Are you worried about pests intruding on your home?

Most people aren't sure what kind of signs to look out for. When you don't know what to search for, it's easy to miss some of the tell-tale signs of a pest invasion.

With a new school year starting, here are several tips to keep your family safe and pest free.  With messy backpacks, dirty lunch boxes and doors left open, your home is at an increased risk to several types of pest

When you think about summer, things like barbecues and beach trips joyously come to mind. However, besides all of the fun in the sun, the season is also known as a prime time for mosquitoes.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have received a five-year grant of $2.44 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, to investigate the role hormones play in the female mosquito’s ability to use human blood for egg production.

ORLANDO, Florida — Clements Pest Control has acquired East-West Pest Control, a provider of pest control and termite services in the Orlando area. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. East-West Pest Control was founded in 1995 by David Zack, Sr., and currently services residential and commercial clients throughout central Florida.

There is nothing like an infestation of cockroaches, termites, stink bugs or other common household pests to make your skin crawl. Though you have probably thought about packing up your things and leaving, moving isn’t the answer as these pests can pop up anywhere and in any household.

One of the first facts I learned when I started my career in the pest management industry was that rats are neophobic and mice are not. The belief was that rats are wary of new objects in their environment while mice are more inquisitive and tend to investigate new objects.

“Start with your windowsills,” advises Rob Dunn. “Light fittings are often a graveyard, too.” As households across the United States decorate their homes with plastic spiders for Halloween, Dr. Dunn, an applied ecologist at North Carolina State University, is encouraging people to search out the real thing

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Clements Pest Control has acquired Douglas Horticulture, a fast-growing lawn and ornamental pest control company based in the West Palm Beach area. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

It’s mosquito season and it’s almost impossible to avoid being bitten.  Concerns about mosquito-borne viruses like Zika and West Nile are renewed every year, but a mosquito-borne disease thought only to be transmitted to animals seems to have jumped the barrier to humans.

Summertime is great, but as for the many pests it brings? Not so much. Because the warmer months bring so many creatures out of hibernation, homeowners across the country often see a spike in pest activity during summer.

Illnesses from mosquito, tick, and flea bites have tripled in the U.S., with more than 640,000 cases reported during the 13 years from 2004 through 2016.  Nine new germs spread by mosquitoes and ticks were discovered or introduced into the United States during this time.

Before a U.S. farm voluntarily recalled 207 million eggs, government inspectors found rodents scurrying in manure pits, equipment that was coated with grime and food debris, and outside a swarm of “large flying insects too numerous to count.”

Unsanitary conditions were found during multiple inspections…

If you keep swatting at a mosquito, will it leave you alone?

Some scientists think so. But it depends.

Some blood meals are worth a mosquito risking its life. But if there’s a more attractive or accepting alternative to feed from, a mosquito may move on to that someone or something instead.

University of Florida researchers say “pretty” termites do the most damage to structures. Younger colonies produced less-symmetrical (“ugly”) termites, while more mature ones produced more symmetrical (“pretty”) ones. That’s because younger termite colonies are under more stress.

The Environmental Protection Agency is allowing a Lexington, Ky., biotech company to release mosquitoes infected with bacteria called Wolbachia pipientis to help prevent the spread of certain diseases like Zika and yellow fever, according to Newsweek.

Keep your holiday leftovers airtight! Rodents and bugs can live off crumbs from days to weeks! Keep fresh fruit in your fridge until you’re hungry and ready to eat! Once finished, place all peels, cores and left overs in baggies BEFORE throwing away. This extra precaution keeps unwanted pest from laying eggs in fruit carcasses.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida health officials are reporting the state’s first case this year of the Zika virus transmitted by a mosquito, the Associated Press reported. Florida’s Department of Health said Thursday a Manatee County couple traveled to Cuba, and one of them contracted Zika while on the Caribbean island and was bitten by a mosquito after returning home.