They bite, they scavenge, they annoy, and they present health risks – keeping all things that buzz, crawl or scuttle out of our homes is a priority for most of us, because once they’re in, they’re hard to get rid of! West Palm Beach pest controllers advise us to take steps that help us to keep our homes pest-free in order to avoid pest infestations.
While most of us know that cleaning up crumbs and other food scraps helps to keep pests away, there are a few other basics we should attend to. We take a closer look at various household pests and how to keep them out of our homes.
Mosquitoes
During the summer months, itchy mosquito bites are a real annoyance, especially when we’re enjoying evenings outdoors at the barbeque. Although you don’t have control over all bodies of standing water near your home, you can take steps to ensure that mosquitoes don’t use your garden as a breeding ground.
Look for places where standing water might be collected. That includes blocked gutters and any clutter or junk that has accumulated in your yard. According to researchers, not all light-emitting mosquito traps work, so rely on mosquito repellants when outdoors and on bug screens when indoors.
Flies
There are various fly catching and fly repelling products on the market. Unfortunately, many of them don’t work very well and to get much of an effect, you’d have to use them so extensively that your home might start to repel you!
Fly traps are very effective, but they’re smelly, and in order to trap flies, they have to attract them first. If you have a large yard, you could try tempting flies away from your home with traps that also kill them.
The top ways to discourage flies are to ensure that garbage is properly sealed away and that any pet excrement is regularly removed. Once again, insect screens on windows and doors can do much to keep these nasties out of your home.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are probably the sneakiest of household pests. Since they will eat peculiar things including paper and the glue used for book bindings, just keeping food scraps out of their reach won’t starve them out.
Keep them at bay by sealing off the chinks and cracks that they may be using to get into your home, declutter everywhere, including the attic, and store items in sealed plastic containers rather than cardboard boxes.
Ants
As with other pest species, ants are attracted to food scraps – but their nesting habits can see them invading your home even if you are cautious in this regard. Just killing the ones you see doesn’t hurt the egg-laying queen, so bait traps are the best DIY solution. The theory is that worker ants collect the bait and take it into their nests, killing its other inhabitants.
Don’t Struggle When Help is at Hand
The basic strategies we’ve outlined above should help you to keep your home pest free for longer, but if you regularly have problems, or pests have already invaded your home, professional help can solve the problem. Choose a licensed, trained operative to handle your pest control, kill those bug invaders and keep your family safe too!
