Woodlice in the house: What to do and how to get rid of them?
Woodlice
Woodlice is a common household pest in the UK that creates lots of nuisance. Woodlice don’t create any health issues, but its infestation is not good for the environment and it became more difficult to handle. This article will help you to understand woodlice, why they are appearing in your house, as well as how to prevent woodlice from your home.
Woodlice Look like a common bug, the size is small no longer than 15mm, oval-shaped creatures with brown or grey colored skeletons with the protruding antenna.
You find the woodlice commonly in your garden instead of your home. They usually live under the stone and soil. They will enter your home by the case accident, and they don’t live long inside if you maintain your house as dry and warm. But once the woodlice infestation occurs, it’s better to take control measures both inside and outside of your home.
What do Woodlice eat in the house?
Woodlice prefer to eat rotten woods, mildew, and decayed plants outdoor. They get attracted to the damp wood, mold and rotting things inside your home. Even they nibble some seedlings, decays and animal dungs.
Mostly woodlice feed on decomposing plants and wood materials. They are referred to as the recyclers in the insect world. If you have some compost bin then there will the presence of woodlice around your garden or home. In rare cases, only woodlice will feast on your fresh plants and flowers.
In the worst case, they also eat paper as food, including expensive wallpaper. Once the infestation is out of control it will damage all your costly wallpapers and other paper-related things.
If you have more trouble with the woodlice infestation in and around your home, call the professional pest control services near your place. They will provide effective pest control services to control the woodlice infestations from your home and helps to prevent infestations in the future.
Why are there Woodlice in your house?
At your home, if they enter a large number creates an unpleasant nature and it creates a sign of humidity problems. They prefer to live in dark areas, you can find their traffic mostly in the night-time. The woodlice make their way into your house most probably during the summer. Even though they won’t create any harm to your health, but no one likes to see these little critters close to their food or beds.
A woodlouse appears on two types
Pillbugs
Pillbugs closely related to the shrimps and they don’t cause many damages rather than eating the plant’s roots. They are often as a pest if it makes entry into a home. Even they enter a large number, they do not bite, sting or transfer disease.
Sowbugs
Sowbugs are shaped like a bean. They are not considered pests. They cannot fly and don’t bite or sting. They have many tiny legs and hid under the grey segmented plates.
Both will look grey or black color with the measurement of 12- 15mm and the shell is like a plating. Sowbugs have little tile and pillbug doesn’t have any tiles.
The woodlice are not creating any danger to your health or lifestyle. Even they are not like other pests to transfer diseases. They even don’t get attracted to your food. In some nation’s woodlice are the favorite food of animals and for humans as well. Some of the humans used to eat grilled woodlice.
How to keep away the Woodlice from your house?
Since woodlice are not like other dangerous pests but it doesn’t mean you can breed them in around and home!! Here we provide some of the tips to keep them away from your residence as well as a garden area.
To get rid of woodlice, we advised using a spray, powder or liquids to come in the market for pest prevention. A spray will kill any woodlice in a residential area and powder can helps to clear out the woodlice in the restricted areas.
Follow the tips to get rid of Woodlice
- Remove all the ground slopes if possible from house basement
- Allow the soil to dry
- Vanish all the dead plants and trashes in and around your house
- Check your firewood twice and make sure you are not bringing any woodlice along with the firewoods.
- Seal the cracks in the walls that prevent the entry of woodlice into your house.
- The simplest way to deal a woodlouse is a regular vacuum
- Use anti-insect spray. They are too toxic so, keep away from your kids and pets.
- Using any electronic pulsing device that emits high frequency repels any kind of pests in your residence.
How to prevent Woodlice in the house?
Preventing the woodlice before an infestation takes place is the best option, vacuum up woodlice once you see them inside your house. Once they got settled in a humid area, or you can sense their traffic all over the house then you must take immediate control measures or call pest control experts. Make your house woodlice- unfriendly with the help of following tips and tricks.
Some of the prevention measures
Remember that woodlice don’t create any harmful effects, they just make their entry to prevent themselves from the severe weather.
- Woodlice love rotten wood. So, keep the firewood or wooden store next to the house will decrease the woodlice infestation.
- Spray a pest control spray around entry points and seal any holes you found in and around your house.
- The best option for the prevention method is vacuuming them. The heat and pressure from the vacuum threats them
- Woodlice prefer only the moisture place, so check there is no rotting wood in your home.
- Clear all decayed leaves and debris around your home.
- Try to vanish all the drains and gutters. In the UK gutters are commonplace for pests to build their nests.
- Keep your residential place as warm and dry as possible you can.
