Spring Cleaning – Prevent Pests Inside

A woman spring cleaning windows for pest prevention.

After a cold and snowy winter, all of Michigan celebrates the arrival of spring. Here in the lower peninsula of Michigan, springtime is one of the most beautiful times of the year. The Crocuses, Daffodils and Tulips are starting to peek up out of the earth, soon to show their brilliant colors. Along with routine spring cleaning, focus on the areas below to prevent pests from getting inside. Griffin Pest is committed to bringing our community prevention tips to keep pests away before they ever become a problem. For information on pests that are common in our area, look at our Pest Identification Library.

Pests Inside

  • Kitchen – Prevent ants and cockroaches by cleaning your kitchen surfaces regularly, as well as appliances such as toasters and grills. Clean out your pantries, an unkempt pantry is like a buffet line. Clean your fridge, and cabinets by removing expired and unwanted items. Scrub your drawers with bleach or kitchen cleaner, and afterward, sweep and mop your floor. Even random crumbs can be enough to create the need for pest control.
  • Bathroom – Moisture in your bathrooms can attract cockroaches and silverfish.  Regularly wash shower curtains, dry bathroom surfaces, and clean out drawers and cabinets. Pests may enter through window sills, and drains. Check screens and any gaps around window sills. Pour bleach down drains as pests may come up your drains. Check pipes under the sink for any leaks, as water attracts pests. 
  • Basement – In your basement insects thrive in the dark, and out of sight. The dark allows them to avoid predators when they search for food, which is often at night. They hide in crevices, which is why they are less likely to be seen until it’s too late – especially in an unfinished basement. 
  • Declutter – Remove clutter inside your home, basement, garage and sheds. Storage spaces are ideal for spiders, cockroaches and rodents as they are often dark and filled with lots of clutter. These conditions are perfect for breeding and hiding.

Pests Outside

  • Home Exterior –  Look for cracks and holes in the foundation or openings around windows. Ant problems can usually be traced to tiny fissures around windows. Remember, insects must enter your home before they can pose a real pest control problem. Ants are especially diligent about locating new entry points. Seal any cracks you find and repair or replace screens in windows. By eliminating any openings in your home’s periphery, you’re taking the first step in pest control. 
  • Trash Cans – Trash cans are an area that commonly hold food and will act as a magnet for pests. The trash can is a common weak point in pest prevention and control. Store your cans away from the house if possible. Ensure your trash cans have a tight-fitting lid and are lined with trash bags.
  • Firewood – Store firewood away from your home and off the ground, if possible. Piles of firewood are attractive to pests such as termites. A stack of firewood acts as both shelter and a food supply. To keep pulp-eating pests out of your home, move your firewood pile away from any buildings. 
  • Garden Maintenance – Try reducing pests from entering your home by placing plants away from your home’s structure. Many residential pests are fully capable of surviving in nature as well as inside your home. Maintaining a clear, plant-free zone around your home is an excellent habit for pest prevention and control.
  • Remove Water Sources – Removing water sources will have a great reward in the reduction of mosquito breeding. People often ask how they can get rid of the mosquitoes that are in their yards, patio, or area around their homes. The ideal approach for controlling mosquitoes is to never let the population explode in the first place. You can do this by making your entire yard less attractive to mosquitoes.
    • Be sure to eliminate (or treat) any of these breeding grounds in your yard. 
    • Lawn or yard ornaments with standing water features
    • Buckets that accumulate rainwater or runoff
    • Puddles
    • Landscape ponds
    • Bird baths
    • Ruts that hold standing water
    • Clogged gutters and downspouts
    • Plant bowls saucers
    • Other items that can collect rainwater or runoff – such as a wheelbarrow that is not turned upside down

Spring Pest Prevention and Control

If you have or suspect a pest problem or would like to know more about protecting your home and yards, call our team of experts at Griffin Pest Solutions. Our team is innovative, reliable, and ready to meet you and your property in whatever you might need. Above all, Griffin Pest Solutions has 90 years of experience. Call us today for your free quote!

Carpenter Ant Prevention This Fall

Carpenter ants are active in the fall

It can be hard to tell regular ants from carpenter ants. Chances are you’ve seen carpenter ants or even had them in your home without realizing it! Although they may seem like regular ants, carpenter ants can pose a threat to your home.

