The holiday season is a time to rejoice and spend time with family. We all have that one relative we have to put up with, but you don't have to put up with pests this holiday season.
Christmas trees, wreaths, cut holly, and poinsettias may introduce pests into your home. There a few ways to avoid them. When selecting a Christmas Tree, make sure the tree is shaken before it is brought into the home. This will shake off any spiders, ants or other pests. Inspect trees for spider eggs sacs, gnawing on the trunk (presence of mice) and tiny ants. Tiny ants may be coming from the ground under the tree in the lot. Inspect wreaths, cut holly, and poinsettias for spiders and ants. With poinsettias check the soil for various insect pests. When shopping at an outside venue avoid any items that are stored by trash containers or dumpsters. Trash and dumpster areas are a hot spot for pests. We had a customer in Randolph, they found spiders in their tree. We went out shook the tree and washed it down with soap and water.
Inspect stored items in boxes before unpacking. There could have mice droppings, fabric moths and pantry pests in them. Fabric pests can be in any natural fabric. These moths prefer wool. Pantry pests can be in dried flowers, popcorn, Beanie Babies or anything with seeds. Seeds are the favorite food of mice. If you find mouse droppings, you will need a mouse treatment before they spread throughout the home. If you find Fabric Moths or Pantry Pests disposing of those items is highly recommended. If the items are sentimental and you do not want to get rid of them, dry clean the fabric and freeze the items with seeds for one week. This will kill the pests and their eggs. Inspecting adjacent stored items is a good idea.
When storing items for next season make sure you use storage containers that have some type of locking mechanism. If your container does not have a locking mechanism use tape to seal the cracks and openings. Duct tape is better than masking tape. Boxes can problematic. They don't seal tight, can get wet and mice can chew through the box.
One year we had a customer in Chester who forgot to take down their wreath on the front door (They rarely use the front door). In the spring, birds made a nest in the wreath. They left the wreath up until the babies had left the nest. Once the birds left the bird mites that remained behind attacked the homeowner. We removed the nest and treated the area.
Enjoy the Holiday Season! We hope you don't get Holiday pests but if you do please contact us.
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