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In Minnesota, the weather in the spring can’t decide whether it wants to be spring, summer, or winter. These drastic temperature swings influence a lot about how the insects in the summer will behave. When spring starts early, the warm temperatures will motivate the insects to wake up and start mating and feeding. This causes there to be a large influx of insects all summer. When it snows in May these cold snaps can kill off insects that may have already woken up.
The most common insects to see in the spring include; moisture pests, centipedes, ticks, wasps, and ants. These insects are driven to basements in the spring as the groundwater outside increases due to snow melting and rainfall. They are also attracted to finding warmth as the temperatures at night still drop significantly. In Minnesota, a sign of spring is hearing the sub pump running all day and night. This increase in moisture makes basements and crawl spaces damp, attracting insects to the inside.
Carpenter ants are attracted to wet and water-damaged wood. This wood releases a pheromone that attracts the ants to the location. Once they find the wet wood, they chew tunnels through it to build nests. Spring is also the start of the ant mating season. Male and female ants both have wings and mate together in nuptial flight. Seeing ants with wings is a sign a new nest is going to be built nearby.
Wasps start to build their nests in mid to late spring. Every year a queen wasp will wake up from hibernation in the spring and start building a new nest from scratch. Any nests visible around a home at this time of year are dead nests. Wasps never move back to or reuse old nests but it is common for them to build new ones right next to them. Wasps in the spring are also drawn to areas of the home that get hit with the most sun. During this time of year, temperatures drop at night. This motivates the wasps to find the hottest parts of the home to warm up their bodies during the day. Sometimes they can accidentally squeeze themselves through windows and get inside to find warmth but this is not done on purpose. Wasps hate being inside and either quickly die from stress or starvation.
Centipedes and moisture pests such as; sowbugs, millipedes, earwigs, and springtails thrive inside soft wet soil underneath leaf litter and mulch. Besides centipedes, the rest of these insects help break down dead organic matter. They all act as living composters. These insects get inside when groundwater around the home increases. Mulch and piles of wet leaf litter near the home, especially inside basement windows also attract these insects to live nearby. If the insect population in the home increases, centipedes will become motivated to get inside. They are considered apex predators in the insect world and will eat any insects living inside. Centipedes are also susceptible to dying due to dehydration, which means they need to find an area with moisture and water to survive. Installing a dehumidifier in the basement or crawl space will greatly reduce the amount of moisture pests living in your home.
Ticks are another insect that appears in the spring. Spring is the time of year when their eggs hatch. Every year in the fall adult ticks lay their eggs underneath leaf litter. These eggs stay underneath the litter all winter and hatch into small nymphs in the spring. These nymphs attach themselves to smaller mammals like mice, squirrels, and chipmunks that ruffle through the leaf litter. Spring is also the time of year when one-year-old ticks will morph into adults. Adults attach themselves to larger hosts by climbing tall grasses and shrubs and waiting for deer, pets, humans, and whatever else to walk by.
All these insects become more prevalent if it’s a wet spring with lots of rainfall.
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