Five Home Pest Control Inspection To Do

Pest problems arise when we lack the awareness and education in terms of pest facts and their infestation signs. It happens when we took less notice of potential symptoms due to lack of pest control inspection. Leading pest control company, Rentokil shares the five essential inspection checklists to adopt for your home.

Observe if there is any unusual emission of smell

May sound unexpected but smell can be an indicator of undesirable environment conditions to take notice of. For example, foul smell is developed when food ingredients or even poultry turn moldy and decayed, usually when they are disposed of in garbage bins or left unattended for a period. Odour can also result from defective drainage and sewer systems that cause chocks and leaks. Dead pests or any carcass also emits an unbearable stench as they decompose.

Pest wise also emit smells that we may not be aware of but a good indicator of a pest infestation. Do not be mistaken by the sweet and heavy scent in your home as diffuser or some sorts. This can be a sign of bed bug infestation that they produce the sweet and musty smell that is actually their pheromones or a result of their droppings. Pests leave urine stains stench especially in their hiding corners of cabinets and storerooms. Their pest poops and droppings are another smell indicator that spells an infestation.

Look for presence of droppings or fecal matters

Droppings or poops are good ways to determine if there are unwanted guests defecating in your home. Start to be more mindful and observant in substances that resemble droppings. Pests feed on various options that they find in your home, and will defecate as they digest and take rest. Here are some droppings that are left behind by common household pests:

• Bed Bugs – Typically in clusters of tiny dots that is dark or rusty black in colour
• Cockroaches – Brown or black in colour that resembles pepper or coffee seeds
• Termites – Small and oval pellet that looks like dusty and sandy particles
• Lizards – Pellet shape that is black in colour with white ball tip at the end
• Rats – Black or dark brown in colour with spindle shape like grain of rice

Termite signs are usually not as obvious and by noticing any of their infestation signs may spell an infestation. It is important to seek early termite treatment to protect your home from possible termite invasion that can damage a home extensively. Bed bugs on the other hand spreads quickly and bed bug control is crucial the moment you spot these droppings signs.

Search for hiding nests or breeding source

Firstly, the initial reaction in dealing with a pest eradication is attacking at the first point of contact, which is the visible pest infestation at present. We will fetch a bottle of insecticide spray and “contact kill” directly at the cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, or stick as many trap and baits around to lure and eliminate them. Secondly, for the natural pest remedies, we will flush their colony with water or simply smack and sweep them away. However, we will face a common and familiar encounter of these pests returning shortly with another colony or line of members. Above all, we will notice them appearing in other parts of the home. Worst of all, we may be down on our luck in eliminating them successfully, and result in pests escaping back to their hiding base.

In summary, these challenges are a result of not eliminating the root source of the pest problem by removing all nests and breeding grounds. This allows the pest to reproduce and continue spreading to more parts of the home, including upwards and sideways. Engage a pest control specialist to locate breeding nests to ensure effective pest treatment.

Target at corners that are warm, cool and quiet

Pest enemies are like humans and favour either the warm and cool environment, but more importantly, cosy and quiet that no one will take notice of their presence. We tend to neglect these spaces in terms of housekeeping, detection or any form of maintenance. Some of the corners that are potentially blind spots include:

• Attic and rooftop
• Crawl spaces and false ceiling
• Behind appliances and furniture
• Inside cabinets and drawers
• Within the storage room
• Among clutters and piles
• Along seams of mattresses
• Inside cracks, crevices and gaps
• In the manhole and grease traps
• Among grass and green shrubs
• Burrows and well-built nests

Start to pay attention to these spaces, and more importantly keep the place clean and clutter-free. This way, not only you minimise their hiding opportunities but keeping the premises visibly clean to expose these hiding pests. It also allows housekeeping to be done easily and adequate application of pest control solutions. In addition, seal those gaps and openings with proper proofing as a way of pest prevention.

Read also: Five reasons why we should not procrastinate housekeeping

Spot for differences in structural outlook

As we live in our home every day and are busy with work and family commitment, we tend to ignore unusual visible signs that can be a pest alert. Some outlook changes can also turn into a blind spot as we occupy ourselves with daily necessities. For example, we might think the excess dirt and dust on the surfaces are purely because of poor air conditioning and lack of housekeeping, but these are potential signs of termite infestation.

Most homes will degenerate overtime, because of the way we handle the property, the environment and weather factors and historical conditions that can damage structure. For instance, the cracks and damages on the wall can be a sign of termite problem or the damages of the cables and wiring can be works of rat’s gnawing. Some other aesthetically-different outcomes due to pest infestation includes the presence of mud tubes grown on the wall, yellowish stain that are most likely urine stains and blood drops coming from bed bugs.

Engage in professional pest control inspection

For some pest complexities, performing visual inspection in terms of their pest infestation signs may be challenging. Firstly, termites can produce visible and audible termite signs such as mud trails and head hanging sounds as they alert danger to their members, most times these inspections can go inadequate or inaccurate. Pest control specialist utilises termite inspection technology such as the Microwave to detect for termite movements and activities in a more targeted manner.

Secondly, rats are best in hiding and go secretive in the daytime thus increasing the challenge in identifying them. Hence, relying on visual inspection may potentially neglect possible rat signs or even their breeding and root source unless equipped with digital rat control with sensing technology. This heightens the detection level at any time of the day, 24/7 and minimises negligence as a result.

Thirdly, pests scatter around and especially with their miniscule body size like the bed bugs, where they can fit themselves neatly within tiniest spaces like cracks and slits, it is quite impossible to detect them on your own and risk the implication of bed bug spread.

Get all your answers relating to pest facts today

There are so many pest species around and within each pest type; there are hundreds and even thousands of species variation. For example, just termite itself, there are different termite species that may be similar in some way. However, their habitat and signs of termite infestation differ. Subterranean termite lives underground in a colony and creates mud tubes on the wall for their travel and food sourcing purpose. Whereas dry wood termites infest on structures, frames and furniture and produce dust-looking droppings or also known as frass.

Pests may also look similar because they are all tiny. Unless seen with a trained eye, these species can be mistaken easily. This includes confusion between midges and mosquitoes where they both require standing water to breed. To add on, they go through the four life stages for reproduction. Termites and ants are another confusing pest duo among many because of their presence around wood, their skinny body structure and the common term used on termites as white ants.

There are also uncommon or less seen pests found in homes such as booklice, silverfish and even stored product insects that require professional pest identification to find out what they are. Booklice do not feed on books exactly. However, they manifest on them because of the mould or fungi that develops on these items.

Visit Rentokil Initial Pest ID Library to identify your pest query.

Call Rentokil Singapore at (65) 6347 8138 for pest control services today.