While good housekeeping can help keep some pests away, a squeaky clean environment does not guarantee a bug-free abode. For example, bed bugs and mosquitoes are not attracted to dirt but blood, warmth, and carbon dioxide.
Common Myths About Pest Control
These are some of the most common pest control myths:
Rat poison is the best way to deal with an infestation.
Pest Be Gone, a Rocklin-based exterminator, said that any treatment that requires poison should not be used inside a house where rats can spread it, posing a risk of accidental ingestion to all residents, including their furry companions.
If you have children and pets, there are better alternatives to rat poison; they include electric traps and baits with an opening too small for cats and dogs to enter.
Cockroaches, rats, and pantry pests are only attracted to unkempt houses.
Rats and cockroaches can enter your home through small cracks, crevices, or any openings, while pantry pests like flour beetles, sawtoothed grain beetles, rice weevils, and Indianmeal moths can break into your kitchen by hitchhiking into your grocery delivery.
Other pests like bed bugs can also hitchhike into your suitcase after your hotel stay.
Concrete is a termite-proof material.
While terminates don’t eat concrete, they can get through a crack as narrow as a business card’s width and create their own mud tunnel, allowing them to access their food–your wood.
DIY pest control treatments always work.
With the proliferation of store-bought and DIY pest control treatments on the market, most consumers think they can address all types of infestation by themselves.
For a small infestation, DIY treatments might be a good option. But with large infestations or a continuing pest-related problem, your best bet is to hire a professional exterminator to save time and money.
Bug zappers can address your mosquito problem.
Bug zappers are extremely effective in killing other insects, except mosquitoes and other biting flies. And to make things worse, their indiscriminate killing can reduce the number of beneficial insects, with one study suggesting that yards with zappers had a higher number of female mosquitoes than those without because they kill insects that eat these pests.
Storing food properly and using air-tight trash cans prevent cockroach infestation.
While good housekeeping can deter many common household pests, this may not be true for cockroaches that are known to eat any organic materials, from dead skin cells and plant matter to paper, wood, and feces.
All pest treatments use toxic chemicals.
A growing number of manufacturers and exterminators offer environment-friendly pest control products, meaning they only kill the target pests and not the beneficial insects, birds, dogs, and cats.
Even “traditional” low-hazard chemicals are safe provided they are used sparingly, correctly, and away from beneficial insects and pets.
For more tips on how to eliminate pest infestation with low-hazard and environment-friendly baits, traps, and chemicals, read Pest Be Gone’s Eco-Friendly Pest Control Guide or call us at (916) 257-4942 to get a free consultation.