Repel Critters From Your House With These Tips

 

Pests and insects can be troublesome, especially when their population increases beyond the point of no return. Critters are one such annoying pests that can inhabit your home. They can get in your garden and destroy your crops, and they can even hide in the corners of your rooms. Look at these eight easy methods to get rid of critters and other pests that try to play with your peace of mind.

Tip 1: Protect Your Garden With Nets And Copper Mesh

You may not want to protect every plant in your garden, but you will have some plants that are easy targets for these tiny insects. A wise way to protect these precious plants is using net coverings that provide sufficient ventilation for the plant to breathe. Doing so will keep the insects at bay. You can even use wired cloches or copper meshes that protect the most vulnerable plants in your garden.

Tip 2: Grow Natural Insecticides

You can always plant effective insecticidal plants, be it in the garden or your home. One such classic example is the neem plant that will keep the critters and other insects at bay. Apart from being an insecticidal plant, it is also therapeutic and profound use in Ayurveda due to its medicinal properties. Other essential herbs include sage and rosemary. 

Tip 3: Trim Plants Against Your House

Long bushes and branches around your house are easy bridges for these insects to move into your home. Insects and critters can easily find a way to your windows without you even knowing about them. Therefore, trim the big branches and bushes so they are at least 6 feet away from your house.

Tip 4: Seal The Access Hole

Is the ventilation window too high to reach? Is the chimney open on the roof? These are accessible spots for insects to find a way inside your home. There also may be electrical and pipelines that will open to the inside of your house and are not visible by your naked eyes. But to these insects, such gaps and holes are potential access points. To fill in these gaps in the wall, use expanding foam insulation or seal using POP cement to seal them permanently. For the ventilator or the chimney, use the mesh that is a pore size smaller than these insects.

Tip 5: Cover Pet Food

Is your pet fussy to eat and takes its sweet time to finish its food? What do you do with the food? Most pet owners will keep the food open for their pets to relish whenever they are hungry. However, keeping the pet food available means a big invitation to the ants, critters, fruit flies, and other insects to relish the same food. Your pet can fall sick eating this contaminated food, while aroma and leftovers will call for an enormous army of insects because they are acquainted with you leaving large chunks of your pet’s food for them.

Tip 6: White Vinegar To Deter Ants

Most ants are human-friendly, and you will often see them where there is a lot of sugar and food. However, some ants can be dangerous, and their bites can leave you and your pet itching with bruises.

Have you ever thought about why ants move in a straight line? Even if you try to break this line, they eventually begin again, forming the same straight line called trails. This phenomenon is due to the release of pheromones, a chemical released by the ants that causes them to communicate and move towards their target food. Sprinkling white vinegar will disrupt this communication signal, and you will see fewer or no ants at all. To make this natural vinegar solution, mix some water, vinegar, and a few tsp. of eucalyptus oil to eliminate these pests.

Tip 7: Apple Cider Vinegar For Fruit Flies

Fruit flies will be anywhere where there are fruits and sugary stuff. However, do not let them invade your house by using apple cider vinegar, a natural fruit fly repellent that keeps their numbers at bay. To trap these fruit flies, pour apple cider vinegar into a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Next, punch in some small holes and keep this bowl close to your fruits on the table or in places where fruit flies are very evident. The fruit flies will be attracted to the fruity smell of the vinegar and will dip into it through the holes. However, once in, they will not be able to evade out.

Tip 8: Check Your Seasonal Clothing And Bedding

Bed bugs are common if you haven’t checked your bedding or seasonal clothing for an extended period. Bed bugs can find their way from the matter to your couch and even in your seasonal clothes at times. Therefore, clean your beddings and do laundry every week, especially when you have visitors. Another piece of advice is to check your bedding as soon as you get home from a vacation and never use bedding that you have not cleaned. Your cushions, too, are home to seasonal mites that can cause allergies. 

Conclusion

Who likes annoying guests? Especially when these guests create havoc and leave you miserable. Some may prefer to live with pests and insects; however, if their population is kept unchecked, you are inviting big trouble. This trouble can manifest through respiratory or other health issues, chewed wires leaving appliances and even your car non-functional, or even destroying your balcony garden by feeding on your essential plants. So do pin this page or note this list to be better prepared and eliminate these pests.