Spring is Here and so are those Troublesome Pests

As we enter spring and the weather grows warmer many of the most common pests become active. Magic believes in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and offers Green Shield Certified Services which are preventative in nature. Our technicians inspect the exterior and/or interior of your property looking for conducive conditions and report them to you. Let's take a look at some of the common pests of the season.

Subterranean Termites are the most destructive insect pests of wood in the United States. They cause more than $2 billion in damage each year, that is more damage than caused by fire and windstorm combined. They live underground and build tunnels, referred to as mud tubes, to reach food sources.

Subterranean termites swarm in the spring. The swarmers, hundreds of them, emerge from the ground or are forced into homes through cracks and crevices in the foundation. This is a sign that your home is under attack. Termite swarmers are easy to identify, they body is norrow with two (2) segments, about 3/8 of an inch in lenght, with four wings of equal lenght.

Magic utilizes the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System. Sentricon is the only termite system proven to eliminate termite colonies. It is also the winner of the Presidential Green Chemical Award do to the reduced amount and focused use of the control agent.

Carpenter Ants are another pest that attack your home. They excavate chambers inside the wood beams of your house were the colony nests.

They also swarm in the spring. Once again, if there are a large amount of swarmers within your home it is a bad sign and you may have a nest within the structure. Carpenter Ants range from 3/8 to 1/2 inch in size, they body has three (3) segments and the wings are of unequal lenght.

Carpenter Bees resemble bumblebees in both size and appearance, but are not social insects. They construct their nests in trees or in frame buildings. Most of the top of the abdomen of carpenter bees is without hairs and is shiny black in color. By contrast, the abdomen of bumblebees is fully clothed with hairs, many of them yellow in color. If you see a number of large bees hovering near the eaves of the house or drilling in wood, you have carpenter bees.

Carpenter bees begin their nest by drilling a nearly perfectly round entrance hole (about 1/2 inch diameter) into the wood and bore chambers were they deposit eggs. They hibernate in the tunnels during the winter, emerging in the spring to mate and enlarge the old tunnels creating more brood chambers for their young.