Keeping your home pest-free is something many of us take for granted. That is, until we suddenly see a mouse or a cockroach scurry across your kitchen floor. When you think of pest prevention, the first thing you likely think of is a traditional mousetrap.
Some people do use these to trap mice. But we think they're best kept to the cartoons. They definitely won't be suitable for use around young children. Most adults will find that they cause unnecessary suffering to animals.
So, don't worry, there are plenty of ways to keep your home pest-free that don't involve any kind of suffering. Here are the best family-friendly pest prevention options.
Cruelty-Free Pest Prevention
1. Herbs and Spices
One of the easiest, and cheapest, ways to prevent pests is by using specific herbs and spices. You can easily prevent pests from entering your home with ingredients found in your local grocery store.
If rats and mice are a problem for you, then peppermint is a great way to prevent them. A lot of pests are attracted to the smell of food in your home. But few pests enjoy the smell or taste of peppermint.
The best way to utilize peppermint is with peppermint oil. You can use a peppermint-flavored cleaner. Or simply use peppermint oil to clean down your kitchen. You can also use a peppermint oil diffuser.
Peppermint leaves can be used to repel other pests, such as ants. If you have identified the way ants are entering your home, then placing a few peppermint leaves here will have a huge effect.
Bay leaves are also a great way to repel ants. As with the peppermint leaves, just lay them in areas of your home that are entryways for pests.
Cinnamon sticks are also a great way to repel ants and spiders. This is a win-win for you as you will also be making your home smell nicer. Simply leave some cinnamon sticks around your home, especially in the kitchen. This smell will repel pests and overwhelm the appealing smell of any open food packets or crumbs.
A lot of these prevention methods will work for a number of different pests. But not all of them will work for every pest. So, if you're looking for a way to prevent an infestation from a specific kind of pest, check out homepestremoval.com for more specific guides.
2. Shop Bought Repellent
If leaving dried herbs and spices around your home doesn't seem like the best option for you, there are other options. You can easily find bottled sprays that will work in the same way as the herbs and spices. You simply need to spray it in areas where pests are likely to enter your home.
There are plenty of cruelty-free options available. But there are also lots of bug and pest sprays that are intended to kill them. This is definitely not cruelty-free. Even for small creatures such as ants, this kind of solution will likely upset your children.
The non-cruelty-free sprays can also be damaging to humans. This is the same for other solutions that involve insecticides, pesticides, and poisons. Pest poisons can cause agonizing deaths in pests. Even if you hate having them in your home, there are much better solutions available.
3. Humane Traps
As mentioned above, there are many different kinds of pest traps, such as the traditional mousetrap. But a lot of these traps are cruel and cause suffering or even death. These can be dangerous to you and your family, especially if they involve poison or pesticides. And they definitely won't be family-friendly if your child happens upon a mouse caught in a traditional mousetrap.
But, fortunately, there are plenty of humane traps. These are easily bought online. Most of these traps work by luring the pest into the trap. The opening will then shut or it will be designed in such a way that they cannot escape. Then, you simply release the pest back into the wild. These traps are usually intended for larger pests such as mice, rats, and sometimes cockroaches.
It is difficult to use these traps for smaller pests such as ants or spiders. For these, the best options are the preventative measures explained above.
How to Stop Pests Coming Into Your Home
As mentioned above, prevention is much better than reaction. Treating the cause is much more effective than treating the symptoms. So, here's our guide to making sure your home is not a hotspot for pests.
1. Keep Food Well-Contained.
One of the main reasons a pest will be attracted to your home is because you're providing it with food. Even a few crumbs can attract pests that will then settle into your home. This means you should keep all food in air-tight containers. This is a little difficult with open packets. So it's a good idea to invest in some bag clips. These will prevent pests from being able to smell the open food packets.
2. Clean Up Spilled Food.
As well as open packets of food, other forms of easily-accessible food will attract pests to your home. Even leaving a few crumbs on the worktop after cutting some bread can attract pests. These will mostly be ants, silverfish, and mice.
3. Temperature and Moisture
One surprising factor that can attract pests to your home is low temperatures and moisture. The best way to avoid this is to keep your home warm and well-ventilated. If your home has a problem with mold, this is a sign that your home needs to be kept warmer and needs more air circulation. This is best done by regularly opening the window and keeping the heating on. This might seem counterproductive. But you don't need to do it all the time. Just every now and then.
Summary
These are some of the best ways to keep your home pest-free. When it comes to pests, prevention is much easier than reaction. These options will all deter pests from coming into your home. But some will also help if the prevention doesn't quite work.