Most carpenter ant infestations happen in the spring and late fall. If you find carpenters in your home during cold months, it’s probably because they’ve taken up residence. Carpenters can do significant structural damage over time, so it’s important to find and deal with them quickly. Here’s everything you need to know about how to get rid of carpenter ants in fall and all year-round.

Carpenter Ants 101

Carpenter ants are one of the largest and most prevalent ants in Michigan. Most species resemble a larger version of a regular ant. They come in a variety of colors including combinations of black, red, dull yellow, grey, or brown. Adult specimens are usually between ¼ and ½ inches long. Carpenters may resemble termites, but they have darker bodies, narrower waists, bent antennae, and a rounded thorax.

Colonies of carpenters are divided into castes, each with different distinguishing characteristics and sizes. Worker carpenter ants have large mandibles or pincers. Swarmer ants have two sets of wings–hind wings and front wings – and are the reproducers of the species. A female swarmer will become a carpenter ant queen and be solely responsible for populating the hive with workers.  

Carpenters remain a problem because their colonies can grow large quickly. Large colonies can inflict structural damage on homes in relatively short periods of time.

Where to Look for Carpenter Ants

carpenter ants build their colonies into wooden structures that have been naturally hollowed out or dampened

Carpenter ants gnaw the wood they want to move into a compact, sawdust-like material. Spotting this transported wood dust is one of the only reliable ways to find carpenter ants. Be careful, hollowed out wood takes on a dry, smooth, almost sandpaper-like appearance and may collapse under strain.

Outside, carpenter ants usually build colonies in wood that’s already been hollowed out. Most outdoor “parent” colonies are found in rotting trees, tree stumps, roots, fallen logs, or other decaying wood. As colonies expand, they require “satellite” colonies to continue to support a growing population. These expansion efforts are usually what brings carpenter ants into a house in fall and spring.

Carpenter ants prefer to inhabit areas with poor air circulation, access to soil and the outdoors, and condensation. During fall, carpenter ants want to nest in areas where they can keep warm. You’ll probably find them in your

  • Basement
  • Attic
  • Crawl space
  • Foundation
  • Roof
  • Porch
  • Doors and windows
  • Wood chips
  • Older siding

What Carpenter Ants eat

Carpenter ants do NOT eat wood; they simply move it out of the way. They subsist primarily on protein and sugar.

Unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t eat the wood they infest. Instead, these ants subsist on proteins and sugars, which they obtain from a wide variety of sources including:

  • Insects
  • Meat
  • Pet food
  • Syrup
  • Honey
  • Grains
  • Jelly

Carpenter ants are opportunists and will eat almost anything else they can find. They’re particularly attracted to the honeydew secreted by aphids and scale insects.

Worker ants have been known to forage up to 100 yards away from their colonies to find food. The workers bring any food they find back to the colony, where it’s distributed among all members.

Carpenter ants also require a source of moisture to keep hydrated. Usually, a carpenter ant colony will establish its main nest near some source of moisture outside. Satellite nests need moisture, too, but not to the same extent as the main nest does.

Why do they want to get into my home?

carpenter ants swarm over soft wood.

In the fall, carpenter ants seek food, shelter and ideal building conditions.

Carpenter ants prefer to make their colonies in moist, soft wood. Moist wood provides enough water to sustain the colony while they expand. Soft wood is easier to chew through, allowing for faster expansion. Rotting or damaged wood is an ideal nesting site for carpenter ants. If you see carpenter ants inside during fall, they’re probably establishing a satellite colony in wood inside your home.

Do Carpenter Ant Bites Hurt?

Carpenter ants will bite in self-defense. Their larger size and strong mandibles make carpenter ant bites potentially painful. They can also spray formic acid into bites, causing further pain.

If you are bitten, keep the bite clean and treat inflammation with ice. If you experience a severe reaction, see a physician immediately.

