Common Pests in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Mice

Ants

Wasps

Spiders

Boxelder Bugs

Stink Bugs

To protect your home from insects join our Insect Protection Plan (IPP)

If you have questions, concerns, or want to schedule an appointment 

Call Us Today! 952-404-BOGO (2646)

Mice are social creatures and live in groups of a few males, multiple females, and their offspring. They are polyandrous, so one male will mate with multiple females. They also will mate all year and do not have a breeding season. A single mouse can have 2 to over 10 litters in one year, and each litter is capable of producing 10 pups. To feed these large groups, mice spend a lot of time foraging and hoarding food. They become more noticeable in the fall as they start looking for areas to overwinter. Unfortunately, mice do not hibernate. In the winter, they spend more time inside than out. Mice use scent trails to help other mice in their group find their way inside. Mice are also nocturnal and have poor eyesight, which is why they depend on their scence of smell over anything else.

Our seal-up service is extremely thorough and is designed to solve a home’s mouse problem for good. For each entry point, we seal we make sure that the hole is backed with a material that is impossible for a mouse to chew through. We use long-lasting materials like hardware cloth (in the photo). We then use foam or silicon on top of the material to keep the material in place, just in case the mice try to chew through the foam, like in the image above. Our service is also unique in offering full 2-year warranties or 2 visits 2-year warranties. 

Minnesota Mouse Identification

Ants are considered social insects. As a social insect, each ant has the job of providing for their colony. Ant colonies first get started by swarmers performing a nuptial flight. This happens when two winged ants mate. After mating, the female will find a place to start her colony. She will lay her eggs and eat her wings to be able to provide nutrients to the eggs so they become workers. As workers, their sole purpose is to forage for food to provide for the Queen, her offspring, and the rest of the colony. Once a colony is well established, only about 10% of the ants leave the nest while the rest stay behind providing for the larvae and pupae.

BOGO’s ant service consists of treating the foundation. We also spray around decks and trees that touch the home. The treatment that is being used is specifically designed for social insect colonies. The treatment works by not killing the ants that are inside right away. Which is what all department store products do. These products do not affect the queen or 90% of the colony that doesn’t leave the nest. Our product lets the ants that are outside bring the product back to the nest. From there, it will spread to the rest of the colony. 

Minnesota Ant Identification

The most common wasps in Minnesota include; the paper wasp, yellow jacket, and bald-face hornet. These wasps behave similarly as they are all social insects. Each wasp is given a job to help grow and expand the colony. One of the jobs is foraging for food which includes; insects, sugar from fruits, human foods, and nectar. For most wasps, insects are their main source of food. Another job for a wasp includes finding building materials to grow the size of the nest. Wasps will find an area with dry unstained wood such as a deck to chew on the wood and mix it with their saliva to create the pulp material that all their nests are made out of. These 2 jobs are extremally important but only about 10-20% of the wasps in the nest leave the nest to forage. The rest stay behind and help with raising the larva into pupa and then into workers.

Our service for ants and wasps is similar. This is because both insects live in social colonies. The wasp nest where our product is especially effective when the wasp nest is hidden inside a wall, underground, or hanging from a tree. With these nests department store products only affect the wasps that leave the nest. Our product is only given to licensed professionals. This product lets the wasps that leave the nest carry it back to spread to the rest of the colony.

Minnesota Wasp & Bee Identification

Without spiders, our ecosystems here in Minnesota would be overrun with insects. They are the oldest living pest control service. There have been spiders on our planet for 300 million years. With that being said, spiders can still be a nuisance. No one likes seeing cobwebs outside or inside their home. If not taken care of right away, a spider problem can get out of hand quickly. One spider egg sac can hatch out hundreds of baby spiders. 

Spiders are drawn to areas that are infested with other insects. Many of these places have one thing in common and that is water. Spiders are also drawn to enter homes that have a moisture problem. Moisture is another factor in attracting insects. So in short spiders go where other insects go as they are their main source of food.

The spider service we provide focuses mostly on the exterior of the home. First, we walk around the property knocking down any cobwebs that we can reach with our extended brush. After that, we go around and spray along the foundation, corners, trim boards, and soffits. If an interior treatment is needed we will also do this in the unfinished rooms or basement where there is excessive moisture.

Read Our Blog: “We Love Living Near Woods and Water and so do Spiders!”

Boxelder bugs are commonly seen during the fall in Minnesota. In the fall, the bugs are searching for areas to overwinter. In the winter, most box elders stay in a dormant state to preserve energy. Although it’s common for them to be seen crawling inside homes. This usually only happens on sunnier winter days. On these days, the sun warms up the outside of the house to allow some of the insects to thaw out. After the winter is over, the box elders start to leave their winter dwellings and start searching for female boxelder trees. These trees provide the insects with a place to mate, lay eggs, and eat. Their mating season goes from July-August. They also feed on the helicopter seeds that the trees produce.

Stink bugs are an invasive species that came from Eastern Asia. They were first spotted in Minnesota in 2010, and since then, they have multiplied drastically. They are notorious for destroying large fields of crops in the summer season. They mate, lay eggs, and eat tomatoes, sweet corn, grapes, apples, and other crops. Their mating season occurs soon after winter. They lay their eggs on various plant leaves. After hatching, the bugs become a nuisance as they leave the crop fields and start searching for areas to overwinter.

 The most effective time to treat boxelder bugs and stink bugs is in the early fall, before the first frost. The reason for this is that the frost triggers them to start landing and going inside homes for winter. After the frost, there have already started getting inside. When we do the treatment, we spray the home from top to bottom, avoiding the windows. The insects that land on the home will still die before they get inside.

Read Our Blog: “Minnesota Fall Pests”

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To protect your home from insects join our Insect Protection Plan (IPP)

If you have questions, concerns or want to schedule an appointment 

Call Us Today! 952-404-BOGO (2646)

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