Pests in and around your home can be annoying, uncomfortable and unhealthy. Pests can lower the quality of your life around your home and when that happens it’s sometimes good to seek out pest control services. Hiring these professionals is generally a good idea if you have a house infested by pests. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Pests if not removed quickly, may multiply in a hurry, and they might become unmanageable. Most people avoid calling pest control services due to cost and use pesticides instead. This can be dangerous if not done properly.
Try prevention
Before the issue graduates to pest removal, you can try prevention first. Start by removing all sources of water, food and shelter for the pests. If your house is surrounded by bushy fences, clear the fence and cut the long grass in and around the compound. Store all your food in glass containers and sealed plastics. For garbage containing food scraps, place them in trash cans tightly covered. Avoid leaving pet food and water out at night and fix the leaky plumbing in the house to avoid water accumulation anywhere in the house. Declutter the home to get rid of breeding places for the pests.
If you have pests in the house already, identify them and get ready to call a professional pest control service or if you are up for it, to get prepared to hunt them. It’s good to know what you are dealing with as soon as possible.
Control
If there are pests already in the house and you need to get rid of them. Before you proceed with the application of the pesticides, try to get rid of the breeding space of the pests and the food and water sources. You might use pesticide, and they may just end up coming back.
Before using pesticides, make sure you know how to safely use them without posing a risk to yourself or others. To be on the safe side when using pesticides:
- Cover bird cages and fish tanks or remove them from the house entirely and relocate other pets in the house. Pesticides can be toxic to fish and birds.
- Remove food and cooking utensils from the area that is being treated. After the area is treated, clean the kitchen counters thoroughly to avoid ingestion of pesticides.
- If you have to use aerosol spray, avoid spraying in the areas commonly used and touched by the family members like furniture and children’s toys.
- After spraying, leave the room to let the pesticide take effect and open all the windows when you come back to let fresh air in.
- Use pesticides in the right place and avoid poisoning rodents. If you set a trap out in the open, it might pose a risk to members of the family. If you choose to poison the rodents, they might die in the hidden places and rot and smell for a number of days.
Pest control is crucial to the quality of life at your home. It’s best to do pest control sooner rather than later if you see pests in or around the house to prevent breeding and multiplying.