Carpet Beetles
Carpet beetles are small creatures and sometimes invisible to our eyes, they are just like a thread along with carpets or any clothing. Once they make an entry that causes damage to your fabric furniture, clothes, carpets and other natural items made from woolen fibers. Carpet Beetles not just get attracted to carpets and rugs, it causes damage to all organic fabrics.
Types of Carpet beetles
There are five types of carpet beetles that cause damages for valuable household properties and also public things.
- Anthrenus verbasci- Varied carpet beetle,
Varied carpet beetle doesn’t have any separate option, it eats almost all categories.
- Attagenus pellio- Fur (carpet) beetle,
Carpet beetle that gets attracted to the Fur things
- Anthrenus flavipes- Furniture carpet beetle,
Furniture carpet beetle prefers to attract furniture made from natural fabrics like sofa, bed, pillows, etc
- Dermestes maculatus- Leather carpet beetle,
Leather carpet beetle get attracted the leather products like handbags, shoes, belts, etc
- Attagenus unicolor- Black carpet beetle,
You can spot the black carpet beetle mostly on the dry food items and other stored household things.
These are some of the species of carpet beetles, the names come from the material they would eat
Where do Carpet Beetles come from?
Once carpet beetles arrive it can cause heavy damage to carpets and other fabrics. The damages are mostly not a repairable one. The adult beetles are tiny and dark brown. They appear to a hairy like substances and you can spot them on your carpets, natural fabrics and even in dried food.
Mostly the carpet beetles prefer to live outdoor. They easily get attracts to the light, so they may fly into your home in small cracks or by open doors. Chimneys and other electric vent make an entry point to carpet beetles and for another pest.
Carpet beetles infest your indoor not only for carpet they get attracted to different variety of household products. They attack the common household things like carpets, rugs, and other woolen things. In some cases, fur and dry food items seek the attraction of carpet beetles. If you let your indoor plant’s flowers then this may also act as the food source for carpet beetles and some of the species like black carpet beetles get eats stacked all-purpose flour and meals.
How to kill Carpet Beetles?
Once you have confirmed that carpet beetles rolling around on your carpet or other household things, it’s a time to take immediate necessary action. Carpet beetles never cause any disease and don’t carry any infections, but they are big eaters like a devil and a rapid breeder. So, once they get into any natural fibers, curtains or carpets, they destroy them entirely if you did take any timely actions
Here are some tips that help to kill Carpet Beetles and to prevent your household things from the future infestations
- To treat the carpet beetles, you can take the first measure as removing the beetle’s eggs and larva to decrease the growth of adults.
- Vacuum the areas affected by the beetles including carpets, rugs, and furniture.
- Your next step is steam cleaning, here you going to clean the same area you vacuumed with a steam cleaner. The heat eliminates the remaining beetles and eggs.
- Dry cleaning is another best way to kill Carpet Beetles. So utilize laundry service as a routine. Always use warm water to washcloths and linens. Another better option rather then washing is to dispose of the infested cloths.
- Wiping the spotted or all surfaces with white vinegar helps to kill the carpet beetles. Mix a small amount of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar with water and spray it to shelves, wardrobe, carpets, woolen things and hangers. Do it regularly to prevent an infestation in the future.
- Sprinkle some quantity of boric acid on carpets, and furniture will kill the beetles if any remains. Leave the boric acid on the carpets for one hour and then vacuum the residue.
- Get the pest control sprays from the retailer shop and use it around your home including basement areas, under kitchen sinks, woolen things, pillows and other crevices where you find the traffic of beetles. The spray is not a good option to use on furniture and other carpeting works.
How to prevent Carpet beetle infestation
The routine cleaning process helps to keep the carpet beetles away from your home. vacuuming your floor as routine, remove all your trash daily, washing all your clothes with hot water are the common tips to get rid of beetles without using any chemical agents. Another tip to prevent the carpet infestation is to block or seal the entry point.
Indoor
- After the removal of carpet beetles from your home, other steps must be taken to prevent future infestation.
- Keeping away the food source of carpet beetles, regular vacuuming and spraying of vinegar and boric acid will prevent beetles from returning. They mostly target stored clothing and fabrics so keep some mothballs or add some essential perfume on your storage place will help to keep away the beetles.
- Better to use a plastic container for storing the clothing
- Carpet beetles like to live in a dark place, so keep your doors and windows open.
Outdoor
- Use insecticide for carpet beetles around your house and spray the pesticides that prevent the beetle’s entry into your house on the outdoor side from two to three feet of your house.
- Make sure there is no entry point from windows, doors, and pipes.
- Remove if you found any nest around your house because nests help beetles to lay eggs and they easily move into your house.
