Your Pest Control Checklist for the Holidays
As temperatures start to cool off, it is easy to want to begin tackling all of your holiday to-do lists. Typical tasks include prepping for family dinners, sending out holiday cards, and checking out the great sales coming up this month. Unfortunately, pest control often gets overlooked during holiday preparedness. Yet, a pest infestation can ruin Christmas dinner and lead to a not-so-happy start to the New Year. That said, holiday pest control is simple, and you can complete it in a few steps:
Inspect the tree before bringing it inside
Do you like having a live Christmas tree? Remember to inspect the branches and shake the tree’s body before bringing it into your home. Many pests like spiders, ants, bark beetles, mites, and more, can lurk in your beautiful pine tree. Insects find shelter and food in people’s homes more often during the winter months, so you don’t want to give them an open invitation to infest your home. Even if you’ve shaken the tree, also do a quick inspection for anything that resembles white scales. Insects are a given to keep out, but you also want to avoid the pine needle scale that could cause your tree to die prematurely.
Keep the home clean
Dust, mold, leftover food, and crumbs all entice pests into your home. Unfortunately, bugs and vermin continue to thrive when they have a good food source, so our method is to remove or prevent that entirely. No, we don’t mean that you can no longer eat in your home. Instead, we suggest regularly cleaning the house and keeping up with dusting and vacuuming. Here are the most critical areas to keep clean to prevent a pest takeover:
Kitchen and bathroom countertops
Sinks, toilets, and showers
Bedsheets and other linens
In addition, sealing gaps in baseboards, walls, doors, and windows limits the chance of pests entering the home. Most professional pest control companies provide home sealing services and quickly help keep the critters out long after the holidays.
Store food in sealed containers
Cockroaches, ants, and rodents scavenge for leftover food. Homeowners that seal food in glass or plastic containers see fewer pests over time. Checking stored pantry and cupboard items ever so often can ensure you don’t end up with worms or other icky critters in your kitchen. The last thing to look for when monitoring your kitchen cabinets and refrigerator is expired foods. Like we mentioned before, mold and spoiled food attract pests, so keep your home clean.
Box and unbox holiday decorations with care
Where you store your holiday decor may dictate how you need to care for the items as they are boxed and unboxed. The garage and attic are havens for creepy crawlers, whereas sealed tight bins are not. Decorations stacked in a dusty or moist place require quick surveillance. Unbox decorations with care and plan to stow them away in non-porous or open containers in the future.
Invest in preventative pest control
When the holidays get busy, the last thing a homeowner wants is more things on their calendar. Therefore, hiring a professional pest control company to come out for a complete inspection and preventive pest treatment will allow you to enjoy the festivities fully.
Kinder Safe Pest Solutions offers 17 years experience in commercial and residential pest control serving Manatee and Sarasota counties. Call (941)254-2180 today!