10 Tips to Keep Your Backyard Pest-Free

Servicing a backyard in Georgia - Active Pest ControlSpring and summer in Georgia come with a lot to be excited about. However, the warm weather and sunshine following rainfall lead to all kinds of pest problems in our region. It’s important to be able to stop pests from finding food sources, shelter, and breeding grounds in your backyard, because without any effort put into pest prevention, your background will be overrun with pests for most of the year. If you’re wondering how you can pest-proof your backyard, read on for advice from our expert exterminators at Active Pest Control!

10 Tips to Make Your Backyard Pest-Free

Our climate allows for all kinds of pests to thrive throughout the year, so it’s important to have a pest prevention plan that accounts for all kinds of infestations. Here are our top 10 pest prevention tips for Georgia residents:

  1. Mow the lawn often: Mowing once a week can prevent overgrowth that creates excess standing water pooling and ample insect hiding places.
  2. Trim your plants: Make sure your trees, bushes, and shrubs aren’t overgrown. This can lead to shaded hiding places that are particularly attractive to mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and more.
  3. Get rid of yard waste: Piles of yard waste can provide shelters that lead to all kinds of pest infestations, from ants all the way up to rodents and wildlife.
  4. Clear out standing water: Mosquitoes breed in pools of standing water, no matter how small. Make sure to pour it out or cover it when you find rainwater pooling in gutters, planters, tarps, buckets, your lawn, or elsewhere.
  5. Use garden nets: Garden netting can protect the plants that would otherwise attract all kinds of insects and wildlife.
  6. Dethatch your lawn: A thin layer of thatch is helpful for your lawn’s temperature regulation, but too much of it can suffocate your lawn and lead to all kinds of pest problems. Dethatch your lawn and use a nitrogen fertilizer to prevent excess buildup.
  7. Water your lawn carefully: Overwatering and underwatering can both lead to different kinds of pest problems, so it’s important to know exactly how much water your lawn needs. Setting up an irrigation system or sprinkler system will regulate this quantity for you.
  8. Store firewood up and away: Firewood laying around by the side of your home can quickly lead to a devastating termite infestation. To prevent this from happening, store your firewood off of the ground, away from your home, and covered if possible.
  9. Keep bins closed: Pests as small as wasps and as big as raccoons love to forage in our trash cans for food. Seal them if possible, but definitely keep them as far away from your yard and home as possible.
  10. Hire an exterminator: A professional pest control technician can assess your yard for active vulnerabilities that could lead to pest infestations.

Pest Control for Your Backyard in Georgia

If you want to feel confident that your yard won’t fall victim to pest infestations this spring and summer, reach out to your local pest control company. At Active Pest Control, our highly trained technicians are well-versed in control and prevention strategies for the many insects, arachnids, and wild animals living in Georgia. We can set up a plan to keep your yard pest-free year-round. Contact us today for a free quote!

Top Tips for Pest-Free Outdoor Living

Avoid mosquitoes in your Atlanta GA backyard with tips from Active Pest ControlWith summer winding down, you’re likely wanting to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Whether you are hosting a backyard barbecue or reading out on your patio at night, the last thing you want to deal with is a pest problem. Mosquitoes, ticks, flies, lawn pests, and wasps are just a few of the many pests that can become quite a nuisance. At Active Pest Control, we know you want to enjoy your time spent in your outdoor living spaces to be pest-free, which is why we’re here to provide you with our top tips for pest-free outdoor living in your Atlanta area home.

Common Pests in Your Yard

The time of year that provides nice enough weather for you to be outdoors is also the time of year when pests are most active! Whether you have a garden in your backyard or couches and tables on your deck, you will likely encounter some of the following pests:

How to Prevent Pests in Your Outdoor Living Space

To keep pests away when you’re in your yard, there are several things you can do. The best ways to keep pests away in your outdoor space are as follows.

  1. Get rid of standing water. Mosquitoes only need a half inch of standing water to breed.
  2. Keep your lawn and shrubs trimmed. Overgrown grass or vegetation provides mosquitoes and ticks with shelter.
  3. Know how to look for ant hills. Even a tiny mound can contain thousands of ants inside.
  4. Check wood structures. Termites and carpenter bees will damage your wooden decks or porches.
  5. Use an insect repellent. Insect repellent containing DEET will help repel mosquitoes and ticks.
  6. Clean your patio or space regularly. Crumbs or spilled liquids will attract ants and other insects.

Year-Long Pest-Free Living

Pests are just a fact of life outside. However, you don’t have to let them ruin your time spent in your own backyard! For help implementing pest-free outdoor living tips, the experts at Active Pest Control can help. Contact our residential exterminators to learn more.

How to Protect Your “Fur Babies”

Keeping pests such as mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks away from your pets may seem nearly impossible. Pests are certainly determined to find a blood meal when they need it. For example, mosquitoes can fly up to 20 miles looking for a blood meal, and they don’t care if it’s you or your pet.

So, what can you do to help protect your four-legged friends from these pests?

Fleas – Outside of the obvious solutions like flea collars or medications, simple things like vacuuming your carpet and furniture regularly, washing bedding, clothing, and plush pet toys can keep fleas from quickly multiplying and infesting your home after they are brought indoors. Also, give your pets regular baths, especially during tick season. For pets with thick coats, perform regular visual inspections to make sure they are free from fleas.

