Brush Up on Pest Management Activities this Winter

South Elgin, Illinois (PRWEB) February 02, 2015

When Old Man Winter arrives, some pests go into hibernation while others move indoors in search of food and warmth away from the impending snowy weather. McCloud Services, a leading pest management company servicing Illinois as well as Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin, encourages businesses to brush up on timely pest management tips to protect their facilities during the winter months.

Many people are under the impression that pests dont cause problems during the winter months, said Patricia Hottel, technical director for McCloud Services. Although some pests do go into hibernation during the winter months, many rodents, wild animals and small pests are forced to move indoors in search of food and warmth. This puts businesses at risk, no matter what the temperatures are outside.

Hottel recommends engaging in the following activities during the winter months to avoid an infestation this winter and prepare for spring:

1. Review overall pest management program. This can be an excellent time to look over current pest management tactics and determine what, if any, changes need to be made. Trending and tracking reports from the previous year should be reviewed and consumer complaint data and analysis should be assessed. Replacing old or damaged equipment such as insect light traps, pheromone traps and rodent equipment should be completed. McCloud also recommends regularly inspecting for signs of rodents, such as droppings, gnaw marks and damaged food.

2. Pest Proofing. It is a good time to prepare for spring pest influxes by making sure structural integrity is maximized. Pests such as mice and rats do not hibernate in the winter, and spend the cold months searching for food, water and warmth. Common pest proofing products can be helpful in reducing rodent entry points such as stainless steel rodent proofing meshes, door sweeps dock plate seal replacements and sealants.

3. Fight the fall invaders. Fall invaders are pests that take advantage of structures to survive the cold, and they can periodically emerge from wall voids, attics and false ceiling spaces during the winter months. Examples of these fall invaders include cluster flies, multicolored Asian lady beetles, brown marmorated stink bugs and box elder bugs. They typically appear during a January thaw on a nice sunny day, interpreting the climate change as spring. They are light-attracted and can be found on window sills or around light fixtures. McCloud says one of the best strategies to eliminate fall invaders is to vacuum up these pests as they are found.

4. Prepare for spring emergence. Ants are typically one of the first pests to enter in the early spring. By pest proofing for ants in the winter, homeowners will be one step ahead. Expansion joints and other cracks in the slab can be a common entry point for pavement ants, but the best strategy for ant prevention is to seal all exterior entry points around pipes, walls and floors.

For more information on how to keep up with pest proofing tactics during the winter months, visit http://mccloudservices.com/brush-up-on-pest-management-activities-this-winter.

Contact McCloud Services to learn more about their pest proofing services and how they can help resolve all your pest-related issues at 800-332-7805 or at contact(at)mccloudservices(dot)com

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Brush Up on Pest Management Activities this Winter