Summertime pests thriving in unseasonable heat

In the second official week of fall, when the temperatures reached 90 degrees, exterminators were still busy with summertime house calls. Stinging pests were thriving in the unseasonable temperatures.

go2-pros exterminator Mat Haywood said, “The last couple of weeks have been really bad. We’ve seen a lot of hornets that have grown to really big sizes very quickly and yellow jackets have been really bad this year.”

Tuesday, Haywood was spraying a yellow jacket nest at a vacant home in Vandalia.

“The increased moisture and increased heat allow them to really explode in their population,” he explained.

Haywood recommended homeowners seal cracks in bricks and exposed holes or gaps in the siding to prevent the pests from nesting.

He said while stinging pests are more active in the heat, the warm temperatures keep other pests outside of homes longer.

“Because the leaves have not started to wilt yet, we really haven’t seen this massive onslaught of stink bugs like we have in the past,” he said. “The mice and rodents are kinds of holding off a little bit longer because we have warmer weather outside.”

The exterminator added that when temperatures start to cool down, homeowners can expect pests like stink bugs and rodents that typically appear in mid-September to replace stinging pests as the typical fall nuisance.