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  • How Often Should I Have a Termite Inspection?

Month: June 2023

Categories
Termite Control

How Often Should I Have a Termite Inspection?

How Often Should I Have a Termite Inspection?

Termites can cause extensive damage to your home. The most difficult part about a termite infestation is that this pest is not out in the open where you can easily see it. Termites can be eating away at your home for months before you even realize they are there. By the time you discover you have termites, you may have costly damage in need of repair. In addition, the size of the termite colony may be enormous, making it difficult to eradicate.

To keep from paying outrageous repair bills, the best line of defense against termites is prevention. You can learn the signs of termites and keep out a sharp eye to protect your home. But the single best way to prevent termites from literally eating you out of house and home is to at least have a yearly termite inspection.

If you have had termite damage before, you know you definitely do not want to go down that road again. You may want to set up a regular termite inspection every six months to ensure that any termite damage is kept to a minimum.

Thorough inspection

An initial termite inspection is when a termite control technician comes to your home and looks in key areas for possible termite activity. For a termite colony to thrive, the termites need food and water in order to support their growing colony. Your house is already full of their food in the form of wood.

As soon as the termites find a water source in the form of a leaky pipe or even a humid basement, they will be good to go.  A termite exterminator will definitely want to inspect places where water is allowed to accumulate or drip to make sure termites aren’t using it as a water source.

An experienced termite control technician will not need to tear apart your home in order to find the termites. They will look around pipes and in cool places like in basements or up in the attic for any damaged wood or wood that appears warped and blistered.

If there is any paneling that can be easily removed near pipes in the walls, the technician will want to take a look.

But termite activity can be found outdoors as well. The inspector will look around the foundation for signs of Subterranean Termites who make mud tunnels attached to the foundation.

Peace of mind

While setting up a regular termite inspection when you have not seen signs of termites may seem extreme, the comfort of knowing that your home is termite free is well worth making a simple recurring appointment with a termite inspector. The average amount of termite damage can cost as much as $3000. While in severe infestations, the cost is much higher. Don’t take that risk.

Give Bug Baron Exterminator in Upland, CA a call today for your initial termite inspection.

Categories
Termite Control

Termite Control Experts in Rancho Cucamonga

Termite Control Experts in Rancho Cucamonga

The good news about termites is that you can prevent them from coming into your home by setting up a routine termite inspection and treatment. While there are several treatments that can eradicate a termite infestation, getting a termite control expert’s eyes on your property at least once a year can save you from even a year’s worth of termite damage. Knowing what to look for and what happens during a termite inspection will help you know what to expect and how to get rid of termites from your Rancho Cucamonga home.

Know the difference between ants and termites

If you see an insect in your home, you may first assume that it is an ant.  Ants and termites look very similar if you don’t know some of their subtle differences. While most termites stay hidden in your walls and cannot endure sunlight, swarmer termites leave the colony to start a new one. If you see a termite crawling around on your floor, it may be a swarmer termite. Termites look similarly to ants but have some key distinctions.

  • Their antennae: Termites have straight antennae while ants are bent.
  • Their wings. Both insects have two sets of wings. Both sets of termite wings are the same length while ants have a longer set on top.
  • Their waists. A termite abdomen and thorax are about as wide as their heads, with little variation in width. An ant has a wasp-like waist that comes in sharply in a pinched look.

Signs of termites

Even though termites are mostly silent creatures that steadily eat away at your home, there are some things to look for to know if you have a termite infestation.  A few signs to look for are:

  • Small piles of frass, excrement that resembles saw dust
  • Warped wood
  • The appearance of water damage
  • Tiny holes around your windows
  • Baseboards and trim that appear paper thin
  • Mud tunnels on the exterior of your home
  • Shed wings on your exterior window sills

If you see any of these signs in your Rancho Cucamonga home, do not hesitate to call your trusted termite exterminator immediately.

Cost of damage

American homeowners spend thousands of dollars on home repairs each year due to termite damage.  Termites never completely stop eating so eliminating them at the first sign is crucial to saving your house from even more repairs.

Subterranean termites, the type responsible for the majority of damage in the U.S., only eat the cellulose in the wood instead of eating it straight through like a Drywood Termite. The walls, floor, and ceiling can stay intact when only the soft part of the wood is eaten away, even though the structural integrity of the structure is compromised. This can actually be quite dangerous because you may unknowingly put your weight on the floor or even the roof, only for it to give way.

Termite treatment

Whether you need barrier protections around your home, localized treatment when a colony is discovered, or several bait stations around your yard, an experienced termite control expert will find the perfect termite treatment for your situation.

