Let’s face it, the last thing you want to find inside your home is an infestation of pests. However, if you can identify the problem quickly, it is much easier to remove the pests and prevent them from doing any permanent damage to your home.
This guide will help you determine whether any of these common pests are present in your household.
Ants
If you see a few sporadic ants walking through your house, it is not a sure sign that you have an ant problem, it may just be that they are scouting the area. However, if you spot any of these signs, then you may have a more serious issue:
- A group of ants walking in a line – some types of ants lay down trails of pheromones leading to food sources. This chemical tells other ants to follow the pathway in order to find sustenance.
- Large numbers of live insects – kitchens and food preparation areas are the most important places to look.
- Ant nests – nests look like small piles of dirt or soil. Some species choose to make their nests inside dark, quiet places of your home such as the inside of a wall.
Mice
There are many different types of mice but, luckily, most of the different species leave a number of similar tell-tale signs if they make their way into your home. This is what you need to look out for:
- Droppings – mice leave around 60 small, dark droppings each night. Check inside cupboards or along skirting boards.
- Dark smears – when mice brush their bodies against surfaces, such as walls, floors or skirting boards, they often leave dark grease marks that are visible on inspection.
- Scratching sounds – mice are most active at night, and it is not uncommon to hear them scratching away between partition walls or under wooden floorboards.
- Live or dead mice – if you actually see a mouse in your house this could indicate a heavy infestation that needs to be dealt with.
Hobo Spiders
Hobo spiders were accidentally introduced to the United States in the 1980s. Their bites can be dangerous and their nickname is the ‘aggressive house spider’. To distinguish whether you have hobo spiders in your house, you should look out for these characteristics on a spider:
- Brown body with yellow markings on the abdomen.
- Leg span of less than two inches.
- Spots on its sternum.
- Two large palpi on each side of their head, which look like boxing gloves when viewed through a magnifying glass or microscope.
If you are struggling to tell for sure whether you have a hobo spider infestation, then it may be a good idea to call in a specialist, such as Moxie Pest Control.
Clothes Moths
Clothes moths can cause serious damage to the clothes inside drawers and wardrobes. This is how you tell if you have an infestation:
- Silky tunnels found on wool products.
- Patches of damage to rugs.
- Tiny shells clinging to material – these are the cases that moth larvae live inside.
- Live moths flying from a wardrobe when you open it.