Summer signals siesta from the outdoors in the Sonoran Desert. The end of our beautiful weather inevitably rolls into temperatures so hot you can bake cookies in your car or fry an egg of the sidewalk. To add insult to injury, it’s also scorpion season.
This article looks at the influx of bugs that come out during the summer heat. How can homeowners stay better prepared with one tip to both help beat the heat and keeps the bugs out?
Roaches Like Air Conditioning, Too
One bug that we always see in the summer months is the Arizona Bark Scorpion. This creature hibernates in the winter, only to come out during the heat of the summer. What are the other types of pests we see – and help kill – during the summer?
- Any colonies build up in the summer months, creating new homes after our spring rains.
- Bees like to make their nests under the eaves of your home.
- Cockroaches, attracted by water, will venture into your home, seeking the cool dark spaces under your cabinets.
- There’s something about crickets that can just set your teeth on edge. They squeeze into tiny spaces and like to eat your furniture and clothing.
- Flies are everywhere, and they can certainly ruin a picnic.
- Mosquitoes will hang out and breed prolifically wherever there is standing water.
- Termites are becoming more of a problem, especially during the late summer.
These and other insects grow more prolific during the summer, so don’t be surprised if you see a Preventive Pest truck in your neighborhood sometime soon.
One Thing You Can Do to Prevent Pests
As more new homes are built, insects are displaced from their desert homes, just like bigger wildlife. But there’s one thing you can to help prevent an influx of tiny winged, crawling, and stinging insects from invading your home. We’re talking about an outside inspection to look for the tiny holes that these creatures can crawl or slither through. Seal around your windows with good weatherproof caulk and double-check the areas around your air conditioner or anywhere pipes run into the home. As the original insulation and caulk age, they can crack and fall apart, leaving a gap where the outside can come in. It’s an important part of annual home maintenance that we sometimes forget.
Dealing with Unwanted Critters
Once you’ve properly sealed your home, take a walk around the outside. Look for debris or yard waste that needs removed and get rid of it. But exercise extreme caution, because the shady or leafy debris is exactly where scorpion and snakes like to hang out. If you have palm trees, have them trimmed regularly because they can be a haven for roof rats and insects.
Call Preventive Pest for an inspection of your home and a written estimate for the eradication of all of your unwanted pests. We develop a pinpoint plan for both eradicating indoor and outdoor summer pests and then implement it to help keep your home and yard cleaner and safer.