- Immediately repair the cracks on the window side or doors, they may enter even by a small hole.
How to get rid of Carpet Beetles in the UK?
Here we listed some tips to get rid of carpet beetles
- Get one handy vacuum cleaner and vacuum regularly that covers all your surfaces.
- Dispose of if you found any damaged items immediately.
- Try to wash all your clothes at a hot temperature.
- Hire some professionals for pressure water cleaning or steam cleaning.
- Don’t keep any infested food in your kitchen.
- If you found any untreated damaged things discard it.
- Beetles get attracted to the natural woolen fabric so, here we advise changing the natural fabrics into synthetic material
- Use boric acid or any pesticide spray as a precaution measure to deal with the carpet beetles.
Usually, pest removal is a difficult task if you are doing the control process on your own. Treating a carpet beetle also the same and your treatments always don’t give an effective result. Calling a professional pest Exterminators will sort out all the problems and make your place free from any kind of pests.
All you must know about Carpet bugs and getting rid
What are carpet bugs?
Carpet bugs are not like the other pests, they are invisible to human eyes and they easily enter your house. Carpet bugs are differing from the bed bugs. Like bed bugs carpet bugs won’t bite you. Their target is to infest the dead skin or dead cells, so they get attracted to the carpets made of natural animal fabrics.
Usually carpet bugs damage fabrics like cloths, wool and fur products. They cause severe damage to the natural fibers.
The carpet bugs live in a dark place and it avoids light source and heat. You can easily identify the sign of infection by the smell and faded look of your carpets.
Carpet bugs not only cause damages to your carpets sometimes it bites clothes, fabrics, and wood as same as your carpets. They won’t live in the same place; they will roam around here and there in all the parts of your home wherever the natural source of fiber presence. Treating carpet bugs is not an easy task unless you are an expert.
We can’t say insure from what ways the carpet bugs enter your house, they may enter your house in all possible ways. They may enter through flowers you bought, cloths, and even by windows and doors. Once the carpet bugs settled in your house, they started to lay eggs on your clothes, rugs, and carpets, their larva will develop on the same rug, cloths, and carpets.
Things to know about Carpet Bugs
- It causes damages to natural fabrics like carpets, wall hangings, clothes, and rugs.
- Infestation also occurs on Moist food products and some dried foods
- Carpet Bugs also infest on woolen items and silk
- Like other insects it doesn’t cause any damages to humans in rare cases it causes some allergic symptoms
What do carpet bugs look like?
Carpet bugs are small, and it looks like round shaped seeds. They enter your house by sticking with your products. Once they enter, they will rapidly increase and multiplies into a large group of bugs. They stick into your carpet and damages your carpet fibers.
The entry suspectable area for the carpet bugs are windows and door open, some of the carpet bugs are easy to identify in the larva stage. Their black and grey combination easily shows its identity. The adult carpet bugs are rare to identify and they hid on the dark side of your houses like under the carpets, the backside of wardrobes along with the food items.
Due to the tiny size of carpet bugs, there is difficulty to see those bugs with the naked eye. But damages made them are surely a noticeable one. Compare to the adult carpet bugs the larvae are the most responsible creatures for the heavy damages in your house.
The life cycle of carpet Bugs
To understand more about the carpet bugs, check out the life cycle and different stages of Carpet bugs. This also helps you in the prevention method.
You can easily vanish it at the stage of the egg before it develops into larva or bugs.
Stage 1: EGG
Female carpet bugs lay eggs near to any of the food items or too near your furniture. The lifecycle happens in the season at the end of the summer and starting in autumn. Once the egg got hatch, the larvae will come out
Stage 2: LARVAE
The next stage is the larva, it develops in the dark and invisible areas like under the furniture or edges of carpets. They feed clothing, leather materials, carpets, woolen materials, and food items like dried meat and cereals.
The larvae will last up to one year it depends on the food and weather condition. Once the larva lasts their skin then it transfers into the next stage.
Stage 3: PUPAL STAGE
The life of the pupal lasts for 60 days. After laying an egg the female bugs will die within a few hours.
So, the larvae stage is the most dangerous one, it survives for 365 days and in that period it will cause all damages as much it can.
How carpet bugs made an entry?
Mostly carpet bugs are referred to as carpet beetles, most of the carpet bugs made their entry from the house roof along with the pipeline and then infest on your household things. Once they enter, they cause heavy damages to natural and woolen fur things made of animal skins.
Entry source of carpet bugs:
1.Open doors: They can easily enter if your doors are open, even some of the bugs can fly.
