Common Pest Identification In Humble, TX
If you start seeing pests scurrying through your house, you’ll probably want to know what you’re dealing with. Our Pest Library is here to help. We’ve gathered important information about the pests that are most common in Humble and the surrounding areas so that you can get your questions answered quickly. To request quick relief from household pests, reach out to our team today!
Cockroaches
German cockroaches, American cockroaches, and smoky brown cockroaches are types of roaches that home and business owners in Texas deal with on a year-round basis. They move into our homes on their own, or more commonly, we unknowingly introduce them. Cockroaches move from place to place by hitchhiking in things like boxes, furniture, appliances, and deliveries. These pests can be introduced into any structure, meaning any of our Humble homes are susceptible to cockroaches.
When it comes to cockroaches, it is important to understand why we should never tolerate them, even for a day, in our homes or businesses. These pests are much more than a nuisance; they are a significant danger to people, our food sources, and our property. Before coming into your home and once they're there, cockroaches hang out in less than sanitary areas like trash, sewers, drains, decaying vegetation, and damp areas around toilets and tubs. On their bodies, cockroaches carry bacteria, parasites, and pathogens that make people ill. They also emit a musty, unpleasant odor, chew holes in fabrics, and contaminate food. At the first sign of these pests in your house, take action to eliminate them as quickly as possible by partnering with a local and experienced professional!
To make your home as unattractive to cockroaches as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips:
Regularly vacuum and dust your house to pick up the crumbs that cockroaches like to feast on.
Place all trash bags in containers with tight-fitting lids.
Clean up uneaten pet food daily.
Eliminate excess water that attracts cockroaches by repairing leaky pipes, ensuring good ventilation, and using dehumidifiers.
Inspect secondhand furniture, appliances, and other items for cockroaches before bringing them into your home.
Fleas
Spending time outside with family and friends is something we all like to do; unfortunately, when you do, you are always among the insects that call the Humble area of Texas home. Some insects are just a nuisance to be around, while other pose threats by biting, stinging, or spreading diseases. Fleas are an example of biting pests we regularly encounter in outdoor spaces, including our backyards. Parks, fields, meadows, sandy areas, and wooded areas are full of biting fleas.
Fleas are prolific breeders, and wherever they end up, they will form large populations if environmental conditions are right. The warm, humid weather in Texas allows these pests to thrive year-round, and they are a constant threat both indoors and outdoors. Fleas are blood-feeding pests; their preferred hosts are cats, dogs, rodents, and other wild animals. They are constantly being introduced into our yards by stray pets and wild animals. Fleas enter our homes after coming into contact with us or our pets. These insects also regularly move from place to place on secondhand items like upholstered furniture or rugs.
To make your yard as unattractive to fleas as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips:
- Make sure you aren't unintentionally attracting rodents and other wild animals to your yard. Keep lids on trash cans, pick up uneaten pet food, and remove bird feeders.
- Keep your grass cut short; fleas love to hide in tall grass.
- Remove brush piles, leaf piles, and other debris that provides fleas with a damp, shady place to live.
- Before bringing used rugs, upholstered furniture, bedding, or clothing into your home, inspect the items for hiding fleas.
- Keep mice and other animals out of your house by sealing spaces you discover in its exterior.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are pests that we regularly deal with in our yards in large numbers. They are such a regular sight that we forget just how dangerous these pests are. Not only do female mosquitoes deliver itchy, painful bites, but during the feeding process, they can transmit diseases and parasites that can make people and animals ill. While not every mosquito you encounter is disease-ridden, many are, so avoiding contact with them and limiting their numbers on your property is important.
In Texas, mosquitoes are almost a year-round threat, and our warm, humid weather provides them with a perfect place to live and breed in large numbers. Not only do mosquitoes spread diseases, but they make enjoying our outdoor spaces impossible. It is hard to sit outside, eat outside, garden, or mow your lawn when constantly swarmed by biting mosquitoes! The biggest reason mosquitoes are attracted to any area is because there is standing water. Female mosquitoes lay their eggs on top of standing water, the eggs hatch into larvae, and those larvae then develop into new biting adults. The more breeding sites present, the more mosquitoes there will be!
To make your yard as unattractive to mosquitoes as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips.
Fill in low-lying areas that collect rainwater.
Remove piles of brush, wood, and other debris where rainwater can pool.
Store containers like buckets upside down when they are not in use.
Keep gutters and downspouts clear of debris to keep water flowing freely and away from the outside of your house.
Cut your grass regularly and cut back overgrown shrubs.
