Pest Prevention and Control in Kitchen
No one wants to see creepy little bugs crawling around inside their house. Especially in the kitchen! It is the last place where you want an infestation.
Most of us consider the kitchen as the heart of our beautiful homes. It’s a place filled with delicious food, family, and lots of love. T uninvited guests often spoil our gatherings and even pose some serious threat to the health of all the family members.
Bugs are attracted towards food and its particles which are invisible to the naked eyes. The kitchen is the ideal place for pests because it provides them all three essential elements of survival: water, food, and shelter.
You are quickly going to find that certain bugs like ants or cockroaches are quite stubborn and difficult to deal with. There are remedies to eliminate them and prevent any future infestations through pest control and pest prevention, (hopefully). Special thanks for these tips from Go Fourth exterminator company near Hickory NC. Let’s discuss the types of pests usually found in the kitchen and how to eliminate them successfully.
Kitchen Bug invaders: types and their remedies:
Cockroaches
The alarm bells should start ringing whenever you see cockroaches in your kitchen. They are relatively small pests but can pose a serious threat to our health. They come in various varieties, such as American, Oriental and German cockroaches. They invade our kitchen in search of food and shelter. They spread diseases and bacteria while traveling around the kitchen. A little factoid that may surprise you is that Asthma patients may be allergic to them, even dead. The cockroaches saliva, body and parts may cause an asthma attack if a person is allergic to them. A study revealed the secrets behind their survival in disgusting conditions – and why it’s so hard to eliminate them.
They usually make their way to the kitchen via grocery bags, beverage cartons, and cardboard boxes.
Cockroach Prevention Tips for the kitchen
Keeping your kitchen clean and tidy will help you prevent suffering an onslaught from them. To Avoid cockroaches in the kitchen you need to keep a sanitary, clean, and food particle free environment.
-Always ensure that you promptly remove trash and clean spillages. You need to always keep the sanitary conditions in check. Wipe down hard surfaces with disinfectant.
-Don’t forget the appliances. They love grease found in the microwave and behind the stove and refrigerator, and even the crumbs in toasters. Don’t forget about your dishwasher either, their cleverness will amaze you.
-If you have roaches in the kitchen then you need to take all food sources away and protect your own food. Store all food in sealed containers including pet food.
-Pet food bowls should also be emptied every night.
-Last on the list is to keep your eating to the kitchen table. It’s easy to lose crumbs of food in the couch and carpets. The only way to be sure you are not spreading food around for them to eat is to keep your meals in one place. This way you know where to clean up. Prevention is a big part of stopping cockroaches.
Cockroach Pest Control Tips
Cockroaches are tuff. Many times, its been said that the only thing that will survive a nuclear bomb is a cockroach. If you have already been fighting them then you’re probably thing the same thing. The bad news is that in less than a day or two a female cockroach can spread eggs sacks all over that contain many more monsters waiting to be hatched.
Take immediate action to eliminate them on first sight, followed by the measures ensuring the prevention of re-infestation.
If you want to give a try on your own before calling professional pest control then here goes
Natural Remedies killing cockroaches
Boric acid, found in clothing detergent, can be the best home remedy roach killers. It’s made by chemically combining boron and water. It is low in toxicity to people, but pets but deadly to cockroaches. Boric acid can be irritating to skin and noses so keep children away from it and don’t eat it. Keep it away from food too.
To make your own Roach killing remedy
Get out some powdered sugar and mix three parts boric acid with one part powdered sugar. Now you have an attractant and killer in one.
Now you have to get the little problems to walk through it. When they come into contact with the powder, it sticks to their antennae, bodies and legs. The roaches ingest the boric acid and die during the grooming process.
If you suspect a roach infestation, contact an exterminator. You will not win this war on your own.
Ants
Ants are one of the trickiest pests to deal with due to their tiny size. They are easily able to invade the heart of our home through tiny openings and cracks. Like other pests, they come looking for food and shelter in our kitchens. Eliminating them will require you to follow a two-step process: destroy the source of the problem and take measures for preventing future re-occurrence.
Keeping a clean and tidy kitchen will help you combat the pests, and the ants are no exception. Keeping your kitchen clean will reduce the threats of ant infestation. Promptly remove the discarded food and trash, as they attract the ants to your kitchen. If you see the ants crawling around inside your kitchen, become an investigator and track down the location of their source colony. Properly investigate their access points to your kitchen, and try closing those gaps and crevices. Last but not least, figure it out correctly whether you have bedbugs issue or the ants have made a colony inside your kitchen. Remember that different products are used to treat each. You can treat bed bugs issue by using bed bug spray but the same practice can’t be followed if you have ants in your kitchen.
Flies
It is annoying when you hear the buzzing of flies in your kitchen. They are usually the carriers of a lot of health diseases. They spread germs, bacteria, and pathogens. Not only they irritate us by their buzzing noise but they also pose serious threats to our health. They can cause food poisoning to your loved ones by spreading Salmonella around the kitchen.
Due to their small size, it is difficult to fully prevent their entry into your kitchen. Fly screens can help in minimizing their threats to a certain level. However, minimizing the source of attraction for flies should be a higher priority for you. Always avoid leaving liquids and food lying around the kitchen. Promptly remove the trash and clean up any spills. Also, quickly clean the surfaces whenever you see flies coming into contact with them.
If you suffer an infestation, find the source: the breeding site!
Kill the Flies
The best way to get rid of flys is to go hunting with a fly swatter. If you just don’t like spreading fly guts then there are a couple of other passive ways that will work great with less effort and they work day in and day out.
Restaurants us wall sconces with a light as an attractant, then when they come into the scone they are trapped and die. I like that they look good and you can’t see the fly’s, but they are also expensive.
A cheap flycatcher would be the old hanging sticky tape or hanging sticky sticks. A quick search on Amazon shows that there are now all kinds of different simple designs for trapping flies from bags to stickies. Find a bunch of options here on Amazon
Stored Product Insects (SPI’s)
Stored product insects SPI’s attacks your food storage areas. So the kitchen is not the only target destination they will attack wherever you store your food. Whether it’s a cupboard, pantries around the house, it is possible you might find them there as well. They are often already present in the food available in stores. Or they may gain access to your food storage area through an open window or door.
They pose various health risks for you and your beloved family members. Quickly dispose of the contaminated food and clean the surroundings, the moment you find out about SPI’s attack. Take the necessary steps to eliminate them by using insecticides and sealing up their access points to the food storage area. Make sure the insecticides are safe for kitchen use if your storage area is in the kitchen.
Mice and rats
Rats and mice love to live in the kitchen due to the availability of food, water, shelter, and of course the warmth. They spread many germs, bacteria, and pathogen which pose a serious threat to our health. Take immediate action to eliminate them whenever you spot their droppings inside your kitchen.
They have numerous access points to your kitchen, like holes, ceilings, windows, vents, drains and so on. Carefully examine your kitchen and try sealing down their access points. Keep the environment clean and tidy to limit their attraction towards your kitchen. If you have found sufficient evidence of their presence, lay down the traps and set baits to catch them.
Conclusion:
Pests are unpleasant to encounter, especially in your kitchen. They pose serious health risks and will cost you time and money to eliminate them and prevent future infestations. Keeping a clean and hygienic environment in your kitchen will help you combat them easily. As the insecticides and other elimination equipment will only help you up to a certain level. Because you don’t want these uninvited guests to spoil your gatherings with your family and friends!
Author Bio:
About Michelle Joe: Michelle Joe is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences, and express herself through her blogs. You can find her on twitter: @michellejoe524