Everyone loves the holiday season. Regardless of what you are celebrating, or who you are visiting, the holidays are a time for laughter, relaxation, and tasty food. Of course, this doesn’t come without a fair amount of preparation. If you plan on hosting family or friends this year, there are many things you need to do to get ready. The house has to be cleaned, food has to be bought, spare bedrooms must be readied for visitors... The list can seem endless. We are here to remind you not to forget about pests. Creepy crawlies, dirty rodents, and annoying buzzers are the quickest way to turn your joyous reunion into a stressful affair. To deal with pests this holiday season, we have some things you can do.
Common Pests Around The Holidays
Many pests can present themselves as problems during the holiday season. Some pests that are most likely to ruin the occasion are cockroaches, rodents, and bed bugs. Let’s take a moment to break down each one of these pests.
Cockroaches: Even if your home is spotless, cockroaches can still get inside and thrive. Although filthy and disease-ridden themselves, cockroaches can live in the cleanest environments. This is partly due to their strange diets that can include glue, paper, fingernails, dead skin, and even human saliva. Known to spread at least 33 kinds of bacteria, 6 parasitic worms, and 7 kinds of human pathogens, having these bugs around during the holidays could put you and your guests at risk.
Rodents: Known for invading around the holiday season, rodents are as troublesome as they come. They are able to chew through walls, electrical wiring, utility piping, and practically anything they put their mind to. Rodents can be a destructive force within the walls of your home. Filthy and teeming with bacteria, rodents can spread many kinds of diseases. Rodents can even bring other pests into your home, pests such as ticks and fleas. And these pests bring their own list of problems. Needless to say, you don’t want these furry creatures sharing a living space with you and your family and friends this holiday season.
Bed Bugs: If your home does not already have a bed bug infestation, there is a chance it will after the holiday season ends and guests have left. Bed bugs are hitchhiking pests. If any of your family or friends have bed bugs, they are likely to hitch a ride and infest your home. Even worse, if your home has bed bugs, you could be inadvertently responsible for sending them home with your guests this holiday season. We assure you, blood-sucking, sleep-wrecking pests are not good parting gifts.
General Prevention Tips For Pests
There are many things you can do to make your home less attractive to pests this holiday season. Here are our top suggestions.
- Buy a caulking gun and use it to seal any gaps, cracks, or holes in your home’s exterior foundation.
- Inspect and replace any broken weather stripping around your home.
- Install door sweeps on all exterior doors.
- Make sure all of your screens are rip and tear-free.
- Install metal screens over all exterior vents into your home.
- Remove clutter and debris from your yard.
- Check your roofline and repair any damage that might let pests in.
- Clean regularly, making sure to address food and drink messes as they happen.
- If your trashcans do not have tight-fitting lids, invest in ones that do.
- Store leftover foods inside airtight plastic containers.
- Repackage food stored in cardboard boxes in larger plastic containers.
- (For Bed Bugs) research the signs they leave behind and inform your relatives so everyone planning on traveling can know they are bed bug-free before doing so.
The Easiest Way To Keep Your Home Pest-Free This Holiday Season
If all of the above steps seem like a hassle, we have an easier and more effective solution for you here at Dynasty Pest Control. Our year-round professional pest control services are designed to fight back against the pests we talked about as well as a variety of other common pest invaders. If you want the best protection possible for your home this holiday season, this is where you will find it. All of our pest technicians are friendly and highly trained to deal with any pest threat that you and your Texas home are up against.
For more information on our services and to find the right pest control plan for your home, give us a call today. Let us show you the joys of a pest-free home.