Flies and gnats flying from here to there in your kitchen, cockroaches doing the same thing in your pantry, ants devastating your garden and bedbugs that do not respect your sleep time. Does it sound like a common routine for you?
If that is your case, then you agree that insects — though necessary for the environment — can be very problematic living beings, especially when they manage to make their way into your sweet home.
Do not worry: in this article you will get all the necessary information to learn how to deal with an insect infestation in your home, including the most common types of insect infestations, how to get rid of flies and how to get rid of bugs in house naturally, plus more useful tips on the topic.
Just continue reading!
The Problem With Home Insect Infestations
Some of the insects that you can usually see in your house are vectors of important viruses and bacteria that affect humans. The most common example is flies and mosquitoes because they can spread a great variety of diseases to humans, ranging from a simple diarrhea to other mortal diseases.
Also, cockroaches are an important threat to human health, mainly because these insects – the same as flies – tend to lurk into garbage and waste, carrying numerous bacteria with them.
The World Health Organization gives clarifying data about this topic:
- Diseases spread by common houseflies.
- Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.
- Diseases spread by cockroaches.
On the other hand, some insects like ants and termites, although they are not a health threat for humans, they can cause other problems in your house, like devastating your garden and wood furniture. That is why it is so important to learn how to get rid of insects in your house in general, but especially how to get rid of flying bugs in your house like flies and mosquitoes!
Common Types of Insects That Infest Homes
Houseflies, gnats and mosquitoes: Houseflies, gnats and mosquitoes enter your house through windows, doors and vents. Fruit fly eggs can also travel in fruit you have recently bought and can reproduce within 24 hours!
Meanwhile, mosquitoes will quickly look for standing water inside your house like a leaking trap in your kitchen, for example.
Bedbugs: Although bedbugs do not spread any diseases to humans, some people can be allergic to their bites. These insects can enter your home from other buildings traveling hidden in furniture. They like to hide on beds or other furniture during the day and come out at night.
Cockroaches: These insects are a big problem in cities because they can reproduce really fast. Cockroaches are very resistant and persistent, so will also need to be persistent to get rid of them. When you see one in your house, do not wait to take action because there are more hidden for sure.
Ants and termites: Some types of ants can have a central nest in your backyard while they create satellite colonies inside your house, and in the case termites, these can be a major problem inside your home because they are basically eating it.
1. Identify the type of pest
This part seems simple, but in reality it is not that way. There are many types of insects that are very similar to each other, and it is important to learn to differentiate them because each type of insect may require a different treatment.
The easiest option to identify the type of insect is to take photos of adult bugs, then search the internet for pictures of similar insects.
2. Thoroughly clean your house
It is very important you sweep the floors well, then continue with water and disinfectant, clean the carpets, under the furniture in the living room, kitchen and bedrooms.It is necessary to avoid generating bad odors in general by avoiding leaving food scraps dispersed here and there, and taking out the garbage as soon as possible.
You should try to keep all water reservoirs tightly sealed and repair any leaks in your kitchen and bathrooms. Another great way to keep insects out of your kitchen, is keeping pantry food in airtight plastic bags or containers.
3. Use pest control methods
You can find lots of DIY pest control methods on the Web, but the following are some of the simpler and most effective ones.
How to get rid of house flies and mosquitoes: It is somewhat difficult to prevent these insects from entering your house, but there are two good tricks to kill them:
- Use spray with very citrus concentrated scents in your home: mosquitoes are attracted to sweets, but the spray in the environment makes it hard for them to breathe, and this ends up killing them.
- The other option that also works for many flying insects, including flies and gnats, is to spray vinegar near the places where these insects usually gather. The smell drives them away for several hours.
How to get rid of gnats: On the other hand, if your problem is gnats, you can make a simple gnat trap with apple vinegar and lemon. Gnats tend to gather around fruits because their smell attracts them, so the apple cider vinegar will catch their attention, and when they try to consume it, lemon will do the lethal job.
How to get rid of bedbugs: One way to tell if there are bedbugs in your bed is that when they bite, they leave scattered points of blood on the bed. They also leave a small lesion on your skin of about 5 cm.
The best option to get rid of bedbugs is to apply intense heat. For this, you must first isolate “the nest”, and this is usually the covers and sheets of your bed. These covers should be washed in very hot water for about 30 minutes. This is the best way to kill bed bugs.
To prevent the pest from continuing to grow and spread throughout your home, you can buy insulated plastic bags at specialty stores.
How to deal with cockroaches: Eliminating cockroaches can be difficult, so you will need patience.
The first thing is to seal any cracks or holes in your floor and walls. Also, create the routine in your home of not leaving food scraps and dirty dishes in the kitchen, especially at night. Now, a good cockroaches trap is to mix three parts boric acid with one part of powdered sugar. Although boric acid is not toxic to people or pets, it can be irritating. So keep it away from children and pets.
The best places to put this cockroach poison are:
- Around the refrigerator.
- Kitchen corners.
- On the edges of cabinets and pantries.
- Near the doors of your house and garage.
Dealing with ants and termites: Ants and termites are usually a very common type of pest in houses, and this is because they usually find a lot of food in places where they should not be, such as outside the refrigerator or the pantry.
Now, when they already have invaded your home, you can choose to place some type of lubricating cream – such as petroleum jelly – in the places where you see that they usually transit, and especially near their colonies or nests. These products impede that ants can move freely and in the end, they end up moving away from the place.
Another good option is cinnamon. The smell and taste of this spice can kill ants, so it can be quite useful in these cases.
In the case of termites, a very good home remedy is to mix half a cup of vinegar with the juice of two lemons. You can place this mixture in a spray container with this mixture to kill termites instantly; just spray it on any termite colony you find in your house.
By Admin –