2. Flowers bought from shops: Along with the flowers you bring from your garden place or market
3.Luggage: They may enter your house along with the luggage you carried while traveling
4.Food items: some of the food items like milk products or dried nuts
5.Another pest’s nest: It uses the nest of other pest and if the nest is close to your house or on the roof, they can enter easily.
6. cracks in the walls: Even a small hole is enough for carpet bugs to make an entry, cracks in your walls or ceilings help to make their entry
7.spider webs: spider web in your house ceilings helps as the entryway for carpet bugs
8. Mattresses: Due to darkness and warmness, same as bed bugs carpet bugs also attracted to the mattresses and beds
9. Dead insects: you may leave dead insects like cockroach or others in your home without your knowledge. some of the bed bugs feed dead skin of other animals or insects
10.Trash bags: Trash bags near you living place may act as the source of Bug infestation
How to get rid of carpet bugs?
Controlling a carpet bug infestation is a slight risk factor. Anyhow we listed some treatments to get rid of carpet bugs, this may help you to avoid the more damages.
- Do a regular vacuuming and sweeping
- Steam cleaning is another good option to control the carpet bugs
- Store the animal meat in the freezer
- Tightly close the all the lids of food containers
- Don’t leave any pets wood or wastes in and around your home
- Seal the crack and openings
- If you found any eggs, then immediately use the vacuum to vanish
- Use a handy vacuum and treat any woolen products you are having in your house.
- Dry cleaning is mandatory for all-natural products
- Don’t let any wood wastes near your home place.
What is Wood Pigeon?
Wood Pigeon is one of the abundant species in London. These creatures got expanded its species range from woodland to parks, gardens and residential areas. Wood Pigeon is the most invited pest for the agricultural farmland having crops like brassicas, cabbage, berries, and seeds. The wood Pigeon visits your gardens for the reason of food and water.
Another side Wood Pigeon is a good-looking bird for this reason wood Pigeons are the most welcomed guest for some of the garden feeding stations.
In most for the UK gardens, you can see at least one or two Wood Pigeon near the feeders and clear up all the dropped seeds.
Even someone got confused with Wood Pigeon and Dove, both having the same creature, but you can easily identify the Wood Pigeon by its White color around its neck collar.
Diet and Food nature of Wood Pigeon
All veggies are the favorite diet of Wood Pigeon and this the reason to consider this species as a pest. They eat vegetables like cabbage, grains, seeds, and buds. If they found any type of seeds in the garden, then it makes their entry.
History of Wood Pigeon
The Wood Pigeon increased rapidly in the mid of 1970s. The rapid increase is due to the spread of cereal and brassica cultivation. The availability of winter food crops is the advantage of birds like Wood Pigeon to survive.
Nesting and breeding
The nests are mostly built in a tree, sometimes the nests are not enough for the bird’s size and weight. Even the old nests of another kind of species are used by Wood Pigeon. The breeding happens tow to three times a year. Both the parent Pigeon will take its turns to incubate. During the breeding season, Wood pigeons are behaving like wild species for hunting the foods and in normal days they behave very socially like a normal bird to find their foods.
What is Common Wood Pigeon?
The common Wood Pigeon is the European species, migrated into the farmlands during the harvested months.
The most common pigeon looks like bluish grey and slightly faded color on the wings. The feathers are black in color and edges covered with some white color. The tail is white, and you can see some white stripe on the closed wings. The breast is mild pink and belly turns creamy-white and flanks are grey in color.
You can see some white patches on the neck side along with the purple-pink shade and greenish feathers. The head is bluish grey, greenish eye-ring, legs, base, and feet are reddish.
The female Pigeon also looks similar to a small white patch on the neck side and dull-colored breast. The eyes are darker and mostly appear in grey color with yellowish ting.
The subspecies of Wood Pigeon
Palumbus – These kinds of Pigeons are found in Europe, Siberia, and Iraq also in Africa in Winter.
Madeia – Looks duller with smaller neck patches.
Excelsa- Looks brighter when compare to Madiea
Iranica- Mostly found on Iran, looks like pale whitish color and yellowish color.
Casiotis – It has creamy neck patches available on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan
How to get rid of Wood Pigeons in the UK?
In the UK, you can see pigeons everywhere you go and mostly you can spot them on building roof at residence or at the workstation. Not only they create noise also create some mess and damage your expensive roof tiles or glass.
Same as common flies, it carries diseases and drops some vermin such as warms, rats or other pests into your property, which cause additional problems to your property.
DIY prevention methods
- Always keep any food items away
- Seal the roof opening
- Remove fruit trees from your garden
- Put Cap on chimneys
- Don’t place any bird feeders nearer
Home remedies that help to get rid of Pigeons.
