Ah yes, ants, those friendly creatures in Bugs Life, right? Not exactly. While ants at many times are harmless, they can also pose a significant risk to your property. Ants are known to cause significant damage to people’s homes. For this reason, it is important to understand the effective methods used to ensure that this damage does not occur.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the gold standard for pest control, including ant control. It is essentially a combination of various pest control techniques mainly centered on monitoring pests, structural measures to prevent pests from gaining a foothold in your property, and minimizing damage. This method is useful due to its holistic approach to tackling pest infestation issues, both working at prevention and elimination of pest issues that are  

environmentally friendly as well.

In this article, we will discuss effective pest management services.

Understanding Ant Behavior and Seasonal Patterns

Ant activity tends to increase around the springtime. They emerge during the spring due to a variety of factors such as longer days and warmer weather. Ants are cold blooded creatures that rely on external heat, and so they become more active when the weather starts to heat up. Spring also coincides with ants’ mating season. Some of the most common types found in Illinois are carpenter ants, pavement ants, and little black ants. 

Carpenter ants are the most visible ants found in and around homes. They range in size around ¼ to ¾ inch and are typically blackish in color. Their diet consists of anything humans eat.

Pavement ants are ants that range around ⅛ to ⅙ inch and are of blackish brown color.

Little black ants are about 1/15 inch long and their nests are usually outdoors, in the soil, or under objects. (Mississippi State University).

Implementing IPM Strategies for Ant Control

Prevention Techniques: 

One of the important aspects of IPM is preventing a pest invasion from occurring in the first place. This involved a variety of techniques used such as:

• Sealing any potential areas of entry
• Regularly removing trash
• Installing barriers such as screens
• Removing standing water

Monitoring and Identification:

If an infestation has occurred, it is important to first identify the pest or pests causing the issue and have frequent monitoring of the house. The signs vary among each pest, for example, winged termites will often leave discarded wings on window sills, signs of a mouse can be scratching sounds during the night (EPA). For ants, finding ants in unusual places, finding ant trails, observing ant nests are some signs that an ant infestation has occurred.

Monitoring will involve regular inspection to see what kind of pests are still there, how many, and how much damage they have done. Both identification and monitoring are key to determining the correct strategy to take, one that reduces the unnecessary use of pesticides and prevents elimination of beneficial organisms (IPM). 

Control Methods:

There are two particular control methods that can be used in IPM: Chemical and non-chemical pest control. 

Chemical control involves the use of pesticides that are mainly chemical substances used for pest control. While they are beneficial due to their effectiveness and quick results, they can also be very toxic, causing harm to people and animals if they ingest them. Due to this, chemical uses are used sparingly when implementing an IPM strategy. 

Non chemical pest control, such as biological pest control, is the use of natural organisms such as predators or parasites to get rid of pests. Due to the fact that this method uses natural mechanisms to get rid of pests, it is more environmentally friendly and does not damage the ecosystem.

Benefits of IPM in Ant Control

The benefits of using IPM for ant control are the same benefits of using IPM in general. IPM is less hazardous to human health due to its limited use of chemical methods. It is likely to give more long term control since it includes not just eliminating any current pest issues but continuous monitoring of the situation as well as implementation of preventive techniques to ensure future infestations do not occur. It is easier to carry out safely and effectively since it has less of a risk of harming people or pets in your household, is more cost effective insofar as it reduces damage done to your property, and it less toxic to non-target organisms (PSU). 

To summarize, Integrated Pest Management has various benefits that other methods do not have. 

1. It incorporates a variety of methods that involve prevention, elimination, and monitoring of pest infestations. 
2. It is also environmentally friendly and actively tries to prevent usage of chemicals. For these reasons, at Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, we apply an IPM strategy for pest issues including ants. 
3. Pest control services are important, not only in eliminating pests from your area, but also ensuring long-term prevention of these pests from your property. Therefore it is important to look for the right pest control service near you. 

