With spring right around the corner, you may be getting ready to prep your garden, tidy up your yard, or conduct your annual spring clean. While you may be excited to get out of hibernation mode and let the fresh air in, there are a variety of pests who are looking forward to the same thing. Getting out of hibernation and into your house. So how do you prevent this from happening? Don’t wait until your home is infested to take care of these invasive pests. This year take the offensive approach and stop infestations before they happen with these 10 helpful pest control tips.
Keep Your Home Clean
One of the best ways to keep pests at bay is to clean your home regularly. The kitchen and bathroom are the worst rooms for attracting pests. Keeping your home free of standing water, dusting and disinfectant surfaces, even keeping your drains clean and covered can go a long way to deter pests from making your house their home. Regular sweeping, vacuuming and general upkeep of your home disturbs any areas that pests might like to call home.
Avoid Standing Water
It’s no secret that standing water like a pond can attract numerous insects. This also goes for inside your home. That’s why it’s so important to clear standing water from your yard as well as places like your sinks, floor, any buckets or bins that hold water, dehumidifiers that collect water from the air, etc. Even stagnant water in the drains are breeding grounds for bugs, germs, and harmful bacteria to grow. Keep your family healthy, and your house free of bugs by clearing any standing water in or around your home
Ensure Windows and Doors are Properly Sealed
While it’s important to keep your home insect-free, other pests could try and seek shelter under your roof, like mice, rats, and bats. These pests tend to find their way inside your home through even the smallest cracks and gaps. Each year, you should ensure you are checking for and repairing, any doors and windows that are in disrepair. As well, ensuring that window screens are rip and tear-free is important.
Dispose of Waste
Regular garbage disposal is key to maintaining a pest-free home. Accumulation of waste can attract anything from flies to rats, even cockroaches. This can ultimately lead to the spread of disease, especially amongst children and pets. Ideally, garbage should be disposed of daily, and recycling should be washed out and disposed of daily. Additionally, keeping your garbage and recycling bins outdoors instead of in the house or garage will deter pests.
Store Food in Sealable Containers
A lot of pests have an incredible sense of smell and will be attracted to your home mainly as a source of food. While keeping some fruits and vegetables out to ripen will likely not attract any critters, keeping cut and overripe food out of the refrigerator will attract bigger rodents, ants, and cockroaches which are harder to get rid of. Additionally, any foods that you store in your pantry should be in resealable containers to avoid attracting pests. Cleaning out your pantry and refrigerator regularly of spoiled food or food you don’t plan on eating will also minimize a pests attraction to your home.
Keep Outdoor Items Outdoors
If you have an outdoor space like a garden, lawn, or patio, there may be some items that you use to help maintain those outdoor spaces. Items like shoes, furniture, gardening tools, etc. Keeping these outdoor maintenance items outside stops pests from being brought into your house with these items. The same thing applies to toys like bikes and battery-operated cars. Ask your kids to keep those toys outside and store them in the garage to avoid bringing any unwanted house guests into the home.
Use Correct Light Bulbs
To deter any flying pests that are attracted to the lights around your doors try using halogen light bulbs. They are less attracted to lights in pink, yellow, or orange hues. Where possible, relocate any outdoor lights away from the home using poles situated farther away. Just make sure you position them close enough to illuminate doors and entryways for safety purposes.
Check for Cracks and Gaps
Like your doors and window, you need to regularly check other areas of your home for cracks and gaps that small and large pests alike can use to enter your home. Regularly check behind and underneath appliances and kitchen cabinets for signs of pests. Feel for airflow to find gaps and cracks. Use caulking to fill any spaces a quarter-inch or larger, preventing critters from gaining access to your home.
Eliminate Clutter
Any unused boxes or items that are sitting around your home gathering dust, are ample breeding grounds for pests and harmful bacteria. Donate, sell, or dispose of any items that you have not used in the last year. Keep remaining items in a space where they will be cleaned and used regularly. Eliminate the potential for infestation and gain back valuable living space in your home.
Hire Professionals
We’ve given you some excellent ways to help prevent pests from getting into your home but sometimes that’s simply not enough. This is when you may need the help of a professional pest control service like Universal Pest and Termite Inc. Pest control professionals can reinforce your efforts to keep pests at bay and also provide the licensed requirements needed to safely and effectively eliminate infestations. Professional pest control services can also be a lot more cost-effective than some DIY measures. With services starting at only $55, Universal Pest will only apply the measures that are crucial to solving your pest problem.
Just as you are beginning to come out of hibernation, so are a variety of different creepy crawlies looking for a place to call home. Spring is the perfect time to execute some of these pest control measures and protect your home from infestation before it’s too late. To help pest-proof your home or eliminate an existing infestation, contact the team at Universal Pest and Termite Inc. for a free pest inspection today!