PestBear's Blog

For many, the idea of going out into the woods, choosing that perfect Christmas tree, cutting it down and hauling it back to the house is an important and integral tradition of the holiday season. Even those who would rather visit a tree farm or nursery where much of the work has already been done know that there’s nothing quite like the presence of a live tree in the living room, spreading joy. The problem is that where you have a live tree, you have the possibility of an infestation. These trees are not just beautiful to look at -- they are home to possibly hundreds or thousands of insects, spiders and other tiny critters who, through no fault of their own, might find their way into your home this season. That’s why it’s important to try and choose a bug-free tree. But, how can you make sure the tree you...

Escaping the responsibilities of work or school by going on vacation should be a time where you are worry-free. The fastest thing to make those relaxing moments disappear are pests like bed bugs, roaches and ticks. They put a damper on your itinerary and create all sorts of stress. Here at Pestbear, we do not want to spoil your daily life or dream vacation. Below are 4 ideas to keep pests from interrupting your vacation. Key Areas to Treat for Pests One of the first areas to treat against pests is your lawn. Before these critters ever get in your garage or on your patio, eliminate them in the grass. When you choose to use Pestbear, your home, garage and lawn are all well-maintained at regular intervals to repel against pests. Unlike most pest control companies, Pestbear’s lawn program offers control against weeds, fleas, ticks, ants and lawn fungal diseases. A...

Insulation in a home serves many functions including protecting the home from pests. It’s also a space where you may see signs of a potential infestation. Inspect the condition of the insulation and make an assessment if you need more. Checking your home’s insulation now will save you time and money in the future. Warmer Weather Means More Pests Now is the ideal time to check your home’s insulation in order to prevent pests. First, examine the house for holes where pests get in. The insulation acts as a barrier from pests, so if you need to install insulation, sooner is better than later. If pests are eating insulation, then you may see tears or holes in it. Pest Control Insulation Spray insulation fills every nook and cranny in a wall. It also does not serve as a food source to pests. Added insulation can be put on top of existing...

Having your house fumigated can be a long and tedious process. It’s much easier to keep pests out of your house in the first place, so follow these five steps and enjoy a pest-free home. Reduce Entry Points One of the most important things to do to keep pests out of your house is to seal as many entry points as possible. This means replacing weather-stripping, caulking cracks and holes around gas and water lines, and making sure your doors are airtight when shut. Eliminate Moisture Also, the less moisture you have in your house, the better. Pests like ants, rats and cockroaches are so small they can find enough hydration to survive on from just the water in the air, so do everything you can to reduce moisture, such as insulating water pipes and investing in a dehumidifier. Clean Up Food Particles If pests do get into your house, you...

Living with pests in your home is a serious problem, particularly for Tampa area residents. The insects and other pests that can invade your residence can cause expensive property damage, create a negative atmosphere for your family and even bring toxic contaminants into your home. A can of Raid and a box of Borax are not going to cut it. You need expert help, and a professional pest control service is your best option for many reasons. Here’s a few considerations for calling pest control to deal with your pest problem. Consider Your Health Bugs and other pests certainly do creep most of us out, but they actually pose a serious real health risk to you and those who live with you, too. Roaches carry E coli and salmonella on their carapaces, and they can spread it to anything and everything that they come in contact with inside your home. Ticks...

Many homeowners worry about termites. Repairing termite damage can be expensive and disruptive to your life. Staying ahead of the game, so to speak, is the best strategy when dealing with termites. Don’t make it easy for termites to transition from the outdoors to inside your house. Once in your home, termites can go undetected for quite some time. So what are some helpful ways to keep termites from invading your home? Here are five effective tips for repelling termites. 1. Clear Wood Away From Your Home Termites need to eat wood or plant cellulose material to survive. Remove fallen branches from around your house and from your rooftop. Store your firewood pile away from your home and off the ground. When raking leaves, don’t leave the leaf pile next to the house, and clear any leaves from your gutters. 2. Try to Eliminate Moisture Near Your House In addition to...

Pests in your home can be frustrating. While you can try to handle the problem yourself, it’s normally better to hire a professional exterminator. Working with a professional means that you can expect quick and effective results and enjoy the peace of mind that your family, pets and home are safe. Here is what you need to know when hiring a professional to get rid of pests in your home. Working with Experts Professional exterminators undergo training to learn about a variety of pests, from how and why pests enter your home to the best methods for removing them, exterminators learn a lot. They are able to put this knowledge to use to evaluate your particular infestation and create an effective treatment plan. The type of pest and the size of the infestation determine the best course of action, and a skilled exterminator can ensure the right steps are taken to...

