Amarillo experts warn about rise in indoor pests

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Amarillo experts are warning community members and home owners of a rise in pests indoors.

The extreme heat and drought-like conditions coupled with cool temperatures is pushing insects and rodents to search for water and shelter.

“People starts calling us like crazy because spiders start coming out of the fields,” said Owner of Bugs Burney Pest Control, Bruce Burney.

Scorpions, cockroaches and millipedes have also been especially active this year.

“If they’re kinda cruising along outside and they find a temperature gradient or something that’s a little more feasible for them that they want to do and there’s a way to get into that, they’re gonna access it,” said Entomologist for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Wizzie Brown.

Brown says checking weather stripping, screens of windows and doors and sealing weep holes is key to keeping critters out.

“You’re looking for any accessible area, so just trying to keep them outside and not having them come in is gonna be the big things that’s gonna help,” said Brown.

Bruce Burney urges residents to keep an eye out for borer pests who go into trees and shrubs around your home.

“If you’ve got a lot of foliage around your house, something for them to harbor in, you wanna try to cut that harboring area out. You wanna just make sure it’s clean to where if something is there, you can kinda see it,” said Burney.

The goal is to avoid pest problems rather than treat them once they have already occurred.

“It’s not that we’re saying, ‘Hey you need to get rid of these things,’ cause a lot of these can be beneficial as predators or decomposers in the environment. So as long as they’re outside, you know, that’s cool, we wanna keep them there,” said Brown.

For a list of information on how you can deal with pests in your home, click here.

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