Why You Need to Get Rid of Mice in Your Air Vents

Have you heard the sound of little rodent feet in your ductwork at night? If you have mice in your air vents, don’t wait another night to tackle the problem.

Maybe there have been telltale mouse droppings in the corners of the kitchen. You may have even witnessed the tiny creature running across the room and into a sneaky hiding place.

You are aware there is a mouse in the house. When there is one, there are more, making a home often in your HVAC system.

Homeowners often find mice in air vents because it is a dark space where they can hide and keep warm. A mouse in your ductwork has access to your whole house.

If you have a mouse infestation, it is time to call in the experts. Environmental Pest Management offers residential, commercial, and multi-family pest control management.

Our goal is to solve your problem safely, for the long-term, and at a reasonable price. Contact us today for a free estimate.

Please continue reading for our reasons why you need to get rid of mice in your air vents.

The Dangers of a Mouse Infestation in Your Air Vents

The two reasons mice are a danger are disease and damage.

Disease

Mice are in the mammal family of rodents. There are over 2,200 different types of rodents found in the family.

Altogether, these rodents make up 40% of all mammals. Besides mice, other animals in the family include squirrels, rats, chipmunks, and prairie dogs.

Unfortunately, rodents carry 35 different diseases for which humans are susceptible. Fleas or ticks can transmit diseases to humans and other mammals, including pets.

Mice droppings (both urine and feces) can be quite toxic to humans and full of harmful bacteria.

If you have a mouse infestation, you must be careful about how you eliminate the infestation. Pest control companies are recommended because the dust in mouse nests in air vents can be hazardous to breathe.

Not only can mice make you sick, but they can cause damage to your home.

Damage

Mice are notorious for causing physical damage to homes and businesses. Mice easily chew through the siding and building materials to get into your home.

Mice can even chew through electrical lines, which can ignite a fire in your home.

Additionally, mice can chew holes in furniture, wood, or cabinets. Mice can be anywhere there is food, and you may identify their presence when you find holes in food containers.

Mice need to “gnaw” to keep their teeth in a serviceable condition. You can imagine the damage several mice can create in a heating system.

If mice have found a home in your ducts, it is essential to call a professional to have them removed.

How to Get Rid of Mice in Your Air Vents

Professional pest management companies identify where mice nest in air vents. The professionals will also find favorite feeding grounds.

By eliminating food sources and exterminating nests, the mice will not be able to maintain life in the home. Pest control experts will eliminate the mice and properly clean the infestation area.

Proper clean up is important to reduce the risk of allergies, illness, and future mice in your air vents.

Once successfully eliminated, you’ll likely want to assess your air ducts’ damage and clean the air ducts.

Finally, you may want to install stainless steel mesh vent covers to keep mice out in the future. Pest control professionals can make recommendations on the best hardware to use to keep mice away, moving forward.

How Air Infiltration Can Affect the Spread of COVID

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a clean and well-maintained HVAC system can reduce the spread of COVID-19. The rate of air change is increased, reducing the recirculation of air, and increasing the introduction of outdoor air.

Have HVAC systems regularly inspected, maintained, and cleaned. Keeping the vents clean and functioning can help reduce the spread of other viruses in the home or office space.

Obviously, with a mouse infestation, the heating and cooling system is unable to work as intended. Rather than providing the environment with clean, circulated air it becomes clogged and can spread allergens and disease from rodents.

Once a pest control company successfully eliminates the mice from your ducts, you will want to have them inspected regularly. Even with the installation of barriers, mice can be drawn back to places they’ve previously been.

Steps You Can Take To Keep Mice Away

There are a few suggestions you can do to keep mice out of your home:

Clean your home or workspace
Keep food in thick or metal containers with tight lids
Clean up spills immediately
Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink
Use a thick plastic or metal garbage can
Keep compost bins far from the home
Never leave pet food out overnight

Take these steps after a reputable pest control company has removed the mice. You will find greater success with keeping the intruders away for good.

Call in The Best To Eliminate Mice in Your Air Vents

You want to ensure the mice are removed safely and will not return. Environmental Pest Management will eliminate the rodents and help you identify the source, so they don’t return in the future.

At Environmental Pest Management, we address the what, why, how, and when to find a solution for your pest concerns.

We use what is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is a practical and environmentally sensitive approach that relies on common-sense practices.

IPM programs use current and comprehensive information on pests’ life cycles, including how they interact with their environment.

Through the use of IPM, we can manage the intruders ethically and economically.

Contact us today to book your free pest inspection. We will work to eliminate the mice so you can breathe in healthy air!

May 26, 2019February 28, 2023

Everything You Need to Know About Larder Beetles

If you have ever gone into your kitchen and opened your pantry, or larder, and seen small brownish-black beetles having a picnic, you know what it’s like to have larder beetles in your house. You probably weren’t thrilled about it.

