Seeing Ants In Your Georgia Home?

It just so happens that your home provides everything an ant and several hundred of it’s friends need to survive. We’re talking about food and shelter. If gaps around doors and windows or cracks in the foundation are present, these pesky ants will slip right in. You’ll likely see them hanging out in the kitchen, bathrooms and other areas of the home you’d consider off limits to these foraging pests.

Here in Atlanta, we deal with both nuisance ants and wood destroying ants. Nuisance ants are relatively harmless. Their presence in your home is annoying but not considered threatening. If they trek through your pantry or across those cookies on your counter, you might want to throw out the food but you don’t have to worry about a bigger health threat. The carpenter ant is a wood destroying ant and again is not dangerous to your health. The same cannot be said for wood structures. Carpenter ants don’t eat wood like termites do but they do tunnel through to create galleries. They may even establish satellite colonies in your walls. Left untreated, carpenter ants can inflict significant damage to a structure.

So to recap, if you are seeing ants in your home, it’s because they’ve found a way in and are liking the accommodations. Now how to fix this problem.

To prevent ants from getting inside, you must start on the outside. You’ve got to make sure that the exterior of the house is sealed tight. That means any tiny hole or gap is identified and corrected. Next you will want to make sure that all hedges and shrubs are trimmed away from your home. Though they look nice, landscape elements often provide a nice bridge to the house.

Moving indoors, you must be sure to eliminate any potential food sources. Food on the counters and open packages in the pantry must be outlawed in your home if you want to deter ants. Use containers that seal to hold food. Crumbs and spills should be cleaned up right away as well. Don’t forget to run a cleaning cloth under the toaster and sweep under the major appliances to get rid of crumbs hiding.

If you already have an ant infestation in your home, Active Pest Control offers effective home pest control services that get rid of ants and other household pests. Best of all, our program protects your home all year round. Contact us today to find out how our Atlanta pest control pros can help you solve your ant problem!

Get Your Chattanooga Home Ready For Sale

If you were considering the prospect of selling your home, it may be time. Last year, Chattanooga realtors saw the greatest number of home sales since the recession of 2006, and they are expecting 2015 to be an even bigger year. Not only that, median sale prices on homes in Chattanooga are up 5.9 percent from 2013, making the average home $147,900. And, the good news keeps coming, as last month Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reduced down payment requirements from 5 to 3 percent. It is finally time for millennials (ages 25-34) to get out there and buy their dream home. That home may be yours. Are you ready to sell?

Spring cleaning tips for prepping your home.

When those potential buyers stop by, you want them to leave with the best impression possible. It has never been more important to do proper spring cleanup.

  • Lawn: Now that winter has passed, make sure all twigs, leaves and other debris is picked up off your lawn. Use an herbicide to get rid of weeds. And, check to make sure your inground sprinkler system is still working, if you have one.
  • Deck or Patio: Sweep, clean, stain and reseal your deck or patio.
  • Water build up: Make sure your gutters are in good working order and that water is being channeled away from your home. To avoid injury, hire a professional to clean your gutter and downspouts. It is well worth the $100 to $200.
  • Roof: Look for cracks or missing shingles and make sure your roofline is in good shape.
  • Exterior walls: Look for any rotted or chew holes where water and pests have eaten away at your wood. Look in hard-to-see areas because a home inspector is likely to check these areas for their client.
  • Chimney: Examine your chimney for efflorescence, a white calcium deposit that is a warning sign of water absorption.
  • Windows and screens: Replace any broken or damaged screens, weather stripping and door sweeps.
  • Leaks: Inspect your home for leaky faucets, spigots or pipes. If you find puddles or areas of moisture, have a plumber take care of these trouble spots.
  • Lights: Make sure all your lights work.
  • Clean: Spring clean everything and get rid of unnecessary clutter.
  • Pests: Make sure all trash cans have sealable lids and that they are in a place where they can’t be knocked over. Get rid of spider webs outside. And do an inspection of your attic for nests or dens. Hire a pest control professional to do an inspection and offer options to keep your home pest-free during the sale process.

Hopefully, you will have a quick and profitable sale. But sometimes it can take a while. Maintain a pest treatment plan to avoid damage from wood chewing pests and to give your home a pest-free feel every time buyers come to visit.

