Unlike what most homeowners think, dealing with pests in your home is a never-ending battle. You can exterminate your pests today, but don’t be surprised if you find the infestation resurfacing later.
Monthly pest control is advisable to keep on top in your fight against stubborn pests like bed bugs, termites and cockroaches – especially in the first 6 months.
However, depending on the intensity of the infestation and the type of pests, your routine pest control may include inspections at least once every two weeks for severe infestations, or just one quarterly pest control inspection for seasonal pests.
The exact number of times you’ll require pest controls will largely depend on the type of pests:
Seasonal Pests
For seasonal pests such as roaches, termites, mosquitoes, spiders, and flies, you may require inspections once every three months or quarterly pest control.
However, if the infestation is severe, you might need to conduct pest control monthly.
Fast Breeding Pests
For pests that breed and spread quickly such as bed bugs, you’ll need to maintain your pest control at least once every 2 weeks to a month. This is because one treatment doesn’t usually completely eradicate all the pests from your house.
Bugs like bed bugs usually resurface after a while making it necessary to have an exterminator visit you several times and conduct a treatment until all the bugs are dead.
The intervals for each of these treatment visits is usually at least once every two weeks until no signs of the bugs can be seen anymore
Reasons Why You Need Monthly Pest Control
Now that you know how often you should perform monthly pest control, understanding why investing in regular preventative pest control is vital is the next big step.
Some of the most important reasons for this include:
Pests Pose Real Health Threats
Most of the pests, for instance, rats, mice, mosquitoes, and ticks are capable of transferring illnesses to your family. They can do this directly through bites or more commonly through contamination of food.
Among the problems caused by some of the common pests include:
- Salmonella, plague, rat-bite fever, trichinosis, murine typhus, and leptospirosis from rats
- Aeromonas, Salmonella, Chlamydia trachomatis, and campylobacter jejuni from cockroaches
- Malaria, sleeping sickness, Chagas diseases from mosquitoes, Lyme disease from ticks, and kissing bugs.
Through monthly pest control, you’ll be able to keep any pests out of the kitchen and the house for good.
Eliminates Pests Effectively
Another good reason to invest in monthly over quarterly pest control is so that you’re able to finally get rid of pests from your home for good.
Instead of having to battle with the same insects day in and day out, a pest control service company will easily detect the pests and eliminate them quickly. This is especially important if you have recurring pests like bed bugs.
Without a constant regular pest control service, pest prevention is going to be much harder in your home.
Saves You Money in the Long-Term
While monthly pest control seems a bit expensive, it tends to get cheaper in the long term. Besides, most pest control companies offer affordable packages for their ongoing monthly customers.
This means that you’ll receive regular home maintenance to help you catch infestations early and avoid a bigger and more costly outbreak in the future.
Some pest control companies will also offer you a service guarantee of follow-up treatments in between scheduled visits whenever needed, at no extra costs.
Keep in mind that in cases of severe infestations, you might be forced to leave your home and stay at a hotel, which adds to your total expenses.
Protects Your Property Value
Besides saving you money, investing in monthly pest control also plays a key role in protecting your property’s value. It does this by ensuring that you get rid of all the destructive pests before they can inflict massive damage around your home.
For instance, when left untreated, termites and rats can easily chew through most of your baseboard, walls, insulations, and wiring.
Cockroaches when unchecked will also fill your house with a moldy smell which will stick in your house long after you finally conduct pest extermination.
You’re, therefore, doing yourself and your property a disservice by failing to obtain regular pest control. Very few house hunters will look at your property twice if it looks and smells pest-ridden.
Spend Less Time Cleaning
Another reason for monthly pest control is that you reduce the time you spend cleaning. For example, you won’t have to keep cleaning up rodents and bedbug droppings around the house.
The pest control company you hire will take care of all the cleaning, especially when you’re dealing with dead insects and rodents that die as a result of chemical poisoning.
You’ll therefore enjoy the comfort of a cleaner and safer house without having to break the bank.
Improves Comfort When You Are Home
Pests and insects always have great timing, resurfacing just when you have guests around – which is almost always very shameful. For this reason, many homeowners don’t have peace of mind while in their own homes.
But by conducting a monthly pest control, you’ll finally be able to get rid of those creepy pests, allowing you to be comfortable in your home.
You’ll also sleep better knowing that regardless of the time a visitor pops up, your house is safe from unwanted pests.
