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Britain’s Pest Nightmare: Don’t Let It Fly Over Your Head

BySearchIntelligence

May 3, 2021

How can I get rid of fruit flies? Do I have bed bug bites? What can I do to get rid of fleas? If these are things you have Googled, you are not alone. Many Britons are roaming the internet to find remedies for their unwanted tenAnts.

Fact is, it is not only insects that bug everyone at home by creating so much trouble. You might have also had rodents set up camp in one of your walls, or even a mole digging up the garden you worked so hard on.

With the help of pest experts 24/7 Pest Control, we have put together recent data on Britain’s frantic Google searches for its various pest problems. As it turns out, we are all in need of a helping hand when faced with their crawling, digging, and gnawing.

If the thought of this makes your skin crawl, read on to learn all about Britain’s most hated pests. You will find solace in knowing you are not the only one fighting a never-ending battle with these pesky enemies.

What are the top three most detested pests in Britain?

No matter how often you clean, or how new your home is, pests will be drawn inside through open windows, exhaust fans, and vents, especially when the weather changes. Besides, your cats and dogs might bring in fleas and leave you susceptible to flea bites, or you could bring bed bugs home as unsolicited souvenirs from your travels.

Even the tiniest of pests can cause enormous troubles, especially when they crawl, bite, or get a little too comfortable around your things. The Google search data analysis in early May 2021 shows that the top three most detested pests that people seek to eradicate in Britain are the small ones. What is more interesting is that spiders are not one of them!

The following pests are the worst of the bunch in Britons’ eyes, with tens of thousands of searches revealing the common phrase that brings them all together: ‘how to get rid of…’.

Fruit Flies

Although fruit flies do not run the risk of contaminating your food and are more or less passive inhabitants of your ripe fruit with a short life span, they might just be the most irritating pests at home.

As their number one ground for breeding is organic matter fermenting on your worktops, they will get drawn to any spoiling food, although their favourite is given by their name: overripe fruit.

Therefore, how to get rid of fruit flies is by far the most popular Google search for pest problems in the United Kingdom, with an average of 19,100 searches for stopping fruit fly infestations every month.

Fleas

You would not know you have fleas unless the damage is done, which makes it so difficult to find the subversive offenders before you find yourself covered in small red bumps, severely itchy, and perhaps with a rash or a hive if you are allergic.

The small, dark specks of trouble are often brought into your home by cats and dogs, which attract fleas from the outdoors, and especially from other friendly pets they might play with. While flea treatments are available, by the time you realise they are there you might have suffered the consequences.

Therefore, it comes with no surprise that Britons seek methods to get rid of fleas with an average of 16,300 Google searches a month.

Bed Bugs

If you wake up one day and find red marks on your body that later turn into itchy blisters, chances are that you are not suffering from a flea attack, but from bed bugs indulging on your skin while you are asleep. Parasites similar to fleas, bed bugs cause just as much irritation.

A quick glance over your bed will reveal signs of the culprits, as they leave dark, reddish stains on your bed, as well as darker spots. Often hitching on your luggage or bags, or coming with your new vintage furniture, bed bug infestations spread quickly and are difficult to contain.

All this trouble earns bed bugs third place in the top three most detested pests in Britain, since how to get rid of bed bugs is looked up by Britons for 16,100 times a month on average. On a global level, however, bed bugs rank lower, as their eradication is ranked fifth most searched on average.

What other pests cause considerable problems in Britain?

It is not only the small that wreak havoc in the United Kingdom’s households, as 24/7 Pest Control’s study has found larger vermin control is a topic nearly as pressing as eradicating bugs amongst Britons’ Google searches.

Which diseases vermin can carry is, of course, a concern for households that find their pantry has been occupied by freeloading rats and mice. Moreover, nesting insects cause considerable problems in Britain, alongside other pests that make themselves at home in your house.

The following complete the top 10 most troublesome pests in Britain that make it their business to interfere with your daily life, according to recent data analysis on Google trends.

Rats

While some people might have clever pet rats at home, the less desired intruders that gnaw away at any food they come across can become a serious health risk for Britain’s households, as well as damage the property by chewing through walls and wires, potentially leading to a fire.

Once settled into a crevice of your home, rats will not go away without intervention. They can contaminate your home and make you ill, apart from bringing distress to sufferers of musophobia as they dash across the room.

Ranked fourth when it comes to Googling ‘How to get rid of…’, they receive an average of 13,000 searches every month in the United Kingdom. However, rat infestations are a global problem, as seen in its ranking as second most searched on Google worldwide, according to the study.

Mice

Mice are one of the most common pest species in the United Kingdom, as they are part of its natural environment, yet they find their way to households across the country in search of shelter. Alike rats, they can contaminate food and surfaces, and pose a hazard to you and your loved ones, as well as damaging your home.

