Tuesday, 9 November 2021
What do insects do in the winter?
Have you ever wondered where the vast majority of insects go in winter? During all the summer months, they perch on your plants and fruits and cause all kinds of havoc in your garden, but when winter arrives they mysteriously disappear. Could it be that they migrate to warmer areas? Or do they completely disappear? In this article, we tell you what insects do in winter.
Where do insects go in the winter?
What do insects do in winter? Where do they hide? Although humans are fully capable of adapting to the four seasons, many organisms cannot tolerate them and are forced to seek ways to avoid low temperatures. This is the case for insects, with the arrival of winter they seek a refuge to enter the period of diapause or hibernation. This process slows down their metabolism and prevents them from having to eat for a long time.
How do insects survive in the winter?
In the course of their evolution, insects have managed to develop a defense system that allows them to face any adversity. Here is how different types of insects manage to survive during the winter:
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are probably the number one enemy of your garden during the hot months. The common mosquito (Culex pipiens) spends the entire winter as an adult, while the tiger mosquito (Aëdes albopictus) does so in the egg stage.
With the arrival of the cold temperatures, you may find common mosquitoes inside your house. This is because houses are often warm, thus serving as a refuge to avoid the cold outside. If this is the case, you just have to be patient and wait for them to depart little by little. The Asian bug (Halyomorpha halys) and the green bug (Nezara viridula) also seek refuge in people’s houses during the winter.
Bees
Bees demonstrate their feminine supremacy during the winter months. When temperatures begin to drop, they gather in the center of the hive, and the worker bees gather around the queen bee. Then, the worker bees contract their abdomen muscles, releasing energy and reaching an internal temperature of around 25ºC. Since the queen bees are not born in the winter months, the drones (male bees) are excluded from the glomerulus and remain outside, since they cannot mate, which is their main function.
Butterflies
Butterflies spend the winter wrapped in a chrysalis, which is a hard double shell that protects them from the cold. The chrysalis is the intermediate state between the caterpillar and the butterfly and is the natural refuge in which they enter diapause.
Although butterflies certainly have a short life, they lay eggs before they die. To ensure that they can hatch and later give life to other butterflies, they place them in places away from the cold and from humans. You can usually find butterfly eggs in wall crevices or rocky gullies.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are almost insignificant in the cold months since they enter diapause in winter. However, due to their high anthropization, they are capable of prolonging the biological cycle by reproducing from generation to generation in hot environments, such as homes, warehouses, factories and the like.
Ladybugs
In cold months, ladybugs cope with low temperatures by gathering in large numbers under rocks, dense vegetation, or dry environments. They gather in mass because red represents a sign of danger to their predators, and the more they are, the greater the signal they give. The body of ladybugs is poisonous and its toxicity is directly proportional to the intensity of its color. This means that, when they gather, they repel possible aggressors more effectively.
What is pest management and how does it work?
Where do insects hide in the winter?
To avoid having cockroaches, ants, bed bugs and ticks in the house, the best thing you can do is to carry out checks from time to time in some parts of the house. These are the areas most affected by insects in winter:
Corners
Insects feel safe in the corners of the walls. Not only in the busiest rooms in the house but also in those that are the quietest. Places such as basements, closets, pantries or garages are places to have under control, especially if they are inside the house.
On top of furniture
It is very common for people to forget to clean the tops of furniture, so it is difficult to see if insects have settled there. Try to do a careful cleaning whenever you can and remove any insects.
Cracks
Insects love cracks! They can remain there for as long as they want and enjoy the warm temperatures of the house. They are the most difficult places to control and one of the favorite spaces of insects.
Wood
If you have wooden furniture in some areas of the house, in the garden or on the balcony, try to clean it constantly and not place it near the ground.
How to keep bugs out of the house
Tips to avoid a pest infestation in the winter
Lower temperatures are not an excuse to be less vigilant with pest control. You always have to be alert to any type of threat that could spoil your garden or do damage to your property. There are some precautions you can take to prevent winter pests from entering your home:
1. Seal outdoor entry points
All kinds of pests can pass through the space between the wall of the front door and the place where the utility pipe enters the house. It is super important that you correctly seal all entry points between the exterior and interior of your home so that insects cannot migrate from the garden to the interior of your house. It might be a problem if they get inside because they can take refuge in places like cracks and corners, and stay there during the winter months without you noticing.
2. Store your food properly
Food that is not properly sealed in the pantry represents an irresistible treat for pests such as beetles and moths, as well as rodents and other insects that look for food during the winter. It's important to make sure all food containers are tightly closed.
3. Hire an extermination company
To avoid any type of risk of contagion in the home environment, you must first solve the root problem. It is highly recommended to intervene quickly through professional pest control, and not rely on home methods. If you are not cautious, pests can spread quickly in a short period of time, causing all kinds of damage to your garden and property.
Depending on the pest and the level of infestation, V Extermination will determine the most appropriate treatment method. There are many factors to take into account. We take care of checking every small space (walls, windows, cavities, etc.) and we take all necessary precautions if there are pets, bird nests or flocks near the house or in the infected area.
Browse pest management packages
4. Humidity control
Pests need water and food sources to survive, and leaky pipes, clogged drains, and other damp areas are ideal for them. It is essential to pay close attention to bathrooms and kitchens, as they tend to be more humid than other areas of the house, which makes them attractive to roaches.
5. Clean your house
Clutter makes it easier for pests to hide and stay warm. Even if Christmas decorations can make this more difficult, try to keep storage areas neat and clean. It's also a great idea to store your household items on shelves as much as possible.
6. Be careful when traveling
Bed bugs, for example, can withstand low temperatures without problems, and since winter is usually a month when people are on vacation, it is important to pay attention to the signs of bed bugs when traveling to avoid bringing them back to your home.
7. Do regular checkups
The best way to avoid pests is to take preventive measures. That's why V Extermination offers customer pest control packages adapted to your sector (residential, commercial or agricultural):
- Protection program against mealworms
- Protection program against flies
- Protection program against rats and mice
- Visits and reports by our expert technicians for quality control purposes
- Free consultation service
- Free pest identification service
- 24-Hour emergency service 1 888 735-5534
- Wildlife control (capture and relocation)