7 Ways To Prevent Pests This Spring

Are you looking for help with home pest control in Rome, GA? We are here to help you get started on protecting your home from pests this spring season. As the weather warms up, pests will begin to emerge, looking for food, water and possibly a new shelter. If they can find access into your home, then they have hit the jackpot. Your home provides a large, warm sheltered area to live and hide out in. There is plenty of food sources and water that is available, no matter what season. If pests find these items, food, warmth and water, then your home will become the new hot spot for pests. They will try their best to stay out of your sight, adapt quickly and start to multiply. This means that by the time you notice pests in your home, there could already be a full infestation in your walls, attic, basement or crawl space.

Here are seven helpful tips to keeping your home pest free this spring season:

  1. The first step to keeping pests out of your home is to not allow them access into your home. This means making sure to seal up any cracks on the exterior of your home. There may be cracks or gaps found around venting, window, doors, piping and wiring. You may also want to double check your foundation for any entry ways. These gaps do not have to be very big to let pests in.
  2. You are also going to want to make sure that all your food is sealed in airtight containers. If pests do get into your home, you are not going to want to give them access to any food sources. This also applies to pet food as well.
  3. Make sure that you also seal up trash containers inside and outside your home. Rodents, like raccoons, are notorious for getting into trash around homes.
  4. When you are landscaping this spring, make sure that shrubs, bushes and trees are well groomed and kept away from your home. These items can help make a bridge for pests to cross to get into your home. They also offer a good hiding place for pests while they forage around your home for food.
  5. Store any wood items at least 20 feet from your home. Wood piles attract pests, like termites and carpenter ants, to your home.
  6. Make sure that your home has proper venting in attics and crawl spaces so that there is no moisture build up. Also, make sure to fix any leaking pipes as soon as possible. Pests are attracted to moist areas in your home.
  7. If you would like help dealing with home pest control in Rome, you can contact a local professional pest exterminator to help you eliminate pests and setup a year-round pest control program to protect your home.

Rome pest control can be a daunting task. Take your time and call a professional, if you would like assistance dealing with pests. Don’t let pests put a damper on your spring, call the pest professionals at Active Pest Control today to learn more about spring pest prevention and control!

Spring Bug Control In Chattanooga

Do you like it when bugs crawl all over everything? Of course not. No one does. But a surprising number of people put up with it every year. Make this the year that you say, “enough is enough, bugs!” Okay. You don’t have to actually say it. But you should look into partnering with your local pest management company.

When the temperature begin to warm up, those bugs that are living in your attic, wall voids, garage, and basement, are going to start looking for food. Going months without eating tends to make you a little hungry. That means the box elder bugs, cluster flies, stink bugs, lady bugs, wasps, and other overwintering pests are going to start coming out of the woodwork. They’ll be crawling on your kitchen walls, dying on your window sills, flying through your living room, and getting into everything.

Some of these pests are just a nuisance, but others can be a menace to your family. Cluster flies can spread illness and have you staying home from work with flu like symptoms. Wasps can have you running to the hospital with a screaming kid. And if you have the misfortune of running into a swarm of termites or carpenter ants, you’ll think the end of the world has finally come.

Prepping for the spring invasion is simpler than you think. Gingerly slip your hand into your pocket or pocket book, and gently slide out your phone. Now tap in the number for Active Pest Control. It’s 423-414-2736. Talk to the friendly person on the other side, and have them come and do an inspection. See? Easy. Hold on. Why are you looking at me that way? Are you worried about cost? Active Pest Control has packages starting at only $30. If you buy a coffee every day for an entire month, you’re going to spend around $45. Having a home with no bugs in it is way sweeter than a cup of coffee.

Stop and think about all the time this year you’ve dealt with pests. Did you have to deal with flies in the kitchen? Lady bugs all over your walls? Cockroaches in the pantry? Ants in the cabinet? Mice leaving droppings in your drawers? Pests can make you sick, eat your home, and bite and sting. When you have Active Pest Control protecting you, you can sleep easy–and not wake up with a hard shelled cricket crawling on your neck. Get your walls sealed, and keep those pests outside, where they belong. It’s just better that way.

Do Your Children Feed The Bugs?

