Homeowners Guide to Pest Control 

Learn About Home Pests and Pest Management 

 

Homes often get invaded with various pests depending on the different months in a year. While some of them are harmless, others can pose some serious threat to your household and your family.

So, it is best to ensure your home is always free from pests. You can avoid the influx of pests through proper and effective pest management.

In this article, we will be discussing the significance of pest control in our home and the most common pests that we need to look out for at home.

The Importance of Pest Control 

Do you think that your house is too clean for pests to invade? No matter how tidy your house is, the possibility of pests entering your home is not totally zero. This is why we must take a proactive approach in order to ensure our homes remain pest-free. 

There are simple and everyday things we can do to ensure our homes to make it less inviting for pests to come and stay over. Also, there are a lot of natural methods to deter unwanted rodents and insects. Most of all, we can always turn to professional pest control companies to ensure we have that ultimate protection against pests.  

The pest management experts from Pro Pest Control, share a few of the benefits of pest control below.

Protection from Allergies and DIseases 

Pests are known for carrying bacteria, and viruses that can lead to some serious health diseases in the long run. 

For instance, cockroaches can carry various disease-causing bacteria that cause E. Coli Infections, Typhoid Fever, Cholera, Almonellosis, and Shigellosis. They can also be carriers of viruses that infect humans with Dysentery, Gastroenteritis, and Hepatitis A. In addition, they can produce allergens that can trigger an asthma attack on people who are allergic to cockroaches.  

On the other hand, rats can transmit diseases like Leptospirosis, Salmonellosis, Rat-Bite Fever, Hantavirus, Tularemia, and Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCMV).

Pest control will help you avoid any of these unpleasant diseases and keep your household healthy. You do not want to spend thousands of dollars on hospital bills when you could have simply taken care of the situation through pest control. 

Prevents Structural Damages in Your Home 

Most properties face costly damages due to pest infestation. For instance, termites can cause massive damages to wood and wood products. 

Termites consume wood just as rapidly as they increase in population. These wood-gnawing insects are notorious for leaving homeowners with thousands of dollars worth of repairs or replacements. It would only take them a few years to damage the beams, walls, and the floors of your home. The damages they cause can seriously compromise the integrity of your property’s structure making it a dangerous environment for your entire household.

This is why termite inspections are crucial. This process ensures that homes are termite-free. Also, it helps detect the early signs of termite infestation. Termite inspections and treatments preempts any chances for termites to cause structural damage to your hard-earned properties.

Stops Further Damage to Your Property and Belongings

Termites aren’t the only insect that bring some sort of destruction in homes. 

Carpet beetles, clothes moths, silverfish feed on fabric which puts your clothing, blankets, towels, and upholsteries. Rats and mice chew insulations, wirings, and others. Pantry pests snack on your dried and stored foods like rice, grains, flour, dried fruits, etc.

Pest control treatments will save your furniture and personal belongings from being damaged. Also, it will prevent pests from contaminating your food.  

Saves Your Money 

Ultimately, pest control helps homeowners save money.

Medication or hospital bills due to the disease-carrying pests, payments for fixing your home’s structural damages and repairs, money for replacing damaged personal belongings and home furniture. These are all unforeseen expenses caused by pests that can be avoided with pest prevention and pest control. 

Common Pests at Home 

 

There are a lot of rodent and insect species in Australia. Some of them threaten to invade our property with every chance they have. While some would resurface depending on the seasons, others are constantly there waiting for the opportunity to enter our homes.

The earlier we control these pests and  prevent them from entering our homes, the more we can minimize their damages to our household. 

Below are some of the most common pests in Australian homes:

Rodents (Rats and Mice)

Rats make your home an uncomfortable place to stay. During the night, when they are more active, you can sometimes see them move from one point to another, running on the electrical wire, near the doors, and random areas in your home where they have a play to hide. The most common rats and mice are the:

• Black Rats  (Rattus Rattus)
• Brown Rats (Rattus norvegicus)
• House Mice (Mus musculus)

Flies 

Flies can be anywhere in your home. Your health can be put at risk because these flies go to dirty areas outside and inside your home and to your kitchen where you are preparing your food. They can transmit harmful elements to your food, causing mild to serious diseases. The types of flies common in Australian households include:

• Blow Fly (Calliphoridae family)
• Cluster Fly (Pollenia rudis)
• Drain Fly (Psychodidae family) 
• Flesh Fly (Sarcophagidae)
• Fruit Fly (Drosophila species)
• House Fly (Musca domestica)

Ants 

Ants are common pests in the home. They build nests in the lawn, under pavement, and in dry soil. They invade a house, looking for food, and continue to multiply if you delay to control them. Here are the most common species of ants:

• Carpenter Ant (Camponotus sp)
• Fire Ant (Solenopsis Invicta)
• Green Ant (Rhytidoponera Metallica)
• Flying Ant (Alates)
• Bull Ant (Myrmecia Gulosa)
• Black House Ant (Ochetellus glaber)
• Argentine Ant (Iridomyrmex humilis)
• Coastal Brown Ant (Pheidole megacephala)
• Sugar Ant (Camponotus)
• Pharaoh Ant (Monomorium pharaonis)
• Ghost Ant (Tapinoma melanocephalum)
• Garden Ant (Lasius niger)
• Odorous House Ant (Tapinoma sessile)

Cockroaches 

Cockroaches can be found in random spots in your kitchen like inside kitchen cupboards, under tables, around the fridges, near the drains, and other areas. Moreover, you can spot most of them at night as they move around looking for food. The types of cockroaches species found in Australian homes: 

• American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
• Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae)
• Brown Banded Cockroach (Supella longipalpa)
• German Cockroach (Blatella germanica)
• Oriental Cockroach (Blatta orientalis)
• Smoky Brown Cockroach (Periplaneta fuliginosa)

Mosquitoes 

Mosquitoes are best known for flying around looking for their human prey. Sucking blood from humans is not the bad news that these small insects bring. Some of them carry serious diseases that can be fatal when not addressed immediately. Here are some of the mosquito species in the  country:

• Common Australian anopheline mosquito  (Anopheles annulipes)
• Dengue Mosquito (Aedes aegypti)
• Domestic container mosquito  (Aedes notoscriptus)
• Saltmarsh mosquito  (Aedes vigilax)
• Common banded mosquito (Culex annulirostris)
• Brown house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus)

 

Conclusion 

With proper pest management, there’s no need to worry about the damages to your property and belongings and  health-related complications. There are measures you can do to deter pests from entering your home. However, if you want a guaranteed protection for your property and your family, you might want to let the professionals do it for you. 

Professional pest control technicians have the access to the right equipment and solutions. They have knowledge to properly use these tools and effectively keep your home pest-free.