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As all homeowners know, the kitchen is one of the most common places to find unwanted visitors. Ants, pantry pests and cockroaches love hiding out in kitchens and getting a free meal of crumbs and spills. Make sure to clean up any food crumbs and drink spills as soon as they happen - also make sure that they are cleaned up properly so no mess is left behind.
An extra project you can do every couple of weeks is to thoroughly clean out your kitchen; pantry, cupboards, fridge, appliances, the lot. Remove everything from your cabinets and your pantry, discard stale and out of date items as they may attract pantry pests like ants and beetles. This will also give you the opportunity to wipe down shelves and remove any food crumbs.
Do the same thing for your fridge, ensuring that everything has been washed and dried properly to avoid mould growth.
You may also want to clean the insides of your oven and microwave to remove any dried up food splutters and spills.
Next, pull out all your appliances and clean and vacuum behind them - you'd be surprised how many trapped food crumbs you'll find. Last but not least, clean your counter tops and kitchen floor with a bucket of warm, soapy water and a sponge.
Next to the kitchen, the bathroom is a favourite hang out for pests. Why? It's the best place to find water.
The best way to keep insects out of your bathroom is to keep an eye out for leaky faucets and pipes - check under your sink and around showers and toilets (bugs are attracted to moisture).
As well as this, you will need to regularly clean out your medicine cabinet and ensure that any bottles don't have run off on the side or are leaking - ants love swarming a drippy mouthwash bottle.
As with all areas of the house, the key to avoiding a pest infestation is maintaining a good level of hygiene and cleanliness.
Basements, attics, storage spaces and garages all tend to end up as a home for spiders and rodents. This is because these spaces are generally used to store clutter - which leads to dark little spaces and cracks and crevices that a pest will happily call home.
It's easy to become discouraged when looking at the sheer enormity of clutter that can amass but try to go through it during your regular big house clean. Sort trash from what you'd like to keep to eliminate hiding spaces for pests and try to use seal-able plastic bins instead of cardboard boxes.
Vacuum, dust up webs, steam clean your carpet - get motivated to do a really thorough clean, it'll be worth it in the long run.
Try and spot any cracks or holes and seal them up, even the most paper thin crack can be an entry for pests into your home.
Is there anything worse than having creepy crawlies in the place where you sleep?
Bedbugs, fleas and other pests can all become a problem if bedrooms aren't thoroughly and regularly cleaned. Every fortnight, take the time to really scrub down those hard to reach places; behind and on top of bookshelves, behind desks, on top of wardrobes - any spots that can accumulate a fair amount of dust if left alone for too long.
Also make sure that you regularly clean your pillow cases and sheets, not only do they collect oil and dead skin cells, dirty sheets can also become a very attractive place for bugs that like to bite.
If you have a window in your room, install a fly screen so you can enjoy cool breezes without inviting insects into your home.
Keeping pests out all begins with outside your home. After all, this is where your pests will live temporarily before something causes them to move into your house.
Of course, some are unavoidable like ants, spiders, grubs and beetles but these bugs are apart of the natural outdoor ecosystem. They only become a bother when there are too many of them or they make their way inside.
Conduct repairs and maintenance where needed; clogged gutters, torn screens, loose pavers and anything else you spot.
As for landscaping, build a routine for taking care of your plants, trees and grass. Trim bushes and branches and remove any rotting or dead plants.
Ensuring that your homes gardens and lawns are well maintained and neat not only improves the curb appeal of your home, it also helps prevent pests making their way indoors.
Develop a regular routine where you dedicate one weekend a month to doing a full top to bottom clean of your home and garden.
If you find that you're having a serious pest problem, call your local pest control contractor. And if you are in Sydney, then contact Sydney's Best Pest Control Services :)
Below are some tips for different types of common pests...
Ants leave a scent trail of pheromones wherever they go so other ants from the colony can follow. If you've located an ant swarm in your house, follow the ant trail and destroy it. Once the ants are dead, wipe down the trail with Glen20, disinfectant or dish-washing liquid to cover the pheromones so other ants can't follow their way into your home.
If you keep your pet clean and flea treated, chances are you won't encounter these annoying pests. But if you do find that you have an infestation on your hands, you will need more than one flea treatment by a professional pest controller as the flea pupae are impossible to kill.
You will need to wait until they have completed their cycle and hatched out to completely eradicate your flea problem.
You can speed up this process by vacuuming and maintaining high levels of activity in the infested rooms. This is so the flea pupae will sense a blood meal nearby and come out early. Ask your pest controller for more detailed information.
Bedbugs can be found virtually anywhere, from cinemas to aeroplanes. Your best course of action for preventing bedbugs is to keep your home clean and keep a look out for signs of an infestation (shells, bites, blood spots on sheets, etc).
If you think you have bedbugs, contact your local pest controller immediately!
These handy pest removal tips have been written by Sam Yehia. If you are experiencing problems with an infestation or would just like some pest advice, contact your local pest control expert, or talk to Sam at Pest Control Sydney or check out Sam business right here on Come On Aussie @ Sydney's Best Pest Control Services.