Rodents
Mice and rats are both rodents and well known around our homes and businesses. These commensal rodents have discovered that "sharing our table" makes their lives easier. Unfortunately, their presence in our homes never benefits us. Rodents are persistent, destructive, disease-spreading, and unwanted pests. The best way to protect your home and family from them is to partner with a professional and implement regular pest control services.
Rodents inhabit many different environments, including fields, meadows, wooded areas, parks, backyards, and urban areas. They thrive anywhere they have easy access to food, water, and shelter. Our Texas commercial and residential properties, more often than not, provide them with everything they need. Rodents typically live happily outside, moving about each day searching for food. What usually drives these pests indoors is a lack of food, changing temperatures, or because our homes offer them a safe place to nest.
To make your property as unattractive to rodents as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips:
- Avoid providing rodents with multiple food sources. Harvest gardens regularly, keep your family's outdoor eating areas clean and free of leftover food, and place all trash inside trash cans with lids.
- Repair leaky pipes or fixtures to eliminate water sources that rodents could use to their advantage.
- Remove brush, fallen trees, and other yard debris where rodents can hide.
- Make it as difficult as possible for rodents to get into your home by inspecting the exterior and repairing any defects found.
- Make sure weatherstripping, door sweeps, and screens are intact.
Spiders
There are many different species of spiders that we regularly see resting, hanging, and scurrying around our yards and homes. Though they vary in size and shape, there are certain physical features all spiders have in common:
Eight legs
Two body parts
Many eyes
Venom that they use to paralyze their prey
Chelicerae or fangs used to inject venom into their prey
The ability to produce silk
Spiders are adept predators that feed on a wide variety of insects and are an important part of the ecosystem. These predatory arachnids help to control populations of nuisance and dangerous insects.
Spiders are not aggressive, and most pose no real threat to people. In fact, in the United States, only a couple of species have venom strong enough to cause harm to us. Spider bites are typically accidental and usually occur after you come into contact with a hiding spider. Spiders are a common pest problem, as our yards naturally provide them shelter, water sources, and plenty of places to hide. Preferring to live outside, spiders usually only move into our homes after following their prey indoors or while looking for a safe place to lay their eggs. Unfortunately, once they move inside, they will stay as long as there is food and water. The presence of spiders typically means you have an overall pest problem that you have to address. If you don't get rid of the insects, spiders will keep returning.
To make your yard as unattractive to spiders as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips:
Spiders are naturally shy and reclusive. Remove clutter from your yard and home where they like to hide.
Keep your lawn cut short and cut back overgrown shrubs and vegetation.
Routinely inspect areas on your property like spaces under decks, stairwells, windows sills, and crawl spaces for hiding spiders.
Regularly dust and vacuum your home to remove stray spiders and their webs.
Keep spiders and the insects they hunt out of your home by sealing up cracks and crevices in exterior walls, the foundation, and around windows and doors.
Termites
Guarding our Texas homes against wood-eating termites is made more difficult because we need to worry about three different species of termites in our area. The subterranean termite, the drywood termite, and the Formosan termite. Each has unique feeding, breeding, and nesting habits, but all will find their way into our homes, where they will cause costly damage by feeding on structural wood or other wooden items located inside.
Termites are dangerous pests, not because they pose a direct threat to us, but because of the damage that they can cause to our homes. Termites are often described as "silent invaders" because they move into our homes without us noticing them and can work for months or sometimes even years before their damage becomes apparent. Many times discovering their damage is the only reason we find out there's an infestation. Adding insult to injury is that most homeowners' insurance doesn't cover the cost of termite repair. With termites responsible for more than five billion dollars in damages each year, they are not pests you want to gamble with!
To make your property as unattractive to termites as possible, we want to provide you with the following prevention tips:
- Use dehumidifiers to remove excess moisture from your home.
- Make sure crawl spaces, bathrooms, and kitchens are well ventilated.
- Regularly inspect your home for leaky pipes, faucets, or fixtures and repairing them as quickly as possible.
- Remove wood from your home damaged by water.
- Help prevent rainwater from seeping into your house by ensuring weatherstripping is intact, repairing roof damage, and sealing holes or cracks in exterior walls.
- Inspect wood or wooden structures you bring into your home for signs of termites.
- Protect your Humble home from termites with our effective treatment services.
Humble Pest Solutions You Can Count On
If you are experiencing problems with the pests listed above or discover any other insect or pest in your home, don't try to solve the problem yourself; give us a call at Bugtime Termite & Pest Control. We will work together as a team to ensure that your home's pest problems are solved!
To learn more about our Humble home pest control and commercial pest control services, reach out today. We are excited to partner with you and help you achieve your goal of a pest-free home!