Pests don’t just reside in your property because it’s beautiful. They come in because your house offers what they need; food and a shelter conducive for their lifestyle. Sadly, pests get all of that from environments that aren’t very clean. So the fundamental tip to prevent pest infestation is to always keep your home tidy. Since they can’t find what they want, they go elsewhere in search of their needs.
However, this isn’t about washing rugs and windows; there are special cleaning tips you must observe when trying to prevent pests from residing in your home.
1. Don’t allow water to stand
Some pests, especially mosquitos, thrive in moist environments. When water stands at a spot for too long, you’ll soon find larva breeding.
While you may not have standing water in your interior, the drains outside may contain depressions in which water rests. Therefore, it becomes crucial that you get your drains running to prevent mosquito ls from having a resting spot.
Understand that mosquitoes put you at risk of malaria and dengue. They breed in dirty, standing water and fly into your home when they mature, spreading diseases.
As regards your interior, keep the buckets in your bathroom dry when not in use. Look around your kitchen for any vessel you occasionally use to carry water. Keep such vessels turned upside down or tilted to avoid water from settling at the bottom.
2. Don’t allow fruits and vegetables to stay exposed for long
We all love fruits and vegetables. In short, we sometimes use them to decorate our dining areas and kitchens. But keeping fruits and leafy vegetables out can attract pests like flies.
Even though fruit flies are harmless, rotten fruits can bring in house flies and cockroaches that are more difficult to eradicate.
3. Make your kitchen your top priority
Pests thrive in damp and dirty environments, and kitchens come first when listing rooms with the greatest likelihood of such conditions. Keep counters, racks, and drawers free from exposed food particles to avoid pests in your kitchen. Cockroaches are attracted to food and can consume basically anything humans eat.
So whenever you’ve finished cooking for the day, it’s best to do your cleaning before bed rather than at sunrise.
4. Don’t allow garbage to hang around too long
Regular garbage disposal is key to keeping pests at bay. The ideal thing to do is take out the garbage every day because insects get active at night. The longer the trash sits in your kitchen, rodents, ants, and roaches hang around trying to access the food particles.
Things escalate when you begin to find rotten food particles all over the house. If you have pets and little children, they might be at risk of diseases.
5. Let go of things you don’t need
Decluttering and reorganization can be crucial to discovering pests that have taken shelter under stationary junk. Bugs often hide in attics and basements where they can go unnoticed for ages. Centipedes also like to stay in old stationary boxes.
Decluttering can cause you to shake up those habitats, forcing the pests to scamper out of hiding. Furthermore, you will discover hiding spots and holes and address them against future habitation.
Finally, disposing of old items will help eliminate hot spots for germs and pests. The less congested a room is, the less conducive it is for pests to hide.
6. Fix your window nets
Houseflies, mosquitos, and roaches come in through any opening they see. So having your window nets perfectly installed with no gaps will help prevent pests, especially flies and mosquitoes, from coming in.
Ensure there are no holes. No matter how secured the other windows look, an opening in the one can allow hundreds of pests in. Find time to go around your home to ensure things are as they should be.
7. Get help from professional pest control
If you just moved into a new apartment, you usually wouldn’t find roaches and rodents. However, insects will be drawn as soon as you start using your kitchen, and the place starts getting messy. So keeping the home as clean as when you first moved in will help prevent a pest infestation.
However, all of the above tips can only help reduce the number of pests if they have already raided your home. Preventing an infestation begins with calling professionals like the renowned Terminix pest control contractors. You can then practice the above tips after the pests have been eliminated.
Your home becomes like the one you just newly moved into, so regular cleaning after the pest control will ensure another infestation doesn’t emerge pretty soon.
Wrapping up
Pests are not only an eye-sore; they threaten the health of every occupant in the home. To keep yourself and your family safe and sleep well at night, run pest control as soon as possible.