Kids can be messy. Not your kids of course. I’m talking about other people’s kids. You know the ones. They make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich right on the counter and leave a gob of jelly for you to find later–usually because you put your forearm or hand on it. They leave a wake of half-eaten bread, candy and Pop Tarts on every surface in the house and surprise you with sticky morsels on the kitchen table, or unidentifiable crumbs in the cushions of the couch. It is one of the many joys of child rearing.

This propensity for uncleanness can often happen in a blink of an eye. I remember making hot dogs one day. I called my son in to get his. He was five years old and used to putting his own ketchup on his hotdog, so I paid him no mind. But something went wrong during the process and he managed to get a rather substantial amount of it on his hand. Before I could even form the words, “Don’t move,” he moved. With a speed that left my mind unable to fully comprehend what had happened he smeared the ketchup down the front of his shirt in one thick streak and looked up at me with surprise. Apparently, the ‘ol, “Wipe it off on the shirt trick didn’t quite work as well as he had planned.”

What I did not know back then as a young parent is that all those sticky spills, all those dobs of sugary foods, and all of those crumbs were the reason we had so many pests. It doesn’t take much to feed a bug, and my house was full of a veritable buffet of choice dishes.

If you have not painstakingly sealed your exterior walls, maintained your screens, and had your perimeter treated by a professional pest control company, bugs and rodents will visit your home. But what many people don’t think about is that these pests are looking for a food source. If you have open trash, food on the counters, dirty dishes stacked by the sink, and crumbs in your rug, pests will be motivated to stay. Without even realizing it, your kids are feeding those pests.

I’m not telling you to chase after your kids and wipe up every little spill, because that’s just crazy talk. I’ve raised two little piggies and it is hard work. I get it. But there is a solution. It lies in what I mentioned above. If you partner with a pest control company they will do all the hard work of sealing bugs and rodents out and you won’t have to work so hard at keeping everything clean. I’m not going to lie. You’ll still need to do a couple of things to make sure your home stays pest free, but there are easy things like making sure you don’t leave the door open as you bring groceries from the car to the house, and remembering to put fruit in the refrigerator instead of on the table where fruit flies can develop. Your pest technician will walk you through it.

Those kids are going to make some messes, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with the cockroaches, ants, flies, beetles, mice, rats, and everything else that wants to creep around your house and spread illness. Get your yard and exterior walls protected and get bug free for 2015.

Post Vacation Bed Bug Tips

You just got home from a relaxing vacation in the Caribbean…fast forward a few weeks and you have now realized that you brought home with you more than sea shells and trinkets. This unwanted souvenir is a bed bug and now all the unwinding you did in the tropics is completely overshadowed by the stress these pests have created. No one wants the memories of a great vacation replaced by bed bugs.

While bed bugs pose no known risks to the health of humans, that doesn’t mean anyone wants them in their home. Bed bugs generally only come out at night to feed. Their meal of choice, human blood. Sounds like something out of a horror movie doesn’t it? They leave behind red, rash-like bumps that itch. While they are more of a nuisance than anything, the idea of bugs crawling on you, biting you while you sleep can make it rather difficult to get any rest.

There are some things you can do to try to avoid a bed bug infestation after you get home from your trip.

  • Before you leave for you vacation, leave trash bags in your car. When you get home from your trip, put your luggage in the trash bags and leave them there until you are able to get them thoroughly cleaned.
  • While in your hotel, avoid unpacking your clothing. Don’t leave your suitcase on the floor, and if possible, leave your suitcase in the bathroom.
  • Take a few minutes to look around the crevices and cracks of the hotels mattress and bedding with a flashlight. If you think you see any signs of bed bugs, ask for a different room on a different floor.
  • When you get back from your vacation, remove your luggage from the tied off trash bags when you’re ready to wash your items. Wash all clothing in hot water as hot as your washing machine will allow. Anything that cannot be washed should be tossed, if at all possible.
  • Vacuum out your suitcase before you put it back in your closet and as close to the door as possible (outside would be best).
  • Keep an eye out for the signs of bed bugs once you get home. Signs include copper stains on sheets, discarded bed bug skins, rash-like red, itchy bumps on your body or spotting bed bugs or bed bug eggs.

If you think you may have brought bed bugs home with you from vacation, it is important to contact a professional as soon as possible. Bed bugs can multiply quickly and it doesn’t take long for a couple bed bugs to become an infestation and many over the counter pesticides won’t help with these guys! However, the pros at Active Pest Control can!