It is common around the holidays for families to stock up on lots of extra food. There will likely be people visiting and staying for days at a time, so the best thing to do is buy as much as you can to avoid going back and forth to the supermarket in and out of the cold weather. Before you know it, your entire pantry is full, and you are ready for all of your guests. But there could possibly be a few unwanted guests who were patiently waiting for you to fill up the cupboards – destructive pests.

 Most people realize that there is a chance that rats and mice will invade a pantry easily if it is not kept tidy. They are great climbers and will get into anything they can claw through, such as a bag of pancake mix. But insects such as beetles are also very attracted to the food we normally store around the holidays, such as cereal and boxed pasta. There are also what are called Indian meal moths that can show up spontaneously. They can only live for about a month, but in a weeks’ time a female can lay a couple hundred eggs where you keep your edible goods.

The best thing to do to keep rodents and pests away is to basically just keep everything clean. Sure, you may disinfect your countertops and keep dishes out of the sink, and that is all good. But the pantry is a different place that is darker most of the time, so you have to be a little proactive to keep pests out of there. Before you go to the store and stock up on holiday food, remove everything from your pantry and cupboards, and give those normally ignored areas a good cleaning from the inside out. While you are doing so, keep an eye out for any holes, cracks, or other openings that you may not have noticed before.

​If after you do this you still notice traces of pests, call an experienced exterminator to help you eliminate them from your home.

One of the best ways to pest proof your home against ants is to seal up the openings to the outside. You will firstly need to locate a department store that carries silicone caulk. This is what you will be using to close up holes such as those that are in the walls behind the television where cable wires come in. After you have found the tubes of silicone caulk in the store, look for a caulk gun as well. This is the device that you will use to apply the caulk to the areas that will now be closed up and keep ants out.

Another good way to ant proof your home is to be sure that no big ant beds are near the entrances. For example, many times ants will start constructing an ant bed in or near your garage, so that they can have easy access to the cracks and crevices that will lead them to the inside of the house. Not only should you pay attention to the doors of your home, but you should also be sure that no ant beds are near the windows. You should simply walk around your house on the outside and take notice of any of them you see, which could be any species from carpenter ants to red fire ants.

One weapon against the nearby ant beds is vinegar. It is a very good home remedy, and you probably have a big bottle of it somewhere in your kitchen. You could mix the vinegar with water and pour it atop any ant beds directly outside of your home, but many folks don’t dilute it at all. This is because the stronger the vinegar, the lesser the chances of that ant bed reforming. You could also put some vinegar in a spray bottle, and shoot it at any long lines of ants that have made its way into you home.

If all else fails, know that we are here for you, and are well equipped to solve to toughest of pest issues. Call, email, or walk in today!