There are some recommended and tested home remedies to get rid of Wood pigeons. You can apply this method to other birds too
Get rid of wood pigeons with spices:
Home stored spices like pepper, chili powder, turmeric powder, garlic, and cinnamon are effective repellents. Go to your rooftop and sprinkle some quantity of these species.
This method will be ineffective if any sudden rain occurs. The spices will get washes away with the rainwater and the potency level will get decrease.
Place some Decoy Birds to scare Pigeons:
Decorate some birds like statues or flying kites and place that decoy on the traffic of Wood pigeon and just tie on your roof. This method will stop the nesting of Wood pigeons on your rooftop. The approach of pigeon will get reduce if they find any birds like creatures.
This method of the decoy is also effective only for a very short period because they will start to approach your place if they recognize they are just an object and not a real one.
Place some sticky substance to get rid of pigeons:
Sticky substances like honey and environmentally safe get based liquids are used as the repellent for a temporary solution. Due to its slippery layer, the traffic of Pigeons and other birds will get reduce.
Same as spices, this method is having to be reapplied on a certain frequency of time interval to maintain the effectiveness. Also, another concern with this method is it hurts yourself and the possibility of roof damage. If you are unsure about the trail methods, you can speak directly to the experts who can fix this kind of pest problem without any damage.
Spraying water On Pigeons
This is the solution that works only for some time, you can spray water on the pigeons with pressure water spray. This can scare them, and it takes more time to visit back to your place. But they will return surely after some time period if they found no nest or water source on your roof again. Even they visit on alternate times.
Once your home remedies don’t work, it’s the time to call your nearby Pest Exterminators who can solve all your pest problems. Select the verifies pest control services that offer effective and efficient services that make wood pigeons away from your Premises. They handle the following methods to get rid of pigeons from your place permanently
- Birds Netting
- Bird spike
- Anti-Pigeon wire
- Electric bird deterrent
Pests are the insects that cause harmful infection to the human, animals, plants and their living environment. Are you ready to tackle the pest infestation in your home? Have a look at our pest control tips that helps to get a clear idea about the problems caused by the pests and types of control measures and how to handle living space after the pest control
Common problems caused by pests
- Carrying bacterial and malarial disease
- Damage household things
- Damage food items
- Damage valuable materials
- Biting humans
Controlling the pests is the process of managing the pests or removing the pests from the working place or living place with the help of biological or chemical repellents.
Managing the pests can be done by the various methods, someone doing the control method by themselves and someone hires the exterminator. The control methods make changes around the places and property. That changes are to prevent the pests from entering your living space. Preventing the pests is one of the preferable deals but the problem is to deal with the already existing pests, there is no any other alternative rather than removing them or killing them.
The insects and other wild organisms enter your living space or office to seek food, shelter, and warmth. These creatures particularly target the basements, toilet, kitchen, and roof. If you keep your place clean and uncluttered, without the source for hiding, some of the pest arrival and population will reduce. Make sure your house is free from stacking items like firewood, food items and keep all the tree leaves trimmed properly. Also, inspect around your living space for any holes and seal it immediately and block the pest entries.
Basic Prevention methods / Precautions
- First figure out the form where the pests are making entry to the home
- Deal with the pests that already in your home and identify the type of pest
- Check if there are any damages occurs due to the pests
- Keep spraying regularly that helps to prevent the pests
- Seal off any holes that help as an entry point and block the access
Things to consider after the pest control
- Don’t move the premises suddenly after the pest control waits for the recommended time to get back to the home. This may avoid many risk factors by the chemical products used on pest control products.
- If you left any food outside, discard them to the garbage. Even you use organic pest control products.
No need to mop or sweep the floor immediately that may reduce the effect of the pest control treatment. The pest control treatment will last for one week on the surfaces. So deep clean is not recommended- Repair any leaking pipes found in your living space, the leakages may help the pest for their entry
- Throw all the papers like food wraps and newspapers, magazines out. For some pests, the paper is the food source.
- Try to avoid touching the sprayed surface with the naked hands. Wear a pair of gloves when you handle the treated place and unwrapping the products. That may avoid causing infection or allergies for your hands.
Mice, bedbugs, cockroaches, fleas, rats, spiders, moths, mosquitoes, squirrels and woodworms are only a few of the nearly endless list of pests that property owners in the UK grapple with. Without access to professional pest control, you not only have to worry about your property getting damaged, but you may also face serious health issues.
See, pests are also scavengers. They dig through trash cans, sewerage lines and dirt to find food. Here, they carry and transfer various disease-causing allergens and bacteria. Anyone who lives or works inside a building infested with pests is automatically predisposed to suffering various health issues. It could be anything from allergies, skin rashes, and respiratory issues and so on.
