Pest Control Principles

Whether it's a mouse scooting around on the floor, or ants crawling on your counter, you want to get rid of them and keep them from coming back. The principles described below can help you do that.

Principles

These principles are basically common sense. However, they are worth discussing to keep them in mind.

Identification

If you have seen such a pest before you can probably easily identify it. If it is something you have not seen before, you can search on the internet to find it, or use a book like the one on the right to help you identify it.

Elimination

Elimination is the first thing one thinks of upon seeing a pest. (Splat!!) We are quick to reach for a can of bug spray or call an exterminator to kill the pest(s). This will get rid of the it. But if that is all we do, they might just come back, and we will have to do it again.

The job doesn't, or shouldn't, end with eliminating the pest. We should apply the other principles of pest control.

Find Out What Attracted the Pest to Your Household

All pests want food, water and shelter. We should keep food and water where they can't get to it. This often involves following good sanitation habits by all family members.

Don't keep food items where they can be accessed by pests. Be careful not to leave crumbs or spilled food on the floor. Sweep, mop and clean often. Teach children to be careful not to spill things, and if they do to clean it up. Check containers that were used to bring items into your household to assure that there are no unwanted hitchhikers. Where is trash stored prior to pick up? Are garbage can lids on tight? Check around sinks and toilets for leaks that could provide moisture that pests seek.

Remove what attracted them to your household.

Find Out How the Pests Got In

Check for cracks around the foundation of the house. Look for loose fitting doors and windows. Look for holes in screens and doors left open in the summertime. You can do these things yourself or if you hire an exterminator he can do it, or help you do it.

Seal off how the pests got in.

Continually Monitor

We should continually monitor to assure that once the pests are gone, they haven't come back.

Summary

Many homeowners, when they see pests, immediately think about eliminating them. They probably do, either by themselves or with the help of an exterminator.

However, to assure that the pest problem won't reoccur in the future, attention to all the principles listed above is required.

Furthermore, and maybe most importantly, is that you don't want to have to perform the extermination steps over and over again. Each time you do, if it requires the use of harsh pesticides, you are exposing yourself and your family over and over to these harmful chemicals and the residues they leave. On the other hand, if you can eliminate what attracted the pests in the first place, and seal off where they came in, you won't have to exterminate again, and you won't be re-exposed to any harmful chemicals used in the exterminating process.

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