Pests that are outdoors, in small numbers whom are not a nuisance or creating damage to their surroundings are generally not something we in Ontario should worry about. The real pest concerns come when pests pose a risk to your home, your dwellings and your health. These risks include, breathing complications, allergies, food poisoning, general illness, and the spread of disease. Pests can also do an abundance of damage to your home, your place of work, and not to mention your mental health.
How do pests affect your home and health?
A look into some of the most common pests here in Ontario would reveal just how dangerous not taking care of a pest issue can be.
Mice: Mice are disease spreaders. They can spread diseases such as hantavirus, salmonella, and listeria through their urine, droppings, and saliva. Mice have teeth that never stop growing. In order to maintain their teeth, they have to continually chew in order to wear them down. Many house fires are due to electrical wires being severed due to a mouse infestation.
Rats: Rats, like mice, can transfer several diseases to people, pets, and livestock. Disease transfer is most common through biting and/or contamination of food. Again, like mice, rats have a need to maintain their teeth by constant chewing and with rats generally being larger than mice, their bite/chewing tends to take a more disastrous toll on that of which it’s chomping into. Rats also tend to bring in fleas and ticks into the home easily spreading them to house pets and people.
Cockraches: Cockroaches are VERY unsanitary. They scavenge for their food by crawling through just about everything. They also eat just about anything. Their droppings, saliva and decomposing bodies contain allergen proteins which have been linked to numerous health issues, specifically breathing issues (most dangerous in children – asthma). There are a vast amount on bacteria spread by cockroaches, namely, salmonella, food-borne illness’, parasitic worms, and various human pathogens.
How do I stop pests from entering my dwelling?
Easy… You pest proof… Or better yet, you call us, and we will go through the pest proofing with you.
For more information on pest proofing, please refer to these articles: