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Pest Library

Common Pest Identification & Prevention In Riverton, Utah

We have developed a pest control guide that will provide you with helpful information about our area's most common pests. This pest guide also offers tips and tricks to make your property less attractive to insects, rodents, and other pests. By partnering with us, your local pest control experts in Riverton, we can help you solve your property's pest problems and make sure they won't be a problem in the future!

Ants

Ants are common household pests that every Utah homeowner will come across at one time or another. Ants have six legs, three distinct body parts, defined waists, and short antennae. Reproductive ants are winged and referred to as flying ants, and these winged ants eventually emerge from mature colonies to find mates and start new nests. If you spot flying ants, know that an ant nest is on or close to your property. Ants are more than a nuisance; they can be destructive, spread bacteria, and contaminate food sources. At the first sight of ants on your property, take action by reaching out to us at TrueShield Pest Control to help you eliminate them.

Ants are attracted to our properties because they feed on many of the same foods we do. Our trash cans, gardens, eating areas, and food storage areas offer ants plenty of food to gather to bring back to their nest. Examples of the ants that live throughout our region that we regularly find around our Utah properties include carpenter ants, little black ants, odorous house ants, red ants, and sugar ants. Ants are a recurring concern for homeowners as they regularly move into our homes to forage for food. Once inside, it is common for them to stay and create a satellite nest. Ants typically place their nests in dark areas like wall voids, spaces under floors, and in HVAC units. They usually like to build their nests near a water source like a leaky pipe.

At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your Riverton home against ants through our effective pest control services and helpful prevention tips.

  • Store food in airtight containers or the fridge. Don't leave food out on counters or tables; while bowls of baked goods or fruit look nice, they provide ants with the food they are looking for. 
  • All trash cans and recycling bins on your property should have tight-fitting lids on them.
  • Regularly vacuum your home and wipe down counters and tables to remove crumbs and other food debris. 
  • Repair cracks in the foundation and exterior walls of your home. Make sure screens are secure, and the weatherstripping around windows and doors is intact. 
  • Replace decaying or damaged wood trim, roof shingles, or siding to help keep trailing ants out of your home.

Birds

Birds are warm-blooded vertebrates. Feathers cover a bird's body, they have wings, and instead of teeth, they have a beak. While most birds live well away from people, many have learned to live with people. They nest and forage or food both inside and outside our homes and businesses. Four of the most common pest birds (birds that cause harm to people or property) are the pigeon, starling, sparrow, and swallow. Pest birds can live successfully in rural and urban areas, making them a potential problem on any property.

Pest birds are a problem on our properties because they cause structural damage, spread diseases, and create unsightly messes. Bird feces is corrosive and causes damage to the exterior of buildings. It also contains fungus spores and bacteria, and pathogens that make people sick. When birds decide to nest on our structures, their molted feathers and nesting materials will clog and damage vents, air conditioners, and fans. Birds will also cause damage to our yards and gardens as they dig through them to find insects and worms to eat. They will also tear through trash cans, and their feces will build up on the ground, causing unsightly messes. Preventing problems with these outdoor pests is difficult and removing them is even trickier. Partnering with a professional is the best way to guard your property against pest birds.

At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your Riverton property against birds through our effective pest control services and helpful prevention tips.

  • Keep lids on trash cans, recycling bins, and compost bins to keep hungry birds out of them.
  • Remove bird feeders from your yard that will attract unwanted bird activity.
  • Regularly harvest fruits and vegetables from gardens and trees to limit their access to food.
  • Keep gutters clear of debris that can collect water. Eliminate other water sources by storing containers upside down and removing bird feeders from your property. 
  • Hang reflective or noise-making objects around your structure to scare away pest birds.

Cockroaches

While turning on your kitchen or bathroom light in the middle of the night to discover a cockroach scurry across a counter is unsettling, know that this scenario can happen to anyone. Cockroaches can find their way into any of our Utah homes. They get inside through spaces they discover in the exterior of our homes while foraging for food or shelter. Cockroaches also regularly hitchhike their way into structures after climbing into boxes, appliances, and electronics and moving wherever we take them.

The German cockroach is a small species that is regularly associated with people and is the most common species found in businesses like restaurants and grocery stores, as well as in our homes. Oriental cockroaches and American cockroaches generally live outside but regularly find their way into our homes and businesses. No matter the species, cockroaches are never welcome around our homes or businesses. These scavengers carry on their bodies and legs bacteria, human pathogens, and parasites. When they are inside our homes, they contaminate surfaces and food with things that make us sick. Their feces and shed skins trigger allergy symptoms and asthma attacks. Another issue with cockroaches living in our homes is that they create musty odors, stain surfaces, and chew holes in fabrics and upholstery. 

At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your property against cockroaches through our effective pest control services and helpful prevention tips.

  • Regularly inspect your home for areas of standing water and repair leaky pipes, leaky sinks, and areas with poor ventilation.
  • Keep cockroaches from finding a way into your house by caulking any cracks or crevices you discover in its foundation or exterior walls.
  • Place covers over vents and seal gaps around utilities like wires or pipes moving into your home. 
  • Maintain your kitchen by washing dishes regularly and keeping counters and tables free of crumbs and other food debris.
  • Regularly vacuum and mop floors.
  • Always place trash in containers with lids.

