What You Need To Know About Pests In Tampa, FL
Partnering with a residential pest control professional and learning about Tampa's most common pests is the best way to keep them from taking over your home. Use our pest guide to gain the knowledge you need to maintain a pest-free home!
Ants
If you have discovered that ants have found their way into your Tampa home, know that you are not alone. Ants have the potential to move into any of our homes while they are out and about searching for sources of moisture, alternate sources of food, or new nesting sites. Their tiny size, tenacity, and excellent communication skills make it challenging to keep ants out of our homes and other structures.
Some of the ant's most common entry points include cracks in the foundation, gaps under doors, vents, and spaces around drains. Once inside, they will travel throughout your house, searching for sources of food to bring back to their nest. Unfortunately, the ants you see trailing through your home are generally just the tip of the iceberg. Ants often create satellite nests behind our walls to provide them with easy access to their newfound food source and as a way to expand their colony.
To help keep ants out of your home, you first need to keep them away from your yard. Take advantage of our helpful ant prevention tips to stop them from gravitating to your Tampa yard.
- Remove debris from your yard like leaves, fallen trees, and grass piles that provide nesting sites for ants.
- Repair pipes or drains that allow standing water to pool on your property.
- Reduce their access to food by keeping lids on trash cans and keeping eating and outdoor cooking areas free of food debris.
- If possible, don't feed pets outside.
For effective year-round ant control in Tampa, give us a call today!
Cockroaches
Cockroaches can find their way into any home across the United States, but they are a more significant threat to homeowners living in Florida. Our tropical climate allows many species of cockroaches to call our region home. In general, we identify cockroaches by their flat oval bodies and six spine-covered legs, and while most are winged, only a few fly. Cockroaches are natural scavengers that feed on almost anything, making our yards and homes very attractive.
Cockroaches are destructive, dangerous pests that should never feel welcome in our homes for one day longer than necessary. They are vectors of human pathogens and parasites and are an allergen source. In addition, cockroaches can cause damage to books, cardboard, paper, walls, and wallpaper when in our homes, either with their feeding habits or by staining them with their excrement. Furthermore, cockroaches produce pheromones to communicate, producing a foul musty odor.
The best way to get rid of cockroaches is with the help of our year-round, pet-friendly home pest control services. In addition, control moisture levels to make your home less attractive to cockroaches, repair leaky pipes, fixtures, and use dehumidifiers. Reduce their access to food in your home by storing food properly, regularly cleaning your kitchen, and vacuuming your home. It is also a good idea to always inspect deliveries, secondhand items, appliances, and furniture you are bringing into your home for hitchhiking cockroaches.
Rodents
Rodents have given themselves a bad reputation because they frequently invade our properties. In Florida, rodents thrive year-round as our warm temperatures allow them to breed continuously and have plenty of access to food. As people and rodents have come to inhabit the same areas, rodents have learned that our properties provide them easy access to their basic needs.
Many types of rodents call Tampa home, including mice and several different species of rats like roof rats and fruit rats. Keeping rodents out of our homes, no matter the species, is vital for several reasons, including that rodents use their sharp front incisors to chew through and damage wires, pipes, furniture, cabinets, flooring, and walls. Rodents also carry and spread bacteria, disease-causing pathogens, and parasites. In addition, when sharing a home with rodents, expect to hear scratching sounds behind walls, smell unpleasant odors, and discover their droppings throughout your house.
One of the most effective ways to avoid problems with rodents is to eliminate their access to food. Rodents have high metabolisms and are always looking for reliable food sources. Food access will keep rodents returning to your property, eventually finding their way indoors. Keep lids on trash cans and compost bins, pick up uneaten pet food, remove bird feeders, and keep outdoor eating and cooking areas free of food debris. For the most effective rodent control in Tampa, call us at Wise Owl Plus.