If you are looking for services that offer Pest Control in Aurora, Glen Ellyn, Naperville, and many other cities in the Chicagoland area, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674. 

Even though Chicago is in the midst of a winter weather freeze, spring is right around the corner when weather gets warmer, days get longer, and the flowers start to blossom. And while it is exciting to observe honey bees make their rounds and pollinate your beautiful white wild indigos, there are other bugs you may also need to observe, and some of them don’t exactly pollinate your flowers. 

During this time of year, many pests cause various issues in people’s homes and property. The issues can range from structural damage to bodily harm to health. In this article, we will discuss some of the common pests households may see during springtime and tips for homeowners on what steps they should take in response to the potential danger. 

Common Springtime Pests in Illinois: 

Ants: Ants are a common pest that start to become most active around spring, specifically around March. Ants are cold blooded and therefore they rely on external sources of heat, hence they become more active as the weather starts to warm. 

There are also dangers of spring floods, which can damage their nests, causing them to seek shelter indoors. Here they can cause various problems such as infesting common food sources, weakening wood in critical structures, and transmitting diseases in some cases (UMN). 

Wasps: Wasps start to become more active during the spring, mainly because their period of hibernation ends around February to March. 

During this time, fertile female wasps will leave their current spot and branch out to create new colonies. 

One of the obvious dangers of a wasp is their ability to sting, however, unlike bees who sting and then die right after, wasps can sting humans multiple times. This can be especially dangerous to people with certain allergies, in which case wasp stings can sometimes be life-threatening. 

Wasps can also cause structural damage by creating nests within property structures. If nests expand, this could cause even more damage since wasps are also able to chew through wood and therefore weaken the structural integrity of the house.

Termites: Termites are common during the spring time due to the warm weather and the fact that their mating season is also during this time. 

Subterranean termites consume wood, specifically the cellulose in the wood. If termites make it inside your home, they can cause damage to any type of damp wood in your house, potentially causing large amounts of structural damage. 

5 Spring Pest Control Tips for Homeowners:

1. Look out for Signs of Pest Control :

Ants: There may be multiple signs of an ant infestation. Look out for damaged property, such as soft spots and crumbling edges. 

Large piles of soil is another sign since ants usually build large nests composed of soil, therefore take notice if you see random piles of soil in your lawn. 

Another sign you can notice is if you tap on certain wood surfaces and the noise indicates its hollow, this could be another sign since carpenter ants excavate wood.

Wasps: A simple sign of a wasp infestation is you happen to see more of them around your house, indicating a strong base on or near your home. 

Looking at areas such as attics or crawl spaces might even lead you to identify a nest in those areas, also indicating an infestation. 

Another sign is seeing tiny holes in wood spaces, which can be attributed to wasp construction activities. 

Termites: Termites are also a common springtime pest. One of the signs of a termite infestation is discarded termite wings. Certain termites such as swarmers or alates usually shed their wings when they have found a place to settle, which might just be your house. 

Spotting mud tubes in areas right outside your house is also a strong sign. Termites construct mud tubes to transport underground, indicating a strong presence in your home. 

2. Keep your home clean:

Basic tasks such as taking out the garbage daily, cleaning up any sort of spills immediately, and sweeping floors are effective ways to prevent pest infestation. 

Pests such as ants are attracted to leftover foods that are outside, water spills, and water sources such as drains. 

3. Keep Your Outdoors Clean: 

It is also important to keep the outside of your home clean. Lawn mowing regularly and cleaning up any leftover food or crumbs after a picnic or a dinner on the patio can also help prevent pest infestations. Ensure you keep your foundational shrubs trimmed and firewood away from the house. 

Make sure there is no standing water around your property as these can be breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Standing water may be found in pots, water fountains, children’s pools, buckets, bird baths, trash cans and more.

4. Seal Your Home:

Sealing your home is also important. Specifically, it is important to seal any holes or gaps in the base of your home, loose window screens, or holes in the walls or on the roofs as well. 

