which ensures we’ll do the job right. Request a free quote, and we’ll tell those winter insects to bug off!

Are All Scorpions Poisonous?

If you just encountered a scorpion, you may wonder whether all scorpions are poisonous. While every one of the nearly 2,000 scorpion species worldwide is venomous, just 30 to 40 species are potent enough to be deadly to healthy adult humans. In the United States, the deadliest scorpion is the Arizona bark scorpion found throughout the Southwest, particularly in Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, and parts of New Mexico. Due to medical advances and the accessibility of antivenom, deaths from the Arizona bark scorpion are rare.

Scorpions are fascinating creatures that thrive in a vast range of habitats, from desert wastelands to lush tropical forests. Although most often found in deserts and dry grasslands, scorpions live on every continent but Antarctica. Let’s delve into these fascinating, fearsome-looking critters and answer your questions. We’ll consider how poisonous scorpions are, how their venom works, and just how deadly scorpions like the Arizona bark scorpion actually are.

How Deadly Are Scorpions?

All scorpions are very deadly — to their preferred prey. Most are not fatal to humans, though their sting is no joke. A healthy human without allergies is still likely to experience the following symptoms from the single sting of a non-lethal scorpion:

• Immediate pain
• Redness
• Swelling with heat
• Numbness or tingling
• Muscle twitching
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Sweating

The list of symptoms indicates how poisonous scorpions are. It is typical for healthy adults to recover from within hours to a few days. However, the sting should be closely monitored. If the symptoms persist or worsen, seek medical attention.

Though somewhat rare, some people are allergic to scorpions and may experience a far more severe reaction, including anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening. Symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction include:

• Severe swelling
• Difficulty breathing
• Rapid heartbeat
• Sudden drop in blood pressure
• Nausea and vomiting
• Hives or a rash beyond the bite site
• Anxiety

Experiencing any of these symptoms following a scorpion sting is a medical emergency. Prompt medical attention is essential and may involve the administration of epinephrine, antihistamines, and corticosteroids. Due to their smaller body size, children and pets are more vulnerable to scorpion venom. Even if the initial symptoms appear mild, seek prompt medical attention for any child or pet stung by a scorpion.

So, answering the question, “How deadly are scorpions?” is a bit of a catch-22. Most scorpions won’t kill a healthy adult unless the adult is allergic to scorpions. And, of course, you wouldn’t know you were allergic to scorpions until stung.

How Scorpion Venom Works

Technically, scorpions aren’t “poisonous” at all! They contain venom rather than poison in their stings. The difference is a matter of molecular size and use. Poisons have small molecules that can be absorbed through the skin. It is a defense mechanism. Venom, however, is all about offense. Venom molecules are large and require an open wound so the venom can directly enter the victim’s bloodstream. A way to remember the difference is that if you bite something and get sick, it is poisonous. If it bites you and you get sick, it’s venomous.

So, the question,” How poisonous are scorpions?” should really be, “How venomous are scorpions?” And the answer is: “Plenty!” The scorpion’s venom is an offensive weapon that quickly immobilizes and kills their prey by shutting down the victim’s nervous system. Scorpions also use their stings for self-defense against would-be predators, larger animals, and rival scorpions in territorial disputes.

Most Scorpions Are Mild Stingers

While all scorpions are venomous, only 30 to 40 species worldwide are considered deadly to healthy adult humans. Only one of those species, the Arizona bark scorpion, lives in the U.S. Most scorpion stings affect humans like a sting from a bee or wasp. However, responses vary among individuals, even those who are not sick, elderly, or allergic to scorpions.

Meet the Deadliest Slayers

Knowing the risk factors involved with scorpion venom, what are some of the deadliest? Let’s meet a few.

Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus)

• Location and Habitat: Found throughout the Southwest U.S., particularly in Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, and parts of New Mexico. Prefers desert and semi-arid regions.
• Venom Potency: Highly venomous; its sting can cause severe pain, numbness, convulsions, and, in rare cases, death in humans.
• Physical Characteristic: Adult Arizona bark scorpions grow up to 3 inches long, with slender tails and pincers.
• Behavior: These nocturnal hunters can climb trees.
• Cool Facts: Like all scorpions, the Arizona bark glows in the dark when hit with UV light. We don’t yet understand why this glowing evolved.

Deathstalker (Leiurus quinquestriatus)

• Location and Habitat: Commonly found in North Africa and the Middle East, inhabiting dry and desert regions.
• Venom Potency: Contains a potent cocktail of neurotoxins. This dramatically nicknamed scorpion is one of the world’s deadliest, with extremely painful, potentially fatal stings.
• Physical Characteristics: Yellowish, with a slender body measuring 2-3 inches long.
• Behavior: Aggressive when threatened, this scorpion hides under stones and in crevices.
• Cool Facts: Deathstalker venom is being researched for potential medical applications, including treating brain tumors and diabetes.

