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Help Keep Ants and Mosquitoes Away from Your Property This Summer with These Tips

By Hope Bowman, Technical Specialist, Western Pest Services

The onset of summer means ants and mosquitoes are more active and more likely to invade commercial facilities.

While some ant species can cause structural damage and painful bites, most ants are just a nuisance. But don’t underestimate their ability to be, well, pests. Ants may be tiny, but they are tireless invaders, and their strong survival skills mean their colonies can grow large in size and be very difficult to control. Sometimes it can take weeks to fully treat and clear an ant nest once discovered.

Mosquitoes, on the other hand, are more than a nuisance. Active throughout summer and sometimes into fall, these pests can transmit serious diseases, including West Nile Virus, encephalitis, malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue fever, and Zika virus. Due to their potential health risks, you should do whatever you can to prevent mosquitoes from entering your building and breeding on your property.

The best strategy for controlling ants and mosquitoes is keeping them away in the first place. If you don’t have an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, that’s the best place to start. An IPM program uses proactive methods like sanitation, facility maintenance and mechanical controls to help prevent the conditions that attract pests, using chemicals as a last resort only.

Here are some IPM tips that can help keep ants and mosquitoes from taking a permanent vacation on your property this summer.

For Ants:

For Mosquitoes:

For Both:

Use these tips and work with a pest management professional to help your facilities stay free of ants and mosquitoes this summer.

Hope Bowman is a Technical Specialist and Board Certified Entomologist with Western Pest Services, a New Jersey-based pest management company serving businesses and homeowners in major Northeastern markets.

Originally featured at FacilitiesNet.