Day: May 26, 2022

5 Tips to Help You Pest-Proof Your Backyard

Your backyard is a great place to relax and enjoy the outdoors. But if you have pests like ants, bugs, or rodents in your yard, you may not be able to fully relish it as much as you’d like.If you want to keep these pests out of your yard, there are some things you can do. Here are five good tips that will help you pest-proof your backyard:   1.Cover Your Garbage Garbage attracts all kinds of pests, so make sure that it’s covered when it’s not inside the house or bin. This includes plastic bags and boxes and larger items like old appliances or furniture. If there are holes in the garbage can lid or container itself, fix those right away so nothing can get inside. 2.Clean Up Around the Area No matter how big or small your backyard is, there will always be things in it that shouldn’t be there — things like trash or debris that might attract pests if left alone for too long. Use a rake and pick up any sticks or leaves that have fallen onto the ground so that no one else can use them as shelter when they need it most. 3.Don’t Leave Pet Food Outside Pests love pet food, so if you leave it outside, they will be attracted to it and come into your yard. You should always put pet food inside after giving it to your pet and dispose of any leftovers properly. If the smell of pet food gets too strong in a plastic bag, place a few drops of vanilla extract on top of the bag before sealing it shut so that the scent helps mask any other odors that might attract pests. 4.Prune Every Overgrown Plants and Shrub Overgrown plants or bushes provide plenty of hiding places for pests like rats and mice. They also make it easier for other pests such as ants and roaches to get inside your home because they serve as transportation routes for these bugs. To keep pests out of your yard, it’s important to remove any overgrown plants or bushes so they don’t have any places left where they can hide from you. Also know about How Do I Get Rid of Carpenter Ants. 5.Remove Any Standing Water from Your Yard Numerous sorts of water can create issues in your yard: Standing water on the ground: Look around your yard for any standing water, such as puddles or pools that might form after a heavy rainstorm. You should get rid of this water before pests can use it as shelter or breeding grounds. Rain gutters: If your home has gutters, keep them clean and free of debris, so they don’t overflow onto the ground below when it rains. Pests love to use rain gutters as hiding spots because they are dark and offer protection from predators like us humans! Eliminating pests should be a top priority for anyone trying to enjoy their backyard. These tips provide a good starting point for anyone looking to achieve this goal for professionals and novices alike. However, if you’re not sure how to handle the problem on your own, it may be best to contact the professionals at Fullscope Pest Control for assistance. We are always happy to help with any pest issue, so you can get your backyard pest-proof now and enjoy a pleasant place to unwind.

How Do I Get Rid of Carpenter Ants in My Home?

