These cold evening temperatures mean one thing to a fireplace owner – a warm fire and a comfortable spot on the couch. Unfortunately,  this scenario may mean something different to the creatures who have made an overwintering home in your firewood stack outside your home.

There are a lot of insects that will use firewood as an overwintering home.  These can include millipedes, pill bugs, beetles, spiders, and even some wildlife like snakes and mice.  They will find cracks in the wood or crawl under a loose piece of bark and so on.  That’s why it is not recommended that firewood be brought inside the house and stacked for a future burning.  Once the firewood starts to warm up in the house those insects who were in a somewhat dormant state will also began awaken and become active.  This is why it not uncommon for people who have brought in firewood to suddenly see an increase in pests that they normally hadn’t seen all winter long.

It is recommend that you only bring in the firewood that will be thrown directly onto the fire.  Otherwise, you may be surprised as to what was hiding where you could not see.

On a side note, make sure that your firewood pile is stored either away from the home, or on a rack as pictured.  This will keep termites from using the firewood as a bridge to enter the home undetected.

Please call us if you have any questions or concerns regarding these pests at 636-343-7900 or go to bluechipexterminating.com for more information regarding our service options.

Asian Lady beetles can become very annoying this time of year, as they need to seek out shelter from the winter cold or they will die off.  Most people who get a lady bug infestation tend to have light colored homes, with nice open space around there home for the sun to hit it fully.  Do not be alarmed if they choose your house to infest, as they do no structure damage.  Unfortunately, they can stay active throughout the winter and enter the house through cracks or cervices and become a nuisance.  

Once inside a void (you wall) it not recommended that any treatment be made to kill this insect because the insects can attract a species of bug in the spring to feed upon their bodies.  Once this new species is introduced, they can cause damage more damage to things in your home than the lady bug ever could.  Plus, if you don’t mind vacuuming up a dead bug here and there through the winter all the over-wintering pests will leave in the spring.

The best way to prevent them from entering your home is to make sure that as many cracks and crevices around your home a sealed tight with caulk or a similar material.  Using a pesticide around windows, doors, and in the eves will help as well.  At, Blue Chip, we use a pressurized power spray unit to apply pesticides in these areas to help limit the number of insects that are able to make there way into your home. And for the D.I.Y.’ers, our retail stores sell the materials you will need to tackle this problem head on.

Please call us if you have any questions or concerns regarding these pests at 636-343-7900 or go to bluechipexterminating.com for more information regarding our service options.

There are a variety of mouse traps that can be used to solve a mouse problem.  The four most commonly used traps for mice are snap traps, glue traps, bait traps and mechanical traps.  Let’s discuss these four a little bit now.

There is a reason why the snap trap has been around for a long time, it’s inexpensive, fairly easy to use and they work.   When using this type of a trap, make sure you place them against the wall with the trip mechanism firing towards the wall so that no matter which way the rodent approaches the trap it can fire of cleanly.  If you use an attractant, make sure it is something that can’t be pulled off, the best lures will cause the mouse to work to get the meal and therefore will cause the trap to be tripped.

Glue traps can be an effective way to control mice, but I would not use this method without combining it with one of the other methods.  When using glue traps, you want to place them as close to the problem area as possible.  The whole design of the glue trap is for a mouse to accidentally run onto one by mistake and get stuck.

Baits are highly effective, but once the mouse has eaten a lethal dose, it can die almost anywhere.  The problem with that is the odors sometime cause an unpleasantness in the home for a day or two.  Bait stations should only be used  in areas that children and pets can not access them.  But the benefit of the bait station, is that it can be placed out prior to a problem to hopefully solve a potential problem before it becomes one.

The last type of trap we will discuss is the mechanical trap.  These traps are designed to take advantage of the mouses curiosity.  Since mice love to explore new things, the mouse will explore this device and once inside it will not allow them to exit.  Once the mouse trapped you have to option to release the mouse back into the wild.  The problem with is, once the mouse has been freed, it may come back into your house and will more than likely now know not to go into a trap like this again.

At Blue Chip,  we use a combination of these methods in the field to gain control of the most difficult situations.  The one things I must stress before anything is done is to do a through inspection.  Finding out how the rodents are getting in and where they are harboring is key to a successful rodent program.

Please call us if you have any questions or concerns regarding these pests at 636-343-7900 or go to bluechipexterminating.com for more information regarding our service options.

How to prevent mice from gaining entry into your house.  This is a very common question at Blue Chip Pest Services, especially around this time of the year.  As I mentioned in the last blog, once it starts to get colder out and mice no longer have a good food source, they tend to look in areas that they hadn’t explored as of yet. Yes, your house is a prime target.

Preventing a mouse from gaining entry isn’t as easy as you might think.  Mice have some excellent survival techniques that allow them to access areas that we might not even think of.  For example, they are excellent climbers; they can climb up a concrete foundation and tuck under your siding or continue climbing the brick all the way up to your soffit area for entry.  They also have the ability to squeeze through small openings.  Any hole they can fit their head into the body will contort and follow.  So, with information in mind, you really have to inspect your exterior thoroughly to find any and all possible entry points.  Although, sometimes that isn’t enough.

So. let’s get onto the prevention part.  There is no such thing as a rodent repellent spray. (Note: if you are a chemist, you know what your meal ticket can be.) The only way you can prevent mice from getting into your house is to protect it from the outside.  This can be done with exterior rodent stations.  The bad news for consumers is the government has restrict the sale of over-the-counter bait blocks because some consumers failed to use them properly and therefore caused poisoning with non-targeted animals.  At Blue Chip we offer services for those customers who already have exterior station but can no longer buy the materials to refill them; as well as for new customers who want to protect their home for rodent issues.

Please call us if you have any questions or concerns regarding these pests at 636-343-7900 or go to bluechipexterminating.com for more information regarding our service options.