It’s time to get your home inspected for pests. If you have fears of a termite infestation or you are preparing to sell your home, there are a few things that you can do to prepare your house and yard before the inspector arrives. Take some time to clear these areas for the best results. Around the Exterior The inspector needs to be able to see every foot of your exterior walls. Take a walk around your home with hedge clippers to trim back any foliage that is touching the house. Do another trip around the house and garage to move any storage away from the walls. Move trash cans, garden hoses, firewood and other outdoor items at least two feet from the wall. Garage and Basement We all tend to stack boxes and long-term storage items against the walls of our basements and garages. Simply move all these things a...

Bed bugs are a problem you need to address before a complete infestation happens. Once they are in your house, they can be quite difficult to get rid of. But, there are some steps you can take to make sure they do not make it that far. Here are some tips you can use to make sure bed bugs stay far away from your home. Cover Your Power Outlets Bed bugs will use power outlets to travel from room to room and extend their infestation to other areas of a house. Simply covering the outlets will remove this possibility so you can identify them and get rid of them sooner. Put Your Clothing in Vacuum-Sealed Bags Separate your clothing by season and place anything you will not be wearing for a while in vacuum-sealed bags. That way they will not attract bugs to come in from the outside and make their...

You know the saying, “If you’ve seen one roach, you have many more that you can’t see.” Roaches love to hide away in your crawl spaces, attic and walls. Our warm and humid Florida climate doesn’t help matters either – roaches love it! How do you get rid of them if you have an infestation? Most likely, you will need a professional like PestBear to get rid of them once and for all. We’ve been providing professional pest control services for over 25 years. However, there are lots of things you can do to keep roaches at bay in your home. Here are five of our best tips we tell our customers. Seal Holes This first tip is designed to stop roaches from coming into your home in the first place. Seal all holes on the outside of your home, and use weather stripping to seal around doors and windows. Also...

Termites live in social systems that are elaborate in structure. Typically, there is a queen, a king, workers and soldiers. Some species have multiple kings and queens, though this is rare. Worker and soldier termites are sterile. Unlike other colony/hive insects (ants, bees, etc.), termites have both genders in the worker and soldier classes. Family Size Queen termites can lay up to 10,000 eggs in just one day, which is how some colonies can grow to numbers in the low millions. More often than not, they opt to keep colonies much smaller...around a few hundred thousand. Though the king and queen are the sole breeders for a colony, some species are able to change some nymph-stage termites into reproductive males and females should the king and queen need some assistance, or are no longer able to reproduce. The caste system is closely regulated, within a colony, with a preferred ratio of...

As a homeowner, there are few worse feelings than finding a roach in your home. You might be headed to the kitchen for a late-night snack or glass of water, and as you round the corner into the kitchen, you see it: a brown, ovoid cockroach scurrying away from the light. Before it can escape, you smash the crap out of it with your shoe. As it writhes in its final death throes, you see another pestilent invader crawling into your kitchen cabinets by the oven. It has begun. While this is a bit more dramatic than most people’s cockroach discoveries, finding one cockroach usually means there are more. You’ve got a problem with cockroaches, plural, and just how plural remains to be seen. Before you call an exterminator, give these first steps a try to see if you can stop an infestation before it escalates. Prep the Exterior of Your...

When you think about how pests invade your home, you need to think about what drew them in. We all have things that attract us, and it is no different for the pests. For a cockroach, the attraction is the basic necessities to survive. These attractions include food, water and a place to stay. If you know what attracts roaches, then you can protect your home by eliminating what brings them in. A Food Attraction The main attraction for a cockroach is food. They are not picky. Any food remaining out on the counter, stove or in the sink is fair game. The roaches will even go after the crumbs. So, it is important to make sure that when you finish eating, everything is properly put away. Clean up the dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters. Do not forget to wipe up the floors to remove any fallen...

One of the biggest pest threats to your home is one that can cause extensive damage. Termites are especially destructive, and the damage can cause many issues for you and the resale of your home. Before extensive damage can be done, look for signs of termites and contact a pest professional as soon as possible. How termites get in Cracks If you have cracks in your floor or foundation, you need to get them repaired. Termites can easily enter through these places. Shelter tubes They can also get in by building shelter tubes from the ground. These tubes allow them to get to wood located in dark and damp places. It's important to pay attention to the signs of termites in order to identify them early and avoid extensive damage to your home. How termites can damage your home The short-term damage The first things you may notice are pin-sized holes...

