Five Tips to Save on Pest Control

Money Talks News lists five ways to save on pest control as follows:

1. Keep tree branches and shrubs trimmed away from the roof and windows. These are natural bridges and ladders into your home for all sorts of bugs.

2. Seal up cracks and holes, inside and out. Those are tunnels.

3. Replace rotting wood, a likely place for insects to break through. Many are drawn to both the wood itself and moisture.

4. Cut off their water supply. Insects like mosquitoes and flies are drawn to stagnant (still) water. Outdoors: regularly empty bird fountains, buckets, and anything that catches rain. Indoors: change pets’ water bowls several times a week if not daily.

5. Protect food. Don’t leave food out in the open, even crumbs — they’ll find it. Be sure to regularly empty the garbage and keep containers covered. Make sure spices, sugars, and other counter-top items are in lidded jars or otherwise sealed containers.

Some thoughts from me:

• We just cut down a tree that was planted too close to our house and (probably) served as a great way for pets to get in. We didn't cut it down for that reason, but I'm sure it will help protect our home from invasion. We also removed a bush that was up against our garage. It had a huge ant nest under it. Needless to say, the ants are no more.
• Our neighbor has a huge tree that keeps growing over our garage. I have to trim it every spring and fall to keep it off our house.
• I have a side door on our garage that has some rotting wood near the bottom. I need to replace that.
• We don't have bird baths, fountains, buckets, pets' bowls, etc., so we're pretty good on the water front. When the kids were little we had a turtle sandbox that would always fill up with water and I'd have to dump out.
• We live in Michigan, so things (including pests) die in the winters (one advantage of living here.) When we lived in Nashville, it was so warm that we had 365 days of pests attacking (and the worst spiders I'd ever seen.)
• Our biggest pest issue is actually mice. We have woods behind our house and used to get a mouse (or maybe a few -- I think the most we had in one year was three) every year. But the neighbor’s cats have moved outside and effectively eliminated the surrounding area of mice (we didn't have any last year.) Unfortunately they've also eliminated (or scared off) the wildlife we did enjoy -- rabbits (used to see many in our yard, now it's very rare), squirrels (not a major loss), and birds (certainly birds fly over our house and "stop by", but we have fewer nests and none living in the five birdhouses that used to be full every year.) I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

How about you? Anyone out there battling pests? Any good tips to share with the rest of us?

Comments

[Josh]

Cats should not be allowed to roam free and decimate wildlife populations -- they should be kept in yards like dogs, or inside-only.

[kjaxx]

We had termites swarm in our (rented) house this past April. Talk about a pain. Termites can't hurt you physically, but they completely took over our Saturday trying to keep them to one part of the house and killed and cleaned up. I would recommend a termite inspection for any would be home buyers. (I don't know if termites are region limited.)

Flies are another huge pain. I hate when I can't even step outside to get the mail without letting a fly into the house. Or when I can't comfortably sit outside in the afternoons without being constantly buzzed. (We don't have standing water or recent rain for that matter so i don't know what gives.)

(Oh and FMF, I'm sure you don't want "pets" to get in, but I know you meant pests. - in your first thought.)

[[email protected]]

I use heavy duty pesticide 3-4 times a year and pretty much douse the outside of our home. Here in Houston, I've found this to keep the spiders, ants, and roaches the way I like them - not in my dang house. :-)

I also agree with the cat sentiment...it's not cool to find someone else's animal (cat, dog, orangutan, whatever) pooping in my yard. Pets are awesome but keep them to yourself - I do. If my dogs ever use someone else's yard during a walk, I have to pick it up. I wish all pet owners would feel the same sense of "have to".

[jdgjdg]

When plugging up holes, be sure NOT to plug up any weep holes in a masonry wall.

[Sunil from The Extra Money Blog]

we live within an association that provides for a full time "pest controller". he stops by every quarter and ensures the boundaries are treated/medicated appropriately. we do pay for it, and it is worth the convenience to me. the tips above are helpful however, and we do them as part of our routine regardless, w/o thinking about the effects on pests.

[Brian]

Just bought a townhouse New Jersey a few months ago. For the first couple of months we would see a house centipede in the basement probably every other day. These things are scary. They are between 1 and 2 inches long, have about 20 legs, and like to hang out on the walls and ceiling. When they see you coming to get it, they take off running to hide under the baseboards. They are extremely fast!

After doing some research I bought a dehumidifier for the basement and sprayed orchid home defense around the inside and outside. I've only seen 2 in the past month. I hope this is because the measures I have taken are working, but it could also be because of the colder weather. If I start seeing a lot of them again, I will be calling the exterminator.

[TR]

There is a huge bedbug infestation problem in New York. They got rid of them in the 50s with DDT but don't use that anymore.

[Georgia]

I'm afraid I disagree with your cat proposition. In order to keep animals from dirtying your lawn, you would have to keep all animals housebound - rabbits, squirrels, possums, raccoons, pigeons, snakes, and so on. I don't think you would want to go that far.