Safe Ways For Pest Control In And Around Your Home

When you see evidence of bugs in your home, your first inclination may be to reach for the strongest bug spray you can find. Instead, control the bugs the safe way. Learn about natural pest control solutions.

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   No one likes bugs in their home and when we see bugs like ants, cockroaches, or spiders we tend to reach for a can of strong bug spray as we think that only toxic chemicals will eliminate the bug infestation. That can of bug spray may kill the bugs but it may also harm your children and pets. That toxic bug spray that is loaded with harmful chemicals may also only kill the bugs that you see but may not even prevent further bugs from entering your home.

Easy To Make All Natural Homemade Weed Killer Spray That Works In A Day 

Keep kids and pets safe
  If you have children or pets, you should rethink how you control the pests in your home. Kids and pets are more likely to be exposed to pesticides as they are crawling on the floor. They also touch objects that are on the floor where the bug spray is. Toxic bug sprays are really not good for anyone to use as you are breathing in dangerous chemicals and these chemicals can get into our water system.

Bugs are dangerous
 Household pests can be a danger to your family. Cockroaches produce allergens that can trigger asthma and allergies. Ants can get into your food and spiders can bite. Fortunately, there are ways to control those pests and keep your family safe, too. Following an approach that includes prevention and using safer pest control products is better for your family and the environment. Using pest control products that are safe around kids and pets is always a better option.

Pest Control: Practice Prevention First
 The best way to control pests is to make your home unappealing to them. Just like us, pests need water, food, and shelter to survive, and if they can’t find these in your home, it’s likely they’ll go elsewhere.

• Pick up all food spills and crumbs right away.

• Keep your counters, tables, sinks, and floors clean. Clean and dry dishes after having meals or snacks.

• Clean under large kitchen appliances, such as refrigerators and stoves. Food debris can often collect in these spaces and attract pests.

• Store food in containers with airtight lids or in the refrigerator. If food is stored in cardboard boxes, make sure the boxes are sealed. Cockroaches like cardboard and can get into opened boxes easily.

• Keep your trash in a container with a tight lid, and take out the trash often. Place outdoor trash bins as far from your house as possible.

• Fix household leaks and clean up any excess moisture on counters or sinks right away. Cockroaches like water and can swim.

• Close sink drains when not in use as cockroaches may enter the house through drains.

• Vacuum carpets and cracks and crevices regularly.

• Don’t leave pet food out overnight.

• Fix any screens that have holes to prevent pests from entering.

• Check for any openings or cracks where pests may enter your house, such as behind sinks, along baseboards, and around windows. Seal them.

• If carpenter ants are a problem, look for damaged or wet wood and replace it. Carpenter ants are often attracted to damaged wood.

How To Eliminate Ants In Your Home 

Choosing a Safer Pesticide
 If you’ve already tried prevention techniques and you still have a pest problem, you may need to use some kind of pesticide to treat the area. Many times you can use a natural pesticide to eliminate bugs and naturally safe products should be tried first before reaching for chemical pesticides. I first use DIY homemade pest control products around my home to control the bugs and will only reach for the chemical pesticides in extreme cases, in areas that my kids don't have access to.

Natural homemade DIY solutions for pest prevention
  I have several natural safe DIY solutions that I use for bug prevention around my home. I will use these natural products in places where I store food and they work with natural scents that are not appealing to the bugs. Some of these natural bug products are even food-safe. I have used baby powder, cinnamon, black pepper, and peppermint with great success. Ants don't like these scents and they will stay away from them. These scents will also cover up any scent trail that the ants leave. When I use the above natural products like baby powder, I will use it around the edges of a cabinet or floor. Just make a thin line with the powder or spices all around the edges of the shelf or pantry floor. To prevent the spice or powder from sticking to the bottom of containers or dishes, I cut up a plastic placemat and lay it on the pantry shelf. Peppermint is a great scent to spray in areas where you don't have spiders or ants. I will also use peppermint spray outside on my patio and on my outdoor furniture. I find that the peppermint spray prevents ants from making webs on my outdoor Adirondack chairs. When you use the peppermint spray outdoors, you may have to spray it once a week or after it rains.

Homemade peppermint spray for ants and spiders prevention
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon peppermint essential oil

Put all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well. Spray this in areas like your cabinets and pantry to prevent ants and spiders away. I also use this spray regularly on my patio furniture to prevent spiders from making webs.

