Carpenter Ants

Odorous House Ants are a common problem in Utah. They are small ants often called sugar ants. They are easily identified by the pungent “rotten coconut-like” odor given off when the ant is crushed.

Odorous House Ants live in colonies of about 2,000-10,000 ants with several queens. Inside the home they are usually found near a moisture source such as in wall voids, especially around hot water pipes and heaters, in bath traps, and in crevices around sinks and cupboards. These ants prefer sweets but will also eat proteins on occasion. Workers often forage and move along trails.

How to Control:

Keeping things clean and food well-sealed is one of the best ways to help control odorous house ants. Fix any leaky pipes or eliminate any water sources for the ants.

Locating the nest and treating directly is essential to long-term control. Following foraging trails is often the best way to locate a colony. Next, spray a thorough perimeter treatment of a non-repellent pesticide. Then apply a non-repellent pesticide to any foraging trails inside the home. Lastly, bait with a sugar-based liquid or gel bait in strategic places.

Odorous House Ants

House flies, face flies and blowflies develop in manure or filth and can transmit diseases as they move between filth and human food. In as little as 7 to 14 days, larvae develop into adult flies.

How to Control:

To control them, eliminate the breeding sites of flies. Dispose of trash regularly, clean animal feed, and remove animal feces. When needed, ultra low volume sprays can be helpful to knock down adult fly populations. Also, state of the art fly lights can be purchased that do a very good job at keeping fly populations down. These are available in a variety of styles.

Filth Flies

House flies, face flies and blowflies develop in manure or filth and can transmit diseases as they move between filth and human food. In as little as 7 to 14 days, larvae develop into adult flies.

How to Control:

To control them, eliminate the breeding sites of flies. Dispose of trash regularly, clean animal feed, and remove animal feces. When needed, ultra low volume sprays can be helpful to knock down adult fly populations. Also, state of the art fly lights can be purchased that do a very good job at keeping fly populations down. These are available in a variety of styles.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches have an amazing ability to adapt and survive and are consequently one of the most ancient insects. They eat almost anything and can squeeze into virtually any area, including doorways, windows, utility lines and even sewers. Cockroaches are nocturnal and prefer dark, warm, and moist areas.

Contrary to what many believe, we do have cockroaches in Utah. We have German, Oriental, and some Brown-banded cockroaches. German Cockroaches are not only ugly, but they spread germs, smell and can contaminate food and utensils. They can spread diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea and food poisoning. Many humans have an allergic reaction to German cockroaches.

How to Control:

Sanitation is essential when controlling cockroaches. Tightly seal food and remove garbage, food scraps and crumbs. Fix water leaks and remove bottles and cans. Chemicals can control and eliminate cockroaches if applied correctly, but sanitation goes a long way toward eliminating these well-adapting pests from your home.

Learn about Spider Spray's Cockroach Control Service

Crickets

Crickets seldom cause damage to Utah structures because they rarely infest a home, but they eat almost anything and can destroy fabrics and paper. Male crickets produce a chirping that can be very annoying. Crickets are nocturnal, and therefore, are more active at night.

How to Control:

Crickets are attracted to light. Turn off unused lights at night to help keep crickets out. A wide sprayed insecticide barricade around the house perimeter will also do a good job keeping them out.

Fleas

Adult fleas feed on blood. They usually host on pets but do bite people if they are very hungry. Some people are extremely sensitive to flea bites while others are fairly immune to them. Infestations are less common in Utah than in some more humid areas, but in a few areas of the state, fleas can transmit the bubonic plague. Flea infestations should be treated as soon as possible.

How to Control:

To control fleas, all life stages of the flea should be treated. To destroy eggs, the pet’s bedding and areas where the pet hair accumulates should be cleaned frequently. Insecticide should be sprayed in areas where the pet lives. Control adult fleas with shampoos or insecticide powders.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are back and are making the lives of many people a living nightmare. The number of bed bug cases in the United States and Utah is growing at alarming rates.

An adult bed bug is about 1/4 inch long and less than 1/8 inch wide, although sizes vary depending on the environment. They are brown to reddish-brown in color. Bed bugs are flat and oval in shape. A female can lay 1-5 eggs per day. Those eggs can hatch in 7-10 days.

They feed almost exclusively on human blood. They are typically nocturnal and very cryptic in nature. They feed at night and then return to their hiding places for a week or more. Bed bugs can survive several months without feeding. For the most part, the public is not well educated on the growing bed bug problem and signs of an infestation, so bed bugs go a long time without identification and treatment. Typically bed bugs will be in a home, apartment, or hotel for several months before they are even noticed.

Bed bugs are not just found in mattresses but can be found anywhere, including the box spring, bed frame, popcorn ceilings, power outlets, headboards, couches, and dressers.

