Failing to properly keep up your property can create an environment that can draw pests to your home. Some are merely annoying, but others can cause real damage. It is important to know the signs of pests and make the necessary changes to repel or eradicate them.

Here are some tips to help keep pests away and protect you, your family, your pets and home safe this summer:

Mosquitoes: The best way to keep mosquitoes at bay is to eliminate the places that the pests can breed. Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a teaspoon of standing water.

• Check your property for standing water.
• Clean out your gutters and make sure downspouts drain away from your home. Clogged gutters create standing water and are the perfect place for mosquitoes and other pests to breed. Clogged gutters will also encourage other pests that can damage your home.
• Throw away old tires, buckets and other yard rubbish that allow mosquitoes to breed.

Ticks and Rodents: Keep lawns, weeds and grassy areas in check to help stop ticks. Clear away leaves. This will make your yard look nicer and eliminate areas for ticks to hide.

• Remove pet feces from yard, as it may attract unwanted rodents.
• Ticks prefer wooded and bushy areas with high grass and a lot of leaf litter. Keep these areas maintained.
• When trees are close to a structure, overhanging limbs often serve as natural bridges for all types of insect and vertebrate pests

Termites and carpenter ants: These wood-destroying insects including carpenter bees can be destructive to your home. Both termites and carpenter ants are difficult to detect until it’s too late, but there are warning signs. Termites, especially, and carpenter ants are attracted to unprotected or decaying wood.

• Store firewood away from your home and protect it from the elements.
• Watch for insect damage and remove old wood before it’s a problem.
• Identify termites from the mud tubes they leave behind.
• Termites chew through wood creating channels. Workers will continually bring up dirt, creating the mud channels or piles of dirt, signs of a termite problem.
• Carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood. They chew off bits and expel it as sawdust, a sign of an ant problem.

Sugar ants: Another rite of spring is the return of sugar ants.

• Keep surfaces clean, wipe down counters and do not leave food out.
• Avoid over the counter ant sprays as it only kills the ants that come in contact with treated surfaces. Ants will likely come back if you do not eliminate sources of food, water and the colony.

Common insects to find around your home include termites, ants, springtails, roaches and spiders. If you suspect a pest infestation, contact your Saratoga NY pest removal professional to remedy your pest problem. Over the counter products are risky and often ineffective harming you, your family, co-workers, pets and/or plants. Spring pests are common in the Ballston Spa NY area, but if they become a nuisance, your Clifton Park pest control professional can help!

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