Longboat Key is a peaceful town with beautiful landscapes. Unfortunately, thanks to the year-round hot tropical climate, it’s also home to numerous pests, rodents, and insects. The lack of a cold winter means these unwanted intruders make their way into homes regardless of the season. As a result, cockroaches, mosquitoes, spiders, rodents, and others are a common concern for Longboat Key residents.
However, the nuisance doesn’t have to last. Routine pest control inspections help remove traces of these trespassers and reduce the likelihood of an outright infestation. Doing so also keeps damage to a minimum, which is especially important for plants, property, and the health of residents.
Pests such as termites, ants, and carpenter bees often invade homes and feed on wood, undermining the building’s structural integrity. In addition, rodents chew on electrical wires, creating a fire hazard. Pests are also dangerous for humans, pets, and plants. They transmit hazardous diseases, viruses, and bacteria that can harm a person’s immunity in the long term. Pets can eat contaminated food and suffer poisoning, while the plants often get their stem and green parts consumed by the invaders.
Longboat Key property owners should contact a professional pest control service when they suspect that they have unwanted pests in their buildings and homes and design a regular schedule for pest control services.
Longboat Key, Florida
Longboat Key was the favorite resort of the Timucuan and Caloosa Indians for a long time. The town was named after the longboats left behind by the Spaniards. Local legend says that Juan Anasco, one of the explorers, believed the local Indians were unwelcoming, and the explorer and his crew fled and left their longboats on the shore.
In 1891, Thomas Mann, a Civil War veteran, settled on the north end of the island with his sons and received a 144-acre land grant. His sons received another 144 acres. Numerous homes were built on the Key at the beginning of the 20th century, and some still stand. John Ringling later purchased hundreds of acres in the south end and built the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which was never finished and later torn down.
The town was incorporated in 1955, and its development peaked over the next two decades. The Longboat Key Towers remains the first condominium ever built.
Today, Longboat Key is a busy town known for its waterfront golfing, luxury resorts, and fine dining. Its 12 miles of white sand beaches make it a luxury Gulf Coast resort.
Common Pests in Homes in Longboat Key
The Sunshine State hosts an array of pests due to its hot climate, especially during the summer. Typical residential and commercial property intruders include ants, spiders, mosquitos, wasps, fleas, ticks, mice, and rats.
Ants often look for shelter on higher ground once the rain starts and often head indoors searching for food. Fire ants belong to the most commonly found ant types in Florida. These ants create dome-like nests up to three feet in height, and their colonies can reach over 250,000 worker ants. Common places for ants to nest include windows, driveways, and yards.
Stinging insects such as mosquitoes, wasps, and bees make it hard to enjoy Longboat Key’s open spaces. Their bites can spread serious diseases to humans and pets. Their highest population is in summer when the insects can create nests in a home-opening, near the foundation, or under overhangs. It’s essential to watch out for the nests to avoid getting stung.
Other insects that cause concern are fleas. Fleas can jump tremendous distances, often propelling their tiny bodies up to 200 times their length. It’s simple for them to move from one host to another and into the environment. Their bodies have evolved to endure harsh conditions, and the hard outer coating makes them hard to crush. Fleas typically hide in the floor cracks, furniture, or bedding.
Spiders are among the most feared pests in Longboat Key homes. They prefer dark, cool places that make it convenient to spin webs and hunt for food. Except for the brown recluse and black widow spiders, most Florida spiders are harmless. Bites from either of these spiders can cause muscle pain, paralysis, and even death.
COCKROACHES
Cockroaches reside in cool, dark places and can live up to one year. The bugs spend most of the time in garbage cans, sewers, and similar areas where they pick up on germs, parasites, and bacteria. Longboat Key residents find cockroaches both inside and outside of their homes. Water and dampness attract the roaches, and homeowners can often find them under the kitchen sink, bathroom, or basement.
Leaving garbage cans open invites cockroaches, so it’s best to cover them with tight-fitting lids.
This pest typically heads indoors looking for water and food. Droppings inside the home resemble ground pepper and pose a health concern for the property residents, including the pets. Cockroaches can also cause dysentery, roundworm, viruses, fungus, tapeworms, and allergies. These bugs impose a particular risk for people with asthma.
BED BUGS
Bed bugs reach peak activity during summer as they thrive in hot, humid weather. They can lay colonies in mattresses, beds, cracks, or crevices inside a home. Since the insects are skilled at hitching rides in luggage, clothing, and shoes, they travel far and wide during peak vacation seasons. Common signs of bed bug infestation can include:
Small, red bites found in clusters
Blood spots
Brown streaks on fabrics
Casings lying between the mattresses or the head- or foot-board.
These common Longboat Key pests require immediate attention. Their bite makes the skin itchy and can also cause welts. Bed bug infestations take time to make their presence known, and the fall is the busiest time for their extermination.
TERMITES
Termites top the list of Longboat Key’s most common and dangerous pests. There are two types of termites common to the area.
Drywood termites live in dry wood above the ground.
Subterranean termites typically seek water-damaged areas of wood.
Both types destroy wood, resulting in uneven floors, warped walls, sagging ceilings, or bubbled wallpaper and paint.
Ridding a building of termites calls for the most aggressive termite solutions available, often only available through professional companies. However, due to the nature in which termites invade and the amount of damage they can cause, prevention is essential. That’s why professional pest control and extermination services should perform regular termite and other pest checks.
Signs You Need Immediate Pest Control in Longboat Key, FL
PROPERTY DAMAGE.
There are many sure signs of property damage. It may be gnawed rugs, furniture, clothes, or walls. There may be thin tunnels that appear along the walls. In the best pest infestation scenario, Longboat Key homeowners only have to get rid of a chewed sweater. However, far greater damage can occur once rodents gnaw on the electrical wires, creating a potential fire hazard.
URINE AND DROPPINGS.
Traces of urine and droppings in the pantry, kitchen, or other rooms in the house means there may be rats or mice present. The infected urine and droppings of the rodents can carry deadly diseases. Therefore, it’s essential to have a pest control professional ensure the rodents or pests are eliminated and their waste safely removed.
RUSTLING OR SCRATCHING SOUNDS.
The most common reason for rustling and scratching sounds in a house is a pest invasion. Often, a rodent invasion reveals itself with scampering noises across the ceiling or the walls.
PEST SIGHTINGS.
Longboat Key homeowners who see a cockroach, mouse, termite, or a bed bug anywhere in the house should know that there is most likely more than one on the property. Once infestations grow, colony members are forced out of the nest, ultimately appearing around the property.
UNUSUAL RODENTS.
Rats and mice are the most common home invaders, but larger rodents such as squirrels can also find their way into a house. The frightened animal can cause severe damage to the property and injury to the homeowner. A pest control professional knows how to deal with all types of rodents.
The nuisance of pest infestation doesn’t have to last forever.
Kinder Safe Pest Solutions provides reliable pest control to residential and business customers.
Give us a call, and our professional team will get down to solving your pest issue quickly and effectively.