How to Control:

Do not attempt to control bed bugs by yourself! Please contact an experienced pest control company that applies several different control methods. You can assist by removing clutter, vacuuming, washing clothes, etc. Find more things you can do to help control bed bugs.

Bed bugs are very difficult to control, and two or more control methods should be applied. Chemical treatments alone are often not enough to control bed bugs. Chemicals, steam, heat, vacuuming, mattress encasements, cleaning, and washing clothes are common control methods. The more control methods utilized usually lead to the best results. More on Bed Bug Control.

Spiders

Spiders invoke a wide range of emotions among people. From fear to fascination to wonder and admiration, spiders have been part of human lore for thousands of years. They are seen as signs of evil and also of good luck. It is for these reasons that we have as a company have chosen spiders as our name sake. There are not many other creatures in the world that create such a wide range of emotions and feelings.

Spiders feed on living prey. They provide a great benefit to the world by reducing insect populations. Most spiders catch their prey in silk webs, but a few actively hunt. All spiders can produce silk and most spiders have as many as 7 different kinds of silk used for different reasons.

Spiders pose certain health risks to humans. They invoke fear, create allergic reactions, and envenomation. Fear of spiders is called arachnophobia. Some people simply dislike or strongly dislike spiders, but some people have an intense fear of spiders and will alter their lifestyle to not come into contact with them. Even monkeys have been shown to fear spiders. Inhalation of spider hairs and scales can cause allergic reactions in people similarly to those found with cockroach allergies. Lastly, spiders are predators and use venom to incapacitate their prey. Spiders rarely bite unprovoked but will bite when trapped against skin of they feel threatened. Around 10,000 spider bites get reported to poison control centers every year, and most spider bites go unreported.

How To Control:

A variety of control methods should be used when wanting to control spiders in and around structures.

Remove webs and clutter - Removal of spider webs, egg sacs, and potential harborages is critical to long-term success. Sweep away webs and egg sacs, but be careful not to get too close to any live spiders. Removal of wood piles, weeds, clutter in and around the house is very important. Spiders like to hide in these areas, and if you can remove hiding spots, you can eliminate an environment conducive for spiders.

Exclusion - One of the best ways to keep down spider populations inside a home is to seal up as many possible spider entry points as possible. This includes cracks in the exterior of the home, properly installed window screens in good condition, and well-sealed doors, especially those tightly sealed at the bottom.

Exterior Lighting - Lighting on the outside of buildings attracts insects, which in turn attracts spiders. Changing exterior lighting to yellow bulbs, which are less attractive to insects, can really help.

Ventilation - Proper ventilation in crawlspaces and attics reduces excess moisture, which then removes a water source for insects and spiders. To help avoid moisture, vents should be open when temperatures are above 45 degrees and closed when below 45 degrees. Ask us about our auto-closing crawlspace vent applications. You will never have to think about opening or closing your vents again.

Perimeter Treatments - Applying residual insecticides around the outside of a home is very effective in keeping spiders out of a building, especially the hunting spiders that are often invading homes.

Crawl Space and Attic Treatments - Crawlspaces and attics can often be havens for spiders and other insects, especially when there is moisture present. Long lasting residual dusts are very effective in keeping spiders and insects out.

Black Widow

The Black Widow is shiny black with a spherical abdomen. Most Black Widows have an orange or red hourglass on the undersides of their abdomens. These markings may be absent, so be cautious around all spiders. Black Widows are often found in loose webs in dark, undisturbed areas such as shrubbery, around log piles, in crawl spaces, under porches and in garages.

The Black Widow spiders are dangerous. A bite victim should seek medical attention, and an attempt should be made to capture the spider for correct identification and treatment.

How To Control:

Follow the control guidelines under “Spiders” in the pest library.

Also, it is always a good idea to keep your home and garage as clutter free as possible, giving black widows fewer places to hide and build nests. Shoes should not be stored in the garage because shoes make a great home for black widows. When trying to control black widows, their webs should be removed. Black widows often can tuck themselves under a ledge or into a hole away from the insecticide treatment. Removing their web draws them out from hiding and into the insecticide residual.

Hobo Spider

The Hobo spider is brown, has long legs, and moves very fast. Hobos build horizontal webs with a funnel at the end. They are not very good climbers, so they are most often found near the ground. Hobo spiders are most often encountered from June to September.

Hobo spiders are dangerous. Their bites resemble and are often mistaken for brown recluse spider bites which are not native to Utah. A bite victim should seek medical attention, and an attempt should be made to capture the spider for correct identification and treatment.

How To Control:

To control hobos follow the guidelines under “spider” in the pest library. Also, Hobo spiders are not very good climbers, so if you are having hobos inside the home, remove bed skirts that touch the ground as this gives them an easy way to crawl into bed, especially in the basement.

