Everyone wants to provide a clean and safe home for their family. That means you need to protect your home from the ever-present host of pests lurking in it. Hiring a pest control company is sure to burn a hole in your budget, so you might opt for a DIY (do it yourself) pest control. However, it is important to know the various factors first before deciding on the best course of action.
How Often Should I Do Pest Control?
There are a lot of things to consider when choosing the best protection for your home. Here is a list of everything you need to know in deciding when and how often you should do home pest control.
Type of Pest
Identify the kind of pests you have residing in your home. We’ll tell you when they should be shooed away. Here are the most common ones:
- Ants – When you do notice that you have ants, it means you already have a colony somewhere. Getting rid of them will require monthly fumigation for three to six months.
- Bed bugs – Though they don't cause serious illness, their bites can be irritating, itchy, and cause sleeplessness. The bad news is it's difficult to completely get rid of them. You have to purge all the sources of these bugs.
- Roaches – They reproduce very fast. Extermination needs to be done every week.
- Rodents – They don’t reproduce as fast. Checking for these little gnawers once a month is enough.
- Silverfish, spiders, and moths – These insects are not harmful and they mostly live out of our way. A quarterly check-up for these critters should suffice.
- Termites – It’s worrisome to have these destroy your home. Rest assured though that you only need an annual checkup to make sure your house is safe.
- Yellowjacket – Their stings can be painful, so it is scary to have these near your home. However, if the nest is located far from human activity, it’s perfectly okay to leave them alone. They will eventually all die the first cold night (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter.
Seasonal Pests
Some pests would be looking for food and shelter in your home during certain times of the year. The start of the new season is a good time to be on the lookout for these home invaders.
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January to March
- Rodents
- Silverfish
- Spiders
- Subterranean termites
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April to June
- Ants
- Earwigs
- Fleas
- Spiders
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July to September
- Ants
- Drywood termites
- Earwigs
- Fleas
- Spiders
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October to December
- Ants
- Drywood termites
- Earwigs
- Fleas
- Roaches
- Rodents
- Spiders
Year-Round Pests
Unfortunately, some pests will invade your home any time of the year. Constant vigilance is a must against these:
- Bed bugs
- Roaches
Type of Home
Your home could be attracting pests because of these factors:
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Your home sits on rocky soil.
- Rats love slithering through the rocks. This makes it difficult to completely get rid of them. You will need to set up an exclusion and frequent rodent control.
- Termites, on the other hand, don’t like rocky soil. A single use of pest control products is enough to keep them away for years.
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Your home is large and surrounded by vast ground area.
- Monthly pest management should be done because there are lots of areas where pests can hide.
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Your home is on the smaller side.
- A smaller area means you can monitor it daily. Quarterly pest control will suffice.
Surrounding Area
Securing your home is essential when it is located in these parts:
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Termite-prone area
- Though an annual termite inspection is usually enough, being located here means you have to do it as often as every two months.
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Warm and humid area, or in the woods
- A lot of wildlife love this climate. Expect to have a wide variety of pests visit your house. You have to protect your home all year round.
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Open fields, lakes, or rivers
- This is their natural habitat. Make sure your home will not be theirs, too.
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Neighbors who have a pest problem
- Even if you have a home pest control in place, living near people who carelessly foster pests will pose a problem. Consider talking to them to form a sustainable solution.
Other considerations
- Having kids and pets make it more challenging to schedule pest control. Doing it quarterly or twice a year should be more manageable.
- Do not wait until your home is pest-infested to schedule pest control.
- The best way to keep your home pest-free is to maintain a thoroughly clean home and to schedule bi-monthly pest control in cases of normal infestations. But in serious cases, you should consider scheduling weekly pest control measures.
What Pest Management Should I Choose?
Now that you know how often you should be on the lookout for the common critters in your home, it's time to ask yourself, "can I do my own pest control?" To help you answer this, here are the pros and cons of doing it on your own versus getting professional help.
DIY Pest control
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Pros
- Saves you tons of money
- Easier to schedule based on your free time
- Some solutions won't require you to vacate your home
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Cons
- Takes up your time
- You have to research on your own how to get rid of pests
- You have to strictly follow instructions on pest control products or else it won’t be effective
- Pests can form immunity to the products you use
Professional Pest Control
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Pros
- Saves you time
- They have the equipment to best detect the presence and severity of pest infestation
- They are experts at residential and commercial pest control. You can be sure that pests will stay away
- They use professional products that are sure to do their job
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Cons
- Costs a lot of money
- It may take a lot of sessions to treat your pest problem
- You may have to vacate your home while they work
Pest Prevention Tips
Now that you’ve chosen how to get rid of your pest problem, the next thing you want to know is how to keep them away. Here’s a list of what you can do to keep your home pest-free:
- Maintain a clean house.
- Seal up all cracks and crevices.
- Install a safe and effective pest repeller inside your home.
- Set up bug zappers to stop insects.
- Regularly check around the house for leaks or stuff that needs repair.
Conclusion
Though there are a lot of things to take into account when to do pest control, it is generally advisable to have it as regularly as three to four times a year. Don’t wait until the problem is already out of hand. Even if you don’t see any signs of pests, it is still a good idea to have a pest control company check your home. Better safe than be infested.