Brazilian Yellow Scorpion (Tityus serrulatus)

• Location and Habitat: Widely distributed across Brazil and other parts of South America. Thrives in urban and suburban areas.
• Venom Potency: Its sting causes severe pain and inflammation and can be deadly, especially to children and older adults.
• Physical Characteristics: Yellowish brown in color, growing up to 2.5 inches long.
• Behavior: Highly adaptable, this scorpion is moving into Brazil’s big cities and urban environments.
• Cool Facts: This scorpion has been known to display parthenogenesis, where females can produce offspring without mating.

What To Do if You Encounter a Scorpion?

What to do if you encounter a scorpion varies, depending on where you find it. While all scorpions are venomous, they generally avoid people, and most are not deadly to healthy adults. Wear protective clothing like closed-toe shoes, long sleeves, and long pants if hiking or camping in scorpion country. Avoid rocky areas, fallen logs, and dense vegetation. Clear a wide swath of brush, rocks, leaf litter, sticks, and debris around your campsite. Use a tent with a built-in ground sheet, or sleep on a raised cot. While you deserve to enjoy the outdoors, you’re stepping into their natural environment where their role as both predator and prey is important.

If you encounter a scorpion in your yard, don’t panic — just avoid contact. Scorpions are notoriously hard to catch or kill, and attempts to do so can antagonize them into stinging you. You can try to scoop the scorpion into a box using a trowel or shovel, then discard it or release it well away from your property (or your neighbors’!). Then, be on the watch for more, with special care if you have pets or small children.

If you spot a scorpion in your home, set out sticky traps and follow our home hygiene tips to prevent pests. Call the pros for scorpion control services if you have a scorpion infestation in your home or on your property.

Why Scorpions Are Becoming A Problem For Homeowners

Scorpions are typically shy of humans and are only interested in survival. They enter our property and homes only when their need for suitable shelter, food, or water cannot be met outdoors. As urban expansion encroaches on habitat and climate change alters the availability of standing water, scorpions and other pests are a growing problem for homeowners.

How Do I Get Rid of Scorpions?

The best way to get rid of scorpions is not to attract them in the first place. This means doing all you can indoors and out to control insects — their food source — standing water, and their preferred shelter. Remove brush piles, leaf litter, rocks, stacked wood, and other debris from your property. Trim shrubs and trees so no foliage is in contact with your home’s exterior, providing a handy bridge. Then, use caulk to seal all cracks and crevices in your home’s foundation and walls. Repair screens and fix any leaks indoors or out. Use yellow light bulbs in exterior light fixtures to keep from attracting insects.

Professional outdoor pest control services efficiently prevent scorpions from moving in. Scorpions won’t move to or stay where there are no insects to eat.
Trust Mosquito Joe®’s pest control. The Neighborly Done Right Promise™ backs all our work because the job’s not done until it’s done right. Request a free quote today. Let’s make your outdoor spaces fun again!

Even in parts of the country buried under snow, our gardens remain busy places in winter. Flower bulbs root in, and shrubs replenish their energies in preparation for glorious spring blooms. Wildlife forages for food, and overwintering insects employ various survival strategies. While some winter pests enter a state akin to hibernation, others are actively eating and growing, ready to produce huge broods when spring arrives. Let’s take a look at the most common overwintering pests and see what they may be up to in your garden.

Most Common Overwintering Pests

The most common overwintering pests vary by region, of course. And they behave a bit differently in snowy Wisconsin than in sunny Florida. But there are many that can be found throughout the country. We’ll explore the ten most common overwintering insects. See how many of your neighbors you can spot!

Aphids

Aphids are tiny, sap-sucking insects that feast on the moisture in our plants. They produce a sugary liquid waste called “honeydew” that is irresistible to ants who actually “farm” aphids! (Our entomologists really dig this kind of stuff). If your garden plants are plagued by aphids, you likely wonder what temps kill aphids. Or even if aphids can survive freezing. Adult aphids cannot survive when their bodily fluids freeze. This occurs between 5 to 23 degrees Fahrenheit. But they lay eggs to ensure the next generation of garden-suckers will be born in spring.

Squash Bugs

Squash bugs are the bane of squash, pumpkin, and cucumber farmers. The ⅝-inch long dark gray or brown bugs can sicken and even kill young plants. As adults, these overwintering insects hide under plant debris and under rocks or logs in the garden. Just one generation of squash bugs develops each year.

