Steps You Can Take to Avoid Cockroaches in Your Home

Cockroaches are horrible house guests. They come over to your house uninvited. They come into your home, dirty, and get right into your food without asking. Worst of all, they don't leave. Would you ever let a human do this? Of course not. Well, you don't have to let those cockroaches do it either. Here are some steps you can take to avoid having cockroaches come into your home uninvited.

Remove Foods and Food Smells

When cockroaches come into your yard, it is important that they don't find the one thing they're looking for most: food. But the food cockroaches prefer aren't the foods you prefer. When looking to remove food and get rid of smells, you have to know what to look for. Roaches prefer foods that are rotting. One of the best places to find rotting food is in a trash can. It is important to make sure your exterior trash is placed in sealed containers and to keep those containers as clean as possible to keep smells from luring roaches in. If you have compost, be sure to keep it away from the outside walls of your home. Cockroaches love compost.

Address Moisture

Cockroaches require a lot of moisture. When they explore your yard, they will be encouraged to stay if they find damp ground. One way the ground near your home can become damp is when your gutters become obstructed or broken. This allows water to run down the side of your home instead of being channeled away. Keeping your gutter system sound is not only a good way to reduce cockroaches, it will also work to prevent water damage.

• If you have areas around your home where there is excess shade, it can prevent the sun from drying the soil and invite cockroaches in. Consider trimming trees to let the sunlight in.
• If you have a broken spigot or a leaky hose, it can dampen the ground. Fix plumbing issues as quickly as possible.
• If you have organic debris near your foundation walls, it is important to rake it up. This can promote dampness and give cockroaches a place to hide from the drying effects of the sun.

Seal Gaps

There are many ways cockroaches can get into your home. Do a close inspection and seal any gaps or cracks you find. Some places to look first are:

• The weather stripping and door sweeps on your doors.
• The seals around the outside frames of your doors and windows.
• Gaps in broken mortar and cracks in foundation walls or slabs.
• Gaps around plumbing and wire conduit.
• Gaps underneath garage doors.
• Holes chewed by insects in door and window frames and the sill plate of your home.

Guard Against Hitchhikers

Sometimes cockroaches don't come in through gaps in your walls. They can also hitchhike into your home. If you get a bag of produce from the farmers' market, do a quick check to see if any roaches have stowed away. If you get a piece of used furniture, be aware that roaches could be hiding inside if that furniture was stored in a humid location. Do an inspection for tiny black roach feces.

Make Your Interior Less Appealing

If cockroaches find a way into your home, it is important that they don't find the one thing they are looking for most: food. Good sanitation is one of the pillars of cockroach exclusion. Those insects like to be where there is food. Vacuum your carpets routinely to pick up crumbs. Clean spills up quickly in your kitchen. Put dirty dishes in a sink full of soapy water rather than right near the sink in a dry stack. And consider putting food items that come in paper or cardboard inside sealed, hard plastic containers. This will keep cockroaches from chewing their way into your food and keep that food fresher for longer periods.

Cockroach Control

If you're dealing with cockroach issues in the Greater Tampa area, the team here at Keller's Pest Control is standing by to assist you. They have the training, technologies, and teamwork to eliminate cockroaches and help you exclude them from your Florida home. Reach to us today to request a free estimate to get started.

While wildlife can be entertaining to have around, it is best to keep them out of our yards as much as possible. Here are a few tips to help protect your yard and home from wildlife:

• Keep bird feeders away from your exterior walls to keep birds from carrying ticks close to your home or having an unwanted invasion of birds in your eaves or attic spaces,
• Keep trash receptacles clean and sealed; this will keep the smells of garbage from attracting animals to your property.
• Reduce conditions that promote standing water. This will reduce the locations where these invading animals can drink. When wildlife animals come into a yard, having a place to drink will give them a reason to stay.
• Keep your lawn mowed and the overgrowth on your property trimmed back. Most wildlife feel more comfortable in an overgrown yard than they do in a well-maintained yard.
• Identify food sources in your yard and remove or protect them. If they can be stored away, that is the best option. But in the case of gardens, fruit trees, and berry bushes, install fencing around them to keep animals from getting to them. Be sure to install the fencing at least a foot under the ground to keep burrowing animals out.
• Remove lawn clutter. Many animals will use toys, lawn equipment, stacked construction materials, and other items in your yard as a hiding place or for harborage.

We understand that keeping wildlife away is not the right choice for everyone. And sometimes, even when homeowners take precautions to keep wild animals away, pest problems can still arise. Either way, if you're dealing with pests in your yard or in your home, we can help! At Keller's Pest Control, we manage rodents, wildlife, ticks, and other potentially harmful pests that threaten Jacksonville families and their homes. Our highly-trained service professionals use modern Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods, green pest control, EPA-approved products, and the most advanced pest control methods in the industry to solve pest problems in the Greater Jacksonville area. Contact us today for quick, responsive, and effective wildlife control and other residential pest control solutions!