Pest Control Services in
Fort Collins, CO

Stop the invasion of ants, beetles, spiders, wasps, yellow jackets and other pests that may enter your home or business from the outside. Front Range Pest Control of Fort Collins Inc. exterior pest barrier will prevent these unwanted critters and bugs from migrating into your home or business.

Almost anywhere in the state one travels, ants will be the most common insects that can be found in yards, gardens, fields and forests. Tremendous numbers of ants normally reside in a typical house lot, although most lead unobserved lives underground or otherwise out of sight. Often it is only when they occur indoors or produce their periodic mating swarms that they come to human attention.

Overall, the activities of ants are quite beneficial. Many feed on other insects, including pest insects. Ant scavenging helps to recycle organic matter and their tunneling is useful in aerating and mixing soils. On the other hand, ants sometimes promote the activities of certain plant pests, notably aphids, that excrete sweet sugary honeydew that is favored by many ants.

Ants most prominently become problems when they are found in homes. Most ants found indoors in Colorado are merely foragers, seeking food or water in a home but returning to colonies they have established outdoors. A small number of the ants found indoors may become more permanent residents and establish a nest within a building. This ability to nest indoors is most often associated with pharoah ants; some colonies of pavement ants and carpenter ants may establish within a building.

are ants to have first found their way to Colorado only in the past few decades but now are often the most common species that people notice (Figure 2). They characteristically produce small mounds of soil at entrances of their nest, and nests are often located under pavement or rocks (Figure 3). They are small ants (1/10-1/16-inch), dark-brown colored and have fine grooves that line their head. Pavement ants forage a wide variety of foods, usually consistently preferring greasy materials. Feeding habits shift during the season with higher protein materials being sought when young are being reared and sugars more favored at other times.

are a gross thing to find in your house. Many times people find them near a water source, like a drain or a toilet. People usually assume that the centipede got there by crawling up through the drain pipe, but that actually is not true. Although centipedes do live in damp areas, they do not crawl around through pipes.

The female black widow spider has a shiny round, black body with a red hourglass shape on the underside of the abdomen. This shape can be broken or appear almost in spots. Sometimes there can be red markings on the top of the abdomen as well. The male is smaller and tan with a brown hourglass shape on the underside of the abdomen. The black widow’s venom is a neurotoxin, which affects the nervous system and can be quite painful. Front Range Pest Control of Fort Collins Inc.’s Spider Control and Spider Removal Specialists are fully licensed and insured for your Peace of Mind.

Wolf spiders will inject venom freely if continually provoked. Symptoms of their venomous bite include swelling, mild pain and itching. Though usually considered harmless to humans, the bite of some species may be painful. In the past, necrotic bites have been attributed to some South American species, but further investigation has indicated that those problems that did occur were probably actually due to bites by members of other genera. Australian wolf spiders have also been associated with necrotic wounds, but careful study has likewise shown them not to produce such results.

The infection is transmitted by mosquitoes. They acquire the virus after biting an infected bird, and then they bite us. In 2006 there were 4269 cases of West Nile Virus with 177 deaths. Virus transmission occurs mostly during warm weather, when mosquito populations are active. In the northern part of the country, infections occur mainly in the summer and early fall, but in the warmer southern regions, the virus can be transmitted all year. The incubation period – or the period between when you’re bitten by an infected mosquito and the appearance of signs and symptoms of the illness – ranges from two to 14 days.

have very poor eyesight, and they adapt to this shortcoming by urinating and defecating almost constantly. They follow these trails of urine and droppings (also call pellets) to find their way around their environment, and in and out of your home or business. These droppings can create odor problems, as well as diseases, including salmonella, hantavirus, tularemia, and many others. Homes with a rat infestation will often require rat control and rat removal with extensive repair and cleanup (disinfecting) in order to make them safe to live in.

There are three types of rats that typically cause rat control problems in the United States. They are the Packrat (also called a Woodrat), the Norway Rat and the Roof Rat. The Packrat has a rat appearance with a long bushy tail, large ears, and big black eyes. Packrats are nest builders and use twigs, sticks, and any other available debris to construct their nest. They can be quite destructive getting into everything and will opportunistically move into attics, walls, crawl spaces, and even vehicle engine compartments. They will often damage electrical wiring and easily become a nuisance. The Norway Rat invades homes, but his cousin the Roof Rat is a better climber and even more destructive and is often found in the attics of homes and businesses. Although they are different species, they inflict the same type of damage and cause the same dangers to you, your family, and your property.

Rat Control and extermination of rats involves a series of steps in many situations. The first step is rat removal, which usually means trapping all of the rats living in the structure. Rodenticides or poisons are usually not the best way for rat removal of the infestation initially because they often cause you to have dead and decomposing animals in the structure of your home, which can lead to further contamination, terrible odors, and insect problems. A thorough inspection to identify entry points on your home will often reveal a need for exclusion to prevent reentry once the initial rat removal is completed. Because rats can squeeze through very small openings, it is often impossible to fully “rat proof” a structure. In many cases, we can implement a rat control program to prevent are infestation which will include rat control re treatment if needed.

Voles are small rodents that grow to 4-8 inches depending on species. They can have 5-10 litters per year. Gestation takes for 3 weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a month. Needless to say, vole populations can rapidly grow from one or two to many within a very short period of time. Since litters average 5-10 young, a single vole in the yard can become 50 or more in less than a year.

Voles are commonly mistaken for other small animals. Moles, gophers, mice, rats and even shrews have similar characteristics and behavioral tendencies. Since voles will commonly use burrows with many exit holes, they can be mistaken for gophers or some kind of ground squirrel. Voles can create and will often times utilize old abandoned mole tunnels thus confusing the land owner into thinking that moles are active. When voles find their way into the home, they are readily identified as mice or young rats. In fact, voles are unique and best described as being a little bit like all the other animals they are so commonly thought to be.

Like moles, they will readily thrive on small plants. Like shrews they will eat dead animals and like mice or rats, they can live on most any nut or fruit. Additionally, voles will target plants more than most other small animals. It is here where their presence is mostly evident. Voles will readily “girdle” or eat the bark of small trees and ground cover much like a porcupine. This girdling can easily kill young plants and is not healthy for trees or other shrubs.

Voles love to eat succulent root systems and will burrow under plants or ground cover they are particularly fond of and eat away until the plant is dead. Bulbs in the ground are another favorite target for voles; their excellent burrowing and tunneling gives them access to sensitive areas without clear or early warning. A vole problem is often only identifiable after they have destroyed a number of plants.

If you know or suspect your home may be in need of vole, rat or mice control or removal, don’t wait! Call Front Range Pest Control of Fort Collins Inc. We have Rodent Removal Specialists who are fully licensed and insured. We are experts at rodent control, removal and prevention of rodents in both residential and commercial areas.