Slow Moving Scorpions…
You may have noticed the weather dipping. It’s beautiful outside now, which can lead many to think that pests like scorpions and termites are done for the season. In fact, the opposite is true.
Scorpions and termites are simply seeking better shelter to keep them warm and fed during the chilly winter months. As they seek out the warm places to spend the winter, they’ll find their way into your home.
Let’s take a flashback to a blog we posted last winter on the topic of scorpions, and other pests, during winter…
When it is mild winter weather, so many pest populations stay active. Although there is a common myth that scorpions die off during the winter time, they don’t, they just hibernate. In fact, since scorpions hate cold weather, they often choose a time to hibernate in homes where they can stay warm throughout the wintertime. Here is what you need to be aware of about scorpion operation in the winter months.
Scorpions are very resilient insects, and just like a termite, they can survive the freezing weather and bark scorpions hibernate during the winter. While scorpions are creatures, naturally live in solitary, bark scorpions hibernate together in clusters of up to 30 scorpions.
Even though scorpions can survive cold temperatures, they don’t like the cold, so they hide in warm places in the winter. As the temperatures begin to decrease in the fall, scorpions search for warm dark places to hibernate. Many times, this indicates that they will make their way into your home during the winter months in order stay warm. Once they are inside, they will find any warm, dark crevice to hide. Scorpions only need an opening 1/16” wide to intrude into your home so that they can be found in crevices between baseboards and floors, behind furniture, layers of clothes and even in shoes.
You will likely start to notice scorpions’ activities in your home during winter as the days start to get a little bit warmer. It is common to see people requesting for scorpion control when the weather starts to heat up, and one of the widespread misconceptions is that scorpion season is approaching. Indeed, these scorpions found in your house were most likely hibernating in a dark, warm crevice all winter long. Sometimes, they aren’t noticed at all until the outside temperatures start to warm up, and scorpions come out of their hiding place.
To tackle scorpions’ scourge, prevention is one of the best processes you can embark upon to ensure winter control of scorpions. You start by making sure that all entry points are blocked off, and no space enough to accommodate the poisonous insect is left open. Scorpions can break into a home through the tiniest space, so it’s imperative to make sure that your home is sealed at utility entry points, pipes, and doors. A firm rule of thumb is that if you can see daylight into your home through an entry point, it probably needs to be replaced or repaired. For instance, changing old weather stripping on doors will help prevent scorpions from accessing your home. Another good step to take to avoid scorpion entry into your home is to make sure trees, shrubbery and foliage are trimmed away from your house, and not to overwater plants as scorpions thrive on water.
If you have taken the necessary steps to repair common entry points into your house, your home is adequately prepared to begin preventative scorpion treatment. A licensed pest control company can then come in to exterminate scorpions and focus on areas that are difficult to seal. A precautionary approach to winter scorpion control will set you up for success in wintertime. You don’t to let your guard down because it is wintertime, insects like a scorpion, termites are hiding somewhere in the dark and warm crevices, furniture present in your home.