Rodents

People and rodents have had a relationship for tens of thousands of years. Rodents quickly learned that the presence of people means that they will have access to food and sources of water and shelter. As we've developed more and more of the land once occupied by rodents for our own needs, these animals have had to adapt to living with us, not just in rural areas but in suburban and urban areas as well. Rodents are a constant threat to our homes, businesses, and families. Structural damage, the spread of diseases, contaminated food, musty odors, allergies, and other health problems, are all caused by rodents.

Rats, mice, and voles are three examples of rodents that live in our area and regularly find their way into our yards and homes. Rats are the largest of the three and generally have a scaly tail that is void of hair. Mice have oval-shaped bodies and a light layer of fur covering their ears and tail. The vole looks similar to a mouse but is shorter and stockier. The fur on their head partially hides their ears, and their short tail is covered in hair. Rodents typically live outside, but during the colder months when food is scarce, they look to our homes to provide them with warm shelter and access to food. Preventing problems with these pests is difficult because they are so used to living near people. Guarding your property against them is best done with the help of professional and regular pest control visits. 

 At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your Riverton property against rodents through our effective pest control services and helpful tips.

  • Fix leaky pipes and hoses and eliminate areas of standing water to avoid providing rodents with a reliable source of water.
  • Eliminate resting or nesting spots in your yard by removing construction debris, woodpiles, and rock piles and filling in ground holes. 
  • Use steel wool or another material that can hold up to a rodent's chisel-like teeth to seal spaces around wires, pipes, and cables that enter your home.
  • Use caulk to seal cracks in the foundation and exterior walls. 
  • Eliminate food sources both inside and outside your home by keeping lids on trash cans, keeping eating areas clear of food debris, and storing food in the fridge or airtight containers.

Spiders

Spiders are adaptable predators that can live in almost any environment. Their adaptability, unfortunately, means that our Utah properties, more often than not, provide suitable places for spiders to thrive. We come across many spiders in our area, including the hobo spider, wolf spider, and the dangerous black widow spider, and brown recluse spider. Our properties provide them with many sources of food, water, and shelter. Some of the most common places to find spiders hunting their insect prey include:

  • Inside basements, crawl spaces, attics, and air vents.
  • In kitchens and bathrooms.
  • Inside trash cans and recycling bins.
  • In gardens, flowerbeds, trees, and shrubs.
  • In the cracks and crevices around the exterior of our homes and outbuildings.

Seeing large numbers of spiders is often an indicator that you have large populations of insects in or around your home that you need to address. While spiders aren't usually too problematic in our yards, when spider populations become very large outside, there is more of a chance that they will find a way indoors. Spiders typically enter our homes through cracks in the exterior, or open windows or doors. They also move inside in things that were once outdoors, like cardboard boxes, firewood, and potted plants. Once inside, they seek out dark, quiet areas and look for insect prey to hunt. If your home offers them food and shelter, they will stay.

At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your property against spiders through our effective pest control services and the following helpful prevention tips.

  • Reduce hiding spots for spiders and their prey by keeping the grass cut short, cutting back shrubs and bushes, and removing unnecessary piles of wood or rocks.
  • As you find cobwebs in your yard or home, remove them. 
  • Keep lids on trash cans and recycling bins that offer food sources to the insects that spiders like to eat.
  • Stop spiders from easily finding their way into your home by keeping doors and windows shut and sealing cracks or other openings that develop in exterior walls. 
  • In your home, reduce hiding spots for spiders and insects by clearing out areas of clutter and using plastic containers with lids instead of cardboard boxes to store items.
  • Regularly vacuum and dust your home to dislodge and remove hiding spiders.

Stinging Insects

If you have discovered stinging insects or a stinging insect nest on your property, it is likely one of the following species:

  • Bald-faced hornets
  • Ground wasps
  • Hornets
  • Mud wasps
  • Yellow jackets

All stinging insects have a stinger at the end of the abdomen. Predatory species like the ones listed above use their stinger to paralyze their prey. The stinger is also a means of defense; they will sting any person or animal they view as a threat to themselves or their nest. 

Having stinging insects on your property will make it so you and your family can not enjoy your outdoor space. Who wants to be outside when stinging insects are constantly swarming and threatening to sting you? The reason stinging insects are so prevalent in our yards is that they not only provide them with a safe place to build their nests (gardens, trees, yard debris, spaces under roofs) but with plenty of access to food. In our yards, predatory stinging insects hunt those insects that they find in our gardens, flowers, and trees. They also feed on many of the same foods we do and will swarm around our trash cans, recycling bins, and outdoor eating areas. 

At TrueShield Pest Control, we want to help you guard your property against stinging insects through our effective pest control services and helpful prevention tips.

  • Avoid planting or placing pots of flowers near the entrance to your home.
  • Many stinging insects feed on the same foods we do; keep lids on trash cans and recycling bins to stop them from foraging for food in them.
  • Avoid leaving food out in outdoor eating areas for long periods. Bring leftovers inside as soon as you finish eating. 
  • Eliminate water sources by keeping gutters clear, storing containers upside down, and repairing low-lying areas that collect rainwater. 
  • Cut back tree branches and shrubs away from your home, fill in ground holes, and remove fallen trees, trees stumps, and other debris that could provide a nesting spot for stinging insects.

To solve your pest problems, turn to the local pest professionals in Riverton at TrueShield Pest Control. We are committed to the pest control industry, our customers, and the environment. Our professionals pay attention to details and will work closely with you to ensure your property's pest control needs are not just met but exceeded! If you are looking for the best pest control options possible, look no further than TrueShield Pest Control.

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