Pest Control for Winter Months

With the holidays around the corner, business establishments around the country will close shop for a good number of days, maybe even weeks to celebrate Christmas and ring in the New Year. This may also include your home if you are on holiday away from home visiting friends and relatives. What better time is there for pests to take over traffic-free spaces to stave off the cold and keep warm during winter? These can include mice, rats and the like that will use these empty office spaces and homes as breeding grounds in the cold months. Even more ideal are the tidbits left behind in rubbish bins that can feed armies of mice and can even cause an explosion in the rat population for months to come.

A leaky tap and some leftover sandwiches tossed in the waste bin can provide water and food to host a colony of ants through its entire breeding cycle. Heated office spaces make the perfect lair for any warm-blooded crawler that is trying to beat the cold. So if you did not empty your waste before you closed up, prepare yourself for a severe infestation that will require professional pest control services. These pesky parasites may be controlled with setting a trap or two, but long periods of neglect will certainly require calling for professional help.

The other annoyance at this time of year is pigeon droppings. As pedestrian traffic increases in the shopping weeks prior to Christmas, the biscuit and chips crumbs that wind up on the pavement are a big enticement for pigeons during the winter months when food is scarce otherwise. This in turn leads to an increase in pigeon droppings which is not only a slippery hazard but is known to be abrasive to any surface they come in contact with. So anything that a pigeon can perch on is at risk for unsightly damage from its poo or ‘guano’.

Pest control is usually thought of as services that rid premises of rat and mice colonies and the infestation of ants that may be inaccessible to the lay person. The truth is that they cover a whole slew of infestations all the way from wasp nests, to bed bugs and the relentless cockroach. Wasp removal is often considered a task that a homeowner or lay person can take on. This however can be dangerous as wasp stings can be highly allergenic and can send an individual into anaphylactic shock whereupon death can result if emergency measures are not taken immediately. So leaving wasp removal to the experts is the safer choice especially if the person attempting it has never been bitten by a wasp and is therefore unaware of the effect the wasp venom may have on them. Dust mites on the other hand while not dangerous to get rid of, are so all pervasive that it often requires professional pest control approaches for removal.

There are some easy to follow guidelines that might help keep pests to a minimum during any prolonged absence of people traffic. Emptying any and all bins of rubbish along with disinfecting any surfaces that have come in contact with food is a must. Taking a broom to the floor can save you from headaches when you resume the use of your office space or home. Making sure that all food containers have their lids fastened securely will also help keep the creepy crawlies away. Most of all disposing of any and all open foods will make sure that there is no incentive for these creatures to want to stay even if they do have the run of the space when you are gone!

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