Common pests found in Minnetonka Minnesota

Mice

Ants

Wasps

Spiders​​​​​​​​

Stink Bugs​​

Boxelder Bugs

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

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

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Mice that live around Lake Minnetonka all behave similarly. When it gets cold, they become motivated to find a warm place to nest. They do not hibernate, and they also breed all year. Mice can have between 2 and 10 litters in one year. Mice are also constantly making scent trails to mark their territory and help locate entry points. If enough mice use the same entry point, the scent trail will create a visible rub mark. A rub mark is made up of grease and mud getting on their fur

We seal up the exterior of the home to prevent the mice from getting inside. We use long-lasting mouse-proof materials. Our service starts with a technician coming to the house for an inspection. We walk around the home and look for entry points and limitations that limit us from accessing every part of the home. We then give a quote and a warranty. When we come back, we seal the house we set traps inside any unfinished rooms to catch the mice that are stuck inside. It can take 30 days to catch all the mice inside after the home is sealed.

Mouse Identification

Carpenter ants are commonly found inside homes in Minnetonka. These ants are larger than most other ants in Minnesota and can be identified by being all-black or reddish-black. They also have right-angled antennas or elbowed antennas. Carpenter ants build nests inside trees and water-damaged wood. They do not eat wood like termites; they chew tunnels through the wood to store their eggs, larvae, and food. One colony can have multiple satellite nests, but the reproducing queen lives in the parent nest. The parent nest is outside in nature, in a tree or tree stump.

Length:

Worker: 0.35-0.5 inches

Male: 0.5-0.75 inches

Female: 0.75-1.0 inches

These ants can be identified by their small size and color. They can be reddish-brown or black. They have clubbed antennas and have small spines connected to their thorax. These ants build nests underground in sandy soil. They build their nests underneath patios, driveways, or sidewalks. A pavement ant nest will have a pile of sand surrounding the opening of the nest. They also build nests inside homes under cement slabs and inside crawlspaces or foundations.

Length: 0.10-0.15 inches

We provide interior and exterior ant treatments in Minnetonka. Our exterior ant treatment is the most effective, as most ants that are inside the home came in from the outside. The treatment we do creates a barrier around the foundation, patios, and basement windows. The product we use allows the ants to stay alive long enough to carry the product back with them to their nests outside. Our interior treatments are also effective, but are specifically done in the winter when the ants are no longer active outside the home. Each winter ant service comes with an exterior spring follow-up service to provide a long-lasting solution. All of our ant services come with a 1-year warranty.

Ant Identification

Social wasps need to work together and stay committed to their jobs and duties. These jobs include workers, foraging wasps, and the queen. The queen builds a brand new nest every year. Most wasps never leave the nest. Foraging wasps leave the nest to bring back nesting material or protein-based foods to feed the larvae before they turn into adults. They find nesting material by chewing on dried-out wood and turn it into the papery material that all their nests are made of. It is common for them to land on cedar shake roofs and unstained wood decks or fences. As adults, the foraging and worker wasps eat the sweet liquid that the larvae secrete.

Safety is our main concern when performing our wasp service for our Minnetonka customers. We are transparent by informing our customers whether they have a wasp nest that can be treated themselves or a nest that requires a professional. Wasp nests that require a professional are nests that are underground or inside another structure, as well as large bald-faced hornet nests. Products sold at the local hardware store don’t work for treating a nest you can’t see inside. When they are used, the spray will only affect the foraging wasps that leave the nest and won’t kill the wasps and the Queen that are protected inside. Our treatment is designed not to kill the wasps right away. Instead, the product has a delayed affect allowing them to spread it to the entire colony living in the nest before dying.

Wasp & Bee Identification

Spiders play an important role around Lake Minnetonka. They eat mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects, keeping their populations in check. But when inside or around homes, they can be considered a nuisance. Spiders are more active inside and outside of homes near bodies of water or wooded habitats. Areas with high moisture attract other insects, giving spiders more to eat. There are two different ways spiders eat insects. Some spiders hunt, and some build webs. Hunting spiders leave their burrows to go hunt for insects. While web-building spiders wait for the insects to get trapped inside their webs. Some of the most common hunting spiders in Minnesota are: wolf spiders, jumping spiders, and sac spiders. Some common web-building spiders are: the common house spider, harvestmen (daddy longlegs), and garden spider.

Our spider service focuses mostly on the outside of the home. First, we take down cobwebs and then spray the exterior of the home. Knocking down the cobwebs destroys the egg sacs and forces the adult spiders to move across the treated areas. As they cross over the treated areas, they will die in 30 minutes. When the treatment is applied, it will stick to the outside of the home for 60 days. The spiders will still be able to pick up the product even when it dries on the home. As for kids and pets, the product will not puncture the skin after it dries.

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

Boxelder bug breeding season in Minnetonka goes from July to August. After breeding, they lay their eggs on female boxelder trees. Their eggs are laid on the trunk, branches, or leaves of the tree. These trees also produce helicopter seeds. The helicopter seeds are the boxelder bug’s main source of food. Once the temperatures start to drop in the fall, the boxelder bugs leave the trees and start locating place to overwinter inside. They start to cluster on the outside of homes and buildings, specifically on south-facing walls. When they are inside in the winter, they are no longer breeding or laying eggs.

Stink bugs are an invasive insect from Asia. Their breeding season starts as soon as it gets warm in spring. They lay their eggs on various fruit and vegetable plant leaves. Stink bugs live in crop fields during the spring and summer. They feed on crops such as apples, tomatoes, sweet corn, and grapes. In the fall, the stink bugs leave the crop fields and gardens and fly to find places to overwinter. Most stink bugs stay dormant in the winter inside attics and chimneys. When the sun heats the roof, windows, and siding, it can be common to see these bugs walking around inside.

When treating for boxelder and stink bugs in Minnetonka, it’s important to be thorough. Both of these insects can swarm in large numbers and are capable of flying inside tiny cracks and crevices. We treat the entire exterior of the house, except for the windows, with our product from the foundation up to the soffits or, as high as we can reach with our equipment. The most effective time to treat for these insects is in the early fall, right before the insects start to swarm on the home. The product sticks to the surface and stays effective for 60 days. When the insects land on the exterior of the home, they will die before they can get inside for winter.

Read Our Blog: “Minnesota Fall Pests”

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

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

Call Us Today! 952-404-BOGO (2646)

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