5. Call a Professional Pest Control Service:

Spring can be a beautiful time of year, but it can also be unpleasant if you do not take the proper measures to insure a pest infestation does not occur. If one does, however, it is best to call a professional pest control service to handle the issue. If you are looking for services that offer Pest Control in Naperville, Pest Control in Glen Ellyn, Pest Control in Aurora, and many other cities in the Chicagoland area, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674. 

 

Spring is a beautiful time of year, especially in Illinois. The weather becomes warmer, flowers start to bloom, and honey bees come out to pollinate your garden. However, there is another bug that also comes out of the shadows every spring and has the potential to cause damage to your health and property: ants. 

Ants may seem harmless due to their small size, but as a unit. They can cause tremendous harm. Ants infestations are a common occurrence during the spring due to a number of factors. Ants are cold blooded, therefore they rely on external sources of heat, hence they become more active as the weather starts to warm. There are also dangers of spring floods, which can damage their nests, causing them to seek shelter indoors. 

In this article, we will discuss the kinds of damage ants can cause, how to identify an infestation, how to prevent infestations from happening, and what steps to take when one occurs. 

Understanding Different Kinds of Ants:

Before we discuss damages caused by ants, it is important to understand different types of ants we see in Illinois so we understand variations in type of infestation and prevention strategies.

Carpenter Ants: 

Carpenter ants are the most noticeable ants found in and around homes in Illinois in spring and remain active through early fall (IDPH). 

They can be recognized by their size and color. They range in size around ¼ to ¾ inch and are typically blackish in color. 

They will establish nests at different locations such as tree stumps, hollow logs, or any other large piece of wood. The best way to target carpenter ants is to destroy the parent nest with dust of residual insecticides. Finding the carpenter ants colony can be difficult.

They have an ability to burrow into wood and create intricate tunnels and nests that can cause damage to the structural integrity of your property. 

Their diet consists of anything that humans eat, i.e., carbohydrates or proteins.

Pavement Ants: 

Pavement ants are smaller than carpenter ant; they range around ⅛ to ⅙ inch and are of blackish brown color. 

Pavement ants become most active in Spring and early summer. They can travel more than 30 feet from their nest in search of food. 

They set up nests outdoors next to structures, under cracks of pavement, under floors and insulation, etc. They enter through cracks or other openings in search of food. Their preferred foods are greasy and sweet food. 

The best way to eradicate pavement ants is to place baits along their trails. The worker ants are likely to carry the bait to their nests, helping eradicate entire colonies.

Little Black Ants: 

Little black ants are about 1/15 inch long and their nests are usually outdoors, in soil, or under objects. 

These ants have large colonies with many queens. They are known for their ability to infiltrate even the cleanest of homes due to their persistence. 

They can potentially contaminate food sources and potentially spread disease (IDPH). 

Like pavement ants, placing baits along their trails or places where they are primarily found is the best way to eradicate them. 

What Kinds of Damage can Ants Cause?

There are many types of damages that ants can cause. 

Ants of all types can bite other people if they believe they are being threatened. This bite, although not considered to be very dangerous, if left alone, can cause the skin to become infected. 

Fire ants, which are ants found in the southern states, can sting people, injecting venom in the process. The effects of the venom can vary from swelling and redness to chest pain and dizziness. 

Ants can also cause significant damage to your home. Ants, such as carpenter ants,  usually build nests in hollow surfaces and wood that is weak. They can cause damage to it by digging tunnels throughout the structure, causing large amounts of damage. 

Ants can also cause outdoor problems. Most ants set up colonies underground in dirt. Since ants are omnivores, they consume various food sources such as plants and animals. This can cause considerable damage to people’s gardens and is something they should be on the lookout for. 

Ants can also cause unseen problems. Ants, such as farming ants, secret pheromones that attract their prey, one of these prey being aphids, which can also cause large amounts of damage to your property. 

How to identify an ant infestation:

For ants, there are multiple signs that your house may be infested by ants. 

If you are outside the house and see large build ups of soil, that may be a sign since ants build their colonies’ nests by building large amounts of soil. 

