Affordable Pest Control Tips
Why Rats or Mice Are Attracted to Your House
Spotting rats or mice in your home is a horrible experience. Apart from the fact they are dirty, there is also the question of why. Why did the mice or rat choose your home? After all, you are not a messy person living in filth. Unfortunately, the cleanliness of your home has little to do with whether you will get rats or mice.
Instead, rats and mice are attracted to places where they can easily find food, water, and shelter. If your home provides these things, some of these things, or is on a walking route to these things, you may see rats or mice.
Whether you live tidily or not, the inside of your house has everything a rat or mouse needs, so it is important to prevent rats from getting in. This involves making sure there are no holes or gaps in the walls of your house. Pay particular attention to parts of the wall where there are pipes or other fixtures going to the inside of your home. These sections should be well sealed.
The Garden
For many people, the most hospitable place in their home for rats and mice is the garden. They are particularly attracted to:
. Aviaries, chicken coops, rabbit hutches, and other places where pets are kept outside – these locations are a source of regular food for a rat or mouse.
. Bird feeders – the same applies to bird feeders, particularly when they are easily accessible or on the ground.
. Bins – if rats or mice can get access to the rubbish in your bins they will come. There is a simple solution, though – make sure the lids on your bins are always properly closed.
. Garden sheds and garages – garden sheds and garages are not frequented as often as other parts of the house, plus they are usually messier. All the stored items, tools, and other things that you keep in your shed or garage are great places for a rat or mouse to hide.
. Shrubs and plants – shrubs and plants in your garden offer rats and mice protection from predators, particularly birds. Keeping your garden neat and tidy, while also cutting shrubs and plants back, will help.
With a little bit of planning and a few small home improvement jobs, you can make it less likely that you will encounter a rat or mouse in your home, particularly if you don’t have pets.
Easy, Money Saving Do-It-Yourself Pest Control
A clean, well-maintained home is something that creates a feeling of pride. Feeling safe and protected in your house or apartment is important. Unfortunately, insects, arachnids, and rodents also find your home desirable. If there is a pest problem, pest control companies are an expensive solution, and you can perform many of the same techniques without spending the extra money. You can take some easy measures to solve the problem without involving costly exterminators.
These tips for pest control don’t involve crawling under the house or climbing on the roof. In fact, even exterminators will refuse to climb a ladder per OSHA regulations. Before you spend money with a pest control company, read through the tips provided below and see how easy do-it-yourself pest control can be.
Sticky Traps
If you want to catch critters creeping around your house, you should consider sticky traps. Many of these contain odourless bait, and you can either lay them flat or fold them into a box with an entrance and exit opening. It would be wise to consider these useful pest control tools, which cost around $5 to $10 a box (which contains several traps). There are several reasons why these traps work great for spiders, earwigs, and mice:
• Safe to use around children and pets
There are no harmful chemicals used with these sticky traps, so you won’t need to worry about your family’s health.
• Easy Clean-Up
Once you need to replace the trap, if you formed it into a box shape, press down, flattening it. If you left it unfolded, pick it up by the edges and fold it over, crushing the pests inside.
• Protect Entry Doors and Bedrooms
Place these traps on either side of your home’s exterior doors and stop pests as they enter. Place them underneath beds against the wall to trap anything lurking in the room.
How Sticky Traps Work
An interesting phenomenon about pests is their habit of following straight lines along the room’s perimeter. For instance, brown recluse spiders will enter a home and follow the baseboards in a methodical straight line, turning when they reach a corner. Place a sticky trap anywhere along the perimeter of a room, and you will catch pests.
Outdoor Wasp Traps
During the warmer seasons, wasps and their nests can prevent you from enjoying your yard. Unlike bees, wasps can sting as many times as they want without consequence. To prevent stings and nests popping up around the outside of your home, consider hanging wasp traps. For around $10, you can buy a small trap with bait included. These traps provide the following advantages:
• Install It Then Forget About It
Once you fill these traps with the included bait and hang them up, there isn’t anything left for you to do. After several weeks you may want to change the bait out if it becomes too full of dead wasps.
• Prevents Nests from Appearing
As wasps send out scouts to look for good nesting sites, they stumble upon the trap and never return to report back to the nest.
• Catches Other Annoying Flying Insects
In addition to wasps, these traps can attract gnats and other bothersome insects who crash family BBQs.
How Wasp Traps Work
The trap container has a uniquely designed entrance that prevents anything from flying back out once inside. The bait is a sweet, sticky, red liquid that wasps want to investigate. As they enter the chamber with the bait, they become unable to escape.
