Because of the short growing season and major temperature fluctuations in our mountain valley, pests invade homes and businesses throughout the year. Pests in or around our home or business not only make us uncomfortable in our own environment, but they can cause physical damage, allergies, and sickness through the spread of disease and germs. Even if you are away from your home, the thought of pests in your house is not pleasant, nor does it leave you carefree to enjoy your lifestyle and activities.
Many pests have a knack for getting in around small openings like where pipes and wires come in. They can also find access points in the foundation, around windows and doors, or underneath the siding of your house. Additionally, landscaping and water on the outside of the home provides shelter and food for pests to be closer to your house. However, regardless of the conditions or pests present, Double Diamond Pest Management is your company to offer you peace of mind and a safe, secure home.
Ants
Ants are probably the most successful group of insects. They are social insects that live in colonies which are usually located in the ground, but they may enter buildings for shelter and/or food. Ants feed on practically every kind of food, but those entering homes are looking for sweets and/or protein based foods. There are 700 species of ants in the United States, but only 25 species commonly infest homes. In our area, the most common species are Carpenter ants, sidewalk ants, and thief ants. Ants are by far the most difficult structural pest to control, and therefore a detailed knowledge of the species is necessary for effective control. Common places where ants might congregate in search of food or nest are gardens, trash cans, outdoor eating areas, pet food bowls, under landscaping bricks, mulch, fallen trees, as well as inside tree stumps, woodpiles, log homes and decks, and the dirt next to foundations and driveways.
Prevention Tips: To keep ants out of your home, storing food properly is essential. Additionally, proper clean up of crumbs and food prep materials is important. Around the house, remove debris that ants can nest in, such as wood and leaves. Sealing the exterior of your home is equally important, as well as weather stripping around windows and doors. Double Diamond Pest Management offers pest-proofing and prevention services that dissuade ants from infesting your home. This is especially important for log homes and decks.
Pest Library: Carpenter ants, thief ants, field ants, harvester ants, pavement ants, pharaoh ants.
Occasional Invaders
Occasional invaders are pests like earwigs, centipedes, and millipedes and box elder bugs that live most of the year outside but can enter your home to escape bad weather or to overwinter. The most common species of occasional invader pests in our mountain valley are earwigs, centipedes, millipedes, and box elder bugs. When these pests are outside, they tend to live under mulch, in gardens and under landscaping bricks, rocks, and under woodpiles. Being close to the house, they can move inside easily through small cracks and crevices. Weather fluctuations usually drive them inside where they seek out areas that are similar to their dark, damp outdoor environments.
Prevention tips: To keep these pests from invading your home, it is important to seal any entry point you can find on the exterior of you home. This includes cracks in the foundation and exterior walls, as well as weatherstripping around windows and doors. Double Diamond Pest Management provides pest-proofing and prevention services that dissuade occasional invaders from infesting your home or business.
Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are hitchhikers and are carried into homes in or on personal possessions. They will however move between shared walls in instances of connected homes, condos, apartments etc. Bed bugs will move towards the host (you-your family) due to breathing (CO2) and body heat. They seek to feed every 3-7 days. Bed Bugs will typically live very close to the host and we find most bed bugs within a 5 foot zone of the sleeping location. Sleeping locations can be beds, sofas, chairs etc.
Prevention Tips: In order to keep bed bugs from hitchhiking into your house, make sure to avoid them by keeping your personal belongings up off the ground when you are in public. When you travel, inspect your hotel room mattress for signs of bed bugs before you bring your luggage and other personal belongings inside. When you return home from a trip, immediately wash and dry all the clothing you brought with you on the highest heat setting possible. You can also limit hiding spaces near sleeping areas by putting protective bed bug covers on your mattresses and box springs, as well as keep clutter to a minimum. Double Diamond Pest Management provides effective bed bug control services to eliminate current bed bug pressures, as well as prevent future infestations from occurring.
Spiders
Outside, spiders feed on nuisance insects and are therefore usually beneficial. Although many people are scared of spiders, they are not often aggressive. As shown by their habit of wanting to stay out of sight, spiders are shy and reclusive. In Teton Valley and surrounding areas, the most common spiders are wolf spider, hobo spider and house spider. These spiders prefer to live outside, but often venture inside homes and businesses while hunting, looking for a place to lay their eggs, or to avoid fluctuating temperatures. Even during the cold, winter season, spiders are often active on the inside of your home. Double Diamond Pest Management provides year round spider control to give you continuous peace of mind in your home or business.
Rodents
Rodents that live in nature away from people cause no harm and are an important part of the ecosystem because they are an important food source for many predators. However, when rodents that live near people come to rely on us for some of their basic needs, this creates problems, not only with cleanliness and structural damage, but also with peace of mind. Rodents are drawn inside structures because of easy access inside and food sources. They can be attracted to structures by pet food, birdseed, and open garage doors. Rodents are seen more often in structures when the weather begins to turn cold. The most common rodents that we encounter in our homes are house mice and deer-footed mice.
Prevention tips: reducing rodent nesting spots is key to controlling population and proximity on the exterior of your home. Additionally, sealing up entry points in the foundation or exterior walls is the most important rodent deterrent that can be done. Double Diamond Pest Management offers rodent-proofing exclusion services, as well as trapping and population reduction plans.
Pest Library: White-footed mouse, deer mouse, house mouse.
Stinging Insects
Stinging insects can be very dangerous to people due to the fact that, when they sting, the venom they inject can sometimes be strong enough to trigger allergic reactions. Usually they only sting when they feel threatened. However, in the wild, stinging insects are beneficial pests because they are not only pollinators, but also hunt nuisance insects. Most of these insects live together in large groups. Nest locations can be located in many different places, including trees, abandoned ground rodent holes, roof eaves, under decks, and under shingles or siding. The stinging insects most common to Teton Valley are European paper wasps, bald-faced hornets, western yellow jackets, and honey bees. Honey bees are especially important and should be protected and relocated if possible.
Prevention Tips: Due to their ability to fly and nest in a variety of locations, stinging insects can be difficult to control. However, keeping lids on trash cans and removing other food sources can go a long way to not attracting them. As with other insects, it is important to seal entry points on the exterior of your home so that stinging insects will not be able to enter and build a nest. If you have stinging insects nesting on your property, the professionals at Double Diamond Pest Management will be happy to remove the nest safely.
Wildlife
Skunks will become a pest when they pass through yards, dig up lawns searching for grubs, bother pets, or when they take up residence beneath structures such as sheds, crawl spaces, decks, or other voids that are open beneath structures. Skunks that are simply passing through your yard will do what they do, and there is no reasonable proactive approach to their avoidance.
Racoons can be drawn to yards in search of grubs or when scavenging for food in the form of trash and pet food. They are exceptional climbers and have been known to gain access to attics and basements alike through screens, vents, and windows. Additionally, they are fierce fighters when cornered and can be dangerous to people and pets alike. Racoons are transmitters of several diseases and their presence can also lead to secondary pest problems as well.
Prevention tips: Trapping the animals (there are often more than one) is the key to managing a small animal issue. Additionally, correcting any conditions that are advantageous to their harbor or attractive to them is important. This includes sealing voids that provide them shelter, as well as making food sources inaccessible. If a small animal has taken up residence in your home or an area too close for comfort, Double Diamond Pest Management can help you with our humane trapping and exclusion services.