At Environmental Pest Management, our job is to keep your home pest-free. Whether we’re helping to evict unwanted guests or prevent them from arriving in the first place, you can count on us to use the safest, most environmentally friendly products to get the job done.

Unlike some bugs that can invade your home, larder beetles are noticeable because they tend to travel in groups and don’t try to hide. Here’s everything you wanted to know about identifying these insidious insects and encouraging them to take up residence elsewhere

What are Larder Beetles and How Do I Identify Them?

When you’re dealing with pest control, the first step is to identify who you saw scurrying through your pantry. Knowing what type of bug you’re dealing with lets you know what techniques or products will be useful in dealing with them.

Larder beetles get their names from the place they are often found – in your larder – which is an old word for your pantry or cupboard, where you store food, especially grains and meat. They are small in size, only about ¼” to ⅓” long, and oval-shaped. Look for the brown band around the midsection of their black body. It’s the primary identifying characteristic of a larder beetle.

Of course, larder beetles have six legs like all insects and two jointed antennae. The brown band typically has yellow or black spots on it, and tiny, densely packed hairs cover the larder beetle’s stomach.

Larder beetle larvae are about ½” long and do not have the characteristic beetle shape yet, and look more like a sow bug except that the bands on its body are striped brown and black. Like the adult larder beetle’s stomach, larder larvae have short yellowish hairs on their bodies.

Why are Black Larder Beetles in My House?

Larder beetles and their larvae are hungry. When we say that they are omnivores, we really mean they will eat anything. Stored food such as cereals, oatmeal, cookies, bread, dried pet food, stored cured meats, tobacco, carpet fibers, dried fish, cheese, clothing, dried museum specimens, and the carcasses of other bugs. They’re in your pantry or garage because of one thing: access to food.

If you’ve had another pest infestation problem, such as stink bugs or boxelder bugs, sow bugs, or ants, or rodents such as mice, moles, or bats, and there are carcasses in your attic or walls, then larder beetles are going to love your home. Even if you don’t know about the dead bugs in your attic, the larder beetle knows and will tell their friends.

Larder beetles can bore through wood and drywall to get to your food, so not only are they unsanitary, but they are also destructive. They can even bore into tin and lead, to lay their eggs in your canned tuna or black beans.

In the winter, larder beetles often hide in crevices or other sheltered places.

They may even lurk in your walls or garage. In spring, they emerge, looking for a place to lay their eggs. There will be dead bugs or other food sources in your home, so in they come. Females will lay around 100 eggs, which hatch in just a few days, eat consistently, and reach maturity in about six weeks.

Signs of Black Larder Beetles in Your House

Aside from seeing the bugs or their larvae themselves, other signs of a larder beetle infestation include:

Holes bored into your boxes, bags of pet food, or other food storage containers
Larvae burrowed into a melon, potatoes, onions, or another food source
Skins from when the beetles molt
Spilled or scattered food — they aren’t precisely fastidious eaters

Strategies for Dealing With These Pests

If you’ve got larder beetles in your home, you need to do some severe sanitation to get rid of them. Merely removing the items containing beetles and wiping down your kitchen isn’t going to do the trick. Here are some steps to take to deal with a larder beetle infestation.

Everything in your cupboard or pantry must come out.
Throw out all food infested with larder beetles.
Throw out any opened food containers in your pantry, even if you don’t see signs of the beetles. That includes bags or canisters of flour, cereal boxes, partial pasta boxes, etc.
Inspect all canned food items for signs of entry.
Change your food storage containers to hard (BPA) plastic or glass, which larder beetles cannot enter.
Wipe down all shelves and the pantry floor with a solution containing vinegar or bleach.
Thoroughly vacuum all cracks and crevices
Look for cracks or holes in the walls, baseboard trim, or other areas where the beetles could have entered. Use a caulk gun to seal these and keep the beetles away.
Throw out partial bags of pet food. Store in a hard plastic container with a tight lid.
Check behind stoves and other appliances, which may harbor treats and secret passages for larder beetles. Clean this area and seal any gaps.
Seal any gaps in doors and windows that could allow entry to larder beetles or other pests.
Line the edge of your pantry walls or cabinet backs with diatomaceous earth to help deter and kill any larder beetles (or other bugs) who dare to return.

Contact Environmental Pest Management for Help

Larder beetles can be tricky to get rid of, just because they are so persistent. At Environmental Pest Management, we’ve dealt with larder beetle infestations before so that we can put your mind at ease.

We have a toolbox full of strategies to ensure the pest goes out and don’t come back. We’ll always use the least invasive and safest products and procedures to keep your family and pets free from harm while still eradicating pests and preventing them from returning.

Give us a call today, and we can help make larder beetles a thing of the past, just like the word larder.

