Tiny holiday spiderlings are hitchhikers
When you bring a Christmas tree into your home, you may also bring spider eggs. Many spiders lay their eggs on evergreen trees. When these eggs enter your home, they can hatch, resulting in an army of spiderlings. One egg sac can have 300 or more spiders inside.
Christmas trees, wreaths, and other decorations made from live flora and fauna can easily hide spider egg sacs.
Tips for inspecting live decorations
- Shake before bringing these decorative items indoors. Doing so may dislodge egg sacs, adult spiders, and other types of insects.
- Inspect your decorations for small egg sacs, webbing, or bug activity.
- Spray your decorations with water to wash away egg sacs or pests.
- When the season ends, dispose of your decorations properly to avoid attracting other pests.
Simple preventative steps can reduce the chances of spiders and insects hitching rides into your home.
Stored decorations are a playground for pests
Properly storing your decorations after the holidays can provide a few essential benefits. You could avoid opening a box and finding spiders inside. You could prevent cockroaches, rodents, or other pests from infesting your storage area. It is also important to exercise caution when bringing stored decorations in from an exterior shed, the garage, or other undisturbed storage area. You might bring pests in.
Tips for storing and inspecting decorations
- Check for signs of pest activity when bringing boxes inside. Look for droppings, gnaw marks, holes, or pest activity.
- Unpack your decorations outdoors so that you may inspect the interior of your boxes and the decorations themselves.
- Inspect your items carefully. Tiny pests, like brown recluse spiders, can hide in artificial trees, garlands, and wreaths.
- Use sealable plastic or rubber storage bins to keep pests out.
Use these tips before and after the holidays to guard against pest problems.
Pantry pests love baking supplies
The holidays are a time for baking treats, such as cookies, cakes, and pies. Unfortunately, baking supplies can attract pests to your pantry or provide a vehicle for pests to enter. Outdoor pests, such as ants and cockroaches, may invade. Indoor pests, such as weevils, certain beetles, and Indian meal moths, can find their way from the grocery store to your home.
Tips for buying and storing baking ingredients
- Check expiration dates on packages at the store.
- Consider using airtight containers to store sugar, flour, and dry goods.
- Check your items at home as you move them from packaging to storage containers. Look for webbing, clumping, insects, or grubs.
- Wipe down shelves and cabinet interiors to clean up spills and reduce crumbs and other food debris.
Homeowners can use these tips year-round to avoid trouble with pantry pests, but they are especially helpful during the holidays.
Food waste is a feast for pests
Holiday meals often have lots of leftovers. You may eat leftovers for days. But, at some point, you’ll likely have food waste. It happens. Use caution when disposing of food waste, as insects and rodents will smell the food as it decays, and they will come running.
Tips for managing food waste
- Dispose of indoor trash with food waste within a day. This can reduce food smells that could attract pests indoors.
- Dispose of exterior trash within the week to avoid attracting pests to your yard.
- Keep your trash bins covered to help contain the scent of food and deter pests from entering.
- Clean up crumbs and spills in your kitchen and pantry.
A clean house and proper trash disposal are deterrents for pest activity.
An unprotected home can invite rodents
Mice and rats can get into your home anytime, but the holiday season can also attract them. They may smell food. They may explore a Christmas tree or a box of holiday decorations in storage. Rodents are attracted to food, water sources, and clutter. When these items catch their interest and rodents come close to your home, they may find their way indoors.
Tips for keeping rodents out
- Inspect the exterior of your home for tiny gaps or cracks and seal any openings you find.
- Trim tree branches away from your roofline.
- Declutter your garage, attic, and other storage areas.
- Store ingredients and food in sealed containers.
- Store belongings in durable plastic containers with tight-fitting lids.
Simple precautions can greatly impact whether or not rats and mice get into your home.
How to have a pest-free holiday
Marathon Pest Control offers a cost-effective way to keep holiday pests from entering your home. Check out our Complete Pest Control plan, which comes with quarterly home pest control services that include exterior spider web and wasp nest removal, exterior pest treatments, termite control with Sentricon® Always Active, and much more. Reach out to us today and speak with one of our team members.
We look forward to helping you enjoy a pest-free home this holiday season and all year.
