Top Ten Pests in South Africa and The Tell Tale Signs They’ve Invaded Your Home
One of the worst things that can happen has to be having your home invaded by any number of pests. In South Africa there are a large variety of different pests that can make your life a misery. Ranging from the relatively harmless House fly, to the house destroying force of termites; insect pests are up the top of the list along with many other forms of pests ranging from pigeons, to mice and rats.
Using the list of pests that they list on their site that they will remove I have created a top ten list of the worst pests that can invade the home. Along with the tell-tale signs that they have decided to enter your home uninvited.
10
Birds: Now there are many different varieties of birds that can invade your property, from the humble pigeon, to the major annoyance of the gulls. Many of these birds will take roost in your house as it is a sheltered, warm and safe environment.
They may not hurt you but because of the uric acid in the faeces which is extremely corrosive. Meaning it can strip paint, destroy documents and cause a major mess and heart ache as your once beloved items are now damaged.
Tell-tale signs: finding droppings inside of the house such as in the attic, finding feathers in your home, hearing scuttling noises that aren’t due to items in the house such as televisions and stereo systems, as well as hearing the calls of the birds from within partitions/rooms in your house.
9
Flies: They may only be small, but they carry a multitude of bacteria as well as diseases. They also tend to get into any and every open source of food, where they will feed and multiply and continue to harass you by flying about and ruining any food that isn’t completely covered up.
Tell-tale signs: seeing the adult flies buzzing around is the most common sign, as well as seeing the larvae in items of food and also the pupae themselves are a sign of an infestation.
8
Mice: The common field mouse can be a very annoying pest, eating their way through your food, electrical wires and leaving disease ridden droppings everywhere in the house.
Tell-tale signs: one of the main signs is seeing their droppings which look like small black pellets, another is seeing chewed wires, hearing scuttling sounds from within wall partitions and attics, and the last is obviously seeing the mouse within your property.
7
Rats: Essentially the same a mouse, except they tend to carry more diseases than a mouse, as well as eating more, and therefore leave more droppings, as well as having an extremely high reproduction rate. The gestating period for the brown rat is 21 days, on average the female rat can reproduce 5 times a year giving birth to a litter on average of 7, which can then reproduce at the same rat once they have matured. This can lead to more rats than anyone ever wants to come across.
Tell-tale signs: droppings, chewed wires and items, as well as seeing the rats themselves and hearing them whilst they scuttle about in the attic or wall partitions.
6
Bed Bugs: These little critters can cause a lot of irritation and distress as the signs of them can look like a rash, or lumps like an allergic reactions.
Tell-tale signs: red bite marks or red trails on your skin.
5
Fleas: More commonly they live on pets and stay there, but they can jump from host to host, including humans. Fleas feed off of the skin of their hosts and in doing so will cause an irritated bite mark which itches and can be painful/irritating.
Tell-tale signs: red irritated bite marks on your skin.
4
Ants: Not the most harmful of bugs, but ants have an empire mind and will expand everywhere and anywhere they see fit, including your home. Some of the ants however can be dangerous such as fire ants which are extremely aggressive and their sting is extremely painful.
Tell-tale signs: most of the time you will see the ants in your property, another sign in their ant hills which will appear in places where there is sufficient space.
3
Bees: Now they may all be known for their lovely honey which they produce, but their sting can cause a lot of pain and in those who are allergic to the sting can have severe injuries from it and even possibly die if they are stung enough.
Tell-tale signs: their nest is a sign that bees having infested your home, most of the time the nest will be on the outside of the house, but on certain occasions they can get inside of the house and begin nesting, another sign is the bee’s themselves.
2
Termites: These creatures are dangerous as their food source is cellulose, which is the binding chemical of any wood based items, ranging from the supports of your house, to furniture to books and paper. They will eat through any wood they see fit, and once they are settled they will nest and reproduce at an astounding rate. They can make it so that your house is unsafe to live in as they can damage the strength and integrity of your house’s main supports which tend to be made out of wooden beams.
Tell-tale signs: hollow sounding wood is a sign of termites as they have eaten a path through the beams, discarded wings (certain classes of termites have wings so as to reach their food source, cracks or distorted paint on wood surfaces, mud columns which subterranean termites use to keep themselves moist while they search for food, as well as their droppings.
1
Spiders: Although they don’t tend to invade the home in large numbers but there are many species of spider that are venomous, and can kill humans and pets with a single bite.
Tell-tale signs: spider webs are the most obvious identifier that you have spiders in the home, as well as seeing the spiders themselves.
If these creatures enter your home the best action is to call up the exterminators and have them removed swiftly as leaving them to get comfortable can cause serious issues for you and your family.