Watch Out for These 3 Summertime Pests

Prevention is critical, so below are some actions to make positive changes today.

• Seal off any cracks and crevices on the exterior of the building. Use caulk or another water-resistant sealant to block off potential entryways. Cockroaches can flatten their bodies to fit through crevices, so seal any gaps you can find.
• Install automatic doors in primary entryways. Automatic doors decrease the window of opportunity that a cockroach has to enter the facility.
• Sanitize all equipment, eating areas, and other areas with exposed food and drink daily. Cockroaches are attracted to food particles, so cleaning spills immediately and sanitizing regularly can cut down on attractants that bring them indoors.
• Take out the trash daily and keep dumpsters at least 40 feet away from the building. Food and other organic waste are a big part of a cockroach’s diet—keep it as far away from your facility as possible.
• Eliminate areas where moisture collects. Like any living organism, cockroaches need water to survive. Decreasing their access to a consistent water source will decrease the likelihood that they’ll want to make a home inside your building.
• Have an incoming supply inspection program to prevent infestation coming with the shipments.

If you think that the facility might be dealing with a cockroach infestation, call a pest management professional. Usually, a few sightings in a month is evidence of a larger issue.

If not sure, the following are telltale signs of an infestation.

• Feces that look like coffee grounds or black pepper, especially in multitude, are a good indicator of a hidden cockroach population. Larger roaches expel cylindrical droppings.
• Many species, especially if they are reproducing and the colony has become quite large, emit an unpleasant oily or musty odor.
• Oval-shaped egg cases, called oothecae, can be found in dark hidden locations indicating American or Oriental cockroach infestation. German cockroaches carry their ootheca until the eggs are ready to hatch. Examples of potential locations include behind equipment, under floor drains, and inside large appliances. If you see egg casings, it’s time to act swiftly.

There are thousands of cockroach species across the globe, and each has its own unique characteristics. Some can fly, although luckily most are not strong fliers, while others are more likely to jump when disturbed. It can be difficult to correctly identify the species without the help of a pest management professional’s expertise—if not properly identified, it will be nearly impossible to create the most appropriate, customized solution to a cockroach problem.

Ants

Like cockroaches, ants are a crawling pest that can fit through miniscule gaps in a building’s exterior in search of food. They aren’t known to spread diseases like cockroaches, but can compromise food products and hurt your bottom line in the event of product losses after they forcibly break in and steal food to eat or take back to the nest.

Their ability to use chemical trails to lead others in their colony to food sources is well documented, as is their ability to use pheromones to signal danger. These characteristics exist in most ant species, but what makes ants so tough to deal with is the diverse habits between different species. Noting where and how many ants you’ve found can be valuable information for a pest management professional. That being said, accurate identification, as with cockroach species, will still be difficult without the help of a properly trained pest provider.

Take the carpenter ant for instance. One of the more common species across the U.S., the carpenter ant makes its nest in wood and is often mistaken for a termite. Although they do not eat wood, they can establish themselves inside of a building structure and bore into exposed wood, especially if there are any areas where moisture is collecting. Carpenter ants will build satellite colonies separate from the parent colony, so if you spot ants around wood shavings and areas of excavated wood, it’s important to act quickly. While carpenter ants will live in wood primarily, they can still cost big points on an audit when they go out foraging for food. In addition, their tendency to destroy wood can be devastating to the longevity of a facility.