Winters in Ohio and Michigan don’t just mean cold and snow. Northwest Ohio winters are filled with snowblowing driveways, avoiding drifts, watching for black ice and… bed bugs, spiders, mice, rats, cockroaches, termites, and more. While most pests hibernate in the winter months, there are some that don’t go dormant when the weather turns cold. In fact, they can do most of their destruction during the wintertime. What pests and rodents should you watch for in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan in the winter months?
Bed bugs:
Bed bugs don’t just go away when the cold weather comes, in fact, they search for heat and often find it in your Ohio or Michigan home or business. Bed bugs are small, oval, wingless insects of the family Cimicidae. They have a flat, reddish-brown body and feed on human and animal blood. Bed bugs are active at night and bite any area of the body with exposed skin. Bed bugs can infest a home or business and hide in crevices or cracks throughout. While some bites may go unnoticed, bed bug bites may result in localized swelling and itching, and the areas may become inflamed or infected when scratched.
Brown Recluse Spiders:
Brown recluse spiders are famous for being poisonous and can be found in the Midwest where they hide in dark places. Cold weather forces them inside to find a new home for the winter. They may reside on window moldings, in boxes, in the attic, at the back of a drawer, and really anywhere. When dwelling in human residences and businesses they seem to favor cardboard, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. Human-recluse contact often occurs when such isolated spaces are disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, these spiders hunt at night. Brown recluse spiders can bite, leaving behind a welt that requires medical attention.
Mice and Rats:
Mice and rats enjoy finding a warm place to spend the cold months. Sometimes that means they burrow their way into insulation in your attic or the walls in your basement until spring. A mouse, plural mice, is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus). Mice in Ohio and Michigan are known to invade homes for food and shelter. Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size. Both mice and rats can spread disease and are unwelcome visitors in homes and businesses. Watch for rodent droppings, scratching, and squeaking, as signs of these critters.
Cockroaches:
During Northwest Ohio winters, cockroaches are commonly found in homes and businesses because they are trying to find food and survive. Cockroaches adapt readily to a variety of environments, but prefer warm conditions found within buildings. They are small, and may eat glue, toothpaste, or soap, as well as food. If they can’t get into sweet or fatty food sources, you might notice them among your toiletries or cleaning products. They can passively transport pathogenic microbes on their body surfaces. Cockroaches are linked with allergic reactions in humans. Some species of cockroach can live for up to a month without food, so just because no cockroaches are visible in a home or business does not mean that they are not there. Approximately 20% to 48% of homes, with no visible sign of cockroaches, have detectable cockroach allergens in dust.
Termites:
When the cooler temperatures are present in Ohio and Michigan, termites also tend to migrate to homes and businesses to stay warm. Termites are pale-colored soft-bodied social insects that live in colonies, feed on wood, and may be very destructive to wooden structures and trees. During the winter, to guard themselves against the freezing weather, termites will dig deeper tunnels into houses and businesses. Termites are also looking for food, like other pests around Ohio. In the winter, they become even more active burrowing into wood and foundations of homes and businesses, to get out of the cold temperatures.
There are pests and rodents you should watch for in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan in the winter months; let us take care of them for you. Delving Pest Control offers local affordable revolutionary pest control solutions right to your doorstep. We offer discreet/private pest control services, for both residential and commercial properties, without broadcasting to the neighborhood.
In Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, Delving Pest Control knows that winters usually come with lots of snow falling from the sky and bundling up inside our homes and businesses. Don’t let your home or business be impacted by pests or rodents this winter. Contact us today for a free inspection and estimate for ridding your home or business of any unwanted critters.