Another sign may be tapping on certain wood surfaces, such as soft spots and crumbling edges; this may indicate damage done to these surfaces by ants. 

How to prevent ant infestation:

Keep Your Home Sanitized!

The most important way you can prevent an infestation is by keeping your home clean. Tasks such as taking out the trash daily, cleaning any food or spills on your floor, and sweeping your house floor regularly. Ants are attracted to leftover foods and water spills. 

Keep Your Outdoors Clean

Keeping your house clean on the inside alone is not the only solution. Making sure the outside of your house is clean is also important by lawn mowing regularly, trimming foundational shrubs, keeping firewood away from the house, and inspecting the foundations for rotting wood and other nesting sites. 

Seal Entry Points

It is also important to seal any potential entry points on the outside of your house. Holes, cracked in window sills, etc, are potential entry points for ants to enter your house. 

How to Control Ants: Call a Professional Pest Control Service

Spring can be a beautiful time of year, but it can also be unpleasant if you do not take the proper measures to ensure an ant infestation does not occur. 

While it is important to take the necessary steps to prevent one, if infestation does occur, it is best to call a professional pest control service to handle the issue. 

If you are looking for services that offer Ants Extermination Control in Aurora, Naperville & surrounding areas in Northern Illinois, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674. 

In this world, no issue is ever isolated. Many issues are caused by other issues and can impact yet other issues. One such example of this is climate change. Of the many areas of our world it will impact, a lesser known issue will be that of its effect on pest control. 

Climate change can affect the distribution of pests, their numbers, and how active they can become. 

In this article, we will address your questions regarding climate change and its relationship with pest control and how it is reshaping pest control strategies. 

How does climate change affect pests? 

Climate change affects pests in many ways. It can range from expanding pest territories to affecting population size.  

Impacting Population Size – 

Climate change can affect insect populations since the weather can affect the fertility of an insect. Many insects have been shown to have a greater ability to increase the number of generations they produce in a warmer climate. This could also result in the changing of their breeding seasons. Warmer climates can cause more generations of insects to be produced, causing a greater increase in the insect population. 

For instance, warmer temperatures can allow pests from warmer climates to expand to previously colder territories. 

Changes in Pest life cycles & diseases transmission –  

Climate change can also enhance disease transmission. Certain insects, such as mosquitoes, ticks and fleas, spread certain diseases to human populations. Climate change, in affecting the behavior of these insects, can cause an increase in vector-borne illnesses. This can be caused by changes such as the ones discussed above.

Impact pests’ chances of survival – 

Climate change can also cause an increase in pest survival and resilience. Climate change not only creates warmer climates but also causes an increase in Carbon Dioxide levels within the atmosphere. These two effects can contribute to faster pest development, enhanced crop pests, as well as an increased resistance to pesticides. This in turn can contribute to pests reproducing year round. 

Impact on Agriculture – 

Climate change can also have agricultural effects, due to the temperature rise, pests like insects and fungi are able to multiply much more than they used to. This in turn poses a risk to agricultural crops, which can be disastrous and lead to consequences such as yield losses and a decrease in food production. 

How and why global warming can influence the distribution of pest species?

Global warming can influence the distribution of pests in a variety of ways. 

Most insects can be described as unable to regulate their body temperature, which means that where they live and the type of climate in that region matters. Many areas of the planet that were seen as uninhabitable places for certain types of insects are now warming up and are being seen as viable places for insects to live in. 

While higher temperature and precipitation levels can create environments conducive to the thriving of certain species of insects, if they get too high, this can have a negative effect, such as slowing the growth of some species. This makes warming temperate climates attractive areas for certain species since temperate climates do not get too warm. Many of these climates currently do not get warm enough, however, with climate change, that may soon change. 

What is one strategy that can be used to control insect pests?

One specific strategy many pest control companies are using is Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is essentially a combination of various pest control techniques mainly centered on monitoring pests, structural measures to prevent pests from gaining a foothold in your property, and minimizing damage. This approach involves a combination of prevention, monitoring, and control methods to effectively manage pests while minimizing risks to people and the environment. 

