Business is hopping for pest control companies, which say an unusually warm spring has brought ants, gnats, bees and spiders into homes weeks earlier than normal.
But the critters don’t consult calendars before their invasions, said Missy Henriksen of the National Pest Management Association in Fairfax, Va.
“It’s kind of like Mother Nature’s alarm clock has been set early for bugs,” Henriksen said.
Fewer hard freezes this winter played a role. Queens in ant and stinging-insect colonies that might have died in colder months survived and kept the groups growing. In some parts of the country, termite colonies have been spotted as early as February, Henriksen said.
Unexpected April visitors at her Indian Head Park town house pushed Beverley Atkins into action.
“Ants had invaded my home … the big, black kind!” said Atkins, who dashed to her neighborhood grocery store for traps. The earliest she could remember ants scouting for a crumb in past years was May, she said.
The early arrivals might creep out homeowners, but they’ve given a boost to pest control services. Sales were up 3.4 percent to $6.52 billion last year, and exterminators say they stand to benefit more from the flurry of calls that started last month.
“A lot of people don’t look at pest control as a negotiable item,” Henriksen said.
Count Angela Myers among homeowners who call in a professional.
“I said. ‘What the heck?”’ Myers said about her discovery of ants in her Bronzeville condo. “‘I never have ants.”
She summoned an exterminator. “I asked him, ‘What’s the deal with the ants?’ He said, ‘It’s the season.'”
Searches for pest control companies on Angie’s List, a consumer service review website, grew 48 percent in March compared with March 2011, officials said.
“The season has people caught a little off guard,” said website founder Angie Hicks. “Oftentimes, this is two or three months later in the season on their to-do lists.”
Sales of Terro insecticide spray and liquid bait are up 30 percent, said Stewart Clark, director of research and development for the retail pest control brand.
“Once we had four to five 80-degree days, we have seen historic sales of ant control products,” he said. “The ants are marching early this year and people have flocked to the stores.”
At Elmhurst-based Anderson Pest Solutions, call volume rose 42 percent in March compared with the same period last year, said J.T. Barnard, director of operations. New sales were up 69 percent.
“It’s been a great first quarter,” Barnard said. “When it comes to pests, people are willing to go ahead and pay $100 for a service because they wanted to get rid of the problem.”
The visitors can pose more than a nuisance. Termites cause more than $5 billion in damage each year, Henriksen said, and most of that isn’t covered by homeowners insurance. Other insects, like mosquitoes and ticks, can carry diseases.
The pests’ early arrival will likely become more common, said Chris Dietrich, curator of insects at the Prairie Research Institute’s Illinois National History Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“It’s happening more and more frequently in the last few decades, probably due to climate change,” Dietrich said. “We’ve seen a gradual warming and we do get these warm spells more frequently. Whenever there’s a mild winter, more things tend to survive the winter and there can be larger numbers to start the season.”
A couple of hard freezes, though, could wipe out a lot of bugs, Dietrich said.
Rich Smith, director of residential and commercial services at Rose Pest Solutions, said the Northfield-based operation has already seen recent cooler weather slowing business to that of a typical busy season.
