Each season of the year brings with it varying pest pressures. The numbers and kinds of pests that may invade are influenced by the weather of the previous year and season, or could simply invade "on occasion."
These pests, that are not capable of breeding indoors and live primarily outdoors, but will enter structures for shelter, while foraging for food, or accidentally, are known as occasional invaders. In the winter the pests often are seeking warmth or hidden areas to overwinter. In the spring, the warmth can awaken the overwintering, and the rains can saturate the ground forcing others to seek dry shelter; and the summer can bring new populations of varying types. Then, as the cold of fall settles in, pests once again begin seeking shelter, and the seasonal cycle starts anew.
Although they may enter in large numbers, they do little damage, so most occasional invaders are simply considered nuisance pests because they cannot survive for long periods indoors, however the sighting of any insect or wildlife can be enough to lose a customer – or invoke a fine. Additionally, in food plants, operating rooms, clean room in pharmaceutical plant manufacturing which have zero tolerance for pests, they will be considered a contaminant. Many of these pests, such as ticks and mosquitoes also pose serious health threats.
Occasional invaders enter structures through the attraction to the structure or surroundings based on following:
No single general management method exists for all occasional invaders. But you can help reduce entry through:
To help reduce the occasional invasion of these pests, it also is important to understand what may be expected each season. While this also can vary by geographic region, following are the most common pests that may invade through the year or on a seasonal basis: