!44: Pest Management - 5 Ways to Keep Pests Out of Your Home

!±8± Pest Management - 5 Ways to Keep Pests Out of Your Home

Exterminators. No one wants to have to hire one, but sometimes it is necessary. However, pest management can be accomplished to a great degree, by YOU the homeowner. All you have to do is practice some basic principles that will reduce and/or eliminate pest populations in and around your home.

Here are 5 things YOU can do to keep yucky, nasty bugs, rats, and other pests away from your home.

1. Seal all cracks and crevices - Insects and other pests enter homes underneath doors, around windows, around pipes, vents, cracks, louvres and eaves. You must use caulking and weatherstripping to seal off these areas so bugs can get in. Make sense? It's very simple. Ask yourself this question: "If I was a bug, how could I get into this house?" It's not rocket science.

2. No outside lights - It's a fact. Bugs are attracted to lights. If you leave the porch light on, your are going to attract bugs. And, if there is a gap underneath the doorway (see 1.) they will find it. So, the less lights to attract bugs, the better. You be the judge.

3. Eliminate food sources - Garbage containers attracts roaches, ants, rats and other pests. Keep sealed with tight-fitting lids. Clean up spilled garbage. And, I hate to mention this one, but......bird feeders are bug and rodent magnates. The farther away from the house, the better. Sorry. Here again, you be the judge.

4. No Ivy - Ivy is a bug factory. No other way to say it. Roaches, rats, mice, snakes, ants, spiders, and all sorts of other critters find safe haven and great breeding grounds inside the masses of Ivy growing around and up on the sides of homes. Ivy is really pretty isn't it? At least I think so. But it makes pest control and pest management nearly impossible.

5. Keep gutters clean - No only do stopped-up gutters prevent the flow of water, but they provide a haven for bug breeding. Mosquitoes and roaches will live and breed in stopped up gutters. Plus, the build up of debris will cause the gutters to pull loose from the house. So....do yourself and your house a favor. Keep the gutters clean and clog-free.