Food, water, and shelter, these are all vital things for us and for many other living things on this planet. That also includes the smaller creatures that live around us. But as humans spread across the globe and began building more and more homes and communities, it’s easy for nature to clash with humanity. Whether it’s insects, rodents, or any other kind of small animal—if pests can find an easy place to nest, grow, and breed, they’ll take advantage of it. That’s where your home comes into play: an already-made place of safety, food sources, and of course, water and moisture.
When we think of pests, we often think of the common offenders such as ants, termites, dust mites, and rats. But depending on your area of the United States, the list of pests in your area could be quite expansive, and they all have their reasons for wanting to invade your home. Aside from being unwanted guests and making for an unsightly presence in the house, pests can do a variety of damages to both your health and to your home itself. The key to conquering a pest problem is to understand the pest, its behavior, and how to counteract their methods of invasion.
Let’s take a deep dive into some of the most common pests you may encounter, what their presence can do to you and your home, and how to keep them out of your house…
From the family Formicidae, ants are a colony-based insect that exists on almost every part of our Earth. While an individual ant may be nothing much to consider, it is the organized performance of the colony as a whole that makes them a smart and formidable pest in the house. It’s why an ant colony can sometimes be referred to as a superorganism—they can carry out actions and react to threats in a seemingly unified manner, as if it were a single entity. A colony is typically managed by a single queen, though there are species that can have multiple queens to form a joint super colony, and other species have been known to willfully cohabitate with a separate colony. Here are some species of ants that live in the Eastern US, for example:
Ants in your area may either be indigenous or invasive, but they all follow roughly the same protocols when invading your home. After a queen has mated, it will attempt to find a place that’s safe to start its brood. This could be outside of your home, or it may find a crack or a crevice in which to enter your home, such as through a foundation crack leading to your basement. Once it has found a place with comfortable humidity levels, made of suitable material such as wood, where a colony can properly tunnel and branch out, it will begin producing eggs and nurturing its first generation of workers. These workers will tend to the queen and scout for food. This is where ants become a proper pest.
As soon as a scouting worker has found food or water, it will consume some for itself, store some in its social stomach, and return to the colony while leaving a pheromone trail. This trail alerts the colony that there’s food if they should follow that trail, and the queen will be informed of that food when the worker returns to share food with her. This will encourage more workers to set out, and the queen will likely be encouraged to produce more brood as it has found a place to grow her colony and survive. This is when the ants transition into becoming a real pest. Property damage is a real possibility, especially when colonies grow larger. Some species like Carpenter Ants are prone to seeking out wooden structures within a home to build their tunnels and grow their colony, causing damage to your home’s walls and supports.
Trying to physically root out their colony can also be hazardous as the workers and soldiers of the colony are willing to bite an intruder, no matter their size. Some species of ants are also capable of stinging or spraying formic acid. But fortunately, there are multiple ways in which to deal with them without risking your own safety.
When many think of ants or other insects, their first reaction may be to use the insecticide spray and go for the quick and easy kill. But as the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture mentions, “The mistake most people make when attempting to control ants is only spraying the ones they see. This approach usually fails because the ants seen foraging over exposed surfaces is only a small portion of the colony.”
Killing the ants that you see on the kitchen floor is only a temporary solution. On any given day, an ant queen can produce around 800 eggs, and those eggs can become full grown adult workers within 38 to 60 days depending on the species. Once a colony has reached a mature stage, it’s akin to facing a situation of 800 new ants per day that you’d have to kill just to stop the colony from growing larger.
That’s where ant bait comes in. Ant bait may contain varying formulations of insecticide that is mixed into a kind of food material that will attract the ants. The bait only works if it happens to be in the path of foraging workers. But when a foraging worker discovers the bait, typically they will consume some of the bait and return to the colony to share it. From there, the insecticide is shared from the worker’s social stomach to other workers and even the queen. This creates the possibility of crippling an ant colony and even getting rid of it entirely. Here are some tips on how to effectively use ant bait:
Unlike an insecticide spray, the process of controlling ant populations in or around your home with ant bait is a slow process. As advised in a publication by the NC Cooperative Extension, “Patience is important to successful baiting. Most ant baits are slow-acting and do not kill the ants quickly. Therefore, you may continue to see ants for a week or more after baiting.” It is a part of the ant bait’s design because the bait is meant to be consumed and shared around the colony before the ants start dying off—this is to ensure maximum effect.