Spiders
Florida is home to large populations of insects, so it only makes sense that we are also home to the predators that feed on those insects. Spiders live all around us and spend their days hunting and feeding. They provide a natural form of pest control and help to reduce the number of dangerous and destructive pests. While having spiders in your yard isn't necessarily problematic, if they are on your property in large numbers, it probably won't be long until they find their way into your house.
Spiders prefer to live outside, but their size and agility allow them to move into our homes without much effort. Spiders don't necessarily need to live inside our houses but often wind up inside after following their insect prey indoors or searching for a safe, dark place to lay their eggs. Once inside, if your home meets their needs, they have no real motivation to leave and tend to stay until forced out. Remember, if spiders are in your home, so are the pests they hunt and use as a food source!
Use the following tips to keep spiders from easily moving into your home to hunt their prey or to use it as a nesting site.
- Make sure exterior doors have door sweeps on them.
- Screens in windows and doors should be completely intact.
- Caulk any cracks or gaps in your foundation and roofline.
- Inspect plants that have been outside for hitchhiking spiders before bringing them inside.
For assistance keeping spiders out of your home throughout the year, reach out to the Tampa pest professionals at Wise Owl Plus.
Stinging Insects
The Tampa area is home to various types of stinging insects, the most common to become a problem in our yards or homes are wasps, bees, and yellow jackets. While each species varies in nesting habits, food preferences, and behaviors, they all have in common a stinger that extends from their hind end. Predatory species like wasps and yellow jackets use their stingers both as a means of defense and as a way to paralyze their insect prey.
While stinging insects are eco-important, they become dangerous when they decide to live or forage for food in large numbers near people. The more contact you have with stinging insects, the more likely you will be on the receiving end of one of their venom-filled, painful stings. If you notice large numbers of stinging insects swarming around your yard or home, it is essential to reach out to a professional immediately. A pest professional can quickly identify and prevent stinging insects on your property and safely remove the nest.
Unfortunately, our yards naturally provide stinging insects with places to live and forage for food; this makes preventing problems with these insects tricky. However, there are some things you can do around your yard to make it less attractive to them. Keep grass short and fill in bare areas and holes in your yard. Cut back trees and shrubbery from your home's exterior. Reduce the amount of flowering vegetation on your property, and if possible, don't place plant pots near your windows and doors. It is also important to eliminate standing water that can provide stinging insects with a water source.
Termites
Homeowners must be most concerned with two types of termites in Tampa: drywood termites and subterranean termites. Drywood termites prefer to feed on dry, sound wood. Their colonies nest inside the wood they are consuming. The subterranean termite has high moisture needs and prefers to feed on water-damaged, decaying wood. They build their nests underground in damp soil.
Termites are one of the few organisms that can convert cellulose found in wood and other organic materials into a usable food source. When termites find their way onto our Tampa properties or, worse, into our homes, they are destructive pests that, over time, cause costly damage. In addition to the damage they cause, termites are problematic because identifying an infestation can take so long because they live and feed out of sight. One of the most significant signs of a problem with termites is seeing winged termites swarming from their nest. Swarming termites indicate a mature termite colony somewhere on or near your property, and you need to take immediate action against these wood-eating pests.
Termites are not pests you want to find in your home. Use the following termite prevention tips to make it as difficult as possible for termites to find a way into your house.
- Eliminate as much soil-to-wood contact on your property as possible.
- Quickly address moisture issues by repairing leaky pipes, using dehumidifiers, and replacing water-damaged wood.
- Make sure drains and downspouts on your property are clear and working correctly.
- Inspect wooden furniture, beams, and flooring for signs of drywood termites(holes in its exterior) before bringing any into your house.
The best way to avoid a termite infestation is to schedule regular termite inspections performed by the termite control experts at Wise Owl Plus.
Local Pest Protection You Can Count On
With over 14 years in the pest control industry, we have the experience and dedication necessary to help people maintain pest-free properties. We treat our clients exactly as we want to be treated and offer open and honest communication. For exceptional residential and commercial pest control in Tampa, Florida, partner with us at Wise Owl Plus.
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