How to Keep Insects out of Your Home

Keep insects, bugs, ants, cockroaches and other pest controlled and your family will be healthier. Insects, especially flies are dirty and can carry diseases. Eliminate their homes by removing damp and wet areas. They also like shade and large leafy plants. Design your garden to be drier by using plants that like a sunny, drier, more arid condition. You can work on your yard to keep them away, but they will still come because they are nesting in your neighborhood.

There are three options, kill them, repel them or do not invite them.


Killing
- Use maliathon and boric acid work well to kill most insects.
- Fly motel.
- Electronic devices.

Repel
- Deet
- Citronella
- Smoke

Do not invite
- Remove weeds.
- Keep food away from doorways where insects can smell it.
- Periodically, hose down the outside of the house. This will remove and hidden nest and spider webs.
- Do not turn on lights up close to your home.
- Keep moisture away from you home.
- Close up all small cracks around the home.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Boric Acid
• Maliathon
• Deet
• Citronella
• Fly Motel
• Caulk
• Expanding foam
• Mouse traps
• Sugar
• Water
• Cotton balls

1. Smoke
   Light incense or candles, flying insects do not like smoke. Also try a citronella candle to keep flies away.

2. Boric Acid
   An older method is to use boric acid. Boric acid works for cockroaches, fire ants, fleas, silverfish, termites and many other insects by poisoning them. The power is also very abrasive so it is harmful to their bodies.
   
   Create a trap by mixing 1 teaspoon boric acid powder and 10 teaspoons sugar into 2 cups of water. Apply solution to small cotton balls and place treated balls around the area where the suspected insects travel. They will be drawn to the cotton balls and they will rub their bodies against them and also carry the boric acid solution treated cotton balls back to the nests. That will in turn infect the entire nest. The acid slowly dehydrates the insects so they don't even know they are infected. This is not an instant cure but one that will last.
   
   There is also a boric acid paste that you can put small amounts under counters, refrigerators, sinks, stoves or any suspected place they travel. Boric Acid is considered safe but be sure to keep pets and children away from the treated areas.
   
   A huge benefit of using boric acid is that you can continually use it because insects do not become immune to it. Also, one application can last for up to 1 year.

3. 
    
   Doorway into your home

   Remove Entryways
   Ants, mice, spiders and other insects only need a small opening to get into your home. Take a walk around the outside of your home looking for any small opening, and then seal it with caulk. Get down on your hands and knees with a flashlight and a mirror to look for possible openings. Also, look for and feces and remove them if you find some. Seal outside around the foundation where the house and sidewalks meet. This will also help with moisture which many insects are also drawn to. Look for cracks in the walls or brick. If you see it, seal it!
   
   Take a walk around the inside of your home the same way. Look all the plumbing, gas lines, cable and telephone lines, air conditioning pipes and exhaust vents. Watch for any type of pipe or cable that come in or go out of your home. Seal these with caulk or expending foam.
   
   Check the siding on the outside of your house. There could also be rotted wood that insects can easily penetrate. Bees can crawl up behind loose siding.
   
   Doors and windows that have screens that are old or torn are easier for the little critters to enter through.

4. 
    
   Leafy plant

   Plant material
   Trees are homes for many wildlife so keep them away from the doorways. Insects love leafy plants especially the underside of the leaf, keep these at a minimum.

5. 
    

   Moisture
   Check for moisture around the foundation and outside walls of the house. Look for any standing water and correct the problem. Downspouts and gutters should carry water away from the house. Gutters get clogged, be sure they are free flowing.

6. Mousetrap
   A mousetrap is better than poison for mice because when the mouse eats the poison, they will crawl back to the nest and die there. There bodies will smell bad when they decompose and you will not be able to remove the body.
   
   Place several traps along the walls. Mice do not see well so they feel their way around your home. Use at least two and bait them with chocolate syrup and peanut butter. Traps are more humane because the mouse will die quicker rather than a slow agonizing death from poison.

Tips & Warnings

• After laying down boric acid keep children and pets away from the area.
• Use several mouse traps at the same time, even if you think there is only one mouse.
• Use all of the ideas above for an overall approach to have an insect free home.

[LetUsHelpYou]

on 8/27/2009 Good Tips here 5*, You can check out some of my articles if you like.

[jazzypinkcat]

on 8/20/2009 Helpful tips!5* www.tylana.net

[chrisanimelo444]

on 8/4/2009 I've recently suffered from a bad case of fleas. Luckily they're almost gone though. Thanks for the tips!

[jennareed]

on 7/29/2009 What details! Excellent article. 5's

[bbrassell]

on 7/29/2009 Thanks for such a detailed article. It's hard to find any real tips out there, and when you live in the country you need all the help you can get! 5*