In the long run, you realise that homemade or DIY pest control remedies are barely enough to help do away with pest infestations. If you want to live in a pest-free space, then you need help from pest experts. But do you know how much does pest control costs in the UK?
Here’s a complete breakdown of the pest control prices and more you need to know about pests and how to prevent pest infestation recurrence.
How Much Pest Control Costs
If you live in the countryside or on the outskirts of large cities like London, then you may not experience that much of a serious problem with pests. The story, however, drastically changes when you go into the City. See pests go where they can find shelter, food and water to breed and survive. The best chance of these destructive crawlers to find all three is by staying close to where many humans reside.
This explains why thousands of property owners in the UK are constantly ever in search of pest control services. You will notice that pest control services will cost you slightly more if your property is located in the city as opposed to when you live on the outskirts.
In the UK, pest control service charges are based mainly on the size of the residential property, the type of pest involved, the type of treatment needed, and how serious the infestation is. Other factors that may influence costs include fumigation, tools, poisons, traps, and poisons to be used.
Below is a table detailing, on average, how much pest control would cost for different sized residential properties.
| Type of pest | One bedroom house | Two bedroom house | Three bedroom house | Four bedroom House |
| Spiders | £120-140 | £140-160 | £160-180 | £200-230 |
| Mice | £100-140 | £120-160 | £140-180 | £200-220 |
| Cockroaches | £120-140 | £140-160 | £160-180 | £230-260 |
| Bed Bugs | £100-120 | £120-140 | £140-160 | £180-280 |
| Woodworms | £150-200 | £200-250 | £250-300 | £280-350 |
| Mosquitoes | £100-200 | £150-250 | £200-300 | £280-350 |
| Rats | £120-160 | £140-180 | £160-200 | £200-240 |
| Moths | £120-220 | £140-240 | £160-260 | £300-320 |
| Fleas | £80-100 | £100-120 | £120-140 | £160 -220 |
| Flies | £100-200 | £150-250 | £200-250 | £250-300 |
| Squirrels | £100-200 | £175-200 | £200-300 | £240-300 |
| Ants | £100-140 | £120-160 | £160-180 | £200-230 |
Note that all of the prices listed above are exclusive of VAT-value added tax. The price, therefore, listed as the total on your invoice, may be slightly higher than what is provided on the table.
The table above details how much, on average, pest control would cost to get rid of different types of pests in varying sized apartments. But remember that the pest control team may need to return to fumigate, spray or treat your house for another session. On some occasions, pest control contractors charge based not on the size of the premises but factors like the number of treatments needed or the number of wasp nests removed, for instance.
The end goal for every pest control contactor is to ensure they do not burden you with exorbitant charges but, at the same time, guarantee that a good job is done.
What Pest Control Entails
How much time will the pest control team take working on my house? How many treatments will be needed? Will I be pest free forever after the treatment? If you are considering calling for pest control services, there must be a ton of questions running in and out of your mind.
So to help clear the air, here are some facts you need to know on what pest control entails.
- The pest control company will send two or more of their representatives to visit your property or home. On this day, they will investigate to see what type of pests you are dealing with and how serious the pest invasion is.
- Discussions will be held between the pest control experts and the homeowner. Here, you will choose the pest control method you are most comfortable with and schedule a date when the treatment will be done. Common examples of effective treatments include fumigation, spraying, biological control and removal of habitats.
- On most occasions, the pest control professionals will need a few hours to spray or treat your premises. If, however, the pest infestation is extensive, they will, on average, charge you £150 to £200 for each day they spend undertaking treatment on your premises.
- If yours was a serious case of rat, ant, bedbug, woodworm, wasp, or mosquito infestation, for example, the pest control team will most likely show up a couple more times to conduct follow up treatments otherwise known as re-treating.
For centuries, pests have been known to cause man endless headache. They are not only the source of immense stress, but they can also cause extensive damage to valuable property. This, besides being a health hazard. The truth is that no one wants to share their space with rats, mice, squirrels, flies, bats, and all other types of creepy crawlers. At one point or another, you will need pest control services.
No doubt, the peace of mind that comes with living inside a pest-free space is unbeatable. Pest control, if done by a professional, will give you six months to a year of no pests. It may cost you a good chunk of money to eliminate pests, especially when there are different types of pests involved. It is advisable therefore to nip a pest problem in the bud before it becomes an unbearable and expensive situation to control.
Different pest control companies offer their services at different prices. Above are only estimates to help you get a vivid picture of what it may cost you to eradicate pests from your property effectively. It is however, also up to you, the property owner, to keep your property tidy, get rid of all stagnant water or any piling trash. This way, you keep all kinds of pests away from your home.