How can I keep them away?

keep carpenter ants away from your home by preventing mold growth, humidity, and leaks

Remove any environment that carpenter ants are likely to nest in. Look for mold growth and decaying and/or damaged wood, particularly near the ground level. Pull out and replace any rotten siding, rip out old baseboards and trimming, and look for condensation buildup. Pay particular attention to the foundation, siding and trim in your basement. Keep a close eye out for wood damage and have it repaired as soon as you notice it.

A leaky pipe in your basement might be creating an ant utopia. Look for any plumbing leaks and repair them as soon as possible. Even if you don’t have leaks, check to make sure excess humidity isn’t creating condensation on pipes or walls. If it is, consider investing in a dehumidifier, or least check for drafts.

If you have ants already, your best method of eliminating them is to have a pest control technician locate and eliminate the nest with an insecticide.

 Michigan Ant Control for Home and Business

If you need some help managing a carpenter ant problem this fall or any time of year, give Griffin a call today. We’ll be able to tell you where the ants are, how they got in, why they want to be there, and how to get rid of them. A safer, more enjoyable winter is just one phone call away.

Why Are There Crawling Insects in My House?

Unless uninvited guests arrive carrying a free cake or a large check, you’re probably not a fan. When uninvited visitors have six or more legs and creep across your floor, they’re even less welcome. Nobody wants crawling insects to infest their homes, but how do you keep them out? What causes them in the first place? Why won’t they leave you alone?

First: you keep them from happening by taking preventative measures. Second: the things that cause them are usually easily fixed. Third: they won’t leave you alone because there’s something at your home drawing them in. Today we’ll cover the four most common crawling insect invaders people face. We’ll also arm you with the easy fixes and preventative measures you can take to keep them away.

Ants 

Ants are one of the most commonly-faced crawling pest problems for both home and business owners. There are over seven hundred different known species in the United States. Of those, there are a few ant varieties that are best known for infesting homes. Those include carpenter ants, pavement ants, odorous house ants, and field ants. Ants typically live in large colonies that work together to build and maintain their nests.

How can I keep ants out of my home?

  • Practice regular perimeter maintenance. Ants like to sneak in through small breaches or holes in your home’s perimeter. Make sure to regularly give your home visual inspections and seal any gaps, cracks, tears, or holes you find as you go. 
  • Keep a watch out for scouts. Single ants are scouts. They come up from their nests to look for food, water, or shelter. Get rid of any solo ants you find so they’re unable to share that information with the rest of their colony.

Centipedes

Despite their name’s disturbing implication that centipedes have one hundred legs, the crawling pests usually don’t. Instead, they have one pair of legs per body segment and can have, on average, between fifteen and seventy total pairs. There are many varieties but they all have flat, elongated bodies. They can measure from one-sixth of an inch to six and a half inches in length. Coloring varies but usually stays between shades of brown, red, and orange.

How can I keep centipedes out of my home?

  • Eliminate their food sources. Centipedes mainly consume other insects. If you’re practicing the rest of the prevention tips listed in this post to keep other pests away, you’re doing well. 
  • Reduce and remove clutter. A tidy home is a home that doesn’t have places for insects to hide. That includes but isn’t limited to centipedes.

Cockroaches 

Everybody knows about roaches. They’re one of the hardiest creatures on the planet, able to survive in temperatures at both spectrum extremes. The most common pest cockroaches are the German cockroach and the American cockroach. German cockroaches are brownish-black, measuring between ½ and ⅝ inches. American roaches are darker in color and large, measuring between one and two inches. They’re both active throughout the year, are nocturnal, and are drawn to decaying organic matter.

How can I keep roaches out of my home?

  • Wipe up crumbs and spills as soon as you make them. Cockroaches love organic matter. They especially love decaying organic matter. Don’t leave it out for them to find. Wipe up spills and crumbs as soon as they happen and don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink. 
  • Pay special attention to cleanliness. This tip is mentioned more than once, but that’s because it’s important. Insects like cockroaches thrive in unkempt spaces. Take the garbage out regularly, remove grease from the stovetop, and keep your floors clean. These small efforts will go a long way toward preventing roach infestations.

Earwigs

Let’s start out by dispelling a popular earwig myth. No, they won’t actually crawl into your ear while you’re asleep and eat your brain. They won’t even crawl into your ear and take a nap, leaving your brain alone. They won’t go inside your head. What they will do, however, is infest your home. Earwigs are typically a quarter-inch to one inch in length with elongated, flat bodies. Their color can vary between different shades of tan, brown, and red. Their most distinctive physical characteristic are the pincers located on the back of their abdomens.