Microscopic in size, dust mites are incredibly hard to spot, and they can be found virtually anywhere where people live except the continent of Antarctica. When observed under a microscope, they look white and translucent, with an appearance that might be described as almost spider-like since they have eight legs. We typically know them to eat our dead skin cells, which is why they are so prevalent in the homes of people. But they also feed on dead skin cells of animals and even some forms of mold. There are over 20 species of dust mites that we are aware of.
It is likely that there are millions of dust mites present in your home. For a sense of scale, on average, you will shed as much as 1.5 grams of skin in a single day. That’s enough to feed one million dust mites, giving them a chance to breed and further propagate throughout your home.
Dust mites are innumerable, and they can live on average around 65-100 days. When a female dust mite has mated, it can lay as many as 100 eggs within five weeks. What’s more, during the course of a dust mite’s life, it will produce around 2,000 particles of fecal matter, which in turn can cause allergic reactions. As stated by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), “Both the body parts and the waste of dust mites are allergens for many people. Most dust mites die in low humidity levels or extreme temperatures. But they leave their dead bodies and waste behind. These can continue to cause allergic reactions. In a warm, humid house, dust mites can survive all year.”
Here is a list of allergy symptoms that dust mites can cause:
For those who have asthma, dust mites may also cause the following symptoms:
Dust mites can also cause eczema flare-ups and exasperate asthma symptoms that you may already be experiencing. The AAFA also believes that dust mites, due to their prevalence, may possibly be one of the most common triggers of both year-round allergies as well as asthma. This is why it is important to take measures to keep dust mite populations in check. It’s likely impossible to be completely free of dust mites, but the fewer the better.
As the Mayo Clinic advises, “Avoiding exposure to dust mites is the best strategy for controlling dust mite allergy. While you can’t completely eliminate dust mites from your home, you can significantly reduce their number.” By controlling the presence of dust mites in your home, you can reduce the frequency of allergic reactions that can be caused and help control your asthma if you have it.
Here are some ways that you can adjust your lifestyle to counter the presence of dust mites:
Across the North American continent there are over 70 species of native rodents living in the wild. But when “rodents” and “pests” come up in the same sentence, it’s often referring to three species of rodents in particular: the black rat, Norway rat, and the house mouse.
These creatures may look small and not threatening. But the EPA warns that as pests they can “infest houses, threaten public health, and destroy property. They can damage or destroy critical habitats, native plants and animals, crops, property, and food supplies.” That’s why it is crucial to know how they can be a pest and what to do about them.
Whether they are rats or mice, they both follow similar goals, which are to seek shelter, find near food sources, and breed. Human population centers and dwellings provide ample amounts of shelter from the elements and predators, meanwhile our pantries and food stores provide plenty of nutrition for the rodents to feed themselves and provide for their young. But it’s not just their presence that makes them a pest, it’s what they leave behind as they wander your home: feces, urine, and the potential to transport fleas, ticks, and mites into your home. They can also contaminate food or water that they’ve come into contact with, and their waste products can even contaminate the dust that you may breathe.
It is important to address rodent problems promptly to prevent the spread of disease in your home. Rodent feces, urine, blood, and saliva are all ways that diseases can be transmitted to human beings. There are around 35 diseases that rats, and mice can spread to humans. Here are just a few of the diseases that are known to be transmitted directly or indirectly by rodents to humans:
By taking proper measures, you can keep rodent pests out of your home and maintain a safe and healthy environment for you and your loved ones.
Rodents invade our homes because they’re looking for a means to survive. A human household is perfect for shelter, food, and a place to breed without natural predators. As the CDC advises, “The primary strategy for preventing human exposure to rodent diseases is effective rodent control in and around the home.” The measures required to make this strategy successful can be summarized in three steps: Seal, Trap, and Clean.
Termites are an insect that lives in colonies much like ants, bees, and wasps do. While they have earned the nickname of “white ants”, they are not related to ants at all and belong in the same order as cockroaches. With the support of workers and soldiers, a termite colony grows with a king and a queen at its head. Termites are generally small, with the queen being the biggest in a colony.