For the best termite control in Rancho Cucamonga, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today. 

Categories
Ants

Why is There a Trail of Ants in My Kitchen?

Why is There a Trail of Ants in My Kitchen?

Ants do not travel alone. Wherever food is left out, especially something sticky and sweet, ants will find it. Before you know it, there will be a trail of ants marching through your kitchen. Learning a few preventative tips can help keep your home free of ants. But if the ants have deemed your kitchen their new grocery store, it is possible that they have made their nest near the exterior of your home and may be more difficult to eradicate.

Keep ants out of your home

Tips for keeping your home from becoming an ant magnet are:

  • Wipe down your surfaces

The tiniest crumb is a feast for an ant. After you prepare food or eat a meal, be sure to wipe down all surfaces, such as the dining table and countertops, with an all-purpose spray to prevent ants from finding a morsel that keeps them coming back for more.

  • Thoroughly clean up spills

If you accidentally knock a cup of soda or juice over, it can be difficult to reach all the places the liquid can spread. But if you really want to make sure you won’t have ants marching into your home, cleaning up every bit of that spill is essential. Make sure to look behind countertop appliances and even in drawers where drips can creep into.  Ants have an incredible sense of smell and can find all the places you miss when cleaning up a spill, so be thorough!

  • Keep all food in air tight containers

To keep ants from finding your pantry, place all food in airtight containers. Not only will this prevent ants from finding your cookies, sugar, and other foods, it will also keep other pests from discovering your pantry as well.

  • Pets

If you have a dog or cat, you may keep their food and water bowls in your home. Both pet food and water can be big magnets for ants. Ants are always on the lookout for a food source but as the summer heats up, finding easy access to water will also get their attention.

  • Caulk around windows

After normal wear and tear, the caulk around your windows may be missing or damaged, leaving the tiniest entrances for these little, marching insects. Inspect the trim around your windows for any possible damage and apply fresh caulk around the exterior and sometimes interior of the window.

  • Repelling scents

While an ant has a strong sense of smell, you can actually use this against them. There are some scents that ants cannot stand. White vinegar is at the top of the list of most hated scents for ants. Cleaning with white vinegar is a great way to safeguard your surfaces from attracting ants. 

Essential oils such as lemongrass, peppermint, and tea tree oil also repel ants from marching into your kitchen and getting into your food.

Call a pest professional

Keeping regular pest inspections is a great way to prevent pests like ants from coming inside.  Any potential ant problem is squished before it is able to develop into an infestation. If you are in Upland, CA, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call so we can help you get rid of that trail of ants in your kitchen.

Categories
Ants

Ant Control Experts in Upland, CA

Ant Control Experts in Upland, CA

Ants do not belong in your home. While the tiniest crumb can entice an ant to wander inside, you may be surprised by how quickly more ants will suddenly show up in your kitchen. If you have several ant trails running along your baseboards or even across your wall, giving an ant control expert a call is definitely a good idea. For Upland residents, keeping ants out of your kitchen and pantry is crucial. Knowing what is drawing the ants inside is the best way to know how to keep them out.

What attracts ants?

Ants are always on the hunt for food. They tend to be more attracted to sugary substances more than other types of food, though they are also seen carrying off all types of morsels. Crumbs left on the floor after a meal or soda can with a few drops left inside will certainly get an ant’s attention.

Ants have an amazing sense of smell. If you throw away old fruit and don’t immediately take out the trash, ants will come inside looking for it and they may decide to stay if there’s enough food lying around.

Once ants find a suitable food source, they send out a pheromone trail so the rest of the ant colony can follow it right back into your home to the drop of honey, cracker crumbs, or spilled apple juice.

Pet food can also be a honing device for ants. If you have pet bowls on the floor of your kitchen or laundry room, the ants will have easy access to daily food. The water bowl as well may be drawing ants, especially in the heat of the summer.

How to repel ants

You can try spraying a few repellant ant sprays wherever you think the ants are coming inside. In addition to commercial ant sprays, you can spray white vinegar or essential oil solutions around your windows and door frames, and even on your kitchen surfaces to deter ants from coming inside.

But if you have an ant infestation, calling the ant control experts will make sure that every last ant is eliminated from your Upland home.

Call in for back-up

For the best ant control experts in Upland, CA, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today. Our technicians will apply a family and pet friendly treatment inside your home to totally eradicate the ant infestation. After the house is clear of these pests, our highly trained technicians will head outside to inspect the perimeter of your home for any ant mounds that could be the source of your infestation. With a double punch of ant control from a professional combined with your efforts to keep your home tidy, ants will not be strolling back into your home any time soon.