Pest-Related Honey-do Lists: DIY vs Professional Pest Control

October 12, 2019 Tanner Holt

Is there a list of looming chores, which has been hanging over your head for a while? Maybe you have an ant problem you’ve been ignoring, or maybe your home is always home to a number of mosquitoes, and you’ve just been putting off taking measures to sort these problems out. Whatever the case, here are some DIY tips to help you deal with the pest-related items on your honey-do list, as well as guidance on when you should call the professionals:

Getting rid of rodents.

It’s always best to take preventative measures, first. If you make the food in your home harder to access, the rewards for entering your house become significantly fewer and so your house becomes less desirable to the invading rodent.

There are a number of different types of traps you can set yourself, including a number of humane traps which you can use to catch your home invaders and release them into the wild (far away from your home, of course). With any trap, you’ll need to lay down some bait, such as cheese or a blob of peanut butter to entice them in, then wait.

When you should call the professionals: If, no matter how well you safeguard your food, and you’ve tried to catch the invaders yourself to no avail (or you have managed to one or two, but there appear to be more) then you should call the professionals to come and inspect your home; they can try to pinpoint how they’re entering your home, provide advice on how to prevent their entry and take better precautions against them, as well as carry out extermination where necessary.

Dealing with a bed bug infestation.

No one wants to think about whether they have a bed bugs living in their home; they’re pretty disgusting and there’s definitely some stigma around having an infestation. However, bed bugs can happen to any home, and don’t actually indicate a dirty environment

The key to getting rid of bed bugs is heat. You should wash any fabrics around the affected areas on a high heat, whether that be your sheets, duvet, pillows and stuffed toys, or your sofa cushions, or even your car mats, if you suspect a car-invasion. Then, put the fabrics in the dryer to ensure they’ve been finished off.

When you should call the professionals: If you find evidence of bed bugs even if you’ve washed what you thought was the affected area, you should call in the professionals, since they can de-bedbug the whole room by increasing the room temperature to above what the blighters can cope with- this means that any bed bugs that have hidden out in your carpet, in the cracks in your walls, or in other non-washable items, can be killed without you having to locate each problem area.

Exterminating mosquitoes.

Most of the things that you can do to get rid of mosquitoes are preventative measures, such as: installing screens in doors and windows, so that when you let a breeze in, you’re not also letting in hordes of insects; hanging mosquito nets over your bed to stop yourself getting bitten while you’re asleep and; adding (or replacing) weather stripping to seal gaps between the door and doorframe.

When you should call the professionals: If you take preventative measures, and you still find the little pests flying about in your home, you should call the professionals. Then, they can carry out long-term measures, such as installing mosquito drums in and around your home where they think you’d benefit from having them most.

Removing an invading ant colony.

This is one of the most commonly ignored pest infestation problems since ants often aren’t harmful to human health and so this might fall down to the bottom of your to-do list. Despite the lack of health implications, however, ant infestations can be catastrophic, since they can burrow in furniture, in walls and even deplete the structural integrity of your home.

At home, you can spray insecticide- however, this can be harmful to both yourself, as well as any children or pets you may have.

When you should call the professionals: With regards to ants, whilst an insecticide is an option, there are a range of techniques which professional pest control can use to safely remove an infestation, whilst making sure that your home isn’t exposed to toxic chemicals; simply put, it’s better to call right away.

So, what are you waiting for? Get ticking off the items on your honey-do lists, and make your home pest-free, either with our DIY tips or with the help of pest control professionals.