🔍 Key Highlights: Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants Carpenter Ants Are Destructive, Not Just AnnoyingThese large ants chew through wood to build colonies, threatening your home’s structural integrity. Watch for Early Warning SignsLook for small piles of sawdust-like “frass,” rustling sounds in walls, or sightings near water sources. Entry Points Include Cracks, Branches & WiresCarpenter ants often enter through tiny crevices or from overhanging tree limbs—keep vegetation trimmed 12–18 inches from your home. Disrupt Their Pheromone TrailsClean surfaces with essential oils, vinegar, or dish soap spray to confuse scout ants and reduce traffic. Use Homemade BaitsCombine sugar or jam with boric acid or baking soda. Ants carry the poison back to the colony, helping kill the nest over time. Boric Acid = Natural Nest KillerApply boric acid dust into suspected wall nests or ant trails using a bulb duster—safe, effective, and long-lasting. Destroy the Nest Directly if FoundDrill small holes near activity zones and puff in boric acid. Repeat treatments may be needed for full eradication. Call a Professional for Large InfestationsDIY treatments help, but professional inspection ensures hidden nests are found and fully eliminated. There are over 12,000 known species of ants, and you can easily split them into just two categories: 1) annoying, but still harmless, and then 2) very destructive (and dangerous).  During warm weather months, you may find both kinds of ants inside and outside your home. Watch out, because among these ant species, there are large Carpenter ants who may have taken refuge in your home with the ultimate outcome of destroying your home from the inside out in order to build their colony up – they can also inflict painful bites. What can you do to get rid of Carpenter ants? Read on for some Pro tips. FullScope Pest Control offers expert carpenter ant removal services, ensuring your home remains safe and pest-free. What Are Carpenter Ants? Carpenter ants earned their name because of the uncanny way they damage and burrow through wood, especially wood in your home and that your furniture is made of. These insect pests don’t eat wood like termites do, but they chew it and spit it out to make pathways for themselves and their colony members. You might start noticing small piles of wood shavings (a.k.a. “frass”) near your walls and around your home – that’s a pretty good sign that you have Carpenter ants that have already moved in.  Carpenter ant are quite easy to distinguish from other types of ants because of their larger size. They are usually red in color, or reddish black, sometimes brown, and sometimes all black, and they typically measure between 1/2″ to 5/8″ in length.  How Did Carpenter Ants Get Inside My Home? Carpenter ants are crazy about damp, rotting wood, so if you have moisture issues in and around your home, that’s a good attractant for Carpenter ants. They won’t always get into your home by gnawing their way through wood, but rather they can get in through any crack or crevice, even those higher up off the ground. Carpenter ants and other pests can access your home via a nearby branch, wire, or pipes, which is why it’s so important to keep your hedges and trees near your home trimmed at least an inch to an inch and one-half away from the sides of the structure. Also learn about How To Detract Pest and Wildlife from your Home Once inside, Carpenter ants will usually set up shop near water sources, like leaky faucets, pipes, kitchens, and bathrooms, for example. The A/C unit in your home is also a popular hangout for these pests.  Pro Tip: Keep tree branches at least 12–18 inches away from your home to prevent easy access. How Do I Get Rid of Carpenter Ants? Carpenter ants are notoriously difficult to kill, in comparison to other ant species. Here are some things you can do to get rid of them once you’ve found them: Disrupt their pheromone (scent) trails. Carpenter ants (like other ants) use pheromone trails to help them and their colony mates find their way back to food and water sources. Cleanliness is always the first line of defense against any pest, and Carpenter ants are no exception: cleaning surfaces where these pests may have wandered will disrupt their trails and make it more difficult for them to find their way back to where they’ve been. Essential oils like tea tree, lemon, orange, or cedarwood on a cotton ball used to wipe down surfaces will also disrupt their trails. Maybe you want to mix up a solution of one-third dish soap to two-thirds water to pour into a spray bottle (this will also kill them if used to spray them directly, though your best strategy is to kill off the nest/colony. A half-half mixture of white vinegar and water will also disrupt their trails and kill them when applied directly.  Mix up a bait for scout Carpenter ants to find and take back to their nest. Most ants are attracted to sweets just about any time, so mix up a bit of jam or jelly with baking soda or boric acid. You can also mix up half sugar and half baking soda/boric acid, and leave it for them in a dish they can access easily. The sugar/jam will attract them, and then the baking soda/boric acid will kill them. They’ll find it and take it back to their nest to share. This strategy will gradually diminish their numbers. This will take longer than killing them directly, but over a couple, maybe three weeks, this will be the most effective way of killing them off at their source: their nest/colony.  Destroy their nest directly. If you are lucky enough to have found their nest (“frass” trails, or you may notice a “rustling” sound coming from inside a wall at home), you can more aggressively attempt to destroy their nest.  Boric Acid: A Natural and Easy Solution for Carpenter Ants (And Many Other Pests) Pro Tip:

