Household pests are creatures that can cause property damage and spread disease.
While no home can be fully protected against them, taking preventive measures is always a good idea.
However, sometimes more is needed.
So, what do you do when dealing with them, and how do you make sure they’re gone forever?
Read on to find out!
Fleas
The first common household pest is the flea. This bug is a pesky blood-sucking parasite with a flexible lifecycle and can jump over 200 times its body weight.
A female can lay up to 40 eggs daily, making over 1000 eggs in her lifetime. An egg can lie dormant for about a week before hatching.
A flea population can rapidly get out of hand if left untreated.
One of the most common ways for fleas to come inside a human house is precisely this one – if the homeowner has a pet that goes outside.
The quickest way to deal with them is to treat all animals in your home, as well as the property itself. Don’t skip the latter part, as the larvae on the floors and carpets will eventually mature and reinfest everything.
Plenty of shampoos, sprays and powders will help you with your problem quickly and ensure your pets are clean and safe.
European wasps
They are spread throughout the world, mainly in Europe, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and Australia.
Wasps have a huge impact on beekeeping, horticulture and forestry as their potential to disrupt ecosystems by taking away food sources and disturbing the natural food chain.
These insects are highly aggressive. They’re not afraid of humans and can sting multiple times. Although they’re not poisonous, they’re known to cause allergic reactions in humans, which require immediate medical attention.
They like to build nests in cracks and crevices on the exterior of your home, especially if there are abundant food sources nearby.
They’re highly territorial and swarm if their nest is threatened, which makes dealing with them hazardous.
That’s why it’s highly recommended that you call a professional pest control company if you notice a wasp colony near your property. Trying to remove it yourself can be highly dangerous.
Rodents
As if mice and rats are not gross enough on their own, the global pandemic is one of the leading causes of their surging population in recent years.
They’re also more emboldened since then, they’ve lost their natural fear of humans, and even though nocturnal, they may be seen throughout the day.
These pests are highly dangerous to human health because they spread numerous different diseases, and we could quickly get sick if we’ve been exposed to areas they have access to.
They also gnaw everything around because their sharp incisor teeth are constantly growing. Rodents are the reason behind at least 20-25% of fires because they chew the insulation of electrical cables.
It’s best to rodent-proof your home entirely by sealing all holes, cracks and possible entry points and eliminating easy access to food and water sources. Otherwise, the health and property damages can quickly become too great.
Bed bugs
These little bloodsucking creatures are one of the most notoriously difficult to get rid of.
Even worse, infestations can go unnoticed for a long time and spread out rather quickly without you noticing anything until much later.
They can easily hitch a ride to your home if you travel a lot and don’t take the necessary precautions when staying in hotel rooms.
To make matters worse, bed bugs reproduce quickly and can hide well in places like the sofa, the chair, in drawers and, of course, in our beds. They hide there all day and come out a few hours before dawn to feed while we sleep soundly.
The only effective way to deal with them is to call exterminators because if only a handful of them or their eggs remain behind, the property will soon be infested, and you’ll have to deal with the nightmare all over again.
Cockroaches
One of the grossest insects out there, cockroaches are nocturnal bugs which are notoriously curious and difficult to kill and get rid of.
They carry a number of pathogens which are very dangerous to human health, from salmonella to staphylococcus and streptococcus, to the polio virus.
They’re pretty fast, as even the newly hatched roaches can almost run as fast as an adult, which is about 3.4 mph.
The number one thing to do when you notice roaches is not to try to get rid of them yourself but call an exterminator. What you could do on your own to protect your home is to try to locate the point of entry and then seal it tightly.
Pay particular attention to areas around pipes where crevices might be small enough for a cockroach to squeeze in from. You must also seal your drain pipes, fix leaky faucets, and patch any other holes you can find (like around doors and windows) to ensure they don’t gain access again.
To prevent them from entering your home, you must also keep all your food in tightly-sealed containers and eliminate access to water, for they can’t go on for more than 3 weeks without moisture.
Ants
The ant is not actually a pest because it is beneficial to the environment, but people call it a pest because sometimes ants come to people’s homes attracted by the scent of some food lying around.
Everything should be fine if you keep your food sealed and your home clean of bread crumbs and other particles on the floor.
The most effective way to deal with them is to seal all entry points.
Using essential oils, such as peppermint, cinnamon oil, and eucalyptus, is also highly effective against ants, especially if you want to repel them without killing them.
If you want to both eliminate the bugs and prevent new ones from entering, you can do so with a 50-50 white vinegar and water solution. Fill an empty bottle and spritz directly onto them and any visible entry points, which would get the job done.
Salt is a very popular home remedy against them, and boric acid is another highly effective way as well.
Conclusion
Insects are part of nature, and they’ll seek food, water, and shelter, even inside our homes, if we let them.
And while some pests are a nuisance and easy to get rid of, other types of bugs cause infestations that cause property damage and can have strong to severe adverse health effects on humans.
That’s why pest-proofing your home and acting quickly when you notice a problem is so significant.