How can I keep earwigs out of my home?

  • Eliminate the places they like to hide. Earwigs love dead and distressed outdoor spaces. They hide in these spaces and use them as jumping off points for interior infestations. Take away their hiding spots by removing leaf piles, overgrown vegetation, and untended woodpiles. 
  • Make sure your gutters are working properly. Moisture build-up from gutters that are clogged pointing in the wrong direction will draw in earwigs. 
  • Use dehumidifiers. Once more with feeling: earwigs love moisture. Make sure you’re policing the moisture in your home and removing any standing water as you notice it.

If your question is, “Why are there crawling insects in my house?,” the answer is, “Because you’re not keeping them out.” Luckily, with the help of this blog post and other useful tips and tricks, you’ll be able to turn things around. For the rest, you can call the team at Griffin Pest Solutions. We’ll help keep your home safe, secure, and crawling pest free.

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How Do I Still Have Ants in Winter?

Ants are cold-blooded. In order to thrive and survive, they need an external source of warmth. Obviously, it gets considerably harder for ants to find these external sources in winter. Especially the ants that happen to live in Michigan. 

Despite the considerable adversity facing them each winter, ants are determined creatures. Subzero temperatures don’t stop their relentless drive to find food, shelter, and water. In order to find what they need this winter, ants will often attempt to infiltrate homes. Including your home, if you’re not careful. If you’re asking why you still have ants in winter, you’re in the right place. We’ll answer that question–along with how those ants got in and how to throw them out–below.

Why do I still have ants during the winter?

You have ants during the winter for the same reason you have them during spring, summer, or fall. Your home was easy to get inside and offered them the things they were looking for. If ants can’t find a home to infest, they’ll build their colonies and cluster under rocks, tree bark, decomposing leaves, or deep within the ground. If they can find a home, well… then there’s a problem. 

If they find a warm place (your house, for example) to nest in the winter, ants won’t need to cluster. They’ll instead be able to remain active throughout the entire year. Inside homes, they’re most commonly found inside walls, near pipes, inside molding, or under baseboards. They got inside by finding a breach in your home’s perimeter. It could have been crumbling brick, old boards, or a crack in the foundation.

What do they want?

Ants want what all common problem pests want: food, shelter, and water. If you’re reading this, it means you’re likely already facing an ant problem. That means they’ve already found one of the things they were looking for: shelter, warmth, and cover from the cold. That’s what brings them in. 

What makes ants stay after they get inside will be how well they can find food and water. Ants like sugar, fat, and protein-dense foods like meat, cheese, dried goods, peanut butter, baking materials, or pet food. Water is a less significant motivator since they require very little to sustain themselves. Ants are commonly found near hidden plumbing leaks because they like its easy, consistent moisture access. 

What can I do to prevent them?

That’s the most important question. If you don’t already have an ant problem, how can you prevent one from happening? Here are a few of our best ant exclusion tips:

  • Keep surfaces clean. Ants are scavengers. Their favorite places to find sustenance are on floors, garbage cans, and countertops. Keep dirty dishes out of the sink, wipe crumbs off the table, and mop residue off the floors.
  • Practice perimeter maintenance. Ants are tiny. It doesn’t take much for them to find a way inside your home. Just because it’s difficult to bar their entry doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, however. Follow their trails to see where they’re coming in. Find perimeter breaches and fix them with caulk, putty, or plaster as needed.
  • Spot the scouts. If you ever see a lone ant, it’s a scout. Scout ants are sent out by the colony to find sources of food or water. You want to prevent it from having a chance to communicate with the nest about anything it may have found.

Winter is a surprisingly busy time when it comes to pest infestations. That’s because, like ants, many other pests are seeking shelter from the cold. If, despite your best efforts, one of those pests finds its way inside your home – give Griffin a call. Our experts can both help you remove existing pests and prevent future ones.

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Do I Have Carpenter Ants?

