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Why Winter Pest Control Applications are Essential

Why Winter Pest Control Applications are Essential

Why Winter Pest Control Applications are Essential

Posted February 27, 2020

If you live in an area where the snow falls, you might wonder where the bugs go while it’s cold. The answer may surprise you.

If you have a professional pest control service that comes and treats your home every month or every three months, you may have wondered whether it’s worth the time and trouble to receive services during the winter.

There are a few basic things to understand about insects, rats, mice, rodents, and other pests that make sense of the reasoning behind winter treatments.

I Thought Pests Die During the Winter

Some people look outside in January and assume the pests are all gone, migrated, or dead.

But then that raises the question: Why do they keep coming back?

The answer is that they never left or died in the first place. Not completely. Every insect or bug out there that lives in snowy areas have developed ways to resist or outlast the winter.

In fact, there are numerous species of insects that can live on the North Pole, including bees, flies, midges, arachnids like spiders, ticks, lice, and more.

We’ll take a look at what they do and how they are able to survive the harsh winters in the United States and continue to return every year.

Habits of Overwintering Pests

Some pests in domestic locations take advantage of the warmth and food your home provides during the winter to remain active and unaffected by the cold.

Other pests use a few of these interesting methods to keep themselves alive:

Insect Diapause

Some insects undergo a state called diapause, which is the insect version of hibernation.

Some insects do this in their adult stage of life, like boxelder bugs, stink bugs, and queen hornets or queen wasps.

Overwintering Strategies

Some pests perish in their adult form before the winter comes, like mosquitoes, which typically die during the winter. The eggs, however, are almost completely unaffected until they hatch again sometime during the following year.

Other pests change their body chemistry by replacing their body water with glycerol, which acts as a kind of natural antifreeze.

Advice from a Pest Pro

Our Pest Pro technicians have lots of experience with treatments during any time of the year.

One of our leaders of pest control, Ronnie Wright, has been in the industry for 25 years. We asked him what advice he would give to homeowners about pest control.

“Pests come in all seasons,” he says. “Just because it’s wintertime and there’s snow on the ground doesn’t mean that it’s going to be thirty degrees next week; it could be sixty degrees next week. That’s going to affect the biology of the insect … and you could have an issue…”

Some pests are activated in the middle of the winter, depending on several different factors. Temperature and humidity and barometric pressure can all affect when and if pests awaken.

Ronnie continues: “So any time you have a pest control contract with a company, you need to take full advantage of it and get the services done on a regular basis. If a reservice is needed, go ahead and get the reservice done.”

Winter Treatments Improve Spring Pests

The products that pest control companies use during the winter are now pre-emptive. The products are either water-resistant or water-activated.

If the treatments are applied during winter, then when the adults or larvae or pupae awaken arbitrarily during winter, the product will attach to them and begin to take effect.

Winter treatments will affect the pests when they awaken and move around during the spring as well. During the spring, pests are most active and looking for mates and ready to lay eggs.

Winter treatments will reduce populations during the winter and catch the pests when they emerge in the spring.

No Bugs. Simply Better.

Fox Pest Control can help you manage your pest situation no matter the time of year.

You can rest with confidence knowing that every treatment Fox delivers is specifically designed to restore your safety and comfort.

Call Fox today, and you could receive same-day service if you call before 2 p.m.

So next time you think pest control, think Fox Pest Control. We get the job done the first time, every time.

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