Sometimes encountering a bug in or around your house does not immediately mean a pest. If you act in time, you can prevent pests or a plant fungus from becoming a pest. Is it too late already? Do not reach for chemical agents immediately. First look for an environmentally friendly solution. Find tips per pest to get rid of it step by step.
Prevention is easier than cure for almost all pests. The first step is to find out which gremlin you are dealing with. For example, if you see silver fish or paper fish slip away. Then you look for the cause of the pests. Where do mice find something to eat and how do they get in? Step 3 is to remove or make unreachable the source of the pests. For the pest control Melbourne this is important.
Tips against pests and nuisance
- Seal gaps and seams , screen air holes with mesh and place screens on doors and windows.
- Check what attracts the pests and remove the cause such as a food source or nesting place.
- Small critters are part of it. If you experience little nuisance and can remove a few bugs by hand, it is not a pest.
- Investigate which beast you are dealing with. Are you stuck? Consult the Knowledge and Advice Center for Animal Plagues.
- Call in a professional fighter if you see woodworms, cockroaches, rats or pharaoh ants in your home and with wasp nests in a difficult place, or outdoors.
- It differs per pest how you get the best of it.
Keep vermin out
The most environmentally friendly method against pests is to prevent pests from entering. Close gaps and seams to keep out crawling and gnawing critters. A mouse only needs a hole of half a centimeter. Flying insects such as mosquitoes will not sting your blood with screens on doors and windows. Food attracts pests. So close food supplies well and clean up leftover food immediately. Critters like to find sheltered, warm or humid places to nest. Provide good ventilation and avoid messy corners.
Find natural enemies
Using a natural enemy against a pest is better for the environment than chemical pesticides. If the vermin is on another animal’s menu then this beast is your best friend. You can control aphids with ladybugs or larvae of lacewings, spiders eat those annoying mosquitoes and silverfish and a (loan) cat chases cheeky mice out of your house. You can also use plants as a natural enemy; like lavender sprigs against fruit flies . Make your garden a haven for birds, frogs and hedgehogs. These animals enjoy load suits such as wasps , snails and mosquitoes .
Slapping and mechanical traps
You are also a natural enemy of pests. Sometimes you can remove a nest or animal by hand. Using a swatter or mechanical trap is also a good way to tackle nuisance. For various pests, you can find or make safe and efficient traps. Avoid traps with poison, and don’t buy traps that make animals suffer unnecessarily or are prohibited, such as glue boards for mice.
Use pesticides?
Sometimes coarser guns or professional help is needed if pests, mold or green deposits do not go away as described above. When using pesticides (chemical agents) it is important to know what you are doing so that other animals, people and plants are not endangered. Pesticides have an impact on the environment.
Also harmful to your environment
If you do eventually use a chemical pesticide, follow the instructions carefully. This seems an open door, but research shows that many people misuse pesticides. This can be harmful to your own health or that of children and pets in your area.
What does that mean?
The information on the packaging may not always be clear. For example, if it says ‘do not spray in opened flowers’, then it is poisonous to bees. And the mouse poison packaging calls on you to ‘remove dead animals, this is to protect birds from eating poisoned mice.