Carpenter ant near the wall of a basement

Ants flying around inside your home may be the reproductive drones of a carpenter ant colony. Look for small, round excavation holes in wooden structures in your basement, crawl space, deck, or porch. Carpenter ants create these holes to discharge the sawdust-like wood shavings they produce while tunneling.

It can be frustratingly difficult to find conclusive signs that you have a carpenter ant problem. The ants tend to tunnel through deep or inaccessible sections of wood. Their tunnels tend to be impossible to spot until they start causing serious problems. By learning more about what ants are all about, however, you can be better at spotting them. This is what you should know about carpenter ants, including how to tell if you have them.

What are carpenter ants?

Carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) are some of the largest and most common ants in Michigan. They’re also one of the most common home-invading pests in Michigan. Like other ants, carpenters live in large eusocial colonies where different castes perform different roles. Unlike most ants, colonies live inside wooden structures by hollowing them out from the inside. In the wild, they usually nest in decomposing trees, logs, or stumps. They can also tunnel through homes!   

Carpenter ant workers look like sugar ants, but they’re larger and have evenly-rounded thoraxes. Most workers are ¼ to ½” long. Carpenter ant drones are even larger, and they have flight-capable wings. Drones are often confused for termites, but you can tell them apart by looking at their antennae. Carpenter ants have distinctive “elbowed” (curving or “L-shaped”) antennae, whereas termites have straight, beaded antennae. You’ll probably see the ants crawling on or near wooden structures. 

Carpenter ants outside of an entrance to their colony

Why are carpenter ants a problem?

Contrary to popular belief, carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood. Carpenter ants tunnel through wooden structures to build large, complex “galleries” for their colony to live inside. As the colony grows, the ants continue to work their way deeper through the infested wood. In the meantime, the ants will continue to hollow out larger and larger segments of wood. Ant workers reduce the wood they tunnel through to a sawdust-like substance and transport it out of the colony. 

Obviously, hollowing out the inside of a wooden structure compromises its structural integrity. Over time, carpenter ants could seriously damage the wood they infest–and any structures that wood supports! If the ants hollow out enough wood, they could trigger the collapse of load-bearing structures such as support beams. Ant tunnels also tend to make wood more vulnerable to moisture accumulation and mold growth, which could lead to further problems.

Do I have carpenter ants?

The most obvious sign of a carpenter ant infestation is the presence of winged ants inside your home. If there are flying ants inside your home and it’s not mating season, then you probably have an infestation. Workers themselves may venture indoors during summer, but seeing them during winter is a bad sign. Look for workers around any exposed wooden structures, especially in naturally damp or humid parts of the home.

You should also look for small, circular openings on the surface of the wood. These holes are where worker ants expel the sawdust-like shavings they create when tunneling through the wood. If you find shavings or dust accumulating under these openings, your infestation is quite active. Remember: carpenter ants attack moist, humid, or damaged wood. If you’re worried you have an infestation, check wood that fits this description first.

Carpenter ants working on tunnels in wood

What can I do about carpenter ants?

Tunneling through wood dries out carpenter ants very quickly. Workers require a constant source of moisture to re-hydrate if they’re going to remain active. For this reason, the ants almost exclusively target wet or moist wood. If they can re-hydrate while they tunnel, they’ll never have to stop working on their colony. By making sure wood around your home is dry, treated, and protected, you’ll keep ants from preying on it.

First, look for and fix possible plumbing leaks inside and outside. Make sure your outdoor gutters, downspouts, and drains are direct water away from your home effectively. Find places where wood contacts the ground and cover that wood with plastic sheets or barriers. Trim down branches, shrubs, or other “bridges” carpenter ants could use to access your home. Inside, dehumidify your basement, crawl spaces, and other lower levels as well as possible. Replace any damaged or soiled wood ASAP.

 

The faster you find a carpenter ant infestation, the more potential damage you can prevent. Watch for these signs of infestation, but look out for the vulnerabilities that may lead to infestations, as well. Protect wooden structures in your home, keep them dry, and watch for cracks and gaps ants could exploit. 

If you’re worried you have carpenter ants in your home, don’t hesitate to give Griffin Pest Solutions a call. Our experts locate your ants, remove them, identify how they got in, and ensure they won’t get in again. If you see the telltale signs of carpenter ants, just call right away. We’ll make sure your home stays whole.

