Throughout the year, our homes and gardens may have involuntarily invited a few unwanted visitors. This could be anything from rodents eating your homegrown vegetables, to insects scurrying across the kitchen floor. The resulting question remains the same: how do I get rid of them?
When it comes to pest control, prevention is key. The worst issues tend to occur in the warmer months, so to get ahead of the game here are some effective pest deterrents you can use on common household and garden pests.
Control insects in the home
Nobody likes insects inside their house. One of the most effective ways to prevent bugs from entering your home is to keep it clean. Don’t leave food sitting out in the open: doing so will only encourage insects to come inside and indulge themselves.
Ant in the kitchen – image courtesy of Shutterstock
There are many easy methods to deter insects in the home. For example, sprinkling coffee beans around doors and windows helps to keep ants at bay. For spiders, try using a solution of water and vinegar in a spray bottle to act as an effective deterrent.
Keep cats from harming birds and wildlife
Many people adore cats and have them as beloved pets in their homes. However, cats can be quite frustrating and troublesome creatures. They often attack birds and other forms of wildlife. There are quite a few cat repellents available, but there are also other things you can do to keep birds safe from predators in the garden. If you’re a cat owner yourself, a simple thing to do is attached a bell to their collar; there’s no way you can sneak up on the local birdlife if you tinkle at every step!
Black Cat holed up in a bird feeder – image courtesy of Shutterstock
Bird houses and bird feeders should be kept elevated from the ground and away from places where a cat could easily reach them. Cats are notorious climbers, which is why it is best to keep bird feeders away from their favourite climbing areas!
To help keep cats out of your garden altogether, the RSPB suggests using a fence such as chicken wire or a flimsy plastic roll-up fence to prevent felines from climbing over it. If you want to protect birds who have nested in your tree, you could also use a spiked tree collar. This helps to stop cats from climbing up the tree.
Prevent rodents from entering your home
Rats and mice can be a big problem in our houses – particularly if we live in old terraces in close proximity to one another, or live out in the countryside where rodents scurry indoors from the fields. However, there is a way to stop them from coming inside, and you don’t have to do anything harmful in the process. Simply use an ultrasonic rodent repeller – it emits a high frequency noise that rodents flee from, and best of all, it can’t be heard by humans or non-rodent pets. That means it’s safe to use around your children and four-legged friends, unlike poisons and traps that can prove much more hazardous. In addition to this, you can try rubbing your doorways with peppermint oil as rodents are thought to detest the smell of it, as well as doing some slightly bigger DIY tasks such as sealing up cracks, filling holes and adding metal grates over drains.
The sweet little fieldmouse you do not want in your house! Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Try these methods and see how you get on – with any luck, you won’t see pests in your home or garden ever again!
