7 Pest Control Tips For Your Home
A good home should be one that is clean, organized, and free from pests. While the first two criteria you can easily accomplish, the last one might be a little difficult. Here are some tips on how to control pests at home.
1. Close doors and windows properly
Both rodents and mice look for small holes to enter your home. Their bodies are flexible and they can easily penetrate even the smallest and tightest of spaces like the gap between your door and the floor.
You need to check your doors and windows, especially during the summer as the heat forces them to look for cooler places like inside houses. Also, seal any cracks to reduce any chance of a rodent attack in your home.
2. Clean air ducts
Many pests thrive in unclean conditions. As part of an effective home pest control plan, you must ensure all parts of the house are clean. Air ducts that are moist and smelly are bound to attract all sorts of nasty pests.
The humidity and temperature that comes during the summer months will encourage the growth of pests such as cockroaches. But if you keep your air ducts clean, fresh air will mean adequate ventilation in your home and bring a lot of health benefits for you and your family.
3. Hire a professional pest control company
If there is a pest infestation in your homes, such as insects and rodents, you always have the option to manage the problem on your own. But if you're dealing with bed bug problems in your house, it is best to seek professional help since bed bugs don't just leave your house easily.
If you seek the help of a specialist before the problem worsens, it can save you from a lot of pain and stress. Experts recommend that bed bugs don't need unclean conditions to thrive, rather they need blood and heat in order to survive.
Professionals use certain chemicals and follow specific methods that respect the environment and are not harmful to your health.
4. Drain any standing water
You must have noticed that the rains during the summer months increase the attack of mosquitoes and other insects. Mosquito infestation mostly occurs in homes that are near standing water.
A pond, slow-moving stream, or other slow-moving bodies of water is the right place for mosquitoes to breed. This is because mosquitoes need water for their reproductive cycle. They spend the first ten days of their life in water.
After the rain, make sure you remove all standing water to make it impossible for mosquitoes to proliferate in your home.
5. Organize your pantry
If you want to reduce the risk of attack by rodents like mice, managing your pantry is very important, as they eat a wide variety of foods that are stored in the pantry. And if you eat food contaminated with rodents, you may experience foodborne illnesses.
It is important, therefore, to organize your pantry properly and keep it clean to avoid rodent infestations. Use containers with tight lids to store pulses and grains. Keep your refrigerator clean which also helps keep rodents away as well as improve cooling inside the refrigerator.
6. Clean your lawn
Many rebuild their gardens during the summer months and plant new seeds for seasonally fresh plants. If you leave the plant litter, remember that it attracts many pests because it provides them with the right habitat.
If rats are growing in your lawn and leave you wondering why your plants never grow despite the attention and care you give it. To keep pests at bay, you need to maintain a clean lawn and garden, both in front of your house as well as in the backyard.
7. Clean sewers before summer
It is also very important to clean the gutters before the summer season comes. During summer rains, if you have dirty and clogged gutters, it can increase the water level.
Rats travel through the gutters and if you leave them with a lot of dirt and debris, it provides the rat with the best habitat to grow and reproduce. Raising water from dirty rain gutters can also invite mosquitoes.
So, regular cleaning of gutters will make them less hospitable to pests. You can also install gutter protectors to prevent leaves, twigs, and other unwanted materials from accumulating inside the gutters.
