What You Need To Know About Pests In The Dallas-Fort Worth Area
If you are a property owner in the Dallas-Fort area, turn to our pest control guide to help you identify which pests have found their way onto your home or into your business. Through our pest control guide, learn about our area's most common pests and how to protect your family and home against their potential damages and dangers!
Ants
Ants are not a unique pest problem; they are insects that homeowners in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and across the country deal with regularly. They find their way to our yards and homes after being attracted by crumbs, trash, food odors, recycling bins, or pet food. No matter what first attracted them, once they find a way to your property, getting rid of them and keeping them from infiltrating your house is a tricky and frustrating task.
Many ants can find their way to our structures and cause trouble for Texas homeowners. Some of the more problematic ants in our area are the fire ant, carpenter ant, and Argentine ant. Fire ants are tiny but very aggressive and attack in large groups to defend themselves and their nests. Their bites and stings are painful and can trigger severe allergic reactions. Carpenter ants are large ants that don't pose any danger to people, but they are dangerous to structures. These ants nest inside wood, and if they decide to nest in your home, they can cause significant damage. Argentine ants are a non-native species that live together in huge colonies. They usually invade spaces in large numbers, spread bacteria, and displace native ants.
The best way to identify the ants that have found a way onto your property and eliminate them is to partner with us at Bug Busters of Texas. Make your property less attractive to unwanted ants with the help of the following prevention strategies.
- Repair leaky pipes, clogged gutters, and fixtures that provide ants with a source of water.
- Take a good look around the exterior of your home, seal any cracks or other openings you find.
- Remove as many food sources as possible by keeping eating areas wiped down and free of crumbs and leftover food, placing trash bags in containers with lids, and picking up uneaten pet food.
- Clear away yard leaf litter, cut grass, weeds, and other organic material from the foundation of your home that can provide ants with a damp habitat and food sources.
- Place things like bird feeders, gardens, woodpiles, and outdoor eating areas away from the outside of your home.
Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are small insects that are known for being biting pests. These small insects regularly invade homes and businesses, quickly expand their populations, and bite people as they sleep. Blood is the sole source of nutrition for bed bugs, and unfortunately for all of us, human blood is their preferred blood source. Because people are preferred hosts, these pests have become regular fixtures in our homes and other structures where we spend a lot of our time.
Bed bugs are small and dark reddish-brown; these physical features allow them to move onto people or into our belongings without notice. Bed bugs are wingless, so their primary mode of transportation is hitchhiking. They move easily from place to place with the help of people and the things we are transporting like bags, luggage, furniture, carpets, clothing, mattresses, and box springs. Once in our homes, these pests quickly establish populations. They hide in areas of your house that provide them easy access to you and your family members. You should regularly inspect the seams of mattresses and box springs, upholstered furniture, areas of clutter, behind trim or baseboards, wall voids, and behind wall hangings for bed bug activity.
Make your property less attractive to bed bugs with the help of the following prevention strategies.
- Check all secondhand furniture and clothing for bed bugs before bringing it into your home.
- Remove as much clutter from your home as possible.
- Wash and dry your family's sheets, pillowcases, and other blankets and linens on the highest heat setting.
- Regularly vacuum your floors and upholstered furniture to remove stray bed bugs before they have the chance to repopulate.
- When traveling, before bringing your belongings into a hotel room or other rental, inspect the space for bed bugs.
For home bed bug control in the DFW area that you can rely on, contact the professionals here at Bug Busters of Texas today!
Cockroaches
There are many reasons why people fear cockroaches. Some of the biggest reasons are that they are unsanitary, difficult to control, fast-moving, and prolific breeders. There are many different kinds of cockroaches living worldwide; some prefer living outside, and others have adapted to living indoors with people. Cockroaches forage for their food in unsanitary places like trash piles, dumpsters, sewers, and drains. The longer cockroaches live on your property, the more likely it is that they will make your family sick by contaminating food and surfaces with disease-causing pathogens, allergens, and parasites.
The German cockroach is the most common roach to become a problem inside our homes. Like other species of cockroaches, they have an oval body, long antennae, and are dark in color. Their most identifying feature is the two dark parallel lines located right behind their head. They have wings but do not fly. German cockroaches move most efficiently from place to place by hitchhiking. Once inside, they make quick work of finding a hiding spot, usually in areas of a home that are warm and humid, like kitchens, bathrooms, pantries, and utility rooms.
Ridding your Texas property of cockroaches is best done by working closely with a professional. Make your property less attractive to cockroaches with the help of the following prevention strategies.
- Maintain a clean kitchen, regularly wash dishes, and wipe down counters.
- Remove clutter from your home where cockroaches can hide.
- Reduce excess moisture in your home by using dehumidifiers, repairing leaky pipes, and adequately ventilating bathrooms and kitchens.
- Always inspect things you are bringing into your home for hitchhiking cockroaches.