Boric acid
 Boric acid can be used as an insecticide and can be very effective at controlling cockroaches, as well as small ants. Boric acid should be used only in areas that kids and pets do not have access to. Roaches crawl through the boric acid powder and the tiny particles cling onto their bodies. When they clean their bodies by licking themselves clean, they ingest the boric acid (which acts as a stomach poison). They die shortly after. Since roaches are not very picky eaters, the roaches killed by the poison are eaten and the cycle continues. It also sticks to food dragged through it. When the food is brought back for other roaches to eat, they all feast on the poison. I like to spread boric acid around the edges of my garage to prevent the roaches from entering my house.

To use boric acid to kill ants you have to mix it with sugar and water. The ants will eat the solution and bring it back to the hive to feed to the other ants. The boric acid will then kill the ants.

Homemade Boric Acid Ant Traps
 To make your own boric acid ant traps, mix about 1 teaspoon of boric acid, with 10 teaspoons sugar and 2 cups of water. Next, spread the mixture on cardboard or absorb it onto cotton balls. Leave the ant traps in areas where the ants are present, who will then take the poison back to their hive. It may take a week for the boric acid to work so you may have to reapply the solution. It is important to use them away from small children and animals. So place the solution behind things like appliances and bookshelves.

The best ant killer
 If the above solutions do not work and you still have an ant problem, this ant-killer gel is safer to use than other bug sprays. I live in the desert of New Mexico and ants are a huge problem here. The ants tend to form hives in the house walls and all over the yard. I will use Combat Ant Killing Gel when I have an infestation of ants in my house or outside. This ant-killing product should be used with caution around kids and pets as it is a chemical product. Since it is a gel it is easier to place in areas that kids and pets can not access. This ant-killing gel bait kills the ants and the entire colony within 24 hours. The ants eat the non-messy ant killer gel and then take it back to the hive to feed the other ants and the queen ant. I like that the ant-killing product comes in a syringe applicator so you can place the gel in hard-to-reach areas where ants travel, such as cracks and crevices. I just place a couple drops of gel near the areas where I see ants and the ant problem is gone by the next day. This ant killer gel attracts the ants to eat it and you will see lots of ants feeding on the gel. So I tell my friends to ignore the area for 24 hours. I am always amazed to see the area ant-free the next day.

How To Eliminate Ants In Your Home

Got ants?

This page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

  I live in the desert of New Mexico and we have ants everywhere in the summer. They are outside and also inside the walls of many peoples homes.  My husband says that our house was built on an ant hill. I used to use ant preventive sprays but not anymore. As bug sprays just kill the ants that you see or prevent them from coming out in that area. Sprays typically have chemicals in it that just kills the ants in that area and I have found that the ants usually find another place to enter the house. I have had ants enter my house through electrical outlets. Ant sprays also leave chemicals in the air that are dangerous to breathe while spraying them. I now use a product that kills the ants and their hives. I use a product that the ants eat and take back to the hive to kill the other ants, including the queen.

  Two years ago, I discovered a great product that works awesome in taking care of my ant problem. Combat makes a great product called Source Kill Max and I can say it works great. This easy to apply gel comes in a syringe-like tube and has a resealable cap on it so you can get many uses out of it. I received this product for a Review two years ago and thankfully there was still product left in the tube for me to use tonight. 

 Unlike sprays that kill only the ants you can see, Combat Source Kill Max has a fast-acting active ingredient that's speed is still slow enough for the ants to ingest it and take it back to the colony to feed to all the ants including the queen. Since Combat is a gel, you don't have to worry about breathing in toxic chemicals. This ant gel kills the entire colony, the ones that you don't see. That means no more ants.

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  You just simply apply the gel to areas where you see ants and the ants eat the gel. They carry it back to the colony to feed everyone else. I placed the gel on the floor and an hour later there were tons of ants eating the gel. The bright yellow spot is the gel. You can see the ants forming around in other places and that is spots were the ants have almost eaten all the gel. It is amazing that I put the gel out and within 24 hours the ants are gone. Yes, you do have to leave the ants alone and let them eat the gel so don't clean up the area as the ants are making scent trails to lead other ants to the product.

  Ever since I started using this wonderful ant killing gel, I have had fewer ants in my house. I still have ants by my front and back doors about once a month but the ants no longer spread to other places in my house. When I notice the ants, I just apply the gel and the ants are gone in 24 hours. The thing that I love about this ant killer is that it is a gel so I can use it on the wall if I see ants there. My kids are older and I don't have pets so I do not have to worry about them ingesting the product. If you have kids or pets, you can block the area off from them so they don't touch the ant gel. When you don't notice any more bugs, usually 24 hours, then you can wipe the gel up.  I purchase this product on Amazon but you can also find it in stores like Walmart and Home Depot.