10 ways for home pest control defense

Generally, the home is one’s personal sanctuary. Thus, keeping it pest-free should be forethought – and not an afterthought. Because when it comes to pests, prevention is always better than cure. Often times, pest prevention is tedious and requires professional exterminators to carry out extensive “de-bugging” works. What makes it more complicated is that once we discovered them, it’s already on fatal stage. There are only a few signs, if not none, of infestations that occur which is why we tend to ignore it.

To maintain your home as a sanctuary, follow these 10 simple measures to prevent pests from invading your home:

Sweep and mop regularly

Sweeping rids the house of dirt, food debris and dead skin cells that have fallen onto the floor. While seemingly unappetising, this is a delicious mixture for pests. As a matter of fact, cockroaches even feed on human toe nails! Sometimes, leftover residue or stubborn spill stain has to be removed with water and detergent – which is why mopping is important too.

Pack the house regularly

Simply put, a tidy home is a pest-free home. Clutter serves as dark, safe havens for pests to hide away from you. Caution: it also becomes a blind spot for you to spot your pesky pest enemies!

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Repair all leaking pipes

Apart from food and shelter sources, water sources also need to be rid of. Leaking pipes – especially those underneath sinks in your kitchen or bathroom – are prime sources of water for pests. To name a few of the most common pests that are enjoying the wet and wild ambience are termites, ants, cockroaches, rats, and even snakes. Be sure to repair them and actively monitor any erosion or leakages.

Clear stagnant water pools

As we all must know by now, stagnant water allows disease-carrying mosquitoes to breed. These mini flying horrors can breed in stagnant water as small as a 20-cent coin. Turn over all pails to prevent pooling and regularly clear water from flower trays and vases. Note that the underside rims of some pails can still collect water, so be sure to clear that as well.

Read more on indoor mosquito control here.

Seal up all crevices and holes

Crevices and larger holes, when connected to the outside, provide entry points for pests. Even if unconnected, they still serve as perfect spots for undisturbed breeding. Even the tiniest of cracks can create possible entries for these pests that are capable of squeezing through. Ants, cockroaches, bed bugs, and even rats that just need 1 cm to enter! Therefore seal all cracks and crevice that you can find. You can do this by fixing home proofing tools under the door, use a caulk to seal up any joints or plaster and patch holes on walls and concrete.

Read also: 6 Common Mistakes that Attract Pests to Your Home

Set baits to eradicate pests

Sometimes, an active approach needs to be taken against pests. DIY bait solutions can be bought from the local hardware store and placed near suspected breeding grounds for ants and cockroaches or, use the quick approach by spraying directly at them. Though may be effective at times, these home solutions are only short-term remedies that will only deter pests, but not eliminating the root cause completely. It’s still best to get help from professional experts.

Trash properly

When it comes to pests, thrash should never be taken lightly. Invest in a durable bin with a tight lid so that smell of rubbish is effectively contained. A good bin also minimises any leakages, especially when accidentally toppled over and more importantly, to prevent pests entering the bin to scavenge for their food source. Garbage and waste are attractants to cockroaches. But a good bin is only Step 1; Step 2 involves regularly taking out the rubbish. By clearing it frequently, the bin becomes a less attractive place for pests to congregate.

Read more on what happens if you do not dispose your trash overnight.

Store food properly

Similar to a trash bin, food containers – well – contain food, which is extremely attractive to pests. This is why it’s so important to invest in durable, air-tight containers, even if these containers are eventually placed in the refrigerator. In particular, for foods like cereals, oats, fruits or sugary stuff that attracts ants, cockroaches, be sure to keep them out of reach. Even for good quality containers, rodents have been known to gnaw through plastic and even aluminium! Thus, do opt for quality storage tools.

Read more on some unexpected food that pests love to eat.

Install mosquito screens

As one of the simplest yet most effective pest control tools, the humble mosquito screen keeps mozzies out without depriving your sanctuary of fresh air. It may cost quite an investment to fit a seal screen, however, indoor mosquito control can be applied, by keeping adult mosquitoes population under control by placing indoor traps for example.

Wash your bedding regularly

Bed bugs are known to survive for extensive periods of time, sometimes even up to 2 years, without a blood meal. Since they spend most of their time hiding nearby (usually human) hosts, it pays to regularly clean your bed sheets, blankets, and pillow cases. Doing so will thus disrupt any chance of a bed bug infestation.

When you should start engaging pest control services?

As the leading pest management specialist, we recommend engagement of pest control services as the first protection step. This includes conducting home inspecting, ruling our pest infestation risks and identifying key risk areas. Pest management helps to keep control of possible infestation arising, coupled with adequate pest proofing and diligent housekeeping. However, for homes without an existing protection from pest solutions, once hit with pest presence, you should not procrastinate seeking professional services or attempt to resolve through DIY self-remedies.

Take proactive pest control defense actions

These 10 tips may be simple, but it is sometimes difficult to get simple right. These little efforts build up accumulatively to keep your sanctuary pest-free, but – admittedly – it requires a great deal of personal discipline.

Yet, the risk of a pest infestation is never worth it. Don’t wait until it becomes too late before you take urgent actions as hassles, frustrations, time wastage and unnecessary expenditure can be avoided.

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