Common Household Pests + How To Prevent Them

For many Montgomery County residents, their home is their largest investment. No one wants to see that investment overtaken by household pests. Once insects and rodents get into your home, getting rid of them can be quite a challenge and some pests can pose risks to you, your family and even your home.

The most common spider that can make its way into your home is the house spider. The worst part of a spider infestation is walking through spider webs and while they don't pose any known risks to humans, no one wants them crawling around their house and all over them. Some other fairly harmless spiders include wolf spiders and yellow sac spiders. There are some spiders that can be dangerous, if you come in contact with them. If you are bitten by a black widow spider or brown recluse spider, you can have a pretty serious reaction that can be deadly.

Ants are also fairly common household pests. If you see one ant, it is likely there are hundreds, even thousands more. Common to this area are pavement ants, odorous ants and carpenter ants. While ants don't pose any known threats to humans, carpenter ants can do serious structural damage to your home. They burrow through the wood in your home to create passageways. It can be tough knowing they are in your home before they have already caused damage, so when it comes to carpenter ants, prevention can be key.

Cockroaches are common pests that can pose some serious health risks to anyone in your home. Cockroaches are known for crawling through sewers and over dead and decaying matter so anything their feet touch can be contaminated. They can contaminate surfaces and food and can cause salmonella poisoning, asthma symptoms, diarrhea and dysentery. They can cover a lot of area quickly and they reproduce up to 3-4 generations a year.

Flies are another nuisance pest common in homes. They include fruit flies, house flies, drain flies and cluster flies. While flies are mostly annoying and difficult to get rid of, they can also contaminate surfaces with their feet and because they regurgitate their foods.

And if you weren't feeling especially grossed out by the above listed, many homeowners have to contend with rodents. Mice and rats are very dirty critters and can spread some pretty serious disease and parasites, such as salmonella, dysentery, asthma symptoms and more. They contaminate surfaces and food supplies and leave behind dangerous droppings. In fact, mouse and rat droppings should only be handled using gloves and respiratory mask. They are also known to gnaw through electrical wires, posing a fire hazard.

There are some things you can do inside and outside of your home in an effort to keep them from getting in. One is to check around your home and make sure there are no holes or cracks. You should also check around your plumbing for any holes and cracks and get them filled. Make sure you don't have any leaky pipes. You should keep your kitchen cleaned by sweeping and mopping on a regular basis, not leaving dirty dishes in the sink and by keeping your trash in covered containers. You should also wipe down surfaces and countertops thoroughly. Do not leave food out on the counters and anything you can store in airtight containers should be. Make sure you take your trash out on a regular basis and store it in covered containers as far from your home as possible. Outside the home, eliminate any standing water you can by cleaning out storm drains and gutters and buckets.

If you think you have a problem with any of these common pests, you should contact a professional as soon as possible. None of these pests are easy to get rid of on your own and you can save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration by contacting home pest control pros.