All living organisms go through some form of the life cycle. For pests around your home and business, it is essential to understand how the pest life cycle works. For effective pest control, you have to break the life cycle of the pest. This involves multiple, targeted pest control treatments over a serious of months at times. An annual pest control treatment plan is your best tool for solving pest problems.
What is the pest life cycle?
To put it plainly, a pest’s life cycle is the time it takes for an egg to grow, mature, and produce new eggs. Most insects follow three definite stages in their life cycle: Growth, Maturation, and Reproduction.
GROWTH
Once an egg is laid, it goes through a growth stage. Pests that have a shorter life expectancy typically experience rapid growth from egg to reproducing organism. Mice are a good example of this. Some insect populations have multiple, distinct intervals within the growth stage, such as Black Widow spiders. Black widows go through a nymph stage after hatching, prior to becoming a juvenile, and then finally a fully mature adult. During the growth stage, pests are at their most vulnerable to predators, but can be more difficult to target for pest control.
MATURATION
After initial growth, many insects will experience a juvenile stage. This can be a rapid process of only a couple of weeks to a 2-3 month period. These sub-adults may have some of the features of adults of their species, but typically they look physically different (whether it be size or coloring) and most importantly they lack sexual maturity. External factors, such as a drought (like we are experiencing from Newcastle to El Dorado Hills) can also speed up the process. You may have noticed this summer that there are an awful lot of spiders hanging around.
REPRODUCTION
The successful completion of a pest’s life cycle ends in their full maturity and the production of offspring. Many pests reach the end of their life cycle when they reproduce. Some pests will produce multiple generations of offspring over several years, such as the Wolf spider, increasing their bloodline’s chances of survival. This is all the more reason to control your local pest population as they can and will grow exponentially.
Understanding the pest life cycle is critical to effective home pest control. At Pro Active Pest Control, we are very familiar with pests local to Sacramento, Roseville, and El Dorado Hills. Our knowledge of each individual pest’s life cycle is how we can effectively treat pest problems around your home and business. Contact Pro Active Pest Control today for helping controlling your pests’ life cycles.