Fleas
Fleas are blood-feeding insects. While they will feed on human blood if we are available, fleas prefer to live within the warm, moist fur of animals and feed on their blood. Their preferred hosts are cats, dogs, squirrels, mice, rats, skunks, deer, and other wild animals. Fleas are tiny, wingless insects that find their way onto an animal host by jumping using their large, strong hind legs. Fleas are then transported from place to place by their hosts, meaning any of our yards could become infested with these tiny terrors at any time.
Fleas are most active and breed fastest when temperatures are hot and humid, making the Dallas-Fort Worth area a place where these pests thrive. Fleas are a huge problem in our yards, but they can also find their way into our homes on clothing, pets, or visiting rodents. Once fleas establish themselves, eliminating them becomes a frustrating and challenging task. Some of the most common places to discover fleas in our homes are in the fur of animals, bedding, rugs, and upholstered furniture. Outside, these blood-feeding pests develop from egg to adult and wait for a host in damp, moist areas like under leaf litter, woodpiles, and under dense shrubbery.
Seasonal treatments performed by a professional are the best way to control a flea infestation in your yard or home. In addition to partnering with us at Bug Busters of Texas, the best thing you can do is maintain your yard to make it less attractive to biting fleas.
- Remove leaf piles, woodpiles, and fallen trees from your yard.
- Prune shrubs and bushes to prevent them from overgrowing, providing areas of damp, shady shelter for fleas.
- Place lids on trash cans and compost bins to keep foraging animals out.
- Seal openings in your home's exterior that can allow flea-covered rodents into your home.
- Place your pets on a year-round pest control program.
Mosquitoes
There are so many benefits to living in Texas, our warm weather being one of those reasons! Unfortunately, our climate doesn't just allow people to thrive, but also insects, including mosquitoes. Mosquito season in Texas is almost year-round, which allows these pests to be a constant source of frustration for people trying to spend time outside. You can't enjoy your yard if you are constantly swatting at biting mosquitoes or covered in their itchy bites. Not only are mosquitoes annoying, but they are dangerous. They acquire and transmit many diseases and some parasites that make people and animals ill through their feeding habits.
Mosquitoes are frail pests. In order to survive, they reproduce quickly and in large numbers. Their prolific breeding habits make these pests difficult to control and keep away from our properties. Females mosquitoes require blood meals to produce viable eggs. They then lay their eggs on top of areas of standing water; any amount will do, from rainwater on top of a trash can lid to a gutter to a pond! Any standing water on or near your yard will allow mosquitoes to continue their life cycle and continue to drive you and your family indoors!
Regular and consistent treatment performed by a professional is the best way to control DFW mosquito populations and enjoy your yard without being used as a food source by female mosquitoes. In addition to partnering with us at Bug Busters of Texas, the following tips can make your property less attractive to mosquitoes.
- Clean your gutters.
- Fill in holes and low-lying areas around your yard.
- Store containers that collect water upside down when not in use.
- Keep your grass cut short.
- Clean up yard debris.
- Keep plants and flowers away from decks and patios.
- If you own a pool or other water feature, make sure that water is constantly circulating and adequately treated.
Termites
"Workers, soldiers, and swarmers" isn't the name of a new band; they are the different groups of termites that make up a subterranean termite colony. Workers gather food and care for the colony members and maintain the nest, soldiers defend the nest from danger, and swarmers are reproductive members that create new termites and nesting sites. Subterranean termites are the most widespread type of termite living in our area and across the country. Termites are tiny insects whose feeding habits cause significant damage to homes and other structures. Feeding on the cellulose found in wood, out in nature, termites help break down decaying organic matter, but in our homes, they break down structural wood and cause extensive and costly damage.
Subterranean termites nest underground in areas of damp soil. Their high moisture needs and preference for eating decaying or water-damaged wood mean that structures with poor ventilation, leaky pipes, or other water issues are most attractive to subterranean termites. These insects typically enter homes accidentally through pieces of wood, making contact with the ground or cracks in the foundation that they discover while traveling through the soil to seek out new food sources. Once inside, they will find and infiltrate structural wood found under floors or behind walls. Structural wood near windows and doors, water pipes, sinks, tubs, and air conditioners are most susceptible to water and termite damage.
Make your property less attractive to destructive termites with the help of the following prevention strategies.
- Reduce excess water in and around your home by quickly repairing leaky pipes, air conditioners, fixtures, and clogged gutters.
- Cut back shrubs and bushes from your home's exterior to help the sun hit the soil and prevent it from being oversaturated with moisture.
- Maintain a crushed stone barrier between your foundation and any mulch or soil.
- Seal cracks in your foundation and remove as much wood to soil contact on your property as possible.
- Remove and replace any water-damaged wood in your home.
For termite control in the Dallas-Fort Worth area you can feel good about, reach out to us at Bug Busters of Texas to get started!
DFW Pest Protection You Can Count On!
Let the local professionals at Bug Busters of Texas help you eliminate pests that have become a problem in or around your property. Being a local company means we have a deep understanding of the pest pressures our customers face each day. We will provide you with the services necessary to help you and your family live in an environment not overrun by unwanted pests. We are committed to our customers and offering the most effective services possible. To learn more about all of our pest control options, please call us today!
