Maryland's Top 5 Summer Invaders

With summer upon us, there are a number of bugs who seem to make it their mission to enter your Maryland home, apartment, or business. To help you prepare for this onslaught, we've compiled the "Top 5 Bug Invaders" in Maryland this summer. Use this list to keep an eye out and know how to repel them.

Ants

Picnics. Families. Barbecues. Vacations. Pools. Ants. All of these things are associated with summer. Ants are social during the summer too, living in large colonies that depend on each other for survival. This means scavenger ants such as Odorous House Ants, Pavement Ants, and Carpenter Ants all search for food, moisture, and shelter. Your kitchens and garages provide excellent food and harborage for these little foragers when you leave stray food and water around. Indoors, clean up food spills and water around your kitchen or basement. Outdoors,  cut back the "natural bridges" around your home serving as gateways for ants to break in, such as shrubs, oriental grass and ivy. Also limit watering of lawns and gardens to an "as needed" basis in an effort to prevent colonizing insects such as ants from moving onto the property.

Flies

Talk about annoying, flies seem to be everywhere. In the kitchen, in the backyard, in the garbage, everywhere! There are a multitude of flies that affect Maryland residents including fruit flies and house flies. These tiny nuisances slip into homes and businesses for a place to feed and breed. They love to feed on decaying vegetation, garbage, fresh fruits and vegetables (bananas, grapes, peaches, tomatoes), and fermenting liquids (beer, vinegar, wine). Like mosquitoes, flies look for damp, dark areas where decay and organic material are plentiful. To keep flies away, keep stray and decaying food from your counter, make sure to continually take out the garbage, and maintain hygienic conditions. If you're apt to place house plants outside during the summer months be certain to allow the soil to dry completely before bringing them inside in the fall, thereby limiting the chance of bringing tiny fly eggs or insect larvae into the home.

Camelback crickets

What do you get when you mix a desert taxi with a nighttime chirper? I don't know either. But categorically, you get a camelback cricket. These critters--also called spider crickets or "sprickets"--wander in from their forest dwellings and thrive in dark, damp areas in homes such as basements or laundry rooms where organic food is prevalent. They are not dangerous, but their presence is still an annoyance. If you hear chirping, it's not a camelback; these crickets are unable to chirp. Want to keep a cricket-less household? Keep your garage doors and home entrances closed, eliminate moisture from leaky pipes, and make sure you have proper drainage.

Cockroaches

Few things gross out homeowners and businesses alike more than an infestation of cockroaches. American, German, and Oriental cockroaches are the main types of roaches invading homes. These cockroaches, especially German roaches, are tough to to combat because they are skillful hitchhikers, extremely prolific breeders, and may tolerate many pest control treatments. Cockroaches in general like to congregate in warm, moist areas such as wet basements, porches, or sewer pipes. It's difficult to say where and when you'll come in contact with roaches, but a good start in keeping them out is to reduce or eliminate all sources of water, eliminate all access to food, and remove clutter and excess harborage (old newspapers, unused boxes, etc). Hygiene is key, so clean up spilled pet foods and clean grease stains around kitchen stoves and appliances.

Spiders

They are the horrors of the insect world. With their compound eyes and hairy legs, they scare multiple Maryland residents every summer. There are four main types of spiders affecting Marylanders: Yellow Sac, Wolf, Black Widow, and Brown Recluse. These spiders venture into homes in search of pests pestering you. They also set up webs around windows and doors where light will attract prey. Spiders only coming in when they're invited, and we don't mean an engraved invitation; we mean any cracks or holes around windows, doors, and basements. Also be sure to trim back shrubs and bushes. And be sure to keep a shoe or newspaper handy.

If your home has been breached by any of these critters, why don't you give the pest professionals at American Pest a call? You have nothing to lose but the bugs, and a worrisome summer.