Winter’s coming, and you are probably looking forward to snuggling up with those you love in your home when the cold weather hits. Well, you’re not alone: pests like mice and ants will also be seeking warmth and safety this winter, and they have their sights set on your Nashville home.

1. Mice

Rodents such as mice and rats want to seek refuge in homes when escaping the cold, nesting in your garage, attic, and walls. They will gnaw through wood, insulation and wires, and make nests in your stored clothing and bedding. If that weren’t enough, mice bring bacteria into your home with their urine and feces.

Be sure to keep all packaged foods in hard plastic containers. Wipe up crumbs and spills immediately. Fill gaps in walls and foundations, as well as around windows and doors, with caulk. Cap your chimney, and have a Nashville pest control professional spray your exterior walls and roofline.

2. Ants

Ants are also attracted to warm homes in winter, making their way in through cracks in your foundation, crawling up wall voids to look for heat and food sources. Don’t leave pet food out except at mealtimes, seal all sweet treats, wipe crumbs immediately, and make sure all your pantry items are well sealed. Use liquid cement on foundation cracks, and have a Nashville pest control tech perform a perimeter treatment.

3. Spiders

Spiders get into your home in winter via ripped screens, rotted holes and gaps in siding. They’re on the hunt for flying insects to eat, so sealing trash and refraining from leaving fruit on the counter will go a long way toward reducing your flying insect population. To keep spiders out in the first place, shut off external lights and keep your window shades drawn. That’s because flying insects such as flies and moths are drawn to light. You will often see spider webs next to light sources so they can catch their prey.

4. Wasps

The fall marks a new life cycle for wasps, as the hives they have spent all summer building need to be sourced with food for the winter. Most wasps won’t survive the winter because they can’t store food fast enough once the cold weather hits. But new queens arrive in the final days of the hive, and they will be the ones to build up fat reserves to make it over the winter.

If you are noticing urgent wasp activity now in late fall, take note of where they are entering and have a pest control specialist in Nashville seal off those points to avoid a spring frenzy.

Contact PureGuard Pest Control

If you want to safeguard your home against pests in Nashville this winter, be proactive and contact us todat at 615-502-2855.