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Flea vs Ticks

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Summer is here, which means that people and pets alike are going outdoors and having fun. With the summer fun, however, comes summer pests. Populations of both fleas and ticks rise in the summer, but they are very different. Here is a quick guide to help you tell them apart, and what you can do about them.

Ticks

Many people think that ticks are only found in the woods. This is not the case. While ticks do like the tall grasses and thick foliage in the woods, they can really be found anywhere their food can be found (including your body).

Ticks are much larger than fleas, and they don’t have wings. Ticks also can’t jump, but they will latch onto anything edible that gets within their grasp. That’s typically how they end up on people. Ticks are mostly a nuisance, but they can also carry serious diseases. If you’re unfortunate enough to have tick latch on to you, try out our guide for that here. If your yard has a tick problem, the experts at Ideal can help. Explore our pest control plans to see if one is right for you.

Fleas

If you have a dog, you probably know about fleas. Fleas are small insects that like to live in hair, fur, and clothing. While adult fleas are visible to the naked human eye, they most often just appear as brown specks. They tend to attach to pets

Fleas end up on their hosts by jumping onto them. Fleas don’t have wings and must rely on their excellent jumping abilities to reach their hosts. Once they’re on their host, they will stay there as long as they can. They will live, reproduce, and die on their host as the infestation becomes worse. If you have a flea problem, a pest control plan that can control fleas is a must for your home.

Hopefully, we’ve cleared up the confusion between these two summertime pests. If the summers find your home surrounded by these pests, or if you have pets and want to play it safe, give Ideal Partners a call today for a free estimate on a pest control plan for your home.

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Where do Mosquitos Go During the Day?

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If you live near the Gulf Coast or in the American South, you know just how bad the mosquitoes get in the evenings, but what about during the day? Every evening, if we’re grilling out back or just hanging out with friends, we know to light the citronella candles, set the fans on, and to wear bug spray, but why don’t they bother us during the middle of the day?

Mosquitoes are very temperamental insects. As temperatures drop in the fall, the bugs will stop flying if the temperature dips below 50 degrees, and most of them die off or go into hibernation for the long winter months. As temperatures rise, mosquito eggs that were laid in the Fall hatch and we see massive swarms of insects all around. The 80–90-degree range is the sweet spot for mosquitoes when they’re the most active.

But when the temperature gets higher than that, mosquitoes generally avoid flying around. They find the heat too dry for them, and they will typically seek shade, water, and humidity wherever they can find it. When the temperatures go back down during the evenings, they begin to fly again.

That explains why you generally don’t feel bugged by mosquitoes during the day but need to be prepared for the evenings. Some of the best treatments for your patio and yard are fogger sprays, that keep the mosquitoes at bay even during the peak hours of the day. Let the experts at Ideal protect your patio this summer by contacting us and getting a free estimate today.

Ideal-088-B1-Carpenter-Ants-Blog

Carpenter Ants: A Home Inside Your Home

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Typically, when someone finds small, winged insects in their home, alarm bells start going off in their head, and rightfully so, but maybe not for the right reasons. Carpenter ants are commonly mistaken for termites, which can lead to time delays in professionals getting to the root of the problem.

What are they?

Let’s go ahead and clear up one thing: carpenter ants don’t eat wood. They use it to build their homes, like a carpenter would, by excavating the framing in your house and living in “galleries,” carved into the grain of the wood. You can differentiate between termites and carpenter ants in a few different ways. The biggest differences are their wings and antennae. Carpenter ants are larger than termites, and have antennae bent at a 90-degree angle, as opposed to termites’ straight antennae. Additionally, although both carpenter ants and termites have a 2nd pair of wings, they have a small difference. Both pairs of wings on a termite are the same size, however, on a carpenter ant, the second pair of wings are a smaller size.

If you don’t see many ants but are still worried about your home harboring these unwanted pests, then there are some signs you can look for. When carpenter ants are building their galleries, they kick out the wood shavings and sawdust from their new homes. An accumulation of sawdust near points of entry like windowsills, baseboards, and doorjambs can be an indication of carpenter ants at work. These areas are most attractive to them because of the likelihood of the wood there being damp.

What can I do?

If you’re thinking that your home could be host to a carpenter ant colony, it is almost always best to go ahead and call a professional. When eliminating a carpenter ant colony, it is important to kill all of them, as even just a few surviving ants can go on to rebuild and reproduce into a brand new colony.

Call Ideal Partners for a free estimate on extermination services and an inspection for a potential home hiding inside your home, or to set up an interval pest control program that will eliminate the insects before they ever have the chance to set up shop in your home.