Whiteflies

Closely related to aphids, whiteflies are tiny, winged insects that suck the juices from the underside of a plant’s leaves. Despised by gardeners everywhere, these moth-like pests can transmit disease between plants and even kill grown plants. Whiteflies are killed by the winter temps that fall below freezing. They remain year-round pests in mild climates and overwinter indoors or in greenhouses in colder locations.

Colorado Potato Beetles

Despite their name, orange and black-striped Colorado Potato Beetles are overwintering pests throughout most of the U.S. They burrow 5 to 10 inches deep underground to hibernate for months during freezing weather. They awake hungry and ready to reproduce in the spring garden or potato field.

Mealybugs

Mealybugs are tiny oval insects covered in a wax-like substance that looks like white powder. They infest houseplants and citrus trees, with a marked preference for orchids, palms, and succulents. Mealybugs suck the juices from plants, producing honeydew that attracts ants. The nasty little winter pests overwinter as eggs or nymphs in tiny crevices like tree bark.

Scale Insects

There are roughly 8,000 species of scale insects, some with armored bodies and others that are soft. All suck the moisture and nutrients from plant leaves and stems. Hard-bodied scales overwinter as eggs, while soft-body scales cover themselves with protective waxy secretions. Typically, immature, fertilized female soft-body scales are dormant in winter, ready to lay their eggs in spring.

Thrips

These tiny, slender insects feast on the sap from flower buds, causing strangely deformed blooms. These overwintering insects hide dormant in leaf litter, bark mulch, and decaying plant debris. They wake up in early spring, ready to eat and lay eggs.

Spotted Lanternflies

These striking, damaging moth-like pests are highly invasive and do hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to our crops annually. Spotted scarlet flight wings are covered by translucent tawny wings at rest, looking pink. Spotted lanternflies lay egg masses that survive winter protected by a waxy secretion.

Cabbage Moths

These 1.5-inch-long moths do severe crop damage to a wide range of diverse fruit and vegetable crops yearly. The pupae, known as cabbage loopers, survive winter by staying in the soil or in cocoons attached to host plants. These damaging overwintering pests also migrate as adults to avoid the cold.

Stink Bugs

This brown-speckled, shield-shaped insect is invasive and found throughout the country. Stink bugs feed on fruits and vegetables, emitting a burnt-tire stench when they feel threatened. These foul-smelling bugs overwinter in our homes, finding small chinks in door frames and siding.

What Are the Signs of an Overwintering Pest Infestation?

With so many overwintering insects, winter pest control is crucial to an effective year-round strategy. Unfortunately, most people won’t notice any signs of overwintering pests unless the bugs move into the house! Dirty yellow or brown stains along your baseboards or furniture are a sign of stink bugs. If your houseplants develop a sticky residue on their leaves, look at the underside for whiteflies. Often, the clearest sign that you have pests overwintering on your property is robust populations of those insects come spring.

Things You Need to Do to Protect Beneficial Winter Insects

Beneficial insects are invaluable. They are made up of pollinating species and those that prey on pests. About 75% of flowering plants and nearly 40% of crops around the world depend on pollinators like bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, and ladybugs. For many reasons, our pollinators are in severe decline, and they need the support of home gardeners. Unfortunately, most of the care that supports beneficial insects in winter, like leaving leaf litter and weeds in place, also helps overwintering pests. One step you can take to control the pests and protect the beneficials is to hire professional pest control like Mosquito Joe®. Our service professionals take extraordinary care to leave pollinators and other beneficial insects unharmed while targeting garden pests.

Keep Your Winter Garden Pest-Free Without Harming Beneficial Winter Insects

Eliminating overwintering insects interrupts the pests’ life cycles, significantly reducing the springtime population. Mosquito Joe performs comprehensive outdoor pest control services, including winter treatments, each one conducted with sensitivity for beneficial insects.

Trust your property to Mosquito Joe. The Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and the Mosquito Joe Guarantee backs all our work because the job isn’t done until it’s done right.

Request a free quote today, or call your local pest control experts. We’ll get those overwintering insects to bug off!

Overwintering Insects — How Do Insects Survive the Winter?

Winter is a challenging time for all forms of life. We bring precious plants indoors to protect them from winter’s chill. Some people retreat to warmer climates, while others turn up the thermostat and bundle up in warmer clothes. Birds, animals, and insects face the same choices, with some migrating and others sheltering in place. Some even go dormant to pass the winter in slumber. Let’s take a look at overwintering insects to see how these winter pests survive the cold. (Spoiler alert: some of them come indoors to spend the winter in your home!)

