Asheboro’s Flying Pest Problems

Are Flying Pests Dangerous?

As mentioned previously, there are a wide variety of flying pests that invade our homes throughout the year. There are some flying pests that are a mere nuisance, like moths and to some extent, the wasps. However, most are high health risks, and even very dangerous. Flies and mosquitoes are considered as such.

Types Of Flying Pests

The House Fly

The house fly is about ¼ in long and is black in color. The fly is a flying insect full of dirt, bacteria, viruses, and disease. They usually enter our homes through open doors and windows. They scatter around the house foraging for food and can be very frustrating to catch.

House flies can transfer hundreds of disease-producing agents. They crawl on and eat anything, Their diet is almost similar to that of the cockroach: spoiled and rotten food, garbage, decomposing animals, and even fecal matter are food to them. Due to this diet, and their filthy habits, they are the ultimate disease carriers. Among the diseases they cause are tuberculosis, diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, and food poisoning. How do they do it? When houseflies contaminate food or food surfaces with their legs and mouths after having picked up disease organisms from feeding on trash, feces, and other human and animal wastes, that is how they transfer the disease-causing agents to us.

Unless your home does not have doors and windows, flies will always loom as a threat. Prevention is key, just like with any other pests. To keep flies away, regularly clean your house. House flies thrive in the dirt. Keep your doors and windows closed. Vacuum clean the floors for any food residue. Also, use a mop to make it squeaky clean; use Environment Protection Agency registered insecticides to kill house flies. keep the doors and windows closed because these are where they usually enter your home; dispose of your trash regularly.  Garbage attracts the flies, which then enable them to carry bacteria and viruses and spread more germs. Always clean kitchen surfaces, dining tables, sinks, and anything that comes into contact with the house flies. Purchase a fly swatter and use it to swat away these flies.

Moths

Moths are terrible household pests. They are nuisance pests, destroying clothes, furniture, or stored dry foods, depending on the type of moths that you have.

There are around 160,000 species of moths, but only a few are considered pests. There are two types of moths that are household pests: the clothes moths, and the pantry moths.

The clothes moths are just ½ inch in length and are beige in color. The female adult clothes moths can lay up to 50 eggs in two to three weeks. These eggs hatch within a week. Contrary to what many people think, the larva does the damages on your clothes. Clothes moths cause headaches for many household owners because they are capable of destroying our clothes that are made of wool, feather, leather, fur, and silk. They are attracted to the keratin, a protein that the moths’ larvae can eat. The clothes moths can leave huge economic damages to homeowners as they destroy clothes and even furniture. To control the clothes moths’ population, minimize the humidity levels or keep humidity levels low inside your house or office building. Clothes moths like to hide in dark and high humidity areas. Seal off cracks and crevices in your home by caulking, since these openings can be used as entry points by these moths. Wash your clothes periodically, even when you’re not using them. Washing is actually the most common method for killing moths in all stages. 20 to 30 minutes of washing is recommended. Use pheromone traps and place the traps in closets and other places you store your clothes. Keep monitoring your closet once in a while for signs of clothes moths.

The pantry moths invade your pantry and go straight to your dry stored foods like pasta, sugar, cereal, rice, flour, dry pet food, soup mixes, powdered juices, bread, dried fruit and nuts, oatmeal, grains, and other similar food items.

Pantry moths are 8 to 10mm in length, with a wingspan of 16 to 20 mms.  Pantry moths live for only 5 days to 1 week. Their only function in life as adults is to reproduce. They do not even eat since they do not have mouths. The larvae of the pantry moths are the ones doing the damages. The larvae can bite their way through plastic and cardboard so they can easily infest stored food items.

To get rid of pantry moths, check the dry packaged food if it is infested with these moths before buying it. If infested, do not buy it. Most pantry moths enter your home this way. Store dry foods in a sealed plastic container, this will effectively cut off their food source. Then remove everything in the cupboard and wash it with hot, soapy water to remove any larvae there. In case you are unable to spot the moths in the food package when you bought it, return the food immediately to the grocery store. Make sure they will dispose of it properly and not put it back to the shelf. This will help control their population.

You can also try diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle it on areas that you commonly spot the moths. Diatomaceous earth is like tiny broken glasses that can inflict several cuts on the moth’s body, making them bleed to death. You can buy these in a local garden store near you. Moth traps are also a good way to control the moths’ population. When you have food spills, clean them up immediately.

Mosquito

The may not look like much, but mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures on earth, bar none. It has been said that they have caused the deaths of more human beings than all of the wars combined.  In fact, during World War 1 alone, the most unexpected statistic is that of the number of deaths among soldiers caused by malaria.  Thousands of soldiers died from this disease rather than due to combat. Other diseases that they are known to transmit are dengue fever, Zika virus, yellow fever, West Nile virus, encephalitis, and elephantiasis.  

Only the female adult mosquitoes bite. Their mouths have two tubes for biting: one for secreting an enzyme to prevent blood clotting, the other for sucking blood. The males do not have the necessary mouthparts to bite humans. They have poor eyesight but have great senses. It is said that they use carbon dioxide exhaled by potential hosts, their body odor, and body temperature to get to their hosts. Mosquitoes are attracted to stagnant water. That is where they breed and lay their eggs.

Getting rid of mosquitoes entirely is impossible at this point, but we can do something to limit exposure to them. When going outdoors, use a mosquito repellent that is Environment Protection Agency approved. Look for one with the active ingredient DEET for added protection. Wear long-sleeved shirt and pants to prevent mosquitoes from biting you as less skin will be exposed. Remove standing water and other items that can hold standing water, like old cans, old tires, old water container, and old gutters. Use a mosquito net to prevent them from biting you in your bedroom while you sleep.

Gnats

Gnats are smaller than flies, about a ⅛ inch and are black in color. Gnats are also known as fruit flies. They are harmless but very bothersome.   To get rid of gnats, cover your fruits and vegetable well.  Leave out the fruits and vegetable that you can consume within the day.  Wash your containers. Place a cover on your trash can. If these flying pests have become too much to handle, you can consider calling the best pest control experts in Asheboro NC, Go-Forth Pest Control. 

Why Go-Forth Pest Control?

Go-Forth Pest Control is a family owned corporation that has been operating since 1959. They have established their presence in Asheboro, Greenville, Greensboro, Jamestown, West Columbia, Cayce, Camden, Blythewood, Forest Acres, Hickory, Charlotte, and Wilmington. They have a team of professionals with excellent experience in handling pests like mosquitoes, flies, gnats, moths, roaches, mice, termites, ants, weevils, spiders, centipedes, and silverfish. They only use the latest and the most advanced equipment in the business, while employing family friendly and pet-friendly methods of extermination.

Go-Forth has highly skilled and well-trained technicians who can give you a free evaluation and can recommend the type of service you will need. You may check our Facebook and Google us to know what our customers have to say about us. For more inquiries, or to set an appointment, you may call 336-841-6111.  Our friendly operators are standing by.