6 Ways To Maintain A Pest Free Home

Have you gone to the circus to see the trained animals? It is absolutely amazing to watch a wild creature do something completely contrary to its nature, like climb a ladder, jump through a fiery hoop, or hold a human head in its mouth without chomping. But what is even more amazing are the extraordinary lengths those trainers go through to get those animals to do such amazing tricks.

Animals don't start out jumping through a ring of fire. They start by doing something familiar and natural to them, like eating, grooming, or jumping. Then, through a series of iterations, the animal learns and adapts to a behavior that is completely foreign. Modern pest control uses a similar tactic.

If you have pests in your house, they're only doing what is natural. They're looking for food, laying their eggs, and looking for a place to build their nest. Your home is just another cave, rotted tree, stump, log, or damp hole. What you need to do is to teach them to do something that is not natural: leave your house alone. Here are some things pests do naturally, and what you can do to keep them from doing them.

1. In winter, many bugs hide under bark. It only makes sense that they will hide under your siding--if you let them. Use a caulking gun to fill in gaps in siding and around outlets, fixtures, air conditioning units, pipes, and other objects that breach your walls. Get around those window frames as well.

2. In nature, pests are looking for rotted wood holes. If you have rotted wood holes on your house, they won't know the difference. Fill those in with caulk, until you can get those areas fixed.

3. In the wild, many bugs eat other bugs. If you don't want spiders, don't draw flying insects. If you don't want ladybugs, don't create aphids. If you have an open garbage can, fruit laying out, pet food in a bowl, crumbs on a plate, or plants and flowers, you'll have insects that eat those things. This will draw the bugs that eat those insects. The secret is to break the chain.

4. If you must have flowers and plants, bug-eating bugs might be helpful to you. In these cases, it is always a good idea to have a pest control company do a treatment of your perimeter or the exterior walls of your house and roof line. This will keep the bugs in your yard, but give them a strong motivation to not crawl on the bark of your home.

5. In nature, bugs like to crawl around in cozy little rotted nooks. If you have weeds, overgrowth, clutter, wood piles, or construction materials, bugs will feel right at home. To keep them away, make your yard feel open, expansive, and clean.

6. In the wild, bugs hide under leaves. If your yard has a sheet of dead leaves or piles of leaves, they will be drawn in. The trick is to put leaf piles away from your foundation and exterior walls, or bag those leaves up.

If you can hide the food sources, keep your yard free of clutter, and make your walls uninviting, this will train those pests to stay outside, where they belong. The less your yard and exterior walls feel like nature, the less those pests will want to hang out at your place.