Signs of Pest Infestations

Inspecting homes for pest infestations before buying - Expert extermination, pest control and removal service by Batzner Pest Control, serving Southeast Wisconsin

House hunting is an exciting yet nerve-wracking endeavor. Among the numerous concerns like a leaky roof or faulty electricals, pest infestations might take time to come to mind. Yet, overlooking the signs of an infestation can lead to significant issues. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help identify potential pest problems when considering a new home.

What’s the Difference Between a Pest Infestation and a Couple of Bugs?

While spotting the occasional bug or pest is common, a full-blown infestation involves a larger, persistent presence of unwanted critters. It’s about the frequency, the extent of invasion, and the potential damage or health risks they pose. Here are the top ten signs that you’re dealing with an infestation:

  1. Unusual Indoor Activity: Keep an eye out for erratic movements of insects, especially around food sources or warm, moist areas.
  2. Traces of Excrement: Insect or rodent droppings, especially near entry points or common hiding spots like cabinets, often signal an infestation.
  3. Rodent Nests: Discovering nests made of shredded materials or finding gnaw marks on household items indicates a rodent problem.
  4. Foul Odors: A musty or foul smell, particularly in hidden areas, could indicate that pests like bed bugs or rodents are nearby.
  5. Property Damage: Many pest species cause damage to structures or personal belongings. Chewed wires, torn fabrics, or damaged furniture might suggest rodents’ activity.
  6. Unexplained Noises: While you may not notice the sounds of pests while inspecting a home, it’s worth listening for. Scratching or scurrying in walls or ceilings often indicates pests.
  7. Grease Marks and Rub Marks: Rodents and other pest species tend to leave grease or rub marks along their regular pathways.
  8. Visible Pests: Spotting mice, rats, bed bugs, or other pests during daylight hours could signify a significant infestation. 
  9. Nesting Materials: Discovering shredded paper, fabric, or insulation in unusual places could mean that the property has a large population of rodents or other pests nearby.
  10. Gnaw Marks: Many pest species, including rats and mice, chew on items while nesting or burrowing. Look for chew marks on furniture, wires, or stored items.

Signs of an Outdoor Infestation

It’s normal to come across bugs in your yard or garden. But, there are some circumstances where outdoor pest activity is abnormal and could pose a greater risk to your home. Here’s what to look for when inspecting your landscape:

  • Nearby Breeding Grounds: Assess neighboring areas for unkept spaces or stagnant water sources, and potential breeding grounds for pests like mosquitoes or rodents.
  • Damaged Plants and Lawn Patches: Inspect plants for signs of insect trails or gnawing. Uneven grass lengths or circular brown patches can hint at lawn pest infestations or mole activity.
  • Mole Holes and Ant Hills: Mole activity might present as raised ridges across the lawn accompanied by dirt piles resembling mini volcanoes. Look for ant hills along fence lines or in pavement cracks.

What to Do If Your Home Has Pests

When inspecting your property for these signs, focus not only on the obvious but also on less frequented areas like ceiling corners, under furniture, and within cupboards or pantries. Professional pest control technicians at Batzner Pest Control can thoroughly inspect and treat your home to prevent or address any pest problems.House hunting is an exciting yet nerve-wracking endeavor. Among the numerous concerns like a leaky roof or faulty electricals, pest infestations might take time to come to mind. Yet, overlooking the signs of an infestation can lead to significant issues. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help identify potential pest problems when considering a new home.

What’s the Difference Between a Pest Infestation and a Couple of Bugs?

While spotting the occasional bug or pest is common, a full-blown infestation involves a larger, persistent presence of unwanted critters. It’s about the frequency, the extent of invasion, and the potential damage or health risks they pose. Here are the top ten signs that you’re dealing with an infestation:

  1. Unusual Indoor Activity: Keep an eye out for erratic movements of insects, especially around food sources or warm, moist areas.
  2. Traces of Excrement: Insect or rodent droppings, especially near entry points or common hiding spots like cabinets, often signal an infestation.
  3. Rodent Nests: Discovering nests made of shredded materials or finding gnaw marks on household items indicates a rodent problem.
  4. Foul Odors: A musty or foul smell, particularly in hidden areas, could indicate that pests like bed bugs or rodents are nearby.
  5. Property Damage: Many pest species cause damage to structures or personal belongings. Chewed wires, torn fabrics, or damaged furniture might suggest rodents’ activity.
  6. Unexplained Noises: While you may not notice the sounds of pests while inspecting a home, it’s worth listening for. Scratching or scurrying in walls or ceilings often indicates pests.
  7. Grease Marks and Rub Marks: Rodents and other pest species tend to leave grease or rub marks along their regular pathways.
  8. Visible Pests: Spotting mice, rats, bed bugs, or other pests during daylight hours could signify a significant infestation. 
  9. Nesting Materials: Discovering shredded paper, fabric, or insulation in unusual places could mean that the property has a large population of rodents or other pests nearby.
  10. Gnaw Marks: Many pest species, including rats and mice, chew on items while nesting or burrowing. Look for chew marks on furniture, wires, or stored items.

