Exterminate the Pests You’re Finding With These 5 Simple Tricks
When you spot gnats, ants or other small pests in your home, you can usually use a few tricks to keep their numbers down and eventually eliminate them entirely. These five tricks are simple, inexpensive and reduce your need for calling the exterminator. However, in the case of a largescale infestation, you should call an Austin pest control service, or one near you.
Bed bug nymph Image/Piotr Naskrecki-CDC
Drowning Fruit Flies
Fruit flies love something sweet, so remove all temptations by tossing out overripe fruit and keeping your trash can well covered. That way, when you put out a narrow-necked bottle with a thin layer of wine, fruit juice or a sugar-vinegar mix, it will be the only food source around. Fruit flies go in, but they can’t get back out.
Decorate With Rosemary
If you live in an area where wasps are common, use this simple pest control trick. Hang a sprig of rosemary under your eaves, awnings, patio and play equipment. Wasps will steer clear of these areas and may even abandon an established nest.
Fight Nature With Nature
For outdoor pests, such as mosquitoes, there are natural predators who love to eat them. Most common of these are bats and owls. To encourage these winged pest control agents to visit your home, place an owl box or bat box on the edge of your property. This works best if you have a lot of space since owls especially are less likely to take up residence near the bright lights of a home. Once established, these nighttime predators can reduce your pest problems.
Clean With Vinegar
This natural cleaner eliminates scent tracks that ants and other insects use to find their way back to a food source. Once you’ve eliminated these pests, you can go back to using a cleaner with a scent you enjoy more than pickling juice.
Eliminate Silverfish-Attracting Leaks
These slim, wingless insects love a moist, humid environment. If you notice them hanging about, you probably have a leak somewhere. The best way to eliminate these crawlies is by removing the moisture. Contact a pest control service if they still flourish after that.
Eliminating pests in your home is sometimes a task you can handle yourself, especially when the pests are small or relatively harmless. Dealing with ants and gnats in your home is easy, so long as their population hasn’t gotten too big. You can also handle the outdoors with some creative decorating tricks. Enjoy the reduced pest population, but keep a watchful eye all the same.
Author: Zainab Sheikh