The rodents will enter your home due to the following issues in the home
- Poor Sanitation
- Open Holes
- Waste Foods
- Uncleaned Toilets
Poor Sanitation
One of the most basic reasons for a rodent entry is because of poor sanitation. Due to the poor sanitation, rats and mice easily access your living space and build a nest in your living space.
The rodents easily get attracted by the unhygienic foods and they found unhygienic spaces to live like near to garbage place, toilet area, sink basement in your house. If your home is not maintained in a proper way the pest easily gets into your house.
Rodents also get attracted to the water sources. So, keep your water sources in a proper maintain and don’t let any water bowls in and around your house.
Precaution
- Keep clean everting
- Make your sanitary area clean and neat
- Don’t let any waste foods around your space
- Check all your water sources and fit if any damage is there
- Make your basement and sink area always dry
Open Holes
Mice or rats need not look for big holes even they fit into the small spaces, any gaps in your doors, windows, ceilings, pipes or sewage lines. If there are no holes, rodents create the holes on their own by biting or chewing the materials.
In old houses, rodents are the susceptible guests compared to the newly build house. Even the firewood, damaged furniture, automobile parts are also making a shelter for the rodents.
Precaution
- Seal all holes with cement
- Check thoroughly all pipelines
- Don’t let any water to leak
- Don’t let your door or window open
- Keep damaged furniture or wooden items away from your living place
Waste Foods
The smell from the waste foods easily attracts the rodents. The rodents make their entry mainly for the food and shelter. Foods remain on dishes, foods on a garbage bag, pet foods are the example that pulls the rodents like mice or rats towards your home.
Precaution
- Don’t let any waste foods around your house
- Remove the trash bin regularly
- Wash your trash bin once in a week to eliminate the food smells
- Put the waste food in the garbage collection after the proper coverage
- Make sure to take your pets food plates and bowl
Uncleaned Toilets
Uncleaned toilets are another source that gives a chance for rodent’s entry. The rodents make their nest mostly in unhygienic places like toilets. They easily enter your toilet areas with the help of pipelines.
Precaution
- Clean your toilets and sink in a daily routine
- Close if you found any cracks in toilet tiles
- Use some lemon-flavored cleaning agents
- Keep your Toilet equipment’s in a separate place
- Empty the toilet trashes in a regular routine
Ants problem in the kitchen? Do This Immediately to get rid off
Ants are the common type of pests that roam around your kitchen for food and water. The house ants enter your kitchen or house through a small hole or cracks in the windows, doors, ceilings, and floors. They make their entry by a colony. until you kill out the entire colony with all eggs and queen ant there will be a risk. So, your focus is not killing just one ant focus on to kill the entire colony permanently.
To get rid of ants from your kitchen follow these steps
- Discover the entry point
Take a minute and observe the ants in the kitchen to identify where they are coming to the kitchen. Check the floor for any cracks, any small hole on doors or windows, and check all the kitchen cabinets. Your main target is to find the entry point that helps you with the ant removal process. Mostly the ants will be attracted to the sweet smell, so verify for sweet spills around your kitchen area to find the origin of ants.
- Identify the nest
Wait for the moment and spy for the area where they get settled with the food crumbs. Track the ant line silently without made any disturbance, so only you can find their nest and destroy it along with their colony. SO, tracking the ants helps to get the nest where they live along with all groups. The nest may be located on either indoor or outdoor of the house, or under the basement area of the house, or under the kitchen sinks. You can easily get an ant’s nest by tracking the ant line.
- Destroy the ant nests Immediately
Once you find the ant’s nest outdoors you can use any pesticide which includes chemicals to kill them. In case the nest is located inside your house try to avoid chemical pesticides instead of that you can use natural home-made pesticides to eliminate the ant nests.
- Pour some gallon water on the nest or also use hot water. You can also add some cornflour along with warm water.
- You can also use soapy water to destroy the whole nest along with the entire colony. Mix the detergent soap in the bucket of water, mix it well to create foams. Pour the bucket water directly on the nests.
- If you have neem oil, use this along with hot water.
- Boil some water by adding cinnamon and mint leaves and pour it on the ant nest. These natural ways will help you to get rid of the ants along with their nests.
- Clear remaining ants
After destroying the ant colony, some ants may be left on the kitchen surfaces. Use the same method and destroy all remaining ants. Spray the dishwashing solution directly on the ants, so it affects the ant’s respiratory items and makes it to death.
Cockroaches are among the most common pests in our homes. They are particularly problematic especially if you have a habit of leaving leftover foods in your kitchen; they multiply so fast and are such an eyesore. Cockroaches are plainly disgusting and embarrassing; they contaminate food, kitchen utensils, and other household items. Plus they leave an unpleasant smell.
