How To Handle Termite Infestations And Other Pests In Your Home

Are you a homeowner hoping to avoid any unwanted pests in your home? Maybe you work on or own a farm and want to avoid any loss in crops or money due to termites and other pests. Either way, it is important to know what you are dealing with or could potentially be dealing with if you get a termite infestation or an infestation of another pest. You need to know how to prevent it, how to deal with it, how they operate and how much money you could potentially need to spend if you need termite control or pest control at your home or on your property.

So, what do you need to know about termites, cockroaches and other pests? Keep reading to learn about the different types of infestations that can affect your home or your farm.

Whether it is termites, cockroaches or mice, you do not want them in your room. They set up home, reproduce, multiply and keep taking over your space. For instance, mice produce five to 10 litters every year. Each litter can have anywhere from five to six babies. What is most shocking is that it only takes 30 days for baby mice to be old enough to reproduce. In one year, a single female mouse can result in 300 to 720 mice that have taken over your home.

With cockroaches, they reproduce four to eight eggs capsules during their lifetime. With 30 to 48 eggs in each capsule, that means anywhere from 120 to 384 eggs during the life span of cockroach. In a year, there could be a total of 18,000 cockroaches produced. You can see how quickly any type of infestation can get out of hand in your home.

So, what is about termites that makes an infestation especially frightening?

Termites eat wood while carpenter ants tunnel into the wood to nest. When they do this, they can cause significant damage to your home. So much damage, that every year United States residents spend around $5 billion on termite control and repairs from termite damage. In total, there are around 600,000 homes damaged by termite infestations in the United States every year.

If your home suffers from a termite infestation, you could spend near $3,000 just to attempt to repair the damage as a homeowner.

Luckily, there are some things you can do as a homeowner to try and prevent needing termite control to manage termite damage. For instance, termites look for wood to destroy. So, try not to leave wood near or in the house laying around. If you have wood piles or different types of debris near your home, move them. Do not leave logs and stumps laying around either. If you do have logs of wood around your home, keep them at least 20 feet away from the actual home, and try to lift them at least five feet off the ground to avoid getting termites.

When it comes to structural wood, there are other things you can do, as well, to avoid getting termites and carpenter ants. For example, make sure there is space between soil and structural wood. It is recommended that there is at least six inches of clearance. This will make it more difficult for both carpenter ants and termites to get to the wood and cause damage to your home.

Whether or not you have a farm or a home, you want to be careful when it comes to infestations that would require you to hire an exterminator or insect control. Every year, there is around $30 billion in damage by termites and other pests to both farms and man-made structures. This is just in the United States alone.

Do not be part of the statistic. Work now to prevent needing termite control later. What do you do on your farm or at your house to prevent termite infestations or other pests from damaging your home? Let us know in the comments how you keep your home safe.