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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Pests That Wake Up in Spring

Pests that wake up in spring

The whole world seems to come back to life in spring. Unfortunately, “the whole world” includes some things we wish would stay sleeping. Along with grass, flowers, trees, and birds, a whole host of Michigan’s most annoying pests wake up every spring.

When pests wake up in spring, they’re usually hungry, thirsty, and ready to find mates. To make up for their long winters off, they tend to pursue these activities ferociously. Their single-minded pursuits make pest problems all-too-common this time every year. Here are the pests you’re bound to run into this spring, what they’re up to, and the problems they cause.

Boxelder bugs

boxelder bugsStarting in early fall, boxelder bugs go looking for dry, warm places where they can wait out the winter. Unfortunately, those dry, warm places often include our homes. When spring comes around, boxelders become active again to seek their newly rejuvenated food sources and, eventually, to reproduce. When that happens, they vacate their winter hideaways en masse. If they were hanging out in your home over winter, you’re going to run into them again this spring.

Boxelder bugs are obviously a nuisance, but luckily they’re not a dangerous one. These pests don’t bite, spread disease, eat fabrics or stored foods, or lay eggs indoors. Instead, they simply vacate the premises to seek the seeds and flowers of acer trees like the boxelder. The nuisance part comes from how many of the gross bugs you may notice vacating. Boxelder excretions and feces may also stain window ledges and other favored areas.

Stink bugs

stink bugsStink bugs follow a similar seasonal routine to boxelder bugs, and they’re around for the same reasons. During fall, they desperately seek out any warm place where they can wait out the winter. Once they’re in position, they go dormant until outdoor temperatures rise back up to survivable temperatures. Once that happens, they wake up with one thing on their mind: mating. In their mad scramble to get back outdoors, however, they tend to get lost… or stuck.

Like boxelder bugs, stink bugs don’t reproduce or nest indoors, cause disease, or bite. They do… stink, however. When threatened or crushed, stink bugs secrete a foul-smelling substance from a special scent gland. This scent smells like rotten vegetables or coriander. The more stink bugs secrete at once, the more powerful the stench. These secretions can also leave behind a dark yellow stain on carpets, furniture, or window sills.

Carpenter ants

carpenter antsDuring spring, the infamous wood-infesters come marching in to build their nests and search for water. Carpenter ant invasions tend to be the most noticeable during the start of the season. Starting in mid spring, the reproductive carpenter ant castes swarm in order to seek mates and start new colonies. After mating, queen ants seek good places to lay their eggs. These eggs hatch into workers, and the infestation begins in earnest.

Carpenter ants are a problem because they make their colony nesting grounds by boring through wood. The tunnels they carve compromise the structural integrity of wood products. Carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood they infest. Instead, they have to hunt for sources of protein and sugar. You may find foragers in your kitchen, basement, or garden. Keep a close eye out for swarmers, in particular. If these flying ants get trapped in your home, chances are their nest is also inside your home.

Pavement ants

pavement antsUnfortunately, carpenter ants aren’t the only ants reproducing and foraging in the spring and summer. In late spring, the brief but very active pavement ant mating season begins. During this time, you may notice swarms of larger-than-average, reddish-black ants flying in large clusters. After mating, pavement ants lay eggs in tight crevices (hence their association with pavement, and the cracks in it). When young pavement ants emerge, they start looking for food almost immediately.

Pavement ants are most often encountered in groups in your kitchen. They break down and carry off all sorts of stored food, especially grains and sugars. When they find food, they tend to stick around. It’s not uncommon to find ants infesting cabinets, pantries, cupboards, and anywhere else they could find food. They’ll attack any scraps they can get their mandibles on. Unlike other pests on this list, they can stay active as long as they’re warm and they have food.

 

Spring should be a wonderful, refreshing time of year–especially after a brutal Michigan winter. Don’t let pests ruin that for you. If you need some help fighting back an infestation so you can enjoy the nice parts of spring again, give Griffin a call. We can deal with the dirty work so you can enjoy the rest.

Intercepting Stink Bugs in the Wintertime

Intercepting Stink Bugs

Unlike many other pests in our part of the world, stink bugs don’t infest homes during the spring or summer. Instead, Michigan’s newest neighbor tends to start infesting homes in late fall and early winter. If you see a stink bug in your home come early spring, it’s probably because it spent winter with you.

