Pest Control Advice - Utah - Summer

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 Carpenter Ant

Successfully controlling carpenter ants requires certain skills, knowledge and experience. Carpenter ant control involves tracking down and treating as many satellite colonies as possible inside and outside of the home as well as attempting to find and treat the parent colony. Accessing the parent colony may be difficult because it might be located high in a tree or on a neighboring property. In such cases, your service professional may use carpenter ant baits, but these may have varying results because of the carpenter ants’ finicky feeding habits. If conditions on your property (such as a large number of trees) create a high risk for reinfestation, your service professional may recommend regular pest management services to help prevent new infestations. These tips will help you limit carpenter ant infestation:

• Store any firewood away from your home and remove any dead wood or wood scraps from around the foundation.
• Trim dead limbs from trees and remove stumps. Rid your yard of these potential nesting sites.
• Make sure that all plumbing or roof leaks are sealed, and check crawl spaces for excess moisture.
• Water from rain gutters should be directed away from your home and not be allowed to accumulate close to the foundation.

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 Pavement Ant

Individual pavement colonies can often be controlled using ant baits, but perimeter inspection and treatment are commonly necessary for long-term relief. Pavement ant colonies are controlled by direct treatment of nests in the soil. Where colonies are located under slabs, ant baits may be successful in controlling an infestation. If baits are unsuccessful, the slab may need to be drilled and treated underneath. These tips will help prevent a pavement ant infestation:

• Seal cracks and holes in the exterior of the home to prevent ants and other pests from entering.
• Keep vegetation cut away from the foundation of the home.
• Avoid using items such as stones and landscape timbers next to the home's foundation. Pavement ants nesting under these items are likely to infest the home.
• Keep layers of mulch in landscape beds less than two inches thick and at least 12 inches away from the foundation.

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 Black Widow Spider

• Bites can be avoided by wearing heavy gloves when moving items stored for long periods outside, in garages, in basements or in warehouses.
• Shoes should be stored inside shoeboxes or shaken vigorously prior to wearing.
• When webs are visible, inspect carefully before putting your hand down under an object.
• Control is best left to a professional company such as Terminix. If numerous spiders are encountered, they can be removed using a shop vacuum, but care must be taken when opening the vacuum to kill the spiders.

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 Wolf Spider

The best approach for controlling wolf spiders is through placement of sticky traps to capture the few spiders that may have entered. Maintaining sticky traps behind furniture, to either side of exterior doors, and in the garage is an excellent way to intercept most spiders as they enter. Steps that should be taken to prevent new spiders from entering, include:

• Removing or limiting heavy, ground-covering vegetation near the building.
• Sealing cracks and holes in the building's exterior.
• Installing tight-fitting screens on all attic and foundation vents.
• Sealing holes around pipes indoors to prevent spiders from entering the living spaces by following plumbing lines in basements and crawl spaces.

Where wolf spider invasions are persistent, a professional should be consulted to conduct a thorough inspection and recommend possible treatments.

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 Yellow Jacket

The following precautions should be taken to prevent accidental stings:

• When working in a garden or flowerbed, be aware of numerous wasps flying into and away from a single point in the garden or to a hole in the side of the house. This will usually indicate where a colony might be located.
• Be careful when using powered lawn equipment, such as edgers, trimmers and mowers. Loud, vibrating noises disturb yellow jackets and may send them into an attacking frenzy.
• Stay away from yellow jacket nests once you know where they are located.
• If yellow jackets are seen entering and exiting a wall, DO NOT plug the hole. You will only force the wasps to find another way out. Sometimes they might actually eat through an interior wall and enter the house.

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 Paper Wasp

Paper wasp nests are usually easily controlled using a wasp treatment product, then knocking down the nest. Such treatments are best done at night, although professionals can safely treat them during the day. On buildings where continuous paper wasp nest building occurs, treatment of the affected areas with a residual pest control product applied by a professional can deter most of the activity.

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