Another Summer in Phoenix means the same key ingredients year after year: temperatures reaching triple digits on a daily basis, typically dry conditions, and the occasional monsoon to cool things down temporarily.
All pests are looking for the same thing this summer: food, water, and harborage, and much like humans, even pests begin looking for shelter when the temperatures are “off-the-charts” hot.
In fact, multiple pests are looking to get inside your home this summer, so beware of unwanted visitors!
Altogether, more than 30 species of scorpions are found in the southern and western United States, including scorpions common to Arizona such as the striped scorpion and the Desert Hairy scorpion.
Although scorpions are not aggressive hunters, their stings can be quite painful, and in the case of one species found in the U.S. (the Arizona Bark Scorpion), they can sometimes be fatal.
With the rising temperatures previously mentioned, along with the onset of monsoon season, scorpions (of all types) begin to seek shelter in homes. When they get inside, they spend most of their time tucked away in cracks or crevices and are even found in children’s sandboxes.
Some things homeowners can do to help prevent scorpions include keeping their house clean, de-cluttering floors, keeping your home insect-free, eliminating hiding places like loose rocks, piles of leaves, trash, and other unnecessary debris, consistently trimming tree branches away from a home’s exterior, keeping bedding off the floor, and sealing all points of entry such as outdoor cracks and weather stripping such as surrounding doors & garage doors.
Most of all, be advised that scorpions are sedentary and prefer the most humid available locations. Being aware of areas conducive to scorpion infestations is also essential in preventing them from becoming comfortable.
Such areas include:
When rains become heavier, ants of all kinds tend to move indoors, and the monsoon season is a normal time when homeowners will spot ants in their homes. In addition, even the extreme heat will cause ants to go inside seeking dry, cooler harborage.
Some of the species that infiltrate Phoenix during the summer include fire ants (1/8 to 3/8 inch in size, with a dull red body coloration and a copper brown head), carpenter ants (1/3 of an inch to an inch long, which is relatively large for ants with a black coloration), pavement ants (ranging between 2.5 mm to 4 mm with a dark brown or black coloration), and odorous house ants (ranging between 1.5 and 3.2 mm in size with a dark brown or black coloration).
Ideal fire ant locations have dry, sunny and flat conditions. Typically, they build their nest mounds in the ground near landscape areas or structural foundations, as loose earth is preferable for mound construction.
Drawn to moist wood under and around windows, roof eaves, decks and porches, carpenter ants tunnel through damp wood to the solid dry wood inside your home. Carpenter ants also tunnel outside, constructing extensive underground tunnel systems, often leading to a food source. Outdoors, carpenter ants prefer to feed on the honeydew produced by aphids. Indoors, carpenter ants go for sugary, fatty foods in your kitchen.
Pavement ants get their name from their tendency to build nests underneath and inside the cracks of sidewalks, driveways and slab foundations. As aggressive colonizers, they often wage war against nearby colonies in the summertime, leaving behind hundreds of small, dark corpses across concrete surfaces in the aftermath of the conflict.
Odorous house ants build their nests in a wide variety of places, and their colonies can contain as many as 100,000 workers and numerous queens. The workers also follow long foraging trails, and they feed on many sweets, meats, fats and grease. Their most obvious identifier, however, remains the rotten coconut smell they make when crushed.
The main tactic in an effective ant prevention plan is to create a less inviting environment for them around your home. This includes eliminating access and removing suitable sources of food and water, sealing all gaps in your walls, and cleaning up any spills immediately.
As temperatures rise, stinging insects become much more active in Phoenix. Each year, some 500,000 people are sent to the hospital due to stings from insects such as honey bees, paper wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. Bee and wasp stings can cause significant reactions, ranging from pain that is localized to serious or potentially fatal conditions.
Typically attracted to blooming plants, sugary drinks, and food scraps, several species of both wasps and bees may come into contact with homeowners and their pets in their backyards, eaves, or even outdoor seating areas.
A very common wasp in Phoenix is the paper wasp. Paper wasps build nests out of dead wood and plant stems mixed with their saliva to create honeycomb nests. Nests can be found in hollow trees, attics, roof soffits, and other areas that are not frequented. Both paper wasps and yellow jackets will keep their distance from humans unless their nests are disturbed. If you get too close to their nest, they will attack in numbers, and their stings are quite painful. Paper wasps build nests out of paper as well, but unlike yellow jackets, they usually build their nests in exposed areas such as window frames.
In Arizona, we consider all honey bees Africanized. Also known as “killer bees,” Africanized bees react to disturbances and are typically more defensive than Western honey bees. Their hives can be found in multiple places.
Some do-it-yourself tips to help keep wasps and bees at bay include covering your trash bins and avoiding giving off a strong scent outdoors.