By using this type of strategy, for example, landowners and farmers can identify any potential threats posed by certain kinds of pests that might become prevalent in an area and manage them by implementing preventative measures (ASA). 

What are some ways in which I can prepare?

There are measures you yourself can take in order to prevent pest control issues spiralling out of control:

• Making sure your surroundings are clean. Food safety and proper waste disposal are important to removing sources that may attract pests.
• Sealing entry points such as cracks or crevices in walls also help prevent pests from entering your house in the first place. 
• Having routine inspections of your home to identify any pest issues you may be unaware of or identify certain spots in your house that may attract other pests. 

Conclusion

To summarize, climate change is affecting pest control in many ways. It affects their population, their survival rate, and their distribution. It also can affect the spread of diseases as well as agricultural production. 

Knowing this, it becomes even more important to look out for pest control services that use integrated pest management as a part of their services. 

If you are looking for services that offer Pest Control in Naperville, Glen Ellyn, Aurora, and many other cities in the Chicagoland area, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674. 

Did you know that termites cause $5 billion in damages each year in the US ?! Over 98% of cockroaches may carry harmful infections and in 2021, about 14 million Americans reported seeing cockroaches in their homes. Rodents, which can carry or transmit 30 different diseases, infest about 21 million homes EACH winter (Dodson). It is clear that pests can cause tremendous damage to your property as well as to your health. The issue of pest infestation affects many people around the United States including here in Plainfield, IL. In this article, we will look at not only some of the common pests you may encounter here in Plainfield, but also the importance of pest control and the 5 ways to protect your property with expert pest management.

Common Pests in Plainfield

One common pest is of course, the termite. Termites are an insect that feed primarily on wood. If an infestation occurs, they have the potential to cause grave damage to your property due to potentially feeding on wood in your house. 

Rodents such as mice and rats are also common in Plainfield IL. They carry with them various diseases such as salmonella, which they can spread throughout the household by contaminating various food and water sources. Rodents are especially common during the winter. 

 

Cockroaches are also a common pest and they carry with them various diseases that could spread to members of your households such as children or pets. They also leave behind debris such as wings which can cause asthma symptoms in people with asthma. 

Importance of professional pest management to safeguard homes and businesses.

Investing in a professional pest management service is crucial to safeguarding your homes and businesses. Pest management services are not only professionally trained to address the current issue at hand, but are also able to implement preventative measures in order to make sure these types of issues don’t occur in the future. 

As we have seen before, pests can cause tremendous amounts of damage to your house, rodents can invade about 21 million homes in just one winter! For residents of Plainfield, if confronted with an issue regarding pests, it is important to search for pest control in Plainfield and use these services to your advantage. 

Pest management approaches generally fall into four categories: integrated pest management (IPM), mechanical, biological, and chemical.

• Chemical pest control is the use of pesticides that are mainly chemical substances used for pest control.
• Biological pest control is the use of natural organisms such as predators or parasites to get rid of pests.
• Mechanical pest control services utilize physical methods for pest prevention. 
• Integrated Pest Management is essentially a combination of various pest control techniques mainly centered on monitoring pests, structural measures to prevent pests from gaining a foothold in your property, and minimizing damage. 

Five Ways to Protect your Property with Pest Management Services:

1. Conduct Regular Inspection

It is important for you to have regular pest inspections done in your household. These inspections not only identify any current infestations, but they also identify certain areas of your house that can attract certain kinds of pests in the future. It is generally recommended to have at least one pest control inspection a year, however various factors must be taken into account such as the age of your home, its location, previous pest activity, etc (Wini). 

Some of the key areas the pest control services inspect are the basement, the attic, house foundations, and the kitchen. These are areas where pests not only reside but also contaminate various food sources.