Maintaining a healthy lawn isn’t only about keeping it green. Fertilizing is just one piece of the puzzle. During the winter, it’s important to follow a proper watering schedule and take measures to prevent pests from making your yard their playground. Mowing Frequency Your grass might grow just as fast in the winter because the weather is milder and Florida still gets plenty of rainfall. Trimming your lawn regularly will make it less attractive to pests. Don’t cut the grass too short, though. Set your mower at the maximum recommended height for the type of turf that you have. This will allow the grass to develop a healthy root system, which will help keep it healthy throughout the winter. To keep it under control, you might have to mow more frequently than you do in the summer. Proper Fertilization When it comes to fertilizer, you can have too much of a...

Before the school year begins, it's important to learn about a few ways to avoid bed bugs in your college dorm room. If there is an infestation or even a few bugs seen on your bed or on furniture in the dorm, then a company like PestBear can help solve the issues so that the pests don't spread and so that you don't take them home with you. An easy thing that you can do to keep bed bugs and other pests out of your clothing and belongings is to keep everything in plastic storage containers or plastic bags that can be sealed. This puts a barrier between the bugs and your belongings. Keep your room clean. This is probably something your parents have told you all your life, but it's important if you don't want bed bugs or other bugs in your dorm room. Don't leave open food around or...

Cockroaches don’t need much to survive. If you take away their resources, the pests won’t feel like you’re a very good host, and they’ll look elsewhere for their creature comforts. However, some of their sources of food, water and shelter aren’t what you would expect. Cockroaches Are Not Finicky Eaters Cockroaches love food, but they don’t need a lot of it to survive. Even if you have sealed and stored last night’s leftovers, you might have left some crumbs on the counter or soggy bits in the sink. The pests will also eat pet food and climb into your refrigerator if given the chance. Roaches can smell strong food odors, like the ones that emanate from your trash can. Therefore, you should toss scraps in a covered garbage can outdoors every day. Cockroaches Are Attracted To Cardboard Cardboard offers food and shelter for roaches. The insects can digest the fibers of...

The summer heat can take a toll on your lawn. Begin preparing your lawn in the spring before hot weather arrives so that your grass doesn't die and so that you don't have to do as much work in the summer to maintain your lawn. A healthy lawn begins with the soil. Test the soil to determine the acidity level as this changes over the years. If there is too much acid in the soil, then it can be difficult for grass to properly grow. If the level is lower, then you might want to consider fertilizing your lawn. Don't fertilize your lawn in the summer heat because it can burn the yard. Another way to prepare your lawn is through aeration. This is a process of putting small holes in the soil to allow more oxygen and nutrients to enter. You can usually get a machine that will cover a...

Cockroaches infest your home for a variety of reasons. For one thing, cockroaches are living creatures that appreciate a cozy, warm atmosphere. Cockroaches also enjoy eating the crumbs you forgot to sweep off the kitchen floor after dinner. Cockroaches are persistent in pursuing their wishes to find acceptable shelter and food. Their persistence in seeking out these necessities is largely responsible for keeping them alive over the past 300 million years. So, one simple way to prevent cockroaches from residing in your home is to sweep, mop and vacuum your floors and carpets on a regular basis. Cockroaches are attracted to dark, gloomy places, especially if they happen to include damp atmospheres. A cockroach only needs a small crack or hole to enter the home. Their sturdy bodies are adept at finding ways to enter your home such as any type of opening in a pipe, wall or siding. If you...

Spring in Florida is an amazing time for people and for insects. While we're basking in the weather and witnessing the beauty that nature yields, creepy crawlies will be finding mates and reproducing. Unfortunately, they will also invite themselves to our backyards. At this point, insects are going to turn into the pests that we hate most. Bees and Wasps Yes, bees serve a useful purpose, but they can deliver a nasty sting just like wasps can. All it takes is for you to disturb them or their hive, and they will target you until they no longer consider you a threat. Did you know that wasps are among the predators that hunt bees? These flying insects are highly aggressive, and they are divided into two categories: social and solitary. While social wasps establish a colony in their hive, the other type tends to breed and live independently. As spring progresses,...