There are many ways to get rid of cockroaches. The problem is that cockroaches are notoriously difficult to kill, and they tend to multiply vey fast. In general, if you see a few cockroaches in your kitchen, just know that there are many more hiding in the crannies and crevices. They are very good at hiding.
If you’re battling a roach invasion in your home, the below methods will come in handy;
- Insecticides and Chemicals to Control Cockroaches
- Boric Acid
Boric acid is one of the most commonly used chemicals for cockroach control. It is often used as a powder to spread on house surfaces. Cockroaches then crawl onto these surfaces and get covered with dust. They swallow it while licking their legs and antennae. Since boric acid is almost infinitely useful as long as it remains dry, it is an excellent solution for long-term cockroach control.
- Indoxacarb
Indoxacarb is a very effective insecticide against cockroaches. It is often used as an ingredient, and your pest control specialist can also use Indoxacarb to control cockroaches. When live cockroaches come into contact with the poisoned insects and corpses, they are poisoned with Indoxacarb in the same way as boric acid. This insecticide is, therefore, very useful and can kill up to three generations of cockroaches.
- Hydramethylnon
Cockroach baits often use hydramethylnon because it only works after ingestion. After being consumed by a cockroach, it causes death by disrupting the parasite’s metabolic processes and energy production. This insecticide is very effective against cockroaches.
- Gel Bait;
Gel baits can be a useful tool for cockroach control. For this reason, they are often used by pest control experts. These gels use various insecticides and are packaged in a practical syringe. This syringe makes it possible to use small amounts of gel where cockroaches hide indoors, such as in cracks and crevices. The cockroaches eat the gel and die shortly afterward.
- Tent Fumigation;
The use of cockroach fumigation is generally not recommended especially if you have little children around, or allergic persons present. However, it is very effective for serious coackroach invasions or when you want to eliminate roaches once and for all. Fumigation kills not just the live roaches, but also their eggs that would have hatched afterwards. A cockroach infestation can be a nightmare to deal with, at times the usual pesticides will fail to eliminate theme fully. In such instances, tent fumigation comes in handy.
Summary;
If you’re a resident of London and are looking to get rid of cockroaches, there are many professional pest removal companies like us that you can call. These companies have the expertise and experience handling all types and magnitudes of roach infestations.
The following are the benefits of using natural pest repellents.
They are chemical-free;
Natural pest repellents don’t contain DEET (N, N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide); this ingredient is toxic to the nervous system because it interferes with the normal breakdown of acetylcholine, which is the most common neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.
To avoid this risk, choose natural insect repellents because they don’t contain this harmful ingredient.
Good for your skin
The majority of natural pest repellents contain petroleum and other chemicals that may cause skin inflammations and allergic reactions.
People with sensitive skin should therefore not worry knowing that natural repellents do not contain synthetic chemicals that may damage their skin as they are free of harmful chemicals.
Useful to your body
Natural repellents contain essential oils such as cedar oil, eucalyptus lemon, lavender rosemary etc. which help to permit oil which can improve concentration and relax body muscles.
Pleasant fragrance
Most natural pest repellants contain aromatic oils that give off a pleasant smell. When used in the bedroom they create a comforting environment that promotes a restful night sleep. Lavender, for example, has been used for ages to reduce anxiety and agitation.
The scent slows down the nervous system which helps your body relax and prepare it for a good night’s sleep.
Lasts longer
Natural pest repellents last longer on the skin because they are water-based, not alcohol-based. And since water is less volatile on the skin it remains on the skin for a longer period duration of time.
Non-chemical ways to keep pests away
- Keep your environment clean. Get rid of holes as they can attract spiders and wipe surfaces where food has been, using a natural cleaning product, this will keep your house clean.
- Remove any breeding grounds, they create a perfect area for pests to multiply
- Use peppermint oil, mix peppermint oil and water to create a solution spray around areas where you have seen pests.
- Use cucumber, placing cucumber slices near entrances will keep away ants.
- Cinnamon can keep away bugs from entering your house, sprinkle in the area were pests are breeding.
- White vinegar is a perfect solution for pests that leave a trail and alert other pests as it destroys the chemical trail.
- Plant herbs such as citronella lemongrass or cedar near your home will repel them from entering your home.
- Citrus peels keep pests like spiders and ants away. Rub the peels on any problem areas you have.
- Apply eucalyptus oil to a small cloth and leave it in breeding ground
Other useful precautions
- Avoid using scented soaps and perfumes as they can attract some pests
- Avoid colorful clothes as they attract pests.
