If you’ve seen pests around your home the time has come to call an exterminator. There are many types of common household invaders, and if you’ve spotted pests in your home there are probably more hiding out of sight. Infestation strikes homes all over the nation each year, and the more advanced an infestation becomes the harder it is to remove.

When Extermination Is Necessary

If you begin seeing bugs around your home on a regular basis the time has probably arrived to give a pest control professional a call. Even just a couple of stray pests can be the sign of a major infestation within your home. Other signs of infestation include damage caused by structural pests, holes and tears in packages of food, or sightings of droppings and dead pests.

If these pests aren’t eliminated there could be serious consequences. Household pests aren’t just an an unsightly problem, they have been linked to all sorts of diseases, including:

• Salmonellosis

• Rickettsialpox

• Choriomeningitis

• Tularemia

• Lyme disease

• Dermatitis

• Favus

• E. coli

In addition to carrying disease-forming bacteria, pests have been known to cause other health-related problems. Cockroaches, for example, spread dust around the home that can cause severe reactions in children or adults with asthma. If older homes where lead-based products may have once been used this dust could even contain trace amounts of lead.

Understanding The Types Of Extermination

• Preventive treatments – If there aren’t signs of pests found in your home an exterminator can apply treatments that keep them from finding their way in. These treatments can help you to avoid all sorts of common invaders.

• Sprays – Sprays are one of the most common types of treatments performed in American homes. During these treatments a pest control expert will spray pesticides throughout your home, causing bugs that come in contact with them to die immediately or find their way out of your home.

• Baits – Baits are a tool that are commonly employed by exterminators. This product is usually found in a gel form. An exterminator will leave small amounts of bait along the baseboards of your home as well as other areas which bugs commonly frequent. Once the pests encounter this bait they will carry it back to their nest. Once inside of the nest the colony, or sometimes just the queen, feeds on the gel. After a short period of time this leads to the fall of the colony, and the end of the your pest problem.

• Fumigation – Fumigation is only required in extremely severe infestations, or as a treatment for certain types of termites. The process involves surrounding the home with of a large tent, which is then filled with pest-killing fumes. These fumes aren’t just harmful to pests, especially in the large amounts in which they are poured into the home. Humans and pets both can suffer negative effects if exposed to these fumes. For this reason homeowners and pets are unable to enter the house during the fumigation period, as well as for several days after the fumigation takes place. Great care must be taken to ensure that ingestible products within the home are not contaminated during the process.

Selecting An Exterminator

Selecting an exterminator is easily the most important step of the pest removal process. An inexperienced pest control provider can cause more harm than good, resulting in wasted money and a worse pest problem than you were experiencing before. Never select a provider that doesn’t have a long history of keeping customers happy and homes bug-free. Many companies back their services with a money-back guarantee, and a treatment that is backed by an offer like this is the best choice.