For a Better Home: How to Get Rid of Pests and Other Critters

Pests are a serious threat to our home life. They infiltrate our homes and breed in exceeding numbers. Some of these pests, such as rats and mosquitoes, are even known to carry deadly diseases that can infect our children and us. For example, mosquito bites can carry malaria and dengue, both of which had infected Americans living in warmer states such as Florida. Therefore, getting rid of these pets is important if we want to keep our family safe. Here are some simple ways you can keep pests away from your home.

Preventive Measures

Before we start listing ways to get rid of pests from your home, we must talk about a few preventive measures that can stop pests from entering your home. One known preventive measure is window and door screens.

Screens

Installing screens can certainly stop bigger rodents such as rats, squirrels, and raccoons from entering your home. Screens with smaller holes are also known to prevent insects such as mosquitoes and bees from entering. So installing screens can be your first line of defense against pests. But remember to change them frequently because they are known to depreciate quite fast.

Keep Plants Outside Your Home

Plants are known to be breeding grounds for all kinds of insects, and you must keep them outside your home if you don’t want an infestation to happen. If you are adamant about keeping some plants inside, ensure that their soil is dry and water them minimally throughout the days. Do your research and choose plants that require less water to survive.

Utilize Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil has been known to repel all kinds of pests such as mosquitoes and rats. All you have to do is to make a simple solution made out of peppermint oil and water and spray them on your entrances.

Check for Holes

Lastly, you should check for holes inside your home as these can be the entrances to all kinds of pests inside your home. Make sure to check your attic and your house siding for holes. The moment you’ve found one, cover it when you can to prevent pests from ever entering your home.

Sometimes preventive measures aren’t enough. Pests can be pretty creative when entering people’s homes, and it can be hard to prevent them from doing so. The best thing you can do is try to get rid of them by yourself.

Cleaner Ducts

Your air ducts play a big role in regulating temperatures inside your home. However, they are also home to many pests and provide them transportation to reach various areas of your home safely.

Infestations can start from your home’s air ducts, and when left alone, the pests that live inside these ducts can breed and multiply. One known way to fix this problem is to clean the ducts of your home regularly. If you don’t have access to the equipment required to do this cleaning, you should hire air duct cleaners to do the job. Regularly hiring these people will ensure that your air ducts won’t become breeding grounds for pests. It will also help get rid of insects that might have made their nest there.

Insect Traps

Insect traps such as flypaper are well-known for getting rid of insects inside your home. They are fairly easy to install as well. Just place them in places where you suspect insects are flying or crawling about, and then wait. The most flypaper has a particular scent that attracts all kinds of insects. So having a couple of them installed in your home will certainly get rid of insects flying and crawling about.

Protocol for Rats

Rats are a whole different story and require their own protocol when getting rid of them. You can suspect if rats entered your home through their droppings and small smears on walls and tiles. If you’ve noticed this, then it’s time for you to do this set of actions.

The first thing you should do is seal any holes they might have made inside and outside your homes. They can be easy to track by following their droppings and smears. The next thing you should do is clean and declutter your home. Remember that rats enjoy messy and cluttered homes, so cleaning can definitely help get rid of rats. Lastly, you should spray the peppermint oil concoction we’ve discussed early in this article on their known routes and pathways. This will discourage them from returning to your home.

Moreover, try to get rid of food sources if possible, and tell your children to only eat in the kitchen or dining room. This will prevent rats from entering their room and carry whatever disease they have to your children.

Exterminator

There is no shame in calling the exterminator once a full-blown infestation has happened in your home. They can easily get rid of this problem and prevent them from coming back ever again, but for a fee. Such a price certainly won’t matter once they get rid of all the pests in your home.

Pests can be a serious problem in our homes, especially once they start damaging our property, eating our food, and bring disease to our family. But, by following these simple tips, you can prevent them from entering your home or get rid of them entirely.