Professional pest control services in Naperville are able to offer detailed and comprehensive inspections that can identify certain infestations occurring in your house that you may not have known about, an example being termites. Termite infestation is hard to detect and usually is not detectable until damage is done. These services can also identify entry areas of the house that may attract certain pests.

2. Implement Preventive Measures:

 

One preventative measure is sealing off certain entry points such as cracks, gaps, or vents. This is the case because they are the reason pests can enter the house in the first place. Cockroaches, rodents, etc, are all able to enter into people’s houses through tiny openings anywhere in the house. One way to seal entrants is by using sealants and applying them to any cracks or gaps in the house (GEsealants). 

Another important measure to take is to make sure your house is clean. This also helps prevent pests from entering your home. Simple steps can be done such as regularly taking out the trash and putting food in plastic containers. Sometimes this may involve more complicated measures such as fixing any leaky plumbing to prevent water from entering your home (EPA). 

Pest control services are knowledgeable about the type of instances that can trigger a pest invasion, and so they are able to quickly identify any issue in the house that might need to be addressed.

3. Use Eco-Friendly Pest Control Solutions

 

It is becoming more popular among consumers to use safer and more environmentally friendly approaches to pest control management. 

There are various eco-friendly techniques a service can use. Ask your pest control service for the most effective eco-friendly pest control method for your infestation. Yosemite Pest & Rodent Solutions offers eco-friendly pest control services in Chicagoland. Contact us today! 

A Biological pest control is another method which involves introducing various organisms into the environment, which in turn can themselves prevent certain pests from entering one’s home. Organisms such as the ladybug can help with aphid population control and nematodes can help with termite issues.

4. Schedule Seasonal Treatments

 

The time of year can also have an impact concerning pest activity. Certain pests are more active during specific seasons throughout the year. An example of this is rodents, rodent activity is more common during the fall and winter months since the weather gets colder and much of their food sources are scarce outside. For these reasons, many of them enter people’s homes where they seek shelter and food.

There are benefits for proactive seasons any time of year you choose to use them. For winter, the benefits are protection from species such as rodents, spiders, and termites. For spring, the benefits are protection from ants, stink bugs, ticks, etc. Protection from mosquitoes, wasps, and fleas, etc., are the benefits of using these services during the summer. During the fall, the benefits come in the form of protection from rodents, cockroaches, ants, etc. (Budget Pest Control). 

Professional services tailor solutions for year round pest control by checking for a variety of factors. They first identify the types of pest most common in the area, then implement the correct measures based on behavioral patterns, use a variety of treatment methods and regularly monitor the area for activity (Traffic Pest Control). 

5. Partner with a Trusted Pest Control Professional

 

Hiring a local pest control service has many benefits. One of these benefits being their proximity. This is important in the case of a pest emergency, where unlike pest companies from outside your area, these companies can respond much more quickly and help solve the issue sooner. They are also more aware of the local regulations in your town, and therefore are more likely to comply with them. Most importantly, and this applies to all pest control services, they have the expertise that many people do not have, and are able to quickly identify a solution to whatever pest issue is occurring in your area. 

There are many factors to take into account when selecting a pest control service: experience is one of them, looking at how long a company or a person in the company has been performing pest control services is a reliable indicator of how effective they can be. Reputation is another, this is self-explanatory, the better reputation a business has, the more likely it will provide effective, high-quality services. Qualifications is another indicator, certain questions to ask are: are they using the proper license classification for the job? Do they use integrated pest management techniques (NPIC)? 

Conclusion

To recap, the five main strategies are: conduct regular inspections; implement preventative measures; use eco-friendly pest control services; schedule seasonal treatments; and partner with a trusted pest control professional. 

 

As we discussed, professional pest control services are crucial for long term safety and peace of mind since they not only address the current pest issue but they also implement preventative measures to help ensure that these pests do not return in the future. 

As residents of Plainfield, it is important to use professional pest control services since they can be of great benefit to you. If you are looking for services that offer Pest Control in Plainfield, Naperville, Glen Ellyn, Aurora, and many other cities in the Chicagoland area, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674.