Protects Your Reputation
Everyone wants a good reputation, especially if you’re in business. Numerous businesses have experienced a ton of backlash and lost customers just because a customer spotted one rat or cockroach.
Monthly pest control ensures that your home and office remain pest-free and clean which is crucial in maintaining your reputation.
Benefits of Professional Pest Control Service
While it’s evident that conducting monthly pest control is vital, another equally important aspect to consider is who to hire.
Regardless of whether you opt for monthly or quarterly pest control, hiring a professional pest control company is the only way you’ll enjoy the benefits of pest control.
Some of these benefits include:
Safer and Healthier Family
As earlier mentioned, pests can easily transfer illnesses to you and your family. You, therefore, need to hire pest control professionals who understand this and put your family’s health and safety first.
Professionals do this by using the right products during the pest control treatments ensuring that the pests are eliminated from your house quickly.
In recent times, more pest control companies are also opting to use green treatment solutions to ensure that the environment also remains protected.
Saves You Time
Arguably the biggest benefit of professional pest control is the time you save. Since the experts are educated and experienced in dealing with pests, they’re able to get rid of them fairly quickly and effectively.
Unlike in a DIY treatment where you’ll spend days handling a small infestation, with professionals, you’ll also have less cleaning to do. This means that you’ll always have more time to do something else.
Given that any wasted time could be a time when your pests are breeding and multiplying, hiring pros is the only way to go.
Guaranteed Results
Most pest control experts today can guarantee you quality work once you hire them. Owing to their years of experience, equipment, and education, they know how to deal with every pest.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, professional pest control companies customize plans that address the pest problem in your house.
You can, therefore, rest assured that a professional will do a better job.
Use Fewer Pesticides
Pesticides, while helpful in eliminating pests, can also be very harmful to humans and plants. That’s why most authorities today recommend looking to other treatment solutions first, before chemical solutions, to get rid of your pest problem.
Professionals know multiple ways of getting rid of pests and so, if they can avoid chemicals, they always do.
When pesticides are necessary, the experts also know how to regulate their use so that they don’t pose harm to children and pets after application.
Their knowledge of which products are safe and which aren’t also makes them better placed to work with chemical solutions than DIY pest control.
Protects Your Property From Damage
A key benefit of hiring a professional pest control company is that the technicians know what they’re doing.
A good pest control technician can determine the entry points of a pest and get rid of it before it can cause a lot of damage. Pests like termites and bed bugs, though small, can cause a lot of damage if during the inspections your pest control expert missed it.
That’s why you’re advised to hire licensed and insured pest control service companies. This way, you can be sure they are thorough during their inspections.
Peace of Mind
The most significant benefit of all hiring a professional pest control service is that you get peace of mind. You’re no longer worried about the pests coming back, or whether the chemicals used will be effective.
A professional exterminator assures you that everything will run according to plan and your house will be clean when the job is done.
You can, therefore, divert your energy and worries to other house chores.
Cheaper Long-Term
Truth be told, the initial costs of hiring a professional pest control service can be pretty steep. However, the longer you maintain your pest control plan, the cheaper it becomes.
In most cases, you’ll spend much less hiring a professional who does an effective job, than having to keep dealing with a recurring problem.
How Much Is Monthly Pest Control?
How much you’ll spend on pest control usually depends on the type of pest infestation in your home. However, most homeowners spend between $200 – $600 on the initial one-time visit.
Monthly, you can expect to spend around $50 – $80, but this could vary slightly depending on the pest.
FAQ's
The reasons for a pest infestation are different for each pest. However, the most common ones include:
- Food and water shortage
- Seasonal changes
- Weather changes
- Loss of habitat (search for warmth)
The most common signs of a pest infestation usually include the evidence of droppings and other leavings, pest activity such as sudden smells (bad odors) and sounds from specific locations of the house, dead bugs, bites, physical damage, tracks, markings, etc.
It depends. Quarterly pest control is often required in areas with humid and tropical weather which are prone to infestations. If this describes your area, then yes, quarterly pest control is necessary and worth it.
The best way to prevent an infestation is by removing any sources of water, food, and shelter from your home. You can do this by storing things in closed containers and also decluttering areas that act as hiding spots for pests.
Chemical treatments, or the use of pesticides. Over recent years, many pest control companies as well as DIYers have been using pesticides to successfully get rid of pests within the home.
