Pest Library

What You Need To Know About Pests In McKinney, Texas

Texas provides the perfect home for many of our region's most common household pests. While our warm temperatures allow them to live successfully outside, they won't hesitate to move into our homes to take advantage of the shelter, food, and other necessities they provide. Use our pest library to learn about the insects and spiders living in McKinney, Texas, and how we can work together to keep them out of your home throughout the year. 

Ants

If someone were to tell you today that they have ants in their house, it wouldn't shock you. That is because ants regularly invade our indoor and outdoor spaces. Though most people view ants as a simple nuisance, they cause problems like spreading bacteria, contaminating foods, and in the case of fire ants, delivering painful stings.

Ants are difficult to control because they invade in large groups, maintain multiple nesting sites, and have excellent communication skills. Like most living creatures, ants are opportunistic and make themselves home anywhere that provides their basic needs. While ants in Texas prefer to live outside, our homes provide a temperature-controlled environment and a safe place to nest close to food and water sources. 

Ant prevention tips:

• Fix moisture issues in and around your home.
• Regularly remove trash from your home and place trash bags in outdoor containers with lids.
• Repair defects in your home's exterior that offer entry points. 
• Regularly vacuum your home and clean counters and tables. 

Partnering with Oak Pest Control is the best way to remove ants from your home permanently. Call today!

Spiders

Spiders are predatory arachnids that play an essential part in our ecosystem. They feed on and control populations of insects that would otherwise take over our outdoor spaces and damage our crops.

 Many spiders frequent our McKinney properties, including:

• House spiders
• Jumping spiders
• Wolf spiders

Our region is also home to the two dangerous spiders that live in the United States – the black widow spider and the brown recluse spider. Bites from either spider can cause debilitating symptoms that require treatment from a medical professional. 

Because a spider's diet mainly consists of insects, they like to live in insect-rich environments; therefore, if spiders live on your property in high numbers, so do insects. A spider infestation generally indicates a widespread pest problem. For help controlling spiders and the insects likely attracting them to your property, contact us today about our residential pest control solutions. 

Mosquitoes

If there were a pest that is synonymous with Texas, it would likely be the mosquito. Mosquitoes thrive in our warm, humid temperatures, and the rainfall we receive provides them with plenty of areas of standing water for the females to lay their eggs. Controlling mosquito populations around your home is vital to enjoying your outdoor space with family and friends. 

Mosquitoes are biting pests; the females bite people and animals because they require protein from blood to create healthy, viable eggs. Being relentlessly bitten by mosquitoes is unpleasant; they leave behind red, itchy welts, and excessive itching at the bites can lead to secondary infections. More importantly, mosquitoes are vectors of diseases like the West Nile virus that make people ill. 

Minimizing mosquito populations around your property is essential; use the following tips to control their presence in your yard.

• Maintain your yard and cut the grass short to reduce daytime hiding spots.
• Remove areas of standing water from your property.
• Repair leaky hoses, fixtures, and air-conditioners. 
• Use backyard fans to help keep mosquitoes at bay.

For professional mosquito control for your McKinney property, call today.

Cockroaches

Types of cockroaches that regularly infest homes in McKinney are German, American, and oriental cockroaches. German cockroaches are small, brown roaches that primarily live indoors with people. American cockroaches are large, reddish-brown, with a yellowish, figure-eight-like marking behind their heads. Oriental cockroaches have high moisture needs, are shiny black, and move much slower than other species. 

No matter the species, cockroaches are insects you never want to discover inside your home. These scavengers live and forage for food in unsanitary places like sewers, drains, trash, and decaying organic debris. When they enter our homes, they quickly find daytime hiding spots and emerge to forage for food at night. As they move around your home, they contaminate surfaces and food with bacteria and pathogens and emit dangerous allergens. 

Unfortunately, cockroaches can be introduced or find a way into any of our McKinney homes. The best prevention against these unsavory pests is regular pest control services. By implementing regular pest control visits, you can identify problems with these pests before they take over your home. For help controlling cockroaches and other household pests, call us today!

Crickets

Crickets are insects that primarily live outside; they love to live in areas that provide damp, shady habitats. They are scavengers and feed on various decaying organic and plant matter. Crickets regularly become a problem for homeowners in McKinney because our yards, gardens, and flowerbeds often provide the food and shelter they require to survive.

When crickets live close to our homes, it is only a matter of time before they find their way inside. Crickets have high moisture needs, and if it becomes too hot and dry outside, they will migrate – often into our home's crawl spaces and wall voids. Once inside, crickets are tricky to locate and remove. While crickets aren't dangerous, they are definitely a nuisance and can cause some damage to paper and fabric items. 

To help you avoid issues with cricket in your home, read through this list of helpful prevention tips. 

• Install door sweeps on all exterior doors.
• Repair cracks in your home's foundation.
• Repair leaky hoses and spigots.
• Eliminate excess moisture in your home using dehumidifiers. 

For cricket control in McKinney, reach out to our professionals today. 

Wasps

Wasps are stinging insects that regularly find their way to our McKinney properties to nest and forage for food. Though there are many different types of wasps, we generally identify wasps by their hairless bodies and clearly defined "waist." Wasps are social insects and live together in large groups. Like all stinging insects, wasps have a stinger extending from their hind end. They use their stinger to paralyze insect prey and as a means of defense. 

Though wasps are eco-important, they pose significant dangers when they live near our homes or businesses. The venom they inject with their painful stings is potent enough to trigger severe allergic reactions in some people. At first notice of wasps on your property, contact a local and experienced professional to remove them. For your and your family's safety, wasps are not a pest you want to remove on your own. 

It is tricky to guard your property against these outdoor pests, but the following wasp prevention tips can help you avoid attracting them. 

• Keep lids on trashcans and recycling bins to keep foraging wasps out.
• Keep outdoor cooking and eating areas free of spills and leftover food.
• Maintain your lawn. Keep your grass short and prune trees and other landscaping. 

Call today to learn more about the pest control services we offer to control wasps.