Bugs Won’t Stop Bugging You Just Because It’s Winter

At a glance, it makes sense that insects and other pests would go away during the winter months. The temperature dropping below freezing and burying the great outdoors in a heavy layer of snow seems like a surefire way to rid your surroundings of critters. But belief in such a tidy solution is wrong, and resting on your laurels until next March will come back to bite you. Here’s the lowdown on what pests to look out for over the winter.

Hibernating Homewreckers

It’s common knowledge that many species of insects hibernate throughout the winter, which lends to a feeling of peace and serenity over your winter break. But sleeping pests will awaken, and that causes problems for the places they awaken in, with heated, insulated homes providing the most attractive options for a little critter’s winter nap. Not only that, but many species of insect – stinkbugs are among the less pleasant – will, upon finding a safe place to hibernate, release a chemical signal that will attract more of their kind to their newfound shelter, meaning that a single bug can quickly summon a future infestation for you both to wake up to. And many species lay their eggs in the winter, letting their young grow over the quiet cold months and emerge into the world with the warmth. Considering the number of eggs pest insects can lay, these two factors mean that nearly any bug that manages to nestle into your home for the winter has the potential to become an early spring infestation.

Active Ant Antics

Although most pests migrate, hibernate, or die off in the freezing temperatures, “most” does not mean “all”. Even if you think you can handle letting sleeping bugs lie for now and clearing them out before they wake up, there are plenty of insects that remain active all winter which will be desperate to find shelter and will be scrambling to get inside a heated home and gather up as much food and warmth as they can. These include such unpleasant creatures as silverfish who can feed on anything from your wallpaper to your fine silks, carpenter ants that will tear up your wood to dig paths and make nests, and cockroaches that will just be gross and unpleasant for everyone. All of these harmful insects will be active from November until the end of February without any breaks if you let them inside.

Take Preventative Measures

The best thing you can do to avert a nasty pest invasion in spring is to take care of your home in winter. Before the winter truly begins, give your home a once over and make sure there aren’t any cracks or gaps that insects fleeing the coming cold can use to infiltrate your space. Once the winter is upon us, take a search of the home, focusing on areas you normally neglect, like attics, basements, and garages, and even the spaces under and behind your furniture. Giving the home a good cleaning won’t hurt anyone, either.