Here’s the truth about keeping palmetto bugs, snakes and more out of your SC home this winter
With the weather suddenly dropping into cooler temperatures, many pests in South Carolina will try to find their way indoors toward any source of heat, food and protection from the outside that they can.
Local bugs, insects, birds and rodents may try to invade your home in the coming months.
Before this starts, it’s important to protect your home from any critters that may try to take up an unwanted residence in your home.
Spiders, ants, palmetto bugs, termites and fleas don’t sound like very good house guests, but neither do raccoons, squirrels, mice, rats or other local rodent populations.
Here are four ways to keep pests out of your home as the temperatures begin to drop.
Seal any openings you might have that can connect to the outdoors from inside. Either you or a professional should inspect your home for any cracks, holes, gaps and openings to do so. Even the smallest of openings can allow a small critter inside. During your search, try paying special attention to areas around windows, doors, on your roof, in foundation cracks, under your home, in your attic and around pipes. Certain critter screens can also be installed under stilt homes that sit suspended above the ground on pilings.
Clean up debris from your yard and around the house. This can help to eliminate any potential critter habitats and nesting sites. This includes raking leaves, cleaning your gutters, trimming your bushes and shrubs to keep them away from the ground, storing firewood or wood piles away from the house and in a dry location, pruning trees away from your roof to prevent easy access for rodents and consider a chimney cap or mesh covering for any uncovered chimney. Screening your vents is also an option.
Bring in toys, bowls or anything that could accumulate an artificial pool of water. This can attract bugs, insects and other pests.
Keep your home and kitchen free of left-out food items. Not only can this grow bacteria and make food potentially unsafe for consumption, but leaving food out for extended periods of time can attract numerous pests. Remember to clean crumbs off of tables and the floor, avoid leaving dirty dishes out overnight and refrain from leaving out uneaten pet food. If your pet eats outside, it’s especially important to bring in their food bowls.
Call a pest control expert before you experience any signs of a possible infestation. Staying ahead of suspected problems can greatly decrease the chances of any pests sneaking into your home or risking an infestation occurring without your knowledge.
“Areas of your home, including the attic and basement, can be home to a growing population over the winter if you don’t use any pest control treatments. During the spring, many of the pests may remain with a very large-scale infestation. Large infestations are more costly to eliminate and take longer to remove from a home,” according to Carolina Pest Management.
