When it comes to effective pest control in your home, knowing how to identify particular types of insect, creepy crawly and household nuisances can go a long way in helping you make your home as unwelcoming to them as possible. No matter who you are, where you live or how clean you are, each and every one of you is susceptible to a home pest invasion at some point or another.
Empire Pest Control’s helpful pest identification guide kicks off 2016 with a few pests that you may or may not be familiar with but still need to be on the look-out for, despite the current weather.
Why do we need pest identification?
Pests come in all shapes and sizes – some obvious, some minuscule and others you often don’t see at all, but all cause nuisance or harm to our homes and families. Knowing what each pest is, how it behaves and lives can help us control it more effectively.
Fleas
Fleas are blood sucking parasites that live primarily on animals like dogs and cats, but can also survive on human blood, too, although they will never live a full life on human blood. A fully grown flea can survive up to two years without feeding and travel by jumping from host to host. If your pets are chewing, gnawing and scratching incessantly at the necks, legs, shoulders and tails, then they may well have caught fleas.
Ticks
Ticks are also parasites like fleas, however, they are known to carry diseases such as Lyme Disease, which is transmitted through saliva – much like Malaria is from mosquito bites. Whilst more common in warmer weather, ticks remain prevalent throughout milder winters, so stay vigilant. Ticks bite hosts and hold on, sometimes for a few days, sucking and feeding on blood before dropping off. If you find a tick, you can remove it firmly and slowly by pulling the body upwards and away from you with tweezers.
Silverfish
Silverfish are scaly insects that like damp, humid and relatively warm conditions. As such, they are often found in homes around sources of moisture and foodstuffs. Silverfish tend to live on books and paper, opposed to humans but are still unpleasant to find in your home. Eggs are laid daily, so they can be a nuisance to get rid of. Scaly dead bodies can even cause allergic reactions in some people.
While these are just a few of the pests you might come across in your home and garden, pest identification can assist you in ensuring a sighting isn’t actually a full on infestation in your house.
Should you require any assistance when it comes to pest control in London, please do not hesitate to contact us for a quote or an initial survey. We look forward to hearing from you.
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