In terms of their nests, while you might be tempted to douse chemicals or water on a visible nest in your home, these infestations should be left to professionals. Spraying the nest will cause these flying insects to go into defensive mode, which will trigger aggressive behavior and increase the chances of an attack. A pest professional will take the time to assess and recommend the best method of treatment carefully.
Two main types of cockroaches are found in Phoenix during the summer, which is not what a homeowner wants to hear. Typically, anyone who comes in contact with a roach is grossed out by them in some way. As they have a general distaste for cooler temperatures, summertime in Phoenix fits them perfectly, unfortunately. They are also typically active at night, where they can stay in the shadows and find the things they need to survive.
American cockroaches like hot, humid conditions and have fully developed wings. The American cockroach is commonly found outdoors in landscaped areas, sewers or storm drains and in low areas of a building where moisture levels are higher. Indoors, they are most commonly found in restaurants, grocery stores, and other places where food is prepared or stored. They are often found in damp sewers and basements, in heating ducts, and on the first floors of buildings. They can be transported into homes and apartments in boxes from infested establishments.
German cockroaches are typically found in homes, apartments, restaurants, and other buildings where food is stored, prepared, or served. German cockroaches eat all kinds of food and may hitchhike into the home in search of food and moisture. This species avoids lights and prefers to live near moisture sources and in humid areas, given their general aversion to the cold. German cockroaches can proliferate quickly and usually nest around the kitchen and bathroom near food and moisture.
Some ways to prevent an outbreak before you may need a pest control professional include eliminating water (do not let water stand in sinks, eliminate outside collection areas, and fixing pipe leaks), eliminating food sources (dispose garbage properly and wipe off counter tops often), and eliminate harborages (discard unnecessary cardboard boxes, pull mulch away from your home, and sealing wall cracks and baseboards).
Homeowners have likely begun to hear the consistent chirping in their neighborhood, which means crickets are starting to thrive in Arizona. Although there are no serious health concerns raised by a cricket infestation, crickets are capable of eating through everything from wool and silk to wallpaper glue. The other major issue is that if you spot these pests inside your home, they may cause spiders and scorpions to come looking for them.
Commonly encountered in yards, garages, basements and barns, crickets are jumping insects typically measuring from about 9/16 to just over an inch long. These insects vary in color from brown to shiny black, with leathery wings and long antennae.
Although they rarely cause problems when they wander indoors, crickets can be a problem if they have emerged in large quantities in your basement or garage. The racket these jumping insects create is enough to drive even the most grounded person out of their gourds.
Placing sticky boards strategically behind refrigerators and near sources of water is one way homeowners can deal with crickets. These boards will trap crickets safely. An additional option for the homeowner not intimidated by a pest is to pick them up and throw them outdoors, since there are no serious health concerns when it comes to a cricket infestation.
If crickets are a perennial problem for you, there are several things a homeowner can do:
* Look around your home for cracks and crevices that may be used for entry points
* Seal cracks, repair window screens and ensure that your crawlspace door fits tightly to keep crickets outdoors where they belong
* Keeping lights off at night as much as possible can help because they are attracted to lights
* Keeping your kitchen clean and putting pet food away will help eliminate food and water sources, as they are especially attracted to moisture
With the Monsoon season typically from mid-June to late September, its arrival provides short-term relief in terms of cooling down areas, and the storms trigger pest activity.
In addition to the scorpions, cockroaches, and ants previously mentioned, mosquitoes (due to their large swath of breeding grounds left over from post-storm standing water) and termites (increased moisture and higher humidity equal more swarmers) are also present.
Some of the things you can do in general when dealing with pest from Monsoon remnants include making sure there is no standing water left over to help mosquitos breed and that water is draining properly from your home and yard, storing wood off-ground so that termites will not devour them quickly, and inspecting for termite swarms in general, which can help prevent a small headache from becoming a larger one.
While we provided many do-it-yourself tips to help keep the above pests at bay, the bottom line is that many problems may simply be unmanageable or too intense for a homeowner to handle.
From spotting dead remains and insect nests to hearing unusual noise or seeing unusual activity, a homeowner typically recognizes when it is time to call a pest control professional.
A one-time pest service can help rein in a potential problem. A professional inspection followed by quarterly treatments can help bring back a homeowner’s peace of mind.
In conclusion, Phoenix summers simply create the perfect storm for pest problems.
Our do-it-yourself tips on how to prevent problems before they become one are helpful.
It is essential to identify and address pest issues regularly, along with taking preventive measures, rather than waiting for a pest infestation to occur before acting.
Most companies, including ours, offer a FREE pest inspection to determine what type of pest problem you may have. Hopefully, your preventative measures will help you stave off even larger problems, but if they do not, you can rest assured knowing a company like Truly Nolen Pest Control stands ready to assist.