As they are great jumpers, mice can reach various surfaces and leave behind clues of their visit like droppings, trails, and chewed on household objects, just as rats do. What mice eat inside your home depends on what is available, as they are omnivores and will take advantage of your pantry.

Not far behind rats, people look up how to get rid of mice an average of 12,200 times a month in the United Kingdom, marking their eagerness to get rid of the unwanted guests. Moreover, they come third globally on average for the same Google search, still closely following the nuisance and concern rats cause the world’s population.

Wasps

Wasps and wasps nests are a nightmare to deal with if you fear getting stung. They can cause a lot of distress as they get aggressive when feeling threatened, so more often than not people prefer professional assistance in figuring how to get rid of wasps.

They die in autumn, and therefore the rest of the year consists of a never-ending struggle to keep them out of your home. If you or a member of your household is allergic to their sting, a wasp nest in the loft or, worse, inside one of your walls will cause a lot of anxiety.

This makes wasps the fifth most undesirable addition to your home, as seen in the average of 11,000 Britons searching how to get rid of wasps on the web.

Ants

Drawn to any source of food, but as fond of sweet flavours as fruit flies, ants might stumble upon your home while looking for their next meal and not leave any time soon.

An ant infestation might mean there is food hidden in a corner of your home, and the ants frantically swarmed over the source of sustenance. However, on the bright side, they are more of a nuisance than a threat.

Although fairly less intimidating than wasps, they follow sixth in the top pests the United Kingdom is trying to avoid, with an average of 10,300 Google searches for how to get rid of ants. The same search is ranked fifth globally, showing that ants are a universal concern for the world’s households.

Flies

Perhaps in the same category as rats and mice for their ability to spread germs and parasites to humans, flies are amongst the most dangerous pests in any household. Their travels between bins and decaying matter before landing on your food can pose a great threat to you and your family’s health.

Although every house has a fly intrude through an open window occasionally, considerable cracks in walls, windows, and doors, as well as broken screens, can lead to a house fly infestation.

Therefore, flies come seventh most unwanted pest in Britons’ households, with searches for how to get rid of flies averaging to 8,100 every month in the United Kingdom. On a global level, however, how to get rid of flies is the number one enquiry, marking the nuisance and concern these pests bring to all households.

Silverfish

One of the creepiest crawlies, silverfish find their way to your home through cracks, gaps, and broken screens, like wingless flies. You will notice them in any room that is warm and humid, as they need moisture to survive.

Like ants, they are more of a nuisance than a danger to you, but they can damage many things in your household. Whether feasting on your books, food, or clothing, they can be irritating if you find yourself with a silverfish infestation.

With an average of 6,400 searches every month in the United Kingdom, how to get rid of silverfish is the ninth most popular pest deterrent enquiry on Google.

Moles 

While moles are good for your garden’s soil in the long run by aerating and fertilising it, as well as eating grubs, they can be frustrating when you attempt to keep your lawn neat. When molehills pop up in your garden alongside extensive damages, you know which culprit you are dealing with.

On the bright side, moles are solitary animals that do not come in packs, so you will not have to play whack a mole in your backyard in case of an intrusion. As they are non-aggressive, moles pose no threat unless scared, when they might fight back by biting their way out.

Given the lesser impact of moles on United Kingdom households, they rank last in the top ten most detested pests in Britain. This is given the average of 6,000 Google searches for how to get rid of moles, which is over three times less searches than how to get rid of fruit flies receives every month on average.

When are searches for how to get rid of pests most popular in Britain?

When the country gets hit by a heatwave, you will notice many bugs findings their way into your home, zooming into you while outside, and even getting stuck in your car for you to be in for a buzzing time while driving to work.

It seems that pests are most pesky when the weather improves, and therefore we have looked at the top three most detested pests in Britain, according to the early May 2021 study to identify at what point in the year searches for how to get rid of pests spike in popularity.

Given this, read on to find out more about when pests bug us the most, based on the highest Google searches in the year for how to get rid of fruit flies, fleas and beg bugs in Britain.

Late Summer

In the hotter weather of summer, fruit ripens quicker indoors, and groceries left unrefrigerated spoil much easier than at any other point in the year.

Owing to this, searches for how to get rid of fruit flies skyrocket in late summer, as seen every year in August. Alongside those, people looking up how to get rid of fleas are most numerous in the warm season, with highest numbers in August and September.

Middle of Spring

Quite out of pattern, the month of April 2020 had the highest number of searches for how to get rid of bedbugs, just in time for the beginning of the first national lockdown in the United Kingdom.

Summary

We hope that you leave feeling less alone in the fight against pesky pests at home, knowing that infestations happen more than people might assume, as seen in the tens of thousands of Google searches on how to get rid of vermin. We know you would have had dealt with at least one of these pests by now, and hope that this information elucidates the most common and troublesome pests all of the United Kingdom deals with every year.