Pest Control Methods For Your Gym or Spa
For gyms, fitness centers, and spas across the country, January is the busy season - when resolutions are in full swing and sign-ups are coming in fast. But like any other high traffic facility, gyms and spas deal with one constant truth: the more people you bring in, the more likely they’ll bring pests with them.
Whether you’re noticing silverfish or cockroaches scurrying across the locker room or see damage from mice along electrical lines in the morning, pest problems can seriously hinder progress for both your business and your customers. This time of year is when it’s most important to be vigilant of pest invasion - because nothing makes a new sign-up want to drop their resolution faster than the sight of a pest in their workout space.
Here are the three key methods for keeping your gym, spa, or workout facility pest-free through the winter and throughout the year.
Interior Protection
Pests are most likely to bother your customers when they’re most immediately visible. That means that whether your customers are actively exercising, changing before or after a workout, or getting into the shower to clean off, your fitness area needs to be reliably pest-free each and every day. This starts from the inside out, and requires taking down pest invasions as soon as they make themselves known.
A professional pest management expert can be a helpful asset in taking on a pest infestation from start to finish, beginning with identifying what exactly you may be dealing with and carrying through to removing the problem completely. From eliminating pests that may be present to finding and removing nesting sites and egg clutches, your trusted pest professional should be able to completely and thoroughly remove the infestation quickly and efficiently, without disturbing your clients.
Exterior Protection
Simply removing the pests present in your facility is only the first step in pest protection; your pest professional should also seek out what exactly is attracting pests to your facility, and work to remove the temptation. Whether it’s closing off points of entrance or identifying food and water sources that may be attracting pests, solving your pest problem involves taking a holistic, long-term approach to keeping insects and rodents from even wanting to stop by your facility in the first place.
Keeping the exterior of your facility closed off from the outdoors, along with keeping moisture and food sources away from entrance points, is critical in keeping your gym or spa pest free. Your pest management professional may make basic recommendations like moving garbage pails or dumpsters further from the entrance, upgrading your heating or ductwork system to repair cracks or damage where pests can enter, or identifying and fixing leaks that can provide much-needed water to pests of all sizes.
Your pest management pro may also help identify key nesting sites just outside your facility, including entrenched ant hills, rodent nesting spots, or other businesses that may be encouraging pests like cockroaches or silverfish to expand into your business. With this information in hand, you can take steps to prevent pests from making their way into your business in the future.
Year-Round Pest Management
Of course, the real key to proper pest prevention is smart, regular pest management. Because different seasons bring different pests - and because these seasons may or may not match up with your business’s busy periods - it’s important to consider year-round protection to head off pest infestations long before they even happen.
When it comes to pests like rodents or other mammals that can remember and return to nesting sites year after year, simply removing them once may not be enough to keep them away for goo. Likewise, pheromone trails left by ants and other insects can still attract other infestations even when the initial batch has been eliminated. An experienced pest professional should be able to identify these potential sources of pest invasions and take actions to prevent this from happening.
By utilizing programs like Quarterly Inspections that utilize integrated pest management procedures to keep your business as pest-resistant as possible through all four seasons, your pest management professional can help prepare your facility to take on whatever pest problem the seasons might bring with them - meaning you’ll be less reactive, and more proactive, to keeping pests away from your business and your customers.
Protect Your Business and Your Clients From Pests
During your busiest time of the year, it’s critical that your facility be as inviting and encouraging to your clients as possible - and with pests around, that can be close to impossible. That’s why it's important to keep your facility pest free through every season, and for every customer who walks through the doors. With the help of an experienced pest management professional, you can remove pests from your facility and keep them from coming back long before they even get a chance to get comfortable.
Get in touch with an experienced pest professional and get your facility ready to take on pests in any season.
