Three Tips for Keeping Bugs Out of Your Home

Nobody likes to find bugs inside their home.  Not only are bugs unsightly and unpleasant to have in your house, they also bring in germs and jeopardize the sanitary condition of rooms like your kitchen and your bathroom.  So if you would like to keep bugs out of your house, you have to know why they come inside, and what the best methods are for stopping them and keeping them outside of your home.

Why Bugs Come Inside

We often get the most calls about bugs during the summer months, partly because there are simply more bugs alive during the summer than during any other season of the year.  However, having bugs in your home is definitely a year round problem.

Finding bugs in the home can also be attributed to the heavier rains anytime of the year, especially during the winter when it rains as much as it has over the last month here in the Baton Rouge area.  Heavy rainfall will fill up holes or cracks in the ground with water, which in turn drives the bugs up from their underground nests and colonies in search of a dry, safe place to escape.  Once bugs come up from the ground, and they are more likely to come inside your home.

Tip #1 – Trim Bushes & Gardens To Help Keep Nests Away

If you have trees, shrubs, gardens, or bushes directly next to your house, you likely have insect nests beneath them.  Shrubs, bushes, and the plants in a garden attract insects by providing them with food and shelter.  When it rains—or when you water your garden—the bugs living beneath these natural areas will come up to the surface and are more likely to get inside your house because the plants are growing so close to your home.

By moving your garden away from the house, or by trimming down shrubs and bushes directly next to your house, you will relocate the insect nests, and reduce the number of insects that come inside your house after a rain.

Tip #2 – Remove Potential Food Sources

One reason that bugs come inside your home is because they can find food in places like your pantry and your kitchen.  You will find that you have far fewer bugs in those areas after you take steps to ensure there are no crumbs or open containers of food lying around.  If your home is not a good source of food, bugs won’t have much reason to come inside.

Oftentimes, the easiest way to deal with an infestation of ants in your kitchen, for instance, is simply by sweeping the floors, wiping the counters, and making sure that no traces of food are available to bugs.

Tip #3 – Use Rain Activated Pest Control Products

Your local pest control specialist can also assist you in keeping the bugs out of your home when it’s raining outside.  Pest control companies can put down a water-activated chemical on your lawn and on the sides and seams of your house.  This chemical is inactive until it gets wet, so there is no danger to your pets or children.  But when it rains, the chemical will turn into a pesticide and kill all the bugs that come up from the ground.  This is a highly effective way of reducing the number of bugs that will come into your home after a rainfall.