Signs of an Outdoor Infestation

It’s normal to come across bugs in your yard or garden. But, there are some circumstances where outdoor pest activity is abnormal and could pose a greater risk to your home. Here’s what to look for when inspecting your landscape:

  • Nearby Breeding Grounds: Assess neighboring areas for unkept spaces or stagnant water sources, and potential breeding grounds for pests like mosquitoes or rodents.
  • Damaged Plants and Lawn Patches: Inspect plants for signs of insect trails or gnawing. Uneven grass lengths or circular brown patches can hint at lawn pest infestations or mole activity.
  • Mole Holes and Ant Hills: Mole activity might present as raised ridges across the lawn accompanied by dirt piles resembling mini volcanoes. Look for ant hills along fence lines or in pavement cracks.

What to Do If Your Home Has Pests

When inspecting your property for these signs, focus not only on the obvious but also on less frequented areas like ceiling corners, under furniture, and within cupboards or pantries. Professional pest control technicians at Batzner Pest Control can thoroughly inspect and treat your home to prevent or address any pest problems.

Don’t Let Pests Crash your 4th of July Party

Independence Day is a time for food and fun with family and friends. There are also some uninvited guests that will undoubtedly try crashing your party.

Common cookout-invading pests include mosquitoes, stinging insects such as wasps and hornets, pesky ants like carpenter ants and pavement ants. The combination of holiday cookouts and high pest activity can make for a less than enjoyable experience if you’re not properly prepared.

Before and during your 4th of July festivities, take the following measures for an enjoyable and pest-free celebration:

  • Check your screen doors and patch any holes to keep pests out of your home.
  • Eliminate any source of standing water around the outside of your home to reduce the threat of mosquitoes.
  • Stinging insects love sweet treats and drinks. Keep food and beverages covered.
  • Consider using clear plastic cups for beverages. Cans and bottles make for great hiding spots for stinging insects.
  • Trash cans should be covered and kept away from the party area.
  • If possible, it’s best to serve food indoors and keep the outdoor space for eating.
  • Clean up any food or drink spills immediately.

Keep the bugs away and have a safe and happy 4th of July!

A Guide to Carpenter Ants

closeup of a carpenter ant in wisconsin

In the busy summer pest season, there is one pest that stands above the rest. Carpenter ants are a nuisance pest that many home and business owners have come to know all too well. They are relatively large when compared to other ants, ranging in size from 0.3 to 1 in., and are dark in color. The most common species found in and around homes in the United States is the black carpenter ant. Carpenter ants are vital to the balance of nature because they nest in dead wood and aid in the process of decaying. Although the carpenter ants play this important role in the natural cycle, they can become pests to home and business owners when they make their home in the wood structures of buildings.

What are carpenter ants?

Carpenter ants, one of the largest ant species found in the United States, reside both outdoors and indoors. They need a constant water source to survive and their habitat consists of moist areas or decaying wood. The carpenter ants can create elaborate passageways in the wood for nesting and movement throughout the colony, connecting them to different food sources. Although carpenter ants make their homes in decaying wood, they do not feed on the wood. Rather, their diet consists of dead insects, sweets, meats, and fats. Carpenter ants forage for food around their nest, carry it back to the nest, and share the meal with the rest of the colony members.

Although most carpenter ants do not have the ability to fly, there are winged male and female members of the species. In particularly warm and humid weather, these winged ants leave their nests to mate in a process called “nuptial flight.” After mating, the female seeks out a suitable place to create her nest and grow her colony. If winged ants have been located, it is possible that a new colony will be forming soon.

Signs of a Carpenter Ant Infestation

There are several signs that homeowners can look for that may signal a possible carpenter ant infestation. Areas around and under windows, roof eaves, decks, and porches are common areas of infestations. The most common method to identify an infestation is the sighting of carpenter worker or winged ants in the home. Although worker ants (ants without wings) can be seen in a home without an infestation, the identification of winged ants often indicates a mature colony that is ready to reproduce and form new colonies. Additional signs of an infestation can include the location of sawdust-like wood debris (frass) from tunnels created by ants. A rustling sound can also be heard as the ants build tunnels throughout the wood in a home.

