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This is the time of year to be merry and to deck the halls. It can also be a time of year when unexpected pest problems arise. When temperatures outside drop a little bit, certain bugs look for places to hide. This can cause them to accidentally get into Nashville homes. It is a common sight to find stink bugs, Asian lady beetles, boxelder bugs, and other overwintering pests climbing on screens and clinging to walls in entryways. That is a warning sign that you might have them in your home. But there are some pests that enter homes all year long. These are the ones that can startle you when you open a box of decorations. Today, we're going to talk a little bit about these pests and offer up some tips to help you keep them out of your decorations.
Spiders
If you like cutting down your own tree and bringing it inside your home for the holiday season, it is important to be aware that you could bring a spider infestation into your home this way. Spiders can create webs in trees, and a web can have a spider sac in it. Some spider sacs have as many as 400 eggs inside. When those eggs enter your home and are greeted with summertime or springtime temperatures, they can hatch. This will cause you to have hundreds of tiny spiderlings clinging to your walls. Good luck sleeping if that happens. We recommend shaking your tree before you bring it into your home and to do an inspection for webs and tiny paper-like sacs. This can help you prevent scary spider problems this season.
Spiders aren't the only pests that can be found in greenery, such as trees, wreaths, and garlands. You could find mites, moths, ticks, and more. No matter what greenery you bring into your home, be sure to give it a good shake and inspect it closely.
Rodents
Mice and rats can get into your home any time of the year. When they do, they love to make their home in attic spaces and storage areas. As a mouse or rat explores a storage space, it will chew on cardboard, paper, insulation and other materials to create a nest. If it chews a hole into a box of decoration, it could decide to make its home inside. If you'd really rather not open a box with a rodent inside, consider storing your decorations in sealed plastic totes rather than cardboard boxes. This is also a great idea for storing food decorations such as strings of popcorn. Food decorations give mice and rats even more incentive to get into your storage decorations.
After a mouse or rat chews its way into a decoration box, it can start chewing on wiring. This can compromise wires and create a fire hazard. If you have strings of lights, be sure to closely examine them for any chew marks before plugging them in and hanging them on your tree or in your home. It also helps to do a detailed inspection of any cardboard containers before opening them. If you find a hole the size of a dime, it is possible for an adult mouse to get in through a hole that size. If there are no holes, or you store your items in plastic totes, you don't have to be as concerned when you open up containers that were in storage.
Stopping Pests Before They Get In
Remember that the service team here at All-American Pest Control helps Nashville residents keep pests from getting inside in the first place. When you have routine pest maintenance around your home, you don't have to worry as much about unexpected encounters with pests in storage boxes or storage areas. Reach out to us today. We'd love the opportunity to speak with you about the options that are available.