Bed Bugs
Yes, you can see adult bed bugs, if you know what to look for but they are small. All five life stages of bed bugs can be found where bed bug activity exists. Bed bug eggs are tiny, and white, and appear in clusters that are difficult to see. Bed bug nymphs need a blood meal in order to reach maturity ...Continue Reading
A common misconception about bed bugs is that they are caused by unsanitary living conditions because bed bug infestations were once prevalent in lower-income housing, where people lived in cramped, over-crowded spaces. Eradicated in the mid-1900s, by the widespread use of DDT, bed bugs have made a …Continue Reading
While many DIY treatments claim to get rid of bed bugs, hiring a professional pest control company, such as Monitor Pest Control is essential to actually eliminating bed bugs from your home. It is important to understand that killing bed bugs can often take several weeks or months and is a…Continue Reading
Bed bugs are hard to get rid of for several reasons. Bed bugs are nocturnal making them difficult to detect. Hiding in the daytime in folds, creases, and tufts in mattresses, these blood-sucking pests come out at night to feast on sleeping humans’ blood, because they require blood…Continue Reading
Bee Removal
Generally speaking, honey bees are not dangerous unless they feel their hives are threatened by an intruder. Pollinators, unlike predators such as yellowjackets who can sting a victim multiple times, honey bees sting as a last-ditch effort to stop an intruder. When honey bees sting, they are…Continue Reading
Beehives last a lot longer than the individual bees in the hive. In beehives, each bee is assigned a specific role. Beehives consist of a majority of worker bees. In a large colony, around 50,000 to 60,000 members are worker bees, the rest are drones, except for the queen. Several conditions...Continue Reading
When beehives are removed, not all of the bees are present, as some may be flying around in the air outside the hive. Some worker bees might be a short distance away from the hive, pollinating plants. These leftover bees are called straggler bees. When these straggler bees return to the nest, they...Continue Reading
Avoiding bee stings should be relatively easy to do, as long as you avoid bees. Honey bees shouldn’t pose any health threats as long as you steer clear of their nests. Some people are allergic to bee venom and these victims may experience a reaction that requires medical attention immediately...Continue Reading
Flea Control
While some household products, such as boric acid and diatomaceous earth, can be used to deter fleas, along with vacuuming and shampooing flea-infested areas, often Insect Growth Regulators (IGR) provide the most effective chemicals to eliminate fleas. Usually, in the form of indoor, space, and...Continue Reading
Depending on how severe your flea infestation is, you may be able to eliminate fleas yourself. However, if you take your pets to your veterinarian and treat them with the recommended oral or spot treatments, remove and replace or thoroughly launder all pet bedding, vacuum all fabric surfaces, clean...Continue Reading
When you decide to professionally treat your home and lawn for fleas, there are several preparations you should take to get ready for your flea treatment. Most reliable pest control companies, such as Monitor Pest Control, will tell you that treating fleas is a three-part process: home, pet,...Continue Reading
If you are treating your flea infestation yourself, your flea problem may persist for months and even worsen due to ineffective materials available to consumers. When you decide to seek professional help for your persistent flea infestation, you will need to vacuum carpets every ten days after your...Continue Reading
General Questions
This of course varies depending on such factors such as the size of the home, business or lawn we are treating, what program or service schedule the customer wants, and what is the extent of the infestation we are asked to treat. For example, a large home having an infestation of White-Footed ants...Continue Reading
There are many advantages to having a professional company, such as Monitor Pest Control, handle your pest problems. Firstly, we are trained in identifying the insects you are encountering and determining the proper strategy for treatment. The biology and habits of each insect differ and therefore many are...Continue Reading
Bugs are so creepy to some people partly due to the Hollywood horror machine scaring movie fans with giant spiders, killer bees, swarms of locusts, and so on. On a basic level, humans are creeped out by bugs because of the way they look with their unwieldy, exaggerated antennae, multiple legs...Continue Reading
Scientists are still trying to determine if bugs sense fear, pain, and other emotions. For most bugs, threats from overhead predators signal a negative response to hide or flee to another location. A 2015 California Institute of Technology study published in Science Daily found that fruit flies...Continue Reading
Bugs can seem gross to some people because of the way they look and their behavior. The creepy crawly factor that people associate with encountering a massive number of bugs has provided the gross element that horror films promote to make people squirm, sending insects skittering through our...Continue Reading
The simple answer is – it depends on the bug. Bugs slow down as temperatures drop and are unable to actively function below 40 degrees. Some bugs die off in the winter, such as male mosquitoes and all but the fertilized queens in predator bee colonies, such as wasps, hornets, and...Continue Reading
Cold weather does kill some bugs, such as male mosquitoes as well as all of the members of wasp, hornet, and yellowjacket colonies, except fertilized queens. These queens hibernate during cold weather, emerging at the first sign of warm weather to form new colonies. You may not see as many insects...Continue Reading
Bugs seem to disappear in the winter because when temperatures drop below 44 degrees Fahrenheit, most bugs become inactive. A rare few, such as Monarch butterflies do disappear, migrating to warmer climates but most bugs either hibernate or go into various dormant states, or diapause. Ants go into...Continue Reading
Mosquito Control
Not all mosquitoes are attracted to the same things but generally, human skin contains over 400 chemical compounds that could play a role in attracting mosquitoes. Some compounds may also repel mosquitoes. It really depends on the person and their particular combination of skin bacteria, the food...Continue Reading
In areas of the country that experience an actual winter season with temperatures below 50° F, mosquitoes will slow down when the temperature drops as they are cold-blooded and don’t possess the ability to regulate their internal temperatures. In regions that experience below freezing...Continue Reading