Save Your Money and Do-It-Yourself
If you have ever hired a pest control company, you’ve noticed that they employ the same pest control methods as described above. The only difference is that they charge an arm and a leg for the service. Placing sticky traps at entry points and bedrooms, applying insecticide dust into walls, and hanging wasp traps can rid your home of unwanted pests. If you have a pest problem, consider these methods to save time and money.
How to Keep Pests Away From Your Rental Property
How to Keep Pests Away From Your Rental Property
As the owner of a rental property, it’s in your interest to keep your tenants happy. One of the most important ways to accomplish this is to provide them with a pest-free home. While some pests are clearly more destructive than others, they are still a disruption that can devalue your property.
The Most Common Pests
In the United States, the most common pests you’re likely to encounter are ants, ticks, cockroaches, fleas, flies, bed bugs, rodents, beetles, silverfish and termites. Depending on your specific location, your property may attract pests unique to that area. For example, cockroaches favor moist, humid environments. This would include the shadier areas of the southern states, as well as sewers and drains throughout the country.
Causes of Infestation
There are a number of different ways pests can get into your property. Here are some of the most common ones.
1.) Windows and doors. Poorly sealed doors and windows are common entryways for household pests. Screens with holes and doors without door sweeps are easy for small pests to get in through.
2.) Vents. Although most property owners don’t give their vents much thought, bugs and small rodents can easily get in through there. The typical home has a maze of vents and ducts, some of which may not be properly sealed.
3.) Foundation. The home’s foundation can also provide a path in for pests, especially if you’re not aware that there’s a problem. The foundation provides a barrier between the house and the soil beneath it, so cracks and gaps should be sealed as soon as they’re discovered. Just because a crack is small doesn’t mean pests can’t get in.
4.) Walls. Walls provide a number of entry points and hiding places for pests. As with a foundation, cracks and gaps are easy to infiltrate. Any location where something passes through a wall (such as wiring or piping) creates another possible entryway.
5.) Chimneys. Unused chimneys create an ideal place for squirrels, rodents, raccoons and other creatures to hide. This is increasingly likely when the weather gets harsh since it offers a great source of protection from the elements.
Responsibility for Pest Prevention
Most states require landlords to keep their properties free of pests. However, some tenants may have habits that can make your job harder. Your best bet is to specify in your lease agreement that they are required to keep the house clean.
Keep in mind that it also makes good financial sense to take care of pest problems right away. Once a problem gets out of control, it can render a property un-rentable. Certain pests, such as termites, can actually tear apart the structure of the home, causing irreversible damage.
Tips for Preventing Pests
Here are some tips on how to prevent an infestation on your property.
1.) Educate your tenants. Since they live on the property, there’s a lot they can to do help avoid a pest problem. Make sure all new tenants understand the importance of throwing out their trash, cleaning, putting food away in sealed containers and keeping garbage lids closed. They should also notify the property manager if there are any issues with standing water.
2.) Regular inspections. Inspecting the property regularly is one of the best ways to spot potential problems. Make 3 or 4 visits a year and bring a list of items to check off. Look for cracks in the floor, walls and foundation. Get them fixed as soon as possible. Make sure the lids on the garbage bins are shut and get rid of any trash or clutter you find. Check the sump pump to make sure it works properly.
3.) Landscaping. If your rental property has a lot of greenery, decide who will be responsible for maintaining it and outline this in the lease agreement. Depending on how much work is involved, this could be as simple as cutting the grass. If it’s more extensive, you might consider a monthly landscaping service.
4.) Pesticides. Check with your local health department to make sure you’re familiar with local laws regarding pesticides. Use pesticides with an EPA registration number, whenever possible. This ensures the product has been thoroughly tested and deemed safe. Be sure to use the right product for the pests in question and never use outdoor pesticides indoors.
5.) Pest control services. If your property is located in an area known for certain pest problems, consider offering pest control services to your tenants to minimize the problem. You can have this written into the lease agreement, so any pest problems that come up between service times will be considered their responsibility.
6.) Fumigation. Fumigation requires evacuating all occupants from the house. The ideal time to fumigate is between tenancies since most professionals will want everyone out for three days. If you decide to fumigate while you have tenants, be sure to arrange for alternate lodging. Tenants will need to make sure all inside doors are left open and that all food is tightly sealed and put away.
It takes some effort to keep a rental property pest-free, but it’s one of the smartest business decisions you can make. The happier your tenants are, the more likely they will be to sign a lease renewal. This can save you the trouble of looking for new tenants while shouldering the costs of an ongoing vacancy.
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