July 23, 2018January 22, 2024

6 Methods to Get Rid of Bees Naturally in Minnesota

Most of us are aware of the vital job that bees do for the planet, but having bees around our homes can present a bit of danger since they sting. Then there is the problem of how to get rid of bees and their hives without using toxins.

Learning how to get rid of bees naturally can come in quite handy for those who want to get out there and tackle the problem themselves. Below, we are going to talk about why we should find ways to remove bees without killing them, why we should remove bees from around our homes, and six ways to get rid of bees naturally. It’s time to learn how to remove bees so that you can enjoy your yard and home without worry about getting stung.

Bees Are Important

Usually, when we think of bees, we don’t think about them in a good way. The first thought that comes to mind is being stung. We understand that. Bee stings not only hurt us but also kill the bees. But let’s not forget that bees are vital to our planet.

Bees are responsible for a lot of the food other mammals and humans eat. Yes, there are other methods of pollination, but bees are responsible for about one-sixth of the pollination that occurs, and they pollinate a number of agricultural plant types, i.e., our food.

Also Read: Bee and Wasp Control

The very work of pollination is a wonderfully natural way to maintain our system of food production. We already hear of food shortages and people starving. This problem would be accelerated if there was a decrease in bees.

So do we need bees? Yes. But there are times when we need to be wary of bees.

Why Should You Get Rid of Bees

- Allergies to bees: There are people with allergies to bees so severe that they could die from a simple bee sting. If there is someone in your family with a bee allergy, it is essential to do what you can to make sure there are no bees around your home. Learning how to get rid of bees is a piece of knowledge that can save them a visit to the emergency room–or even save their life.
- Bee Stings: Most of us have been stung by a bee at least once in our lives. We can all agree that bee stings hurt. If you have a bee nest or hive near your home, the chance of bee stings greatly increases for you and your family. Some bee stings are worse than others, and sometimes the location of the nest, like in the ground, can increase the chance of multiple bee stings for your children or pets, which may be out playing in the yard.
- Aggressive Bees: Bees can be bad enough when they aren’t feeling aggressive, but sometimes they can amp up and go on the offensive. The reasons why they can become more aggressive include a lack of flowers in the area to pollinate. Other stressors are hot weather and feeling a need to protect their nest. The possibility of dealing with bee aggression is an excellent reason to look for ways to get rid of them from your home.

How To Get Rid of Bees: Home Remedies

There are numerous ways to get rid of bees naturally. Some of these methods are safe for the environment but kill the bees, while others are safe for both the bees and the environment. Below are six ways to get rid of bees.

Call a Beekeeper: If you live in an area where you can find a beekeeper, this is an amazing first choice. Beekeepers are professionals when it comes to working with bees. A beekeeper would more than likely love to take the beehive and take care of the bees and keep them alive.
Soda: Bees love sweet liquids. This method involves cutting a soda bottle or can in half and filling it up with a very sweet soda, then placing it in an area where you have noticed a lot of bees. The bees will be attracted to the soda and come to drink it. Note, this method is environmentally friendly but will kill the bees as they will eventually drown in the soda.
Moth Balls: There are some smells that bees don’t like and mothballs are one of them. To use mothballs, hang them near the bee nest or nests, and eventually, the smell will deter the bees from coming back. You can also hang mothballs in different places around your yard to keep your entire yard bee-free.
Vinegar Spray Solution: Vinegar spray is a great natural way to get the bee out of your yard, as well as simple to make and use. Just mix equal amounts of water and vinegar in a spray bottle, shake and the mixture on the nest when the bees are sleeping, at night, as well as around plants where you tend to see a lot of bees. This mixture will kill the bees, so make sure you remove all of the dead bees.
Cinnamon: If you find a hive and want the bees to relocate without killing them, consider sprinkling cinnamon around their hive every day for about a week. The smell will send the bees looking for a place to relocate.
Repel Bees Using Plants: A great way to keep bees out of your yard without having to remove them or kill them is to plant bee repelling plants around your home. Having these plants around your home should prevent bees from even stopping there. Citronella, Mint, and Eucalyptus plants are good bee repelling plants and easy to grow. If you’re not much of a gardener, try citronella candles to help repel many types of bees.

When To Call In a Professional

There are going to be times when calling a professional will be your best option, even if you are comfortable attempting to get rid of the bees yourself. Bees can make nests in tricky spots like the ground, in the siding of your home, and other hard-to-reach areas. This is what professionals do for a living, so tap into their expertise.

We understand that getting the bees away from your home is essential to you. We also understand that bees are crucial to the earth and do a fantastic job at helping provide food and beauty to the planet. Finding a way to keep your family and the bees safe is a top priority for Environment Pest Management as it is for you.

If you would like more information about bee removal in Minnesota, give us a call. Pest control is what we’re all about, and we would be happy to help you.