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Experts: Warm Winter Means More BugsFrom the CBS 8 Troy Newsroom-- When you mix the mild winter we've had with the unseasonably warm spring, you get an outcome most homeowners don't want to hear. Experts are predicting some of the worst bug infestations we've ever had. Experts say pest problems are hitting homes and yards about a month earlier than years past, and say this summer is going to bug everybody.
James Clower takes pride is his yard. "I usually try two or three times a week to be out in the yard, and usually cut once a week," he says. So it's no surprise, Clower notices when something is off. "We feel like it's early this time that we've experienced mosquitoes," he says. "We weren't prepared to be this early." Troy University Biology Professor Alvin Diamond says this year, the critters have come out a month before schedule, and says you can blame the little frost we've had this winter and the unseasonably warm spring. "They're starting to breed earlier, so we're seeing more cycles at an earlier time of year, so the numbers are building up quicker," Diamond says. "It's dispersing the poison with gas, so it goes into crooks and crannies," says Dunn's TrueValue Hardware owner Larry Dunn. Larry Dunn says customers have started coming in purchasing pest control. "Of course, if you're outside the best thing to use is a repellent," he says. And for Dunn, bugs can mean a boost in businesses, and thanks to Mother Nature, sales could be big. Because home owners like Clower plan on stocking up for this bug-filled summer "We buy repellent, and we buy smoke devices that tend to keep them away," he says. Dunn says if you start tackling the critter problems now, you can avoid having to pay for pricey pest control. He recommends putting out traps or bait or using a spray in and around your house. Here's a tip: If you want to keep bugs away, change your outside light fixtures from a white to a yellow bulb. Experts say not as many insects are attracted to yellow light.
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