When you decide to professionally treat your home and lawn for fleas, there are several preparations you should take to get ready for your flea treatment. Most reliable pest control companies, such as Monitor Pest Control, will tell you that treating fleas is a three-part process: home, pet,...Continue Reading
Conventional pesticides used to control mosquitoes include:
· Malathion – Often used to treat crops against a wide array of insects, Malathion is sprayed directly onto vegetation, particularly bushes where mosquitoes like to rest. It has also been used in a 5% solution to fog yards. Small...Continue Reading
Pest Control
The trend in residential pest control has moved away from monthly service and toward service on a less frequent basis. The reasons for this include refined, longer-lasting products and a more integrated approach to pest management. Pest control professionals, such as Monitor Pest Control, have implemented a...Continue Reading
This can vary from company to company. Monitor Pest Control's signature service, Protect-A-Guard, controls all the most commonly encountered crawling pests including: the wide variety of ants found in New Braunfels, cockroaches, spiders, and occasional invaders like silverfish and pill bugs. Because certain pests,...Continue Reading
Most people notice very little to no odor at all with the vast majority of our products. This has been the case for quite a few years as chemicals have been refined and improved. Monitor Pest Control's Protect-A-Guard service for the home also greatly reduces the amount of products used inside the home since it...Continue Reading
Pests of any kind are concerning but we know that roaches, in particular, are especially distressing. Many companies advertise roach sprays, baits, and traps that can work for a while but, they don’t address keeping roaches out, which can be tricky when you consider that roaches often hitchhike...Continue Reading
Pests like kitchens for some of the very same reasons humans do. Food, for starters, can feed hungry pests when the weather turns cool and natural food sources dry up. Water-prone areas provide a tiny amount of water essential for pests to keep living in your home. Make your kitchen uninteresting...Continue Reading
Tiny black bugs in your kitchen could be any number of pests that are frequent in New Braunfels homes.
Ants
Ants, especially in warmer months, can be seen trailing in lines while foraging for food. Sporting six legs and elbow-shaped segmented antennae, ants appear:
· Typically black, brown, or...Continue Reading
Pests enter homes in various ways but the most common way pests enter your home is through small cracks, holes, or crevices in your foundation, as well as around doorways and windows. Window and door screens with holes or tears in them can also allow insects to enter your home. Rats can squeeze...Continue Reading
In the big picture, several factors can cause pest infestations, including:
· Weather events and changing weather conditions
· Seasonal changes
· Loss of habitat
· Food and water shortages in the wild
Tropical storms and hurricanes can dislodge pests from their habitats. Some pests, such as...Continue Reading
Most bugs are more active in the warmer months of the year. When the temperatures are below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, insects really are not able to move. At 45 degrees, they start to move slowly. Insects don’t become fully functional until temperatures reach 70 degrees. This means in most of...Continue Reading
Fruit flies can be very annoying and they seem to come out of nowhere to infest your kitchen and other areas in your New Braunfels home or business. Attracted to the smell of fermenting fruit and vegetables, fruit flies are drawn to high-fructose substances. Overripe and rotting fruits and...Continue Reading
You can stop bugs from coming into your home by making your home unattractive to pests.
To make your home less accessible to pests, from the outside, check your foundation for small holes, cracks, and crevices that pests can enter through. To stop bugs from coming into your home: ...Continue Reading
Preventing pests in your home is a lot easier than trying to control pest infestations. If you are currently experiencing pests in your home, you should contact a professional pest control company to eliminate your infestation as you will likely spend more money and better results from using pest...Continue Reading
Rodent Control
Professional exterminators will inspect your property for entryways, such as holes and cracks in your foundation, windows and doors, screened vents, and pipes going into buildings. Sealing these openings is essential to prevent rodents from entering your home or business. There are many ways to ...Continue Reading
If you suspect you have a rodent infestation at your home or business, you can, as the first line of defense, place a few snap traps around the areas where you suspect rodents are frequenting. If this is successful, you will find rodents caught in these traps. This can be unpleasant and may not ...Continue Reading
In order to keep mice and rats away from your home or business, you need to make your property unattractive to rodents indoors and outdoors.
Outdoors
- Make sure all entry points that mice and rats can squeeze through are sealed
- Declutter your property – eliminate leftover construction ...Continue Reading
Roof rats are the most common type of rodent in New Braunfels and although they are smaller than Norway rats, they still cause health threats to you and your loved ones, as well as destruction to your property. Roof rats get their name from the fact that they climb and can gain access to homes and ...Continue Reading
Rats are mostly nocturnal but will come out during the day for various reasons. Night clubs and other places that are very busy at night, for instance, see more rat problems in the daytime than at night. With so many humans and noise going on at night in clubs, rats don’t feel comfortable ...Continue Reading
Even though they creep most people out, rats are rather interesting creatures that have been around since the beginning of time (more or less). See what you can learn about rats from these facts that we have gathered.
- Rats are very social animals with brains that are shockingly similar to ...Continue Reading
Well, we know humans are often afraid of rats but the reverse is also true. Rats are afraid of human activity, mostly because humans are so much larger than they are. Rats also fear predators such as hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. Other animals that rats are afraid of include your cat as ...Continue Reading