Ticks – Ticks like to hang out on tree branches, bushes, and long grass waiting for its meal to pass nearby. After you and your pets have been outdoors, it is a good idea to check hidden areas near the ears and under long hair or fur. Keeping your yard trimmed can make it less tick friendly.

Mosquitoes – Well, we’ve saved the worst for last. Mosquitoes are difficult to control and capable of spreading multiple diseases. When possible, avoid the outdoors during dawn and dusk hours when mosquitoes are most active. Drain standing water to prevent further breeding—that includes hidden areas like clogged rain gutters and flower pots. Mosquitoes can lay their eggs in as little as a few tablespoons of water, and larvae hatch in as little as a week.

One final tip: Although these pests can’t be completely eradicated, your friends at Active Pest Control can limit their presence. If we can be of service, fill out our online contact form or call us at 678-808-2038.

 

Fleas Everywhere!

The terrible aggravation of having a house full of fleas is something every pet owner has experienced, or at least will experience, sometime during their time of owning a pet. No matter how careful you are, a dog or cat can bring fleas in with them at any given time. It could be fleas picked up out of the grass or fleas acquired during your morning walk with your dog. You may have exposed Fido to fleas when the neighbor’s dog came over to play. Regardless how it happens, fleas can quickly take over and spread throughout the house.

Although it may come as a surprise to some, fleas can become a problem even in homes of non-pet families. Fleas can be found on mice or any other hairy animal. They can also come in on your clothing if you have been in a rather heavily infested place. Fleas need a host for survival, but they do not deposit eggs on the host. They will lay eggs in the carpet, curtains, upholstery, or bedding. The hatched larva can then feed off the fecal matter of adult fleas for a period of time.

Fleas cannot fly but are capable of jumping long distances. They are small, wingless insects. While they prefer dogs, cats, mice, rats, rabbits or squirrels, they will bite humans especially in places an animal does not exist. The adult flea is rather easy to see, especially when arriving home after an extended absence. The hungry fleas will quickly begin jumping around to land on humans or pets in their need for a blood meal. The flea eggs and larvae are another situation altogether. They are not easily seen and usually in out-of-the-way places such as under furniture, burrowed in the carpet, and even inside cracks and grooves in flooring. The eggs will fall off the host as the pet or mouse moves through the house.

Your Veterinarian can instruct you with the type of flea treatment to use on your pet, but getting rid of fleas in the home can be very difficult. It is estimated that one flea can live 3 or 4 months and deposit as many as 400-500 eggs during that time frame. As you can see, just a few fleas brought into the home can quickly become a serious infestation.

At Active Pest Control, our technicians are knowledgeable, have the experience, and utilize state-of-the-art technology to safely treat the entire home and solve your flea problems. We will also instruct you, prior to treatment, on how to prepare for treatment, making the process much easier and successful. Contact us today and let us eliminate fleas from your home.

Fleas are an equal-opportunity employer

If you have ever had the pleasure of dealing with a flea infestation, you know how frustrating, time consuming, and maddening it can be. You can buy sprays, bathe your animals, powder the rugs, vacuum–bathe your pets again–only to find more fleas! And you may blame your flea problems on your pets. However, pets are not the only animals fleas hitchhike on. Three buildings on UTC’s campus had to be closed down for three days due to flea infestation caused by rodents. That’s right. Rodents! Measures were taken to eliminate fleas in certain areas, but the fleas just kept popping up in other places, until finally the buildings had to be closed.

Do you have signs of rodents in your home?

  1. Droppings: Rodents are prolific poopers. If you see droppings in cabinets, drawers, along baseboards, or anywhere else, you may have a rodent infestation.
  2. Noises: Squeaks, scampering noises, rustling, scraping…If you are hearing these sorts of things, especially at bedtime when nocturnal animals are becoming active, this is another good sign you have critters living in your attic or wall voids.
  3. Urine: Rodents tend to leak urine all over the place. House mice are sometimes known to make “urinating pillars,” which are little hills that are made up of grease, dirt, and urine. If you notice these or a urine smell, this is another sign that you have rodents.
  4. Holes, grease marks, or gnaw marks: If you discover food boxes that have been chewed, grease marks around small holes in your walls, or gnaw marks in food packaging, it is likely that you have rodents.
  5. Footprints: Tiny footprints can sometimes be seen in spilled flour or other powdery substances.

If you have any or all of these signs of rodent infestation, it is possible that you not only are infested with mice, rats, or some other wild creature, you are also at risk for a flea infestation. Just one of these problems can be extremely difficult to deal with, but having both rodents and fleas can be overwhelming. Once inside your home, both will reproduce rapidly.

There are things you can do to exclude rodents from getting into your home, such as sealing up holes or cracks on your exterior walls with a caulking gun, making sure all your screens and door sweeps are in good working order, keeping food sources sealed in hard plastic containers, and cleaning and vacuuming regularly so as not to offer rodents reasons to want to stay in your home.

It is possible to eliminate rodents and fleas from your home by yourself, but if you want to avoid the headache and have the job done right the first time, give us a call here at Active Pest Control. We have expert technicians and an on-staff entomologist who can make sure that your home is rodent and flea free. Period. Give us a call today.