In nature, termites play an important role. They’re an organized species of decomposers. Termites are known as detritivores, which means they live off consuming dead plant matter, whether it’s dead wood, woodland plants, or even feces containing plant matter. Some species of termites are also known to cultivate “gardens” of particular fungi as food. Meanwhile, other species of termites prefer to eat grass, leaves, and plant roots instead. But what many of these termites all enjoy is darkness, warmth, and humidity, even if it’s the wooden support structures of your home. But that doesn’t mean they should be welcome guests. According to the EPA, “Every year termites cause billions of dollars in structural damage, and property owners spend over two billion dollars to treat them.”
In North America, there are at least 18 species of termites that count as pests. Termites also come in three varieties depending on their preference for dwelling: drywood, dampwood, and subterranean. But for many of them the wooden structures within people’s homes provides both bountiful amounts of food and shelter from predators and the elements. Once termites have moved into a home, they will begin tunneling through the wooden structures within your home. They tend to stay away from the surface of the wooden structures, creating their tunnels and galleries hidden from prying eyes. This can make detection difficult until much damage has already been done. But for every tunnel or gallery they create, they add to the further weakening of that wooden structure, which can lead to a compromising of your home’s structural integrity.
There are ways to detect possible infestations, however, especially when a termite mating season comes around. As the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture explains, “Spring typically is when large numbers of winged termites, known as ‘swarmers,’ emerge inside homes. In nature, termites swarm to disperse and start new colonies. Triggered by warmer temperatures and rainfall, the winged termites emerge from the colony and fly into the air.” If you happen to notice swarms of winged termites in or around your home, there’s a good chance that an infestation is already happening and requires professional assistance.
But there are other ways that you can detect a termite infestation without having to wait until Spring arrives. Here are some signs in your home that can indicate an infestation of termites:
If you notice termites flying out from woodpiles or tree stumps in your yard, be cautious and on the lookout. If swarmers are emerging near your home’s foundation, such as around your wooden porch, there might be an infestation.
For prevention, it is important to keep trees, wood piles, and other sources of wood away from the sides of your home. The more distance the better because it will reduce the chances of termites wandering into your home. Termites are not just drawn to wood—they also require a source of moisture. If there is lingering excess moisture in your home, the termites will see it as a favorable place to colonize.
Here are some measures you can take to control moisture in your home and prevent termites from wanting to invade:
But if you should have an infestation, there are termite baits which may be used to slowly kill off a termite colony, much like ant baits. There are also liquid termiticides which may be placed into the soil surrounding your home. These can either repel termites or outright kill them as they tunnel through the affected soil area. Consult with a pest control professional about these options.
From insects to rodents, pests are like all other living things—they’re seeking shelter, food, and water. When a home is having a moisture problem, pests see it as a place that satisfies their living requirements. But moisture control can keep the pests at bay. If the moisture isn’t present, pests will feel discouraged and will search elsewhere to live or forage.
There are many ways to get rid of pests. But efforts should be made to prevent the pests from invading your home in the first place. As Building Science explains, “Pests inside homes can lead to allergic reactions. Pests often lead to the use of pesticides that are not good for people to breathe or ingest (eat). Pests can damage or destroy building materials.”
Some of these may sound familiar from the pest descriptions above. But here are some ways that you can make your home more pest resistant:
All pests are living creatures trying to survive. But it’s important to discourage them from using your home as their means of survival. Moisture control is a crucial factor in defending your home from pests. Measures such as basement waterproofing or crawlspace encapsulation can help you manage the water or moisture in your lower level. A dry home also means enjoying your home while nature remains outdoors where it belongs. Moisture control and the other pest prevention methods mentioned in this article can save you from having to use more invasive pest control measures. Invasive pest control solutions can involve the use of harmful chemicals in your home. By understanding these pests and how they behave, you can deflect their attempts to make your home into their own.
Sources for Links:
Ant Control for Householders
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef619
Tips for Effective Ant Baiting
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/tips-for-effective-ant-baiting
AAFA: Dust Mite Allergy
https://www.aafa.org/dust-mite-allergy/
Mayo Clinic: Dust Mite Allergy
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dust-mites/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20352178
CDC: Rodents
EPA: About Rats and Mice
https://www.epa.gov/rodenticides/about-rats-and-mice
Termite Control: Answers for Homeowners
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef604
Termites: How to Identify and Control Them
https://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol/termites-how-identify-and-control-them
BSI-127: Pests Can Really Bug You
https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/building-science-insights/bsi-127-pests-can-really-bug-you
