With a professional pest control company on your side, you can use pest control products to monitor for and catch any pests before they can establish themselves fully. Often, cold weather means pests will be attracted to your warm, dry home, so monitoring for pests is especially critical during the colder season.
Discover some products to monitor for pests before they develop into a full-blown infestation.
1. Glue Traps
In its simplest form, a glue trap is a sticky surface that pests walk onto but can’t escape from. Many varieties, from sticky cardboard to plastic trays filled with rat-strength goo, are available to help monitor for pests.
To monitor with these traps, simply think about where pests would want to walk and place a glue trap there. This often means placing glue traps along walls and baseboards, especially near air vents or doors where pests could enter your house. Your pest control experts can help you determine the best placements.
2. Pheromone Lures
Pheromone traps use synthesized pheromone lures tailored to a specific pest. So to attract a pantry moth, you’ll need a trap with chemicals like those given off by female pantry moths. Sometimes, pheromones are combined with glue traps, while other times, the pheromones may lure the pest into a container trap for observation and removal.
You may sometimes hear pheromone-baited traps touted as a pest control technique, but they really work best as a monitoring system. This is for several reasons, such as:
- The pheromones are designed to appeal to males. So you may catch most of your male moths, yet still have females laying eggs.
- Pheromone traps won’t typically catch every single male moth before they can breed.
- These traps have a limited radius, and any pests outside that radius may be unaffected.
However, despite not being a replacement for a professional extermination, pheromone-baited traps can be an excellent way to monitor for a pest infestation. For example, you may not see any moths in the early stages of an infestation because they’re typically nocturnal, so it could take a strong infestation before the moth problem becomes obvious.
With a pheromone trap, any caught moths will be easily visible when you check the trap, as they won’t be able to hide from the daylight. This type of trap can not only help you spot an infestation as soon as it starts; the trap can also help monitor the effectiveness of any pest control measures your pest control expert takes.
3. Smart Traps
With some pests, you may not see them at all because they inhabit the parts of the house that you don’t. Mice, for instance, may live in crawl spaces, unfinished attics, air ducts, and even wall spaces. Smart traps can help you monitor for any mice that may make their way into your home.
Since mice may seek shelter (including inside human homes) as the weather gets cold, the fall and winter are great times to set up monitoring such as a smart trap. This type of trap can sense when a pest has been caught and then send a notification to your phone.
Not only can the notification help you know when to go empty the trap, but it can alert you to the fact that you do, in fact, have mice and should get a professional extermination before they multiply.
4. Security Cameras
Security cameras provide another way to monitor for pests. They can be especially useful for pests that don’t respond to pheromones, for instance. You can set a security camera to record footage of a spot where you suspect pests may be setting up shop, then review the footage later. Consult with your pest control expert about camera placement.
This strategy may be more effective for larger pests, since you may have difficulty seeing tiny insects on the video footage (depending on the quality and placement of your security cameras).
These four types of products can help catch a pest infestation in the early stages before it becomes entrenched. If you need help with monitoring for or eradicating an infestation, get in touch with A-Alert Exterminating Service Inc today.