We know that’s not exactly great news. Stink bugs survive winter by getting cozy in shelter and basically going dormant until spring comes. But, as we keep our homes nice and warm, it’s not uncommon to see a few stink bugs in your home during the winter. If you don’t want to run into them in a few months, you should consider intercepting them now. Here’s everything you need to know to do it.

How They Survive

How stink bugs survive winterWhen temperatures drop, stink bugs enter a special hibernation-like state called diapause. Diapause dramatically slows down the stink bug’s metabolism, allowing it to survive without food for long periods of time. Instead of feeding, stink bugs in diapause burn through nutrients they spent the spring and summer stockpiling. Basically, they fatten themselves up for winter just like squirrels.

Stink bugs have to enter diapause in winter because the fruits, seeds, and nuts they feed on aren’t available. It solves their food problem, but they’re on their own when it comes to the cold problem. Stink bugs are native to Southeast Asia, and never developed adaptations to help them survive cold. Even if they entered diapause outside, their bodies would freeze and they would die. Unfortunately, that’s where your home comes in. Stink bugs try to sneak into structures for one reason: to keep warm and sleep away the winter.

Where They Go

where stink bugs go in winterStink bugs enter buildings via the same access points most pests find. Usually, they crawl through cracks and crevices around door and window frames or utility lines. Stink bugs fly and climb surfaces, so they may use vents, chimneys, or roofing damage to get in, as well. It’s only after stink bugs infiltrate a home successfully that their behavior becomes a bit more unique.

When stink bugs enter diapause, they can’t move and only have a minimal awareness of their surroundings. They have to be very careful about where they enter diapause if they ever want to wake back up! Once inside, stink bugs shack up in the quietest, most inaccessible or forgotten part of your home. They might be in air vents, under appliances, behind walls or flooring, or even hiding inside furniture. You’ll probably never find stink bugs inside unless you go looking for them.

Are they a Problem?

are stink bugs a problem in winter?No. When stink bugs enter homes, it’s only ever to stay warm while they sleep away the winter. They don’t eat or infest your food, damage structural material, create nests, mate, or lay eggs. In fact, stink bugs won’t begin their mating season or lay eggs in spring until after they’ve left your home. Pretty considerate of them, really. The pests don’t transmit diseases or harm humans and pests in any other way, either.

That being said, there is the matter of their name. Stink bugs… stink. When threatened or startled, they secrete a foul-smelling liquid from a scent gland. The scent has been compared to cilantro or coriander. The secretion is mostly harmless, though it may trigger allergic reactions or stain fabrics in concentrated amounts. Stink bugs may also produce a pheromone that attracts other stink bugs to their location. A lot of stink bugs aren’t any more dangerous or destructive than a few, but they are stinkier.  

What To Do About Them

what to do about stink bugsFirst, vacuum up the stink bugs you find with a shop vac. Remove and dispose of the vacuum bag into an outdoor dumpster when you’re finished. Clean the surfaces where you find stink bugs with soapy water and a washcloth. Try not to crush stink bugs when you find them, because they’ll release their scent on death. Remember to check the secluded or hidden areas where stink bugs like to hide. Cleaning these areas regularly will make them far less attractive to the pest.

When you’ve removed all the stink bugs you can find, focus on locating where they got in. Look for cracks and crevices around baseboards, door and window frames, the foundation, or insulation. Seal up cracks with caulk to prevent additional bugs from following residual scent left behind by the first infestation. Stink bugs’ bodies are quite flat, so even small cracks provide them with enough room to sneak through.

 

Stink bugs aren’t the most disruptive of winter pests, but you shouldn’t have to share your home with them. Come spring, any stink bugs you don’t find now will make themselves apparent, often in upsetting ways. Luckily, by getting to know stink bugs and following these steps, you can ensure that doesn’t happen.

And if ever you need some help ensuring that doesn’t happen, you know who to call. We’ve been fighting stink bugs since they showed their ugly mugs in Michigan, and we’re pretty good at it. Give us a call anytime and we’ll make sure you head into spring smelling good.