Expert Advice on Keeping Your Home Bug Free
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So if your basement or crawlspace is prone to high humidity, run a dehumidifier—and make sure that any dripping faucets or leaking pipes are repaired quickly. Check out our strategies to ensure that the only creatures stirring in your home this winter are your family. "Pull back sheets and inspect mattress seams and box springs, particularly at the corners, for telltale stains or spots," she says.
How to get rid of bugs from houseplant soil naturally – in easy 4 steps
We already discussed the importance of sealing any cracks around your windows, vents, and baseboards, but don't forget to perform a detailed inspection of your home's siding and foundation. As you go around the house, pay close attention to the areas where utility lines and pipes enter your home; you may notice some cracks around them as well. If you have any tubs or buckets holding water inside or outside of your house, dump them out. Inspect your yard for anything that catches and holds rainwater to prevent the bugs from congregating around the outside of the home before making their way inside.
Common House Bugs to Watch Out For
Be sure to keep trash in a closed bin and empty it out regularly. When you bring your tree home this holiday season, you’re likely also bringing Christmas tree bugs into your home. In fact, your Christmas tree could be crawling with up to 25,000 bugs! Some of the most common include aphids, bark beetles, mites and spiders.
Expert Advice on Keeping Your Home Bug Free
How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs in Your House - Bob Vila
How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs in Your House.
Posted: Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Change traps and reapply insecticide on a regular basis to combat cockroaches as they hatch. In addition, take preventive measures to make your home less attractive. Eliminate their food sources by cleaning up immediately after meals, storing your food in sealed packages, and taking out the trash daily. To be especially thorough, you may also want to remove any leftover kibble from pet bowls when dogs and cats have finished eating. All of the sealing methods rank high in advice for how to deter stink bugs from invading your house.
FIND SOLUTIONS FOR BUGS
"These vibrant flowers emit a strong scent that repels mosquitoes, aphids, and other insects. They can also help with nematodes in the soil as well." Plant them near vegetables to deter pests. If DIY methods fail to control the pill bug population in your home, consider a professional pest control service. Pest control experts can access specialized treatments and equipment to eliminate pill bugs and prevent future infestations.
Kill the Bugs You See
A study by PeerJ found that the average American home has 100 different species of arthropods inhabiting it. The arthropoda category includes almost every bug you can think of, including spiders, insects, centipedes, mites and butterflies. Arthropods make up 75 percent of life on Earth, so it’s no surprise that they have adapted to living in unison with humans and have taken advantage of our habitats as well. Bugs thrive in trees and leaves, so be sure to trim trees to keep limbs away from the walls and windows of your home. This will help keep insects in the tree where they belong this winter. When the temperature drops, you're not the only one who wants to get inside.
Use natural approaches like diatomaceous earth, soapy water, essential oils, or one of the popular store-bought pesticides that kill ladybugs by leaving layers of dried poison around their nests. If you experience frequent ladybug infestations, there’s likely an opening that they’re using to get inside. Most pests gain access to the home through small cracks and gaps in foundations or walls. A pest control company can help you address an infestation by eliminating pests and finding and sealing entry points.
How to Get Rid of Flies in the House
Pill bugs are oval-shaped crustaceans with a segmented exoskeleton about 1/4 to 5/8 inches long. They are gray to dark brown but often have a shiny metallic appearance. This defensive behavior, known as conglobation, protects them from predators and preserves moisture. Pill bugs are often confused with sow bugs, but sow bugs cannot roll into a ball.
Strategies to Keep Winter Pests Out of Your Home
Add weather stripping if needed, and use caulk to seal any gaps where the door frame comes in contact with the wall. Make sure your windows have screens to create an extra barrier to keep bugs out during the winter months. Look for a 20-mesh or finer screen which has holes too small for most insects to get through. Get your window screens ready for the season with these repair tips. No matter the time of year, pests are always a potential problem in your home. In summer, you'll have to deal with mosquitoes and wasps while winter can draw in creepy crawlies like spiders.
Keeping their food supply at a minimum by dealing with other insect infestations can also go a long way toward keeping spiders out of your house in the first place. Spiders may creep you out, but they can be extremely helpful at keeping populations of insects under control, especially in your garden. However, if spiders set up shop in your home, they could end up nesting and having hundreds of their descendants hanging around—which most people definitely won't love. Everyone likes to get cozy at home for the winter—and pests like insects, spiders, and mice are no exception. If given the opportunity, many critters are happy to become your houseguests, no matter how unwelcome they may be.
Firewood stacks, compost bins, and yard waste are good hiding places for bugs that might move indoors. Before you bring in firewood, check it for bugs hitching a free ride. Remove areas of standing water in your yard which can be breeding areas for mosquitoes. Keep landscape beds free of weeds and plant debris which can harbor insect pests, and keep plant branches pruned away from the foundation of your house. Taking steps to eliminate standing water and any other issues that are increasing moisture in your home is key if you want to keep bugs out.
To prevent a termite infestation, avoid keeping cardboard boxes in your home long term, especially ones filled with food or plant-based materials. Instead, opt for plastic storage bins, which keep their contents safe from pests. Unpleasant as it may be to think about, every night while we sleep, we sweat, emit bodily fluids, and shed small amounts of skin and hair.
Prevention is always better than cure, and while you can get rid of ladybugs in your house fairly easily, it is far simpler to prevent ladybugs from getting in in the first place. Screen gable vents, eave vents, and other openings to prevent stink bugs from gaining access. Look for rips and tears in window or door screens, and repair or replace damaged screens promptly.
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