No homeowner wants to deal with a house filled with insects and other pests. This is why scheduling regular pest inspections on the property at least once every three months is crucial. However, if you don’t see any signs of a rodent infestation or pests bugging your home, you might be tempted to skip your next inspection and maintenance.
When it comes to pest management solutions at Pest Control Unlimited, we believe prevention is better than cure. It’s much better to conduct regular pest inspections and find no severe signs of infestations than to deal with a full-blown infestation hiding within your walls. Here are some reasons that highlight the importance of pest inspections for your home.
Benefits and Importance of Pest Inspections for Residential Properties
These are some reasons why regular pest inspections are a must for homes and other residential properties.
1. Prevent Full-Blown Infestations
As mentioned earlier, it’s much better to conduct regular pest inspections and find nothing noteworthy than to forgo checks and increase the risk of unseen infestations growing.
Most rodents reach sexual maturity within 8 to 12 weeks after birth, with females taking an additional three weeks to birth a litter with up to 12 pups. Within a year, one female rat can give birth to seven litters, producing as many as 84 offspring in a year. When you consider the exponential growth of the colony’s numbers, the number of rats that can reproduce within a year can grow into uncontrollable numbers.
Insects, on the other hand, mature faster. Flies, for example, develop after 12 days. A female housefly can produce up to 150 eggs in each batch she lays. Pests like termites can live for years, and considering their nature to hide within the walls, seeing termites around your property can be a sign that they’ve been around for at least a couple of years.
Having regular inspections can stop infestations at their early stages. Pest control specialists can spot the signs of pests living within your property, so regular inspections allow them to spot pests in the earlier stages of nesting. Inspections give pests less time to settle down and grow their numbers when done regularly.
2. Protect Your Home from Property Damage
Property damage due to pests is a severe problem in the United States. In 2021, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) released a report claiming termites caused over $5 billion in property damage annually. While some termites only eat as needed, subterranean termites eat 24/7, generating the most damage to properties in the U.S.
Rodents also cause property damage around homes. Rats can burrow holes to create nests within your property. They can gnaw through plastic, fabric, paper, and other materials, effectively destroying furniture, documents, clothes, insulation, and other materials they can use to create their nests. Rats are also known to chew through electrical wires and containers for flammable materials, which could lead to fires.
On top of the additional pest management costs of handling infestations, homeowners must also deal with costly repairs and replacements. Unfortunately, insurance policies don’t usually cover the costs of these repairs and replacements, as pest infestations are considered preventable. Regularly conducting pest inspections can minimize pests’ effects on your property.
3. Avoid Animal Transmitted Diseases
Some of the most common home pests can be carriers for severe symptoms and diseases. These include:
- Mosquitoes: Malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis, and the West Nile and Zika virus.
- Ticks: Lyme disease, spotted fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and anaplasmosis.
- Rodents: Salmonella, leptospirosis, murine typhus, and plague.
- Bees, Wasps, and Other Stinging Insects: Severe allergic reactions.
- Bed Bugs: Regular itching and secondary infection from scratching.
- Cockroaches: E. coli, Salmonella, and other bacterial infections.
These can range from uncomfortable symptoms to potentially fatal diseases. Pests spread these diseases through bites, droppings, or as carriers for pathogens. For some pests, droppings and urine are common signs of infestations. Through regular pest inspections, you can minimize the potential health hazards these pests bring to your household.
4. Reduce Food Wastage and Contamination
Your kitchen and pantry are susceptible to pests when your property has an infestation. While you could take steps such as proper food storage to curb attracting insects and rodents, some things can still attract pests to the kitchen area. These can include:
- Your pet’s food bowl
- Crumbs on the floor
- Food particles in hard-to-reach areas such as the sides and behind your stove, your range hood, your garbage disposal, and your sink drain
- Food items such as fruits and other items left out in the open
- Plastic-wrapped food items – rats can bite through soft plastics
With an infestation on your property, there’s a high risk of your food items being contaminated by pathogens, dead skin cells, droppings, urine, and other organic matter from pests. While some households may have the means to throw everything away and replace everything in their pantries, not all homes can shoulder the costs of food waste regularly. Through regular pest inspections, you can minimize the risk of foodborne illnesses and having to dispose of contaminated items.
5. Gain Peace of Mind
If you have ever lived on a property with a pest infestation, you might remember the discomfort and distress of uncertainty in your living environment. You or someone in your household may fear rodents or pests and feel uncomfortable in your home because of the thought of living near rodents or insects. You must consider the risk of food contamination, disease, and property damage. There’s a general feeling that you’re not truly safe or comfortable knowing that unwanted pests are lurking around the corner.
Through regular pest inspections, you can feel much more comfortable living in your spaces as these inspections give you peace of mind. Regular inspections show that your property is less likely to be a breeding ground for disease-carrying pests or destructive insects. The risk of infestation is low since you have pest control specialists examining every potential hiding area. Thus, knowing that your home is safe, you can live comfortably and safely.
How Often Should You Schedule Pest Inspections?
While some pest control service providers recommend pest inspections at least once a year, we recommend conducting quarterly inspections to ensure your home is fully protected from potential pests establishing and growing a colony within your walls, attic, or other hidden spaces. Some of the reasons to have pest inspections done every three months include the following:
- Infestation Control: Minimizing the time between inspections reduces the time pests have to reproduce into a large infestation that affects your property and lifestyle. Doing this quarterly instead of yearly cuts the time pests have to enter your home, settle down, reproduce, and spread.
- Year-Round Protection: Pests are constantly breeding and trying to find new areas to settle into your home. Regular inspections ensure your property is protected throughout the year.
- Seasonal Pests: Some pests are more common during the season. For example, carpenter ants and termites tend to be more active in the spring as the thawing winter season creates damp environments that make your property more susceptible to infestations.
Comprehensive Quarterly Pest Inspections from Pest Control Unlimited
Knowing the importance of pest inspections can help you make sound decisions for your property’s safety and your household’s comfort. Pest Control Unlimited provides comprehensive protection against pest infestations through our regular pest inspection services. We service both residential and commercial properties in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Contact Pest Control Unlimited today for a free quote on our pest inspections and other pest management services.
