Many people only come to acknowledge pest control once it’s too late.
However, adequate pest control starts way before you see a cockroach scurry across your kitchen floor. It’s important to understand both the physical property damage and health implications pests can bring about.
Termites, fruit flies, cockroaches, rodents, and other pests can be a major nuisance – especially for those who lead busy lives and have little to no time to care for their homes once infested. Avoiding the invasion of bugs and rodents is easy and time manageable, however, it must be done regularly in order to dodge unfortunate buggy circumstances.
“Organised” Doesn’t Mean Clean
This is far more important than most would believe – keeping surfaces disinfected is crucial to a pest free home.
Organising counter tops, drawers, and bathroom cupboards may give the impression of a clean and neat environment. However, bacteria, food crumbs, and dirt pile up in our homes, attracting pests that reproduce faster than the vast majority of species in the animal kingdom. Yikes.
Vacuuming, mopping, and wiping down surfaces with disinfectant wipes can be tedious especially in larger homes, but it beats cleaning out a fridge infested with hundreds (or thousands!) of dead fruit flies.
Don’t Forget the Cracks
Tiled floors can be quite the burden, especially for those who tend to track dirt and clutter the the house with crumbs. Mopping doesn’t seem to collect all the burrowed junk between the tiles, so many just consider it a job that can be avoided.
Pesky small openings in floors, walls, beneath furniture, ovens, fridges and around the corners of counter tops are usually the last areas people want to clean. Eventually, these little cracks in the floors provide full course meals for these pests. Most often, it is an exhausting hands and knees job since the cracks can be quite hard to reach with a simple mop, requiring additional force to empty out of the hardened dirt and food particles that attract pests.
Elevated and more spacious cracks (like corner tiles) are the absolute perfect environment for pests to reside and reproduce in. Just the thought of thousands of ants crawling out and around your kitchen sink or bathroom floor should be enough to get one to work. Sturdy scrub brushes come in all shapes and sizes and are a phenomenal investment if one wants to eliminate the potential vermin infestation between these perfect little hiding spots.
Limit the Areas Where You Eat
This one is rather obvious – contain the mess.
If one would have to choose between having an entire house infested with pests versus just the kitchen or dining room, I’m sure the latter would be more preferable.
But even then, vermin do love to venture around, especially the larger types like rats. It does sound quite comfortable to lay in bed and devour your leftover pizza and cheese puffs while watching some television, but the scattered crumbs are irresistible to these creatures that have adapted some pretty powerful senses of smell.
Eat in the kitchen. Keep the kitchen clean. Listen to what your mother taught you. Unless you’d rather some rodent company in the bedroom.
Make eating in the kitchen or dining room more comfortable for yourself if you’re used to eating in other areas of the house – connect a smaller television to a wall in the kitchen, or buy a bean bag for the dining room. If that proves too difficult, make sure the sheets of the bed are cleaned weekly, and the surfaces of the couch wiped down and cleaned of junk between the cracks.
No one wants to be greeted by a small civilisation of cockroaches once the sofa cushion is lifted.
Empty Out The Rubbish
Laziness affects everyone at some point, but when it comes to rubbish, its a duty we can’t delay.
Rotting food is a gold mine for all kinds of bugs and rodents, so it’s best to keep the trash’s stay short lived, but also contained. Buying a lid for the garbage is a great way to contain the smell – as mentioned earlier, pests are at an evolutionary advantage when it comes to their senses of smell since it is practically what keeps them alive.
Many enjoy leaving their windows open on a cool or beautiful sunny day, which allows bugs and animals of all kinds to seep into the trash if it is overflowing and rancid.
Another tip is to purchase smaller garbage cans – this allows for less trash to pile up within the home, even if it is contained, so that the smell of rotting food does not grow any stronger as the days pass. Food should always be thrown in the trash – leaving it out is one of the easiest ways to have a swarm of un-welcomed and disruptive visitors in your home.
Clean Out Your Fridge
This preventive measure cannot be stressed enough.
The refrigerator door is basically the gate to heaven for pests, so it is extremely important to remember to remove any moulding or expired food as soon as possible.
If the refrigerator or freezer door is left open just a tad overnight, let’s say, the cool air seeps out, allowing the bugs to venture inside without freezing to death. Having opened and rotting food within the fridge, as well as spilt condiments or milk is a recipe for disaster.
These contained and dark boxes are the equivalent of luxury housing to these vermin – so make sure to keep them out by keeping the fridge neat and sparkly clean.
Final Thoughts
So, keeping the above tips in mind, you’ll be able to take effective preventative measures to ensure you never have to go through the splitting headache that comes with a pest infestation.
You can supercharge your pest control strategies by scheduling regular appointments with a pest control expert to ensure that your home is in excellent condition to remove and keep pests out of your home for good.
