9 Tips to Prevent a Holiday Nightmare

Now that the Thanksgiving rush is over and your extended family and friends have left the house do you feel a sigh of relief? The problem with that much food in and around your house during the holidays is you tend to draw a few other “unwelcome” guests to your home. Some say these guests are only looking for warm harborage and a meal to eat.  We understand the importance of charity during the holidays but spiders & roaches are not under this umbrella of grace.

Did you know that a surprising percentage of families fight off cockroach related disease during the winter, believing it to be just thee cold or flu? I’m sure you’re not worried about this and your immune system could even handle a plague. The holidays would be better without the illness that roaches can bring right?

If you prefer a holiday with only those cordially invited, here are some steps you can take.

• Throw away old food and desserts. Insects can smell molding & rotting food easily from the outside and will fight their way in to feast on it.
• When you purchase pantry items at your local Publix, Wal-Mart, or Winn-Dixie, be sure to check all packages for tears, rips, or holes. Many pests in your pantry now actually were brought in by the homeowner.
• Keep your pantry ventilated and dry. Bugs love moisture.
• Store food items in hard plastic containers, if possible. Not only will you keep bugs from smelling and getting into your food, your pantry items will be fresher when you go to use them.
• Keep your pantry vacuumed or swept. Even a simple grain of sugar is a meal for some hungry creatures.
• Exterior Walls need to be sealed up. Use a caulking gun to seal holes in your exterior walls where wood has rotted, bug and rodents have chewed, and where heat is escaping. Great rule to follow, if heat is escaping, there is a high chance bugs can sneak in.
• Carefully inspect weather stripping, door sweeps, and window screens. It doesn’t take much of a space for an insect to squeeze into your home. Take your time, and use a caulking gun to fill in the holes.
• Seal your foundation cracks with a liquid cement from Ace Hardware or Lowe’s.
• Get a perimeter treatment, or year round service from a local pest professional.

With these 9 tips, a pest free holiday will be yours!! Most people don’t don’t think they have a big problem until they find them crawling around inside their food packages, not even realizing that those bugs were already crawling on their Christmas dishes, silverware, and other items they ingest. Think like the 3 wise men this season, and get proactive about bug prevention. Believe me, it will make your holidays in the Panhandle much more merry and bright.