Pest Control Tips for Carpenter Ants

There are several steps that can be taken to avoid carpenter ant infestations. Be sure to trim all trees and bushes so that they are not touching the house. Additionally make sure to correct all plumbing and flooding issues as soon as possible. These issues create moist wood that can attract ant colonies. It is also a wise idea to store and wire wood off the ground and away from the home.

If you believe that you have an infestation, contact your local pest control expert to safely and effectively eliminate the problem.

Centipedes and ants and bees, OH MY! 10 of the deadliest insects in the world.

Centipedes are a common pest in commercial properties in New Berlin WI - Batzner Pest Control

There are about 900,000 different kinds of insects in the world, making up about 80% of all of the world’s species. That’s right; insects far outnumber humans. The following list includes 10 of the deadliest insects in the world. While some are not the deadliest, they still have caused reported human deaths.

10. House Centipedes

Terrifying, I know. I personally turn right back into a two year old girl when I see one of these scurry across a wall or carpet in my house. Jumping on top of couches and throwing shoes, I can never seem to actually make the kill. Centipedes pack a painful sting, but it is usually nothing to worry about. However, every couple years, someone does die from a centipede bite, usually due to allergic reaction to its venom.

9. Fire Ants

I sat on a pile of these once; they are no joke. These ants kill their prey by stinging and injecting venom called solenopsin. When a human is bit and injected with a fire ant’s venom, it provides a burning sensation, hence the name. Around 5% of people bitten by fire ants die due to anaphylactic shock.

8. Siafu

What is that? They are similar to fire ants, and they are mainly located in Africa or Asia. They live in colonies of 20 million ants, and a group called soldier ants are the ones who sting to kill prey. Young and elderly people are very susceptible to the bites of these ants, and some have died due to complications. Around 20-50 people die every year from a Siafu bite.

7. Wasps and Bees

This sounds familiar. I feel like the bees were really bad this summer, at least here in Wisconsin. They are just about everywhere you go, and are attracted to sweet things. Most people have experienced a bee or wasp sting, which can be very serious if you are allergic.

6. Asian Giant Hornet

Keeping with the theme, the Asian Giant Hornet is the biggest hornet in the world at 2 inches in length and a wing span of 3 inches. The sting from its 1/4th inch long stinger has been explained as feeling “like a hot nail being driven into your skin.” Definitely not something I want to experience. The venom released by the stinger contains about 8 different compounds that can not only induce discomfort and damage soft tissue, but can release an odor to attract more hornets. Around 70 people die each year from either an allergic reaction to the bees or a direct result of a chemical called mandaratoxin.

5. Africanized Honey Bee

Yes, more bees. These bees hang around in swarms, so if you do get stung, expect to be stung more than once. These bees have been known to take down a horse.

4. Kissing Bug

I know what you’re thinking: “You’re kidding, right?” Nope. The name sounds cute, but they actually get the name because they typically bite people on their faces. There are around 138 known species in existence, most within the U.S. They are able to transmit a harmful parasite that can be fatal. Around 45,000-50,000 people die every year from kissing bug bites. The parasite that the bugs spread causes Chagas disease, which usually leads to death.

3. Tsetse Fly

House flies are annoying enough; a fly that lives off of human blood? No thanks! The tsetse fly is found in the Kalahari and Saharan deserts. Around 250,000-300,000 people die every year from a disease spread by the flies called sleeping disease.

2. Rat Fleas

Fleas can kill? I bet you’re wondering how your pets are even alive. Thankfully, these type of fleas only live on rats. They are known to carry devastating diseases and bacteria. The bacteria called the Yersinia pestis is responsible for killing around ¾ of Europe during the 14th Century. This was referred to as “the Black Death”, a plague that killed between 350-375 million people.

1. Anopheles Mosquito

Don’t get confused, it’s just the regular old mosquito we’re talking about here. They are everywhere, and much like the bees, they were abundant this hot and dry Wisconsin summer. Most mosquito bites only result in a small, red, itchy bump that goes away with a little lotion and time. However, sometimes a bite can lead to serious illness or death. The most popular diseases mosquitos can spread are Malaria and West Nile Virus. There are 1-3 million deaths from Malaria alone each year.