Pest Control Tips For Summer

When the sun comes out and the sky is clear, your mind shifts to the 3B’s : barbeques, beaches, and bikinis. (Yes, we know guys don’t wear bikinis, but they still spend a lot of time thinking about them.) With so much fun and revelry in the wings, it’s unlikely you’ll be thinking about pests. And yet summer is peak season for them. Why? Because conditions are ideal and food is plentiful. During the summer, the air is dank and humid, which many pests love. Excess moisture coats everything, enhancing the need for pest control in Sydney.

The moisture encourages rot, which offers optimal opportunities for pests to breed and thrive. Organic matter rots faster, giving pests good food and additional breeding ground. Summer showers – while adding to the general moisture and rot – create puddles where waterborne pests can live and breed. So it seems your primary summer project is to keep your home as clean and dry as possible. It means you’ll have to clean more often. In other seasons, a spill can survive a few hours before you have to sop it up. (This isn’t ideal, but it’s relatively benign.) In the summer, a five minute spill could attract a trail of ants.

Get (Temporary?) Domestic Help

Clean up any messes as soon as they appear, and inspect your fresh produce regularly, because they’ll go bad far faster.This seemingly excessive level of cleaning might overwhelm you, so consider hiring a cleaning service for the summer. They can come in once or twice a week and do a deep clean, making your spruce-ups between visits is more manage-able. Tighten your trash schedule too – this is not time to bicker about it. While you’re busy arguing about whose turn it is, rodents are watching your accumulating garbage like a … hawk. (Or worse, like a summertime rat.)Look through your home and inspect your trash cans.

Their lids need to be tight and crack free to keep out unwanted foragers. Each time you empty the bin, clean it thoroughly with hot water and disinfectant, because the slightest trace of rotting matter can invite unwanted guests. You may think it’s safe because the lid is shut, but the next time you open it, you may find worms and maggots festering beneath the lid. *shudder* If anything, the trapped moisture and heat makes them mature faster and in greater numbers. Meanwhile, composters love their trash troves, which thrive in the summer.

But they’ll also get a lot more smelly and wormy, so keep your pit protected. You don’t want your precious treasure turning everything else into trash, or worse, becoming a local meeting spot for resident pests. Along the same lines, you may need to invite a landscaper.Have them clear your yard of any dirt, scrub, or debris that might attract pests. You’ll probably be swimming a lot more if you have a pool. Remember though – the same way you like to splash around and cool down, your four-legged neighbourhood crawlers and slithers do too.

Secure The Pool

While they may be too intimidated to join you in the water while you’re all yelling and splashing and squealing, they’re never far away, and they’re just waiting their turn.If this sounds creepy, it’s because it is. You don’t want to wake up to animals and insects in your pool, so if you don’t have one already, install a pool cover. You can get an automated one that can be closed and opened using your pool app. This minimises the hassle and reduces the temptation to skip that pool-covering step. Other sources of moisture should be monitored as well.

Re-align your sprinkler system so it doesn’t directly hit the base of the house. All that moisture around the foundation can cause damp to rise, which invites termites. Checking the foundation for cracks and openings is part of pest management in Brisbane. Once termites and other pests get in, you might not have the time to stop them. Those critters work fast! While you’re at it, inspect your firewood pile if you have a wood-burner in the house.

Get rid of any wet wood (or find a way to completely dry it), and move the pile further away from the house. This discourages any pests that might be hiding in the wood from trekking indoors.And be careful when you do bring logs in. It would be ironic to secure the firewood bag then give pests a lift into the house right in your arms. Shake the wood and knock it before you bring it indoors, just to be sure you’re not ferrying any stowaways into your home hearth. These are just a few suggestions. Try to apply them so the pests won’t have a summer ball at your expense.