Pests will eat about anything, but they might leave your house alone if they don’t have an easy access to the food. Here we have some of the ways/techniques for keeping your house pests free.
What is a pest?
An organism, typically an insect, that sickens or annoys humans, hampers human activities, damages crops or foodproducts, harms livestock, or causes damage to buildings.
Which are the different types of pests at home?
The different types of pests at home are mice or rodents, ants, cockroaches, lizards, spiders etc.
How to get rid of these pests at home?
Mice or rodents-these common pests are resourceful creatures that can enter a building or home through the smallest opening or crack, and require very little space to travel inside.Rodents put homes at risk for electrical fires by gnawing through wires. More frequently, though, rodents serve as vectors, carrying bacteria, such as salmonella, on their bodies and contaminating food sources, kitchen surfaces and equipment. The common white-footed deer mouse is also known to transmit the potentially fatal Hantavirus.
Some of the prevention tips are:
1] Seal cracks and openings along baseboards, behind sinks, and around pipes and windows, using caulk, steel wool or a combination of both.
2] Store food in airtight containers and dispose of garbage regularly.
3] Screen vents and openings to chimneys.
4]Keep attics, basements and crawl spaces well ventilated and dry.
5] Eliminate all moisture sites, including leaking pipes and clogged drains that provide the perfect breeding site for pests.
Ants-It seems that these insects know numerous ways to get in your house: holes in walls, floor and foundation, crevices in the ceiling, basement and attic. Among a huge variety of ants that get inside are black, sugar and carpenter ones. So, how to get rid of carpenter ants?
When it comes to pest extermination, not all people know how to get rid of ants in the house.The common mistake everyone makes is that they start looking for ways out, when the problem has occurred. Why not prevent its appearance? Especially when it is not that hard.
Some of the prevention tips are:
1] Keep your house clean, especially the kitchen, as ants get attracted by food sources. Cover attracting substance tightly and clean the furniture surface.
2]The safest homemade remedy is a mixture of water and white vinegar. Spray the substance along the paths of the ants that are coming to your place.
3] By mixing cinnamon, pepper, strong perfumes or tartar cream with water and spraying all around, you will get rid of ants in a few days.
4] Don’t allow moisture to accommodate on counters and other surfaces, as ants keep looking for water out wherever they can find it and stay near its sources.
5]Sweep the floor after meals, even little messes can attract ants.
Cockroaches-With no disrespect to the mosquito, there’s no other pest in the world that is so widely despised as the cockroach. Cockroaches carry disease-causing bacteria and have recently been discovered to be a source of allergies in humans.
The trick to avoiding a face-to-face meeting with a cockroach is to avoid attracting them to begin with. Once you have a few cockroaches, you could quickly end up having a few thousand, thanks to their speedy reproductive capabilities. There are a few things cockroaches look for when scoping out a potential crash pad: warmth, moisture and food.
Some of the prevention tips are:
1] Keeping your home clean is the first step in prevention.
2]Empty your garbage on a regular basis, especially during the summer months. It’s also a good idea to not put a lot of stinky food waste into your bin because these smells really attract roaches.
3] Try keeping your cereal and other grains in plastic containers.
4]All those little bits of soda, beer, wine, milk and juice that drip out into your recycling bin are a haven for cockroaches. Make sure you do a thorough rinse of any liquid containers as well as food jars and bottles
5]Boric acid has always been an effective cockroach deterrent as long as you use it properly. Its toxicity is low for humans, but deadly to cockroaches. When spreading the boric acid, go light. In fact, the acid should barely be visible to you. A very light line under the stove and refrigerator, behind the trashcan and nears cracks and crevices near doorways will help keep cockroaches at bay.
Lizards-Lizards are a big nuisance for all of us. Though, lizards help us in reducing the population of nasty insects, but regardless this, we simply don’t want to see these uninvited guests in our house.Lizards are common in warm areas where cover and food are abundant. Lizard repellents, available in the market, are toxic and may harm your pets and child. Except of buying these products and wasting money, we have some of the easy ways for getting rid of these lizards.
Some of the prevention tips are:
1] Keeping house clean is the best solution. Remember, a messy house invites lizards providing both hiding places and food for them.
2] Mix some coffee powder with tobacco powder. Prepare small balls of this mixture. Take toothpicks and fix balls on them. Put these toothpicks on the way of lizard (or the hiding places of lizards). They will get died on consuming this mixture.
3] Naphthalene ball is a good pest controller. Put it in your wardrobes, water sinks or under the stove. This remedy works effectively against the lizards.
4] Lizards are capable of entering your home through extremely small spaces. So it’s important that you seal and fill any cracks or holes you happen to come across. Pay close attention to the area around your windows. This is a common entry point for house lizards. In addition to filling any cracks with a good sealant, considering installing a screen on all of your windows for an added layer of protection.
5]Lizards adore well-lit areas. Turn off the light. Keep places, where you usually see lizards, dark. Lizards are cool-blooded creatures and love warm, humid places. Therefore a good tip is to maintain a cooler temperature in the house.
Spiders-Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other orders of organisms.
Some of the prevention tips are:
1] Keeping your home neat, tidy and free of dust or webs is the best way to keep spiders from moving in.
2] Spiders are not fans of the smell of citrus, so rub lemon peel around door and window frames so they are thoroughly covered by the scent.
3] Alternatively, mix equal parts water and lemon juice in a spray bottle and spray any exposed cracks, door frames, or window frames with the solution.
4] An easy way to keep spiders from invading your space is to fill a spray bottle with peppermint essential oil and water, and then spray it around your home. Plus, your home will smell great!
5]Spiders hate tobacco just about as much as they hate lemons. You can sprinkle small pieces of tobacco where spiders are troublesome, or you can soak tobacco in water and then spray the mixture all around.