Keeping your home pest-free while keeping your pets safe brings a challenge to many homeowners. How can you keep the pest away without putting your pets at risk? Many pest control products are toxic and unsafe for animals.
This leaves homeowners asking themselves the question, “do I live in a home with pests and safe animals or put my pets at risk to maintain a pest-free home?” We don’t think homeowners should have to choose between the two. We believe homeowners should have pet friendly pest control options.
If you’re unsure how to keep your pets safe while treating your home for pests, then you’ll want to continue reading below. Here’s everything you need to know about pet friendly pest control products!
1. Don’t Leave Water and Food Out
Before we get into ways to treat your home for pests, let’s discuss a few ways to prevent them from coming into your home in the first place. What are some of the reasons why pests invade homes? Many bugs, insects, and rodents are looking for food, water, shelter, or a combination of all three.
When you have pets in your home, you place food and water in a bowl on the ground for them. Leaving out bowls of pet food and water will attract pests. Pests can smell the water and the food and will be attracted to your home for this reason.
Wet dog or cat food is especially stinky and signals to pests that it’s feeding time. To prevent this, avoid leaving food and water out. Feed your pet their individual meals and clean the bowl out when they’re done eating.
Fill the water bowl several times a day for them, but avoid leaving standing water out for extended periods of time as well.
2. Seal All Food in Cabinets
Now let’s move on to the food stored in your cabinets and pantries. All of your own food items should be sealed in a proper manner. Don’t leave bags of chips or boxes of cereal open.
Pests will smell your food as well and come to feast. Instead, place all of your food items into plastic or glass containers with air-tight seals. This will prevent pests from smelling the food or chewing through the packaging to get to it.
3. Keep Counter and Floors Crumb-Free
Another way to make your home less attractive to pests is to keep it clean and tidy at all times. Certain pests, such as rodents and cockroaches are attracted to clutter. Clutter gives pests a place to hide and build their homes.
Aside from keeping the house clutter-free, you should also keep your counters and floors crumb-free. If you don’t clean your counters and floors on a regular basis, then there could be small food particles or crumbs that you can’t see. These crumbs will also attract unwanted visitors to your home.
Wipe down counters, sweep, and vacuum on a regular basis.
4. Seal All Cracks and Openings to Your Home
When you notice pests in your home, one of the first questions you might ask yourself is, “where are they coming from?” If there are pests in your home, then they’ve found a way to get into your home from the outside. This could be through a tiny crack in the foundation.
One of the first things you need to do is seal all cracks and openings that lead to the inside of your home. Take a walk around your home’s exterior and inspect it for any possible entryways. Properly seal all entryways that pests are accessing.
If needed, then never hesitate to contact a professional to lend a helping hand. Professional pest control services, like those at Holmesutah.com, will know how to find pest access points and how to correctly seal them.
5. Use Coffee Grounds in Your Garden
Fortunately, there are several natural products that you might already have in your home that can deter pests. One of those products is coffee grounds. There are a few critters that don’t like the smell of the coffee grounds and will turn the other way.
If there’s a spot outside your home where you believe pests are most active or are entering your home from, then place the coffee grounds here. Brew a fresh cup of coffee and then use the coffee grounds to ward off pests. You can line your entire home’s exterior in the coffee grounds if desired.
You can even use them in your garden to keep critters out of there as well!
6. Trap Fruit Flies With Apple Cider Vinegar
We all know how annoying fruit flies can be. They’re small pesky creatures that always seem to buzz directly in our ears. To trap fruit flies in your home, you can use apple cider vinegar.
Pour a small amount of apple cider vinegar into a bowl and cover it using plastic wrap. You’ll then want to create small holes in the plastic wrap using the tip of a pencil or pen. The flies are attracted to the smell of the vinegar and will fly into the bowl.
They’ll quickly make their way into the bowl but will have trouble making their way out. You’ll then have several trapped fruit flies that are no longer buzzing in your ear!
7. Lay Down a Thin Layer of Boric Acid
Borax is a natural way to kill bugs inside your home. Yes, borax is often used as a laundry powder. However, you can find it in the form of pest control at your local home improvement store labeled as, “boric acid.”
You can find boric acid in the form of tablets, liquid, or powder. Boric acid is not toxic for pets or humans. It kills insects by absorbing into their bodies to poison them and break down their exoskeletons.
When using the powder form, be sure to lay down a thin layer. If you create piles of it, then the insects will see this and go around it or jump over it rather than walking through it.
8. Trick Wasps With a Fake Nest
Did you know that wasps are very territorial creatures? This is why they can seem quite aggressive when being approached or when going near a nest. For this reason, you can easily trick them into building their nest away from your home.
Trick wasps by building a fake nest and hanging it from a tree in your yard. You can even buy fake nests online if desired. To be safe, consider hanging one in the front yard and one in the back.
The wasps will think another wasp colony has already taken over your home and will continue searching for a new place to build.
9. Remove Pets From the Home While Treating the Home
To ensure your pets’ safety while treating your home for pests, do remove them from the home during the treatment and as long after as recommended by the professionals. Whenever you do need to use toxic chemicals to kill or prevent pests in your home, it’s always the safest option to remove your pets.
Find a friend or family member who can watch them until it’s safe to bring them back home. Even when using natural, non-toxic methods of pest control, it could still be a good idea to remove pets from the home until everything has settled and the strangers (pest control services) have left.
10. Contact a Pest Control Service
Although you can try your own natural pest control methods at home, there might come a time when you need the help of professionals. There are many wonderful all-natural pest control options for you to try on your own, but consulting with a professional pest control service will give you peace of mind knowing they have the tools and knowledge to remove pests and prevent them from coming back.
Fortunately, there are many reputable pest control services that use pet-friendly methods. Do your research to find the right company for your home’s needs. If you have any questions regarding your pets and the pest control method used, then be sure to prepare a list to ask the professionals when they arrive at your home.
Pet Friendly Pest Control Is Possible
Right when you thought there was no hope to keep the pests out of your home while keeping your pets safe, you found this helpful guide. We’re here to inform you that pet friendly pest control is possible! Use some of the helpful tips and advice listed above to begin your non-toxic pest control journey.
Don’t forget to always contact a professional pest control service that offers pet-friendly pest control methods when needed.
For more home improvement tips, continue to check back here on a daily basis.