How to Detract Pests and Wildlife From Your Home This Spring

Springtime comes with more time spent outside, beautiful flowers sprouting from the ground, and animals coming out from winter hibernation. With all this excitement, there may be some unwanted pests and critters that can start to invade our own habitats. Taking preventative measures before they can do so is imperative to make sure that you keep unwelcomed guests from wreaking havoc on your home. To help you get started, we reached out to animal trappers and pest professionals from Dallas, TX to Surrey, BC, for their best tips on how to detract pests and wildlife from entering your home. Keep reading to see what they had to say.  Understand that wildlife entering our habitats is something that naturally occurs Wildlife see your home as a sanctuary and as a place to shelter from the elements, so it’s natural that they’ll start to cross into the boundaries of your home. The first step to fortifying your home is understanding that this is a common occurrence. They are driven by three main biological necessities When wildlife invades human structures or developments, it’s always driven by at least one of the three main biological necessities – food, water, or shelter. It isn’t always something that we are doing wrong, wildlife is just adaptive and can actually thrive among us. The best ways to alleviate conflict are physical barriers, habitat modification, and reducing how many of the biological needs that wildlife are constantly looking for. – Western Mass Wildlife Removal  Ways to fortify your home  ​​There are many ways to safeguard your home from pests and wildlife. Use these expert tips on what you can do to keep out unwanted intruders.  Use strong materials like metal and cement to fortify your home  Animals love the security from predators and weather provided by crawlspaces. Your best line of defense, as a homeowner, is to secure these areas to prevent wildlife entry before they ever access these areas. We prefer to install strong metal or cement as many animals are far too determined for steel wool, expanding foam, or other soft materials to keep them from invading your space. – Wildout Animal And Pest Removal  Have a pest provider install repair mortar or caulk  It might be tempting to repair rodent entry areas with spray foam, but did you know that we often see mice and rats chew through these types of repairs. We recommend choosing a pest provider that uses durable construction materials such as repair mortar, flashing, or caulking. – Whitmore Pest & Wildlife Control Conduct a check of your home’s foundation, windows, and door frames  A homeowner who discovers termite damage can spend up to an average of $3,000 on repairs – something rarely, if ever, covered by homeowner insurance. Signs of termite activity are often difficult to see until it’s too late. However, homeowners can look for swarming termites, damage to window or door frames, or shelter tubes around the home’s foundation. Most importantly, always ask your pest management professional if it’s time to use a termite solution to keep your home protected and give you peace of mind. – Termidor Termiticide Secure every chimney vent with a stainless steel chimney cap Secure every chimney vent with a professionally manufactured stainless steel chimney cap that’s designed for the size and venting needs of that particular chimney venting system. Secure passive wall air vents with 1/4-inch hardware cloth on the outside of the structure. Paint to blend screen with background color prior to installation. – Wildlife Control Consultant Tips to consider when detracting wildlife and pests  If you find yourself with wildlife and pests already invading your space, consider these steps.  Must read the difference between Wasp and Honey bee Hives Give the animal a way to safely exit the building  When dealing with a raccoon in a crawl space, it’s critical that you give the animal a way to safely exit the building, but not re-enter. A raccoon one-way door will do exactly this, but it’s still important that you have a wildlife removal professional help you seal all of the potential entry points for the raccoon to regain access to your home. Otherwise, your furry friends will continually find their way back in. – Critter Stop DFW  Do not seal wildlife in your home  If you find wildlife that invaded your home, don’t seal them in. Sealing wildlife in the home will create a larger, messier issue in the long run. Instead, call a wildlife specialist to remove, and seal the home to deter further wildlife from entering. – Ewert Pest Control Keep leaf litter and mulch to a minimum  Pest pressure in and around your home is a very common issue for most of the United States, when populations on the exterior reach certain levels of environmental stress, insects have a tendency to migrate inside. Pest professionals are highly trained to identify and eliminate the pest and entry points, prevention is the best solution. Excessive leaf litter and excessive mulch applied above foundation grade can all be potential pest and termite issues. – FullScope Pest Control Keep drains clear and dry  One thing I suggest is to make sure drains are clear and dry. This prevents pests like mosquitos, ants, cockroaches, silverfish, and rodents from reproducing and making themselves at home. Insects are attracted to damp areas inside the home, and can often be found in wet areas around the outside of homes as well. – Vama Eco  Dealing with mosquitoes in your yard can be havoc, your first priority should be preventing mosquitoes from nesting. Make your yard inhospitable by removing all standing water in gutters, buckets, toys, etc. Remember, it only takes a cap full of water to breed thousands of mosquitoes. Along with eliminating breeding ground, you can call a professional service to see the best results. – Last Bite Mosquito Install a mosquito trap When mosquitoes pester you in your garden or outdoor spaces there is now an effective, eco-friendly way to address these annoying