Why Can Some Ants Fly?

Why can some ants fly?

Ants are one thing. You get ants. You’ve seen their mounds, watched them swarm around food, and probably even shooed them out of your kitchen. Flying ants are… another thing entirely. Are those things even ants?! Are ants supposed to be able to do that?! Why here?! Why now?!

We get being intimidated by flying ants. Particularly when there are a lot of them, and they’re flying right at you. Despite flying ants’ somewhat frightening (and sudden!) appearance, however, they’re nothing to be worried about. Here’s what you should know about flying ant swarms, and how they might affect you:

What are flying ants?

Flying ants aren’t a particular species of ant, but they are a particular caste of many ant species. Flying ants make up the reproductive caste of their ant colony, or “alates.” Alates can fly in order to leave the colony and seek out mates effectively. Ant colonies produce both male reproductive alates and winged virgin queen ant alates. Male alates seek out queens from other colonies, while queens start new colonies of their own.

Ant species like carpenter ants produce alates during mating season. Particular alate appearance may vary from species-to-species, but they’ll generally be ¼ to ⅜” long and black, dark brown, or dark red. Alate wings are clear, translucent, and unequal in length. Alates usually leave their colonies in large swarms during mating season in order to protect each other from predators. If you see flying ants near your home, then there’s probably a developing colony nearby.

When do flying ants become active?

When do flying ants become active?

Last year, we wrote a blog about “flying ant day.” On flying ant day, huge swarms of alate swarms suddenly appeared all over Detroit. A version of “flying ant day” happens every year around Labor Day. Now that you know what alates are all about, it isn’t hard to guess why: mating. Every year around late summer, alates become very active very quickly in order to mate and start colonies.

Despite its relative predictability, ant mating season doesn’t start on a particular date. Instead, it begins when conditions are just right. The ideal condition for ant mating is a summer day with high temperatures, sunny weather, and no wind. When that perfect day comes along, all kinds of ant colonies start mating at once–hence the sudden swarms. Ants tend to reproduce in late summer to prepare for winter, but it isn’t the only time they reproduce. You may occasionally see swarming alates even during the “off” season.

How can flying ants affect you?

Seeing a flying ant around your home isn’t necessarily a telltale sign of ant infestation. Flying ants… can fly, after all. During mating season, ant swarms may range quite a ways from their colonies to seek mates. If you see an alate inside your home during spring or summer, it might have wandered in accidentally. In all likelihood, that ant will die before it finds a mate and you won’t need to worry about it.

Ironically, you should worry about winged ants if you see them during the off-season. If you see alates in your home during winter or early spring, you may have a larger problem. Alates shouldn’t be active at all unless it’s mating season. If they are, it’s because they don’t need to wait for nice weather to begin the mating cycle… because they’re living in a temperature-controlled environment. If you see swarms of flying ants in your home all year, then you probably have a carpenter ant infestation.

What can you do about flying ants?

What can you do about flying ants?

Carpenter ants are one of the few ant species that could infest and mate inside your home all year. This is possible because carpenter ants hollow out tunnels in wooden structures to live inside. Carpenter ants attack moist, rotting, or unprotected wood. Infestations usually start outside and end up inside after the ants tunnel deeper through the wood. Flying ants may emerge from these tunnels at any point once they’re warm enough inside.

Carpenter ants require nearly constant moisture sources in order to remain active. They attack moist wood because it allows them to stay hydrated while they work. The best way to keep carpenter ants away, therefore, is to make sure they can’t access wet wood. Look for any sources of excess moisture around your home, including leaks, condensation, or humidity. Protect any exposed wood outside your home, too, particularly if it touches the ground. By protecting wood from carpenter ants, you’ll be able to keep alates out of your home.

 

Just like everything else in nature, flying ants have a specific purpose and context. Now that you know that context, alate swarms won’t seem nearly as intimidating. …At least, in theory.

In practice, well… we believe in you! If you’re worried you have a carpenter ant infestation, give Griffin a call any time. We’ll figure out where the infestation came from, wipe it out, and make sure it can’t come back. You won’t have to worry about flying ants. In theory, or practice!