They're never really a welcome sight: the creepy, crawly critters that sneak into your home and invade your lawn. And thanks to the warm weather this year, they may be showing up earlier than expected.
Local pest control technicians said the bugs they're seeing are at least a month early.
"It's just February," said Nicolas James, service technician for Metro Guard Termite and Pest Control. "Usually it's end of March that we typically see your ornamental insects and ants swarming and different types of beatles coming out we're seeing a lot more."
Dr. Mike Merchant studies bugs as an urban entomologist for Texas Agrilife Research. He keeps an eye on bugs like these ands said ready or not, here they come.
"It's been a mild winter, which means a longer warm season and that's good, in general for insects," Merchant said.
He said when the temperatures go up, the bugs come out. He said with dry conditions, even bugs like mosquitoes will start moving in, and that's not all.
"We'll see fire ants coming out earlier probably have flea reports, and flea problems a little earlier this year," Merchant said. "We'll also see things like termites emerge earlier in spring. "
That means those in the business of bugs, like Nick James have more work to do. But James said keeping your lawn bug-free is easier that you think.
He said well-manicured lawns are actually more attractive to bugs, because there's water and food for them.
"If nothing's in the field, they're coming up to the house," James said.
James said some of the simple things, like keeping your lawn mowed, will go a long way in the battle against bugs.
"If you have standing grass in your lawn, you're going to deal ith many more insects than you would if you didn't," James said.
And the folks at Texas A&M also said be on the look out for something called an "insect bore" that feeds on treets.
They said these bugs like trees that that haven't had a lot of rain lately, and may be a big problem in our area this spring.