Remove any wood piles and thick vegetation along the outside walls of the home. Insect glue boards placed in corners and along walls are also effective in controlling and monitoring hobo spiders.

Mosquitos

Mosquitoes are especially problematic because they spread the diseases like the West Nile Virus. They are particularly troublesome in the hot summer months. Mosquitoes breed in standing water. They don’t need much, and that makes them very hard to control.

How to Control:

When going outside at dusk or dawn, wear long sleeves and pants. Use an EPA-approved insect repellent on all exposed skin and clothing. Look around your property for standing water, and dispose of it. Mechanical control traps can be purchased and placed outside to help keep numbers down. Contact us for more details.

Ticks

Ticks are blood-feeding parasites. They do not jump or fly, but wait in tall grasses or on something else to attach themselves to a host. Once attached, they may eat for days or even weeks until they are full. After they are full, they generally drop off the host.

Box Elder Bugs

Box elder bugs become a real nuisance in the fall. They feed on seeds that have fallen off trees, especially the box elder tree. They are primarily found on the south and west sides of a building. They infest building perimeters and can find their way inside, but they do not damage property. It is rare, but they can bite.

How to Control:

Control box elder bugs by removing any box elder trees in the vicinity. Make sure the home is well-sealed and window screens are properly installed and in good working order. A residual insecticide can be sprayed around the outside of the home, particularly the south and west sides.

Earwigs

Earwigs received their name because it used to be a widespread superstition that they would crawl into your ear and bore into the brain. Their pincers on their backside called cerci are used for defense and occasional to capture prey.

Earwigs are nocturnal and prefer to stay hidden in dark moist areas such as under mulch or tree bark, beneath a rock, under siding, or under boards. They feed on leaves, flowers, fruits, fungi, as well as aphids and flies.

Earwigs, like cockroaches, congregate together in groups of several dozen to several hundred individuals.

How to Control:

To control earwigs, chemical control combined with elimination of conducive conditions for earwigs is usually necessary. Without this combination, successful control is unlikely.

Eliminate piles of wood, bricks, and other items where earwigs might harbor. Eliminate heavy vegetation near the home and trim back trees and shrubs away from the home.

Earwigs love moist areas, so moisture control is critical. Good drainage and proper direction of sprinklers minimizes moisture near the foundation. Water your lawn in the morning instead of at night. This is better for your lawn and will decrease the moisture around the foundation and in the yard. Crawlspaces should be properly ventilated. (Ask us for help if you think your crawlspace does not have proper ventilation.)

Change the exterior lighting on your home to yellow lights instead of white. Earwigs are attracted to white light. Seal up the home as much as possible.

Chemical treatment inside and outside of the home can help tremendously with earwigs, but should be accompanied with some of the non-chemical treatment options above for the best results. Chemical treatment should entail a perimeter treatment focusing on cracks, crevices, and harborages. Also, treatment inside should focus on those areas that earwigs like to hide.

Aphids

Aphids are small green, yellowish, reddish, or blackish soft bodied insects that suck the sap from the leaves and stems of plants. They excrete drops of honeydew from their anus, which then attracts other insects like ants. Aphids prefer certain plant species over others like rose bushes.

How to Control:

Aphids are easily managed by an appropriately labeled insecticide.

House Mice

The common house mouse is very successful cohabitating with humans. They have the ability to survive in a wide variety of habitats; they have a small body size and can go undetected for months, and have a high reproductive potential. They are also very successful because they require little or no water to survive, and their behavior is unpredictable.

How to Control:

The two best ways to control house mice are good sanitation, including keeping debris away from homes or buildings, and exclusion. When a home or building is well-sealed, then it is much more difficult for mice to enter. After the mice enter the home, the two main forms of control are traps and rodenticides. A thorough inspection should be done to identify food sources, runways, nesting areas, and possible points of entry. After inspection traps or rodenticides should be chosen depending on the situation and placed where they will be most effective, like runways and near nesting areas.

Norway Rats

Norway rats are hardy, aggressive, adaptable, and sly mammals. They construct nests in the ground with burrow systems often using structural elements of buildings and city utility systems. Norway rats are nocturnal and feed on almost anything edible. They are unable to vomit which makes them very susceptible to rodenticides.

The Norway rat has gray brown fur on the back and gray white fur on the belly. They weigh up to 20 ounces and are between 7.5 to 10 inches long not including the tail, which is between 6 and 8.5 inches.

How to Control:

Sanitation is very important when controlling any rodent. Debris around the building should be cleaned, garbage should be well-sealed, and dog food should be cleaned up and sealed well. Bait boxes with rodenticides and traps should be used to eliminate existing rats. They should be placed strategically for best results. Rats are leery of new things placed in their environment so a variety of control methods, traps, and baits should be used.