What Is Overwintering?

Overwintering is the method a living organism employs to survive the winter. Your grandparents might overwinter in Miami. Many plants and animals overwinter by going dormant to sleep through the cold months. Your pets overwinter by spending more time indoors, where it’s warm. Insects also overwinter, and they do so by migrating, going dormant, or moving into your home and outbuildings.

When Insects “Hibernate”

Many overwintering insects enter a state akin to hibernation called diapause. In this condition, their metabolic rates slow dramatically to conserve energy. During diapause, insects don’t eat, grow, or reproduce. They are simply surviving until the return of warmer weather.

Overwintering insects typically don’t bite people or do property damage during winter. They focus entirely on surviving the winter chill. But winter can be an excellent time to use pest control methods against slower-moving pests that often cluster together to conserve body heat and moisture. Typically, the overwintering pests of greatest concern are those seeking out the warmth of our homes to ride out the winter. Imagine giving winter shelter to the same bugs that bite and bedevil you spring through fall.

Types of Overwintering Pests

Technically, all pests overwinter in that they have strategies to survive the season’s cold. But some are more likely than others to seek shelter in our homes. Overwintering insects that see your home as a cold-weather vacation spot include:

• Stink bugs
• Asian lady beetles
• Boxelder bugs
• Cluster flies
• Carpenter ants
• Spiders
• Mosquitoes

Of course, small mammals like mice and rats can also be considered overwintering pests. Most overwintering insects that shelter in our homes seek out warm, protected areas like the attic, crawl spaces, and the spaces within walls. Carpenter ants, however, prefer to nest in moist, decaying wood and favor spots with water damage or leaky pipes or in damp basements. Spiders will also make use of quiet corners inside the home, and mosquitoes seek dark spaces in basements and garages when they overwinter indoors.

Where Do Insects Go in the Winter?

While some insects migrate to warmer climates, and others seek shelter in our homes, most overwintering insects burrow deep into the soil, nest inside fallen logs or plant debris, or hide under the bark of trees. They seek out small niches in their habitat that are likely to remain undisturbed to shelter from the cold. Some overwintering pests lay eggs that survive the winter while the adults die off. These include some species of:

• Mosquitoes
• Aphids
• Grasshoppers
• Beetles
• Stink bugs
• Fruit flies

Others hide out as adults, larvae, or even pupae, ready to continue their growth and development when warmth returns in the spring.

While most winter pests hide as individuals, some species gather in great numbers to share and conserve body heat and moisture.

The following species overwinter in great clusters in or around our homes and outbuildings:

• Asian lady beetles
• Stink bugs
• Cluster flies
• Boxelder bugs
• Wasps

While certainly not considered a pest, monarch butterflies are the most extraordinary of overwintering insects. They migrate in enormous groups called “flutters” that fly a staggering 3,000 miles to key habitats in Mexico. There, they huddle together in such enormous clusters that they can weigh down the branches of trees as tall as 80 to 160 feet.

Ways to Keep Pests That Overwinter Out of Residences

There are a number of steps you can take to keep overwintering insects out of your home. Focus on securing entry points and denying the critters the habitat they seek.

Seal Gaps and Repair Screens

Overwintering pests enter the home through small tears in window screens and small gaps in attic walls and around the openings that allow pipes and wires to pass through walls. Look for these openings and seal them with screen, caulk, or expandable polyurethane foam.

Screen Chimney Vents

A well-ventilated chimney is essential for the safe operation of your fireplace. But it is also an inviting entrance to all manner of overwintering pests. Inspect your chimney screen and replace a vinyl screen with a metal one that won’t tear or be chewed through.

Store Firewood Away from the Home

Stacked firewood makes a cozy hideaway from many overwintering insects. If it is stored too close to the house, it serves as an easy entryway to your home. Instead, store it at least 20 feet away, up off the ground, to allow airflow underneath it. Plan to burn any wood you bring in immediately so if there are any hitchhikers, they won’t get a chance to settle into your home.

Turn of the Taps

In addition to warmth, overwintering insects need water to survive. It’s more important than food to them. Leaky faucets and spilled water can provide a lifeline to indoor insects and an invitation to others to join them. Repair any leaks and clear blocked gutters and any places where water collects. Don’t leave dirty dishes soaking in water, and squeeze out wet sponges.

Overwintering Pest Control Treatment

Trust the pros at your local Mosquito Joe® for effective outdoor pest control to keep your home free from overwintering insects and other uninvited guests like mice and rats. All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and Mosquito Joe Guarantee because we understand that the job isn’t done until it’s done right.

Request a free quote today and live pest-free from tomorrow on.