We never want to admit when the air starts to get chillier, but here we are again. While we pull out our winter boots and coats to prepare for the oncoming snow flurries, the pests are growing their winter coats and looking for a way inside. Our homes are a perfect place for pests to winter, but if you’re like us and you’d rather have visitors of the two-legged variety, here’s how you can keep out pests this winter!
Prevention is key when it comes to pest control and the best way to do that is to properly outfit your home to be as anti-pest as possible. Start by doing a thorough inspection of the outside of your home, paying extra attention to the foundation and any areas bugs and critters will try to shimmy inside, such as basement windows, loose weather stripping around doors and open chimneys. While it might seem an easy fix to use caulking, be careful! Mice will absolutely make an entrance as caulking is easy for them to chew through. Instead, use steel wool in the larger cracks and crevices and save the caulking for sealing windows and holes that are smaller than a dime – if a mouse can get its head into a space, remember that the rest of its body will fit! Also keep in mind that pests love clutter and if your yard is well stocked with leaf or woodpiles, stacks of newspaper or any good amount of debris, pests will hide there until they can follow you indoors.
Once you’ve secured your perimeter, it’s time to go right to the source – the food source, that is! Pests love the warmth inside our homes, but what they really want is something to munch on. Regularly taking out the garbage, removing empty cans and bottles erases a major food source. Cleaning up spills and crumbs, even if they seem minuscule, is a must as pests will make a meal out of anything you leave behind. Keeping a tidy house does help keep pest action to a minimum!
Pests can still sometimes wiggle their way inside, despite our best efforts at prevention. If you find yourself with a pest problem, give our team a call at 403-262-1666! Our technicians are ready to help you clear away the possibility of pests this fall!
