How Does Rain Affect Pest Activity?
Are Bugs More Active After Rain?
It's raining again. Now that statement may not be true when you are reading this. But give it a while because if you live in Alabama, it soon will.
It's funny that most people think Seattle or the state of Washington is the wettest. Not true. We've got them beat by a longshot. Washington averages 38 inches annually, but we average 58 inches. Yup, the Heart of Dixie is a sponge. And you know something else we have a lot of? Pests. If you wonder if rain affects pest activity, the answer is "yes."
The Connection Between Rainfall And Pest Activity
Water is an extremely valuable commodity and means life to us. However, it applies to rodents and other pests as well. There's a reason why you won't find much animal life in desert climates. So yes, rats and mice are here and in abundance, and we are an incredibly buggy state. Furthermore, neighborhoods throughout northern Alabama experience numerous pest problems, leading us to an important point about the weather's impact on their activity.
Animals and insects value a water source, but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to be exposed to a downpour. Rain can flood your home if you are a burrowing or ground-nesting creature, such as a yellow jacket. That forces critters up to the surface and prompts them to search for a new shelter. We see this happen with stinkbugs, spiders, and many other arthropods. That's when a different kind of home starts to look mighty appealing. A warm, dry one with a roof, walls, and food sources inside.
Then, for some pests, rain is a trigger that increases activity. For example, termite swarmers emerge after a rainstorm, and damp earth tells them something else: it's time to mate. The rain is a breeding signal for mosquitoes as well. They are worse immediately afterward because they've been waiting for water to lay more eggs. If you enjoy watching the rain from your porch, the falling water can't protect you from mosquitoes. They have the uncanny ability to fly in the rain despite colliding with drops that weigh 50 times more than the bug. Imagine a person being hit by a 3-ton object. The aftermath of a downpour can cause damage to the gutters, siding, and roofs, which allow the underlying wood to absorb moisture. In the eyes of Carpenter Ants, that looks like the flashing red open sign of your local diner.
If you are a homeowner in Alabama, pest control services are an ongoing necessity, and there's a good chance that plan is already an integral part of your home's maintenance. That leads us to another question; how does rain impact those services, some performed outside along the perimeters of your home?
How It Affects Outdoor Pest Management Services
Some pest control products are soluble, so they dissolve in water. Thus, if used outdoors in exposed areas (such as those not protected by eaves and overhangs), they may be washed away by rain or rendered less effective than if the weather remained dry for an appropriate time. Conversely, some products are insoluble. Those products do not bind with water molecules and won't dissolve even in heavy rain, so they remain in place on the surfaces they're applied to, even the soil for ground applications. And, some products (like granules) activate or work best with the addition of water. And some treatments are even more effective against certain pests when it's raining. For example, ants. The rain brings them out of the ground, where they can be more exposed to treatments on the surface.
The critical part about this is that it's important to choose a professional exterminator that knows the difference between these products and can choose the most appropriate treatments for your home, inside and out. Rain should not be a factor if your pest management company knows what they're doing, but you need a company with experience, integrity, and a reputation for success. In northern Alabama, that's Defense Pest Solutions.
Defense Pest Solutions – Worry-Free, Timely Control, Guaranteed
When you choose Defense Pest Solutions to provide your pest control needs, you don't have to worry about what the weather is doing or that treatments applied outside are getting washed away. We specialize in worry-free, timely, and conscientious pest control and it is guaranteed. We use both insoluble and soluble pest control products when appropriate, and our skilled technicians take great care to observe the weather conditions. If we need to postpone treatment because of the weather, we'll contact you to let you know. So, it's raining again? No problem. Rain or shine, we're the best. Contact us today, and we'll show you why.