Sure you can bug proof your home! Just like you can “child proof” your home, there are plenty of precautions you can take to keep bugs away. While calling the Lawn and Pest Solutions technician to treat your home for pests is a great idea, we have to remember that this is a team effort. The best professional treatment in the world is not going to work if we aren’t “all in this together”. 

Were you raised in a barn?

Shut the door, ALL THE WAY. Close the windows, ALL THE WAY. If there are tiny holes in the window screens, repair those. Look for small spaces and cracks where bugs, birds, critters could crawl into your home. One of the easiest access points is the space behind your washing machine and refrigerator where water lines come in.

Water vs. Food

Water wins every time for pests. They love water. Food is next, but water is where you need to look first. Any leaky faucets or sources of water are popular gathering spots for bugs. Look under your sink, look again behind that washing machine and refrigerator, anywhere water is running from outside to inside, bugs love to hang out.

It’s house cleaning day, every day!

Things you can do around the house to keep your house bug free include:

• Vacuuming away cobwebs
• Sweeping up pet food and putting it in sealed containers
• Putting away food and keeping sink and counters clean and free of edible evidence (at least rinse your dishes off if you don’t have time to wash them)

This may cause you to sweat a little.

Look outside. That big pile of firewood stacked against the house….you need to move it. Just lift up one piece from the ground and look under it. Tons of bugs. They are gathering there to hang out and figure out how to get in your house. Try to put a few feet (at least) between the side of your home and the stack of firewood. If you can get that firewood off the ground, that would be even better. 

And while you are outside…

Clean up your yard. Every pile of sticks, limbs, grass cuttings and debris is another place for bugs to gather. Even though this is about bugs, remember anything that is growing against or leaning against your home on the outside is like a welcome mat for outside “pests” to get onto or into your home. A tree branch that has landed on your roof is just an easy corridor for all kinds of bugs, pests and critters to walk on over into your home. When you think about it like this, it’s pretty easy to see from a “bugs point of view”. 

You stuck your fork where? 

We can all use all the help we can get whether child proofing or bug proofing. As with child proofing your home, you can cover outlets and put cushions on corners all day long, but the child is still going to fall and put things in places they don’t belong. Yes, you can bug proof your home, but it takes work from all of us. You do your part, we will do ours. Call Lawn and Pest Solutions in New Albany, MS and we will work together with you to make your home “bug free”. Our licensed pest technicians will show up promptly and treat your house the same they would their own. Let a trusted and trained Lawn and Pest employee take care of you! We can be found anywhere from Memphis and Oxford to Tupelo and New Albany and anywhere in between in North Mississippi. 

Indoor and outdoor projects to ready your home for spring

While sheltering in place, here are some family activities that can help prep your yard and home for spring! Many of us are on a bit of a “lockdown” right now and have some free time around the house. Some of us even have some “extra hands” with lots of energy! Let’s put these housemates to work! Now is the time to get some indoor and outdoor projects completed so we are ready to enjoy a beautiful spring!

Clean spaces help keep pests away

• Clean out your kitchen pantry, throw away old flour, rice and grains. These can be a breeding ground for pantry pests such as Indian meal moth (also known as weevil, pantry or grain moth). Clean up any spills and broken containers as the residue from these can attract mice, ants and roaches.
• Deep clean kitchen baseboards, cabinets, drawers for the same reasons as above, this can reduce pest attraction.
• Move pet food to sealed containers
• Clean out your recycling bin as it is filled. Cardboard and paper will harbor roaches while plastic bottles and aluminum cans will attract ants. Make sure you rinse out food containers before recycling! 
• While your recycling bins are empty, clean them out with ammonia or bleach
• It is time to clean out your storage room that you’ve been throwing everything in!  Mice, roaches, rats, squirrels all love a junk room.
• If you want to read more about cleaning up and cleaning out, here’s a link to one of our previous blogs on cleaning out gutters.
  Now that you’ve cleaned up, it’s a great time to get a pest analysis and preventive treatment from one of our certified technicians.  P360 is more affordable than you might think, just click here to get a quote. While we at Lawn and Pest Solutions are certainly in the business of taking care of your pest problems, the best results are when we work together as a team. So keep those family activities going while sheltering in place and call us when you need us!