How To Avoid And Get Rid Of Pests On Your Property
Pests can be a problem for any property owner and avoiding them is something that you would prefer rather than having to get rid of them.
Alas, pest infestations and problems with pests can sometimes happen no matter what you do to help prevent them. Regardless, it’s worth knowing what you need to help avoid pests from entering your home or coming onto the property. At the same time, understanding what will help get rid of pests on your property is the next step.
Keep Your Property Clean and Tidy
Keeping your property clean and tidy is the best way to keep on top of any potential pest problems. Keeping your spaces clean, is going to prevent any unwanted pests from being attracted to your spaces, especially if food is readily available.
The home should always be tidy or as tidy as possible. In order to keep your home tidy, you’ll want to commit to a regular cleaning schedule. That way, you’re going to ensure that no mess happens and gets left to get bigger or become a breeding ground for pests to make their home in.
The same goes for the external parts of the home. Your backyard can also be a home for pests if you’re not paying attention to the upkeep of the property. Make sure you’re keeping it free of debris, especially when it comes to leaves and branches that could make for a home to any pests.
Keep Food Stored Properly
Keeping your food stored properly is something that you should be proactive about at all times because it can be the biggest contributor to pest infestations. Leaving out bread that you think is packaged securely in its original packaging is not going to be enough to stop pests like mice or rats from getting into the packaging.
These pests can cut through a lot of things with their teeth, so it’s important to keep everything in sealed and tight containers. Ideally, you want your food to be kept in cupboards that aren’t easy to open.
Try to be mindful of how much mess you make in the kitchen and ensure that everything is wiped down and kept clean as mentioned above. Where possible, try to lock cupboard doors to help with the issue. Any packaging on food that’s thin and easily breakable should be reinforced with the proper storage containers.
Dispose of Your Trash and Keep It Sealed
It’s important to make sure your trash is being chucked out regularly so that you don’t have a build-up of rubbish or a problem with your trash cans being too full at any one time.
When you’re disposing of the trash, you should ensure that any exterior bins are easy to lock and won’t spill out your trash so easily if knocked over by vermin.
You should also look to use some of the most durable trash bags out there in order to protect the trash inside until it gets to the landfills or recycling points. With more durable trash bags and trash bins that are secure, you’ll have less problems with vermin and pests trying to get into your trash bags and bins.
Seal up Entry and Exit Points Around the Home
To avoid pests getting into your property in the first place, you should monitor your home for any entry or exit points where the pests could get into the home.
Sealing up these points will help to stop anything from getting in and will also help with the insulation of your home in general. By covering them up, you’re going to be proactive in your efforts to avoid pest infestation.
At the same time, you should look at what types of materials you use to seal up the entry and exit points. Some materials will be more durable and defensive against pests. There’s plenty of advice online about what materials to use and often enough, it can be dependent on what type of pest is most common on your property.
Get Rid of Any Standing Water
Standing water can be a real problem when it comes to your home and pests in general. With standing water, it provides a source of food for the pests and that can cause them to make a home on your property, as well as going out to find other pests to join them in making your house their home.
Any standing water should be dealt with immediately, and it’s worth looking at this during the months of the year when you get the most rainfall. Checking for leaks in the home as well as leveling out surfaces so that they don’t collect water anywhere, is helpful.
If you’re having problems with standing water, then it’s worth talking to someone who will be able to help with any potential foundation or building problems in and around the home. You might need to have some work done in order to fix the problem and help resolve the issues so that it’s not causing more pest appearances further down the line.
Know the Tell-Tale Signs of A Pest Infestation
There are often some tell-tale signs of a pest infestation and you may find that these signs are typically fairly obvious. However, you might be unaware of some signs that would otherwise go ignored. Here are some tell-tale signs of a pest infestation and these should encourage you to act quickly in getting rid of the problem.
- Droppings – These can be a tell-tale sign of pests, especially when found near food sources
- Unusual odors – There will often be an unusual odor in your home that you might not have smelt before.
- Gnaw marks – Pests will often leave signs of their presence in the form of gnaw marks around the home and on furniture.
- Sounds – Sounds of scurrying or the odd noise can be an indication that you have pests present.
- Nest – If there’s a physical nest present, then this is an obvious sign there’s pests in your home.
If you see any of the above signs, then it’s time to call in a pest control service. While some of these signs could be handled by yourself, you should contact a pest control service when an infestation arises. You don’t want to leave it or ignore it, hoping they’ll go away. That will likely on make it worse and ruin more of your home’s interior and furnishings.
Call a Pest Control Service for Infestations
If you’re at the point where pests have gotten into your home, even if it’s not at the point of an infestation, you should call a pest control service. They’ll be able to come out and do a search of the property for pests. From setting rat glue traps to taking out a full-scale operation to rid your home of the nasties, it can be handy to put the work in the hands of a professional.
The last thing you want to be doing is dealing with the problem yourself, which is why you should be proactive in getting a professional in as soon as possible. Pest control services are reasonable in their prices and often will come for the first time to lay the traps where necessary.
They’ll then come back to hopefully remove the traps and confirm that all of the pests have been removed successfully. On the rare occasion they haven’t been removed, additional traps and efforts will be made to ensure all of the pests are taken away or out of the property.