Kid scratching bed bug bites

Back to School Can Bring in Bed Bugs

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Kids bring home all sorts of things from school, including some weird stuff sometimes. Now that your kids are back in the classroom, please know that children share lots of things at school, including the dreaded beg buds. Bed bugs are excellent travelers and can live up to a year between feedings. If one child at a school has a home dealing with bed bugs, it’s very possible for bed bugs to latch onto children’s clothing or backpacks onto the belongings of other students. Here are some tips to make sure your children are not bringing home surprise guests this winter.

Identifying Bed Bugs

It is always best to try to identify a bed bug infestation as early as possible, as it will be easier and cheaper to rid yourself of the problem. Bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed and are brownish red in color. Young bed bugs that haven’t matured yet are smaller in size and are translucent in color. They will be difficult to see unless they are moving.

If you see bed bugs, there are likely more that you cannot see. A professional could take over from here and treat your home to get rid of the bed bugs. If you have seen bed bugs on your furniture, call Ideal Partners to get rid of the problem before it becomes an expensive infestation.

Where to Find Them

Bed bugs love to hitchhike on students’ clothing and backpacks. Check these places for signs of bed bugs. Other places that these pests like to hide include mattresses, sheets, and furniture. Look for black speckling, which could be bed bug droppings. Another telltale sign is blood specks around the seams of furniture where bed bugs have been crushed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shares some great information on where bed bugs like to hide, including common misdiagnoses. Bed bug bites look very different on different people. They can look like mosquito or chigger bites, so don’t panic right away at the first sign of bug bites, and instead check with professionals if you think it could be bed bugs.

What to do About it

The bed bug’s biggest vulnerability is that it cannot withstand high heat. If you’re worried about your child bringing them home, place their clothes in the dryer for 15-20 minutes on the highest heat to kill the bed bugs. Remember, backpacks are usually the main culprit, so the easiest way to prevent spreading is to keep backpacks away from bedrooms and living rooms. Read here for more tips to prevent bed bug spread if one of your children has brought them home from school.

If you’ve tried these steps and are still having trouble fighting a bed bug invasion, the experts at Ideal Partners can help. Give us a call for a free estimate and to have an inspection or treatment done on your home to help kill insects before they have a chance to start an infestation.

A plastic container on the floor with a fake christmas tree and blue ornaments inside

Keeping Pests at Bay After the Holidays

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The holidays have come and gone, meaning that it’s time to pack up all of the decorations until next holiday season. Before you do, it’s important to know that that pests like mice, cockroaches, and rats love to nest in poorly stored holiday decorations. Here are some tips to help you diagnose if you have a pest problem, and what you can do to prevent creating one.

Diagnosing the Problem

There are some key things to look for when trying to decide if rodents are calling your stored décor home. Look for telltale signs like rodent droppings or dead cockroaches. These are some of the more obvious signs. Always check to see if the corners of any storage containers have chew marks. These come from mice trying to get into containers. Check for these marks on cardboard storage boxes especially, as they provide a food source for cockroaches and allow easy access for mice.

What Can I do?

One big change you can make to prevent rodents from getting into your things is to use plastic storage containers instead of cardboard. As we previously mentioned, cardboard not only gives pests an easily-accessible place to live, but it also provides a food source for bugs. Try using plastic totes with lockable lids to keep a tight seal on your decorations. You can also tell if rats have been kept out of your plastic totes by the footprints they will leave behind in the dust. This also lets you know that you need an exterminator.

Another important step you can take is to eliminate any food items that may be stored with other items. Oftentimes, candy canes, gingerbread ornaments and popcorn garlands are stored with holiday decorations and this can cause big problems. Even if there is plastic wrap on things like candy canes, pests will still detect these items and be lured into your decorations. Taking extra care to separate and dispose of food items instead of storing them with the rest of your decorations is another great way to keep pests at bay.

The most important thing you can do is to regularly treat your home for pests through a proven pest control company, like Ideal Partners. An interval pest treatment plan gives you access to professional grade protection on a regular basis. Call Ideal Partners for a free estimate and to learn more about how pest treatment can protect your home and your stuff.

Takeaways

There are some great and easy ways to minimize the chances that pests will move into your holiday decorations in the months that they are tucked away in an attic or crawlspace. And, of course, there is still no replacement for a good pest treatment plan. If pests are a problem, or something you’re looking to avoid to start the year, contact Ideal Partners to learn more about their pest control treatments and to get a free estimate.