Home HOMES DIY

Four common house pests and how to get rid of them

Tips and tricks to keeping out the pesky creatures.
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Cockroaches

If you are having trouble with cockroaches at home there are ways to keep them at bay.

One of the most effective methods for keeping cockroaches at bay is to mix baking soda with sugar.

The sugar attracts the cockroaches likes bees to the honey, while the baking soda destroys their immune system.

Another bonus is that it is safe to use around pets and children.

Ants

Along with flies and mozzies, ants are one of those annoying pests that you have to live with – but wish you didn’t.

Ants follow a scent trail, that’s why you always see them marching along in a long line. If you find an ant trail entering a crevice of your home, try to seal it up with gap filler.

If this is impractical, smear some Vaseline across the trail. Wipe along the ant trail with warm soapy water to remove the scent so the ants won’t keep following the trail.

Spiders

You don’t need to have arachnophobia to hate spiders.

While they don’t damage your home like some bugs, they do put unsightly webs around your home and can startle you like nothing else when you come face to face with one.

It turns out spiders hate peppermint. Simply fill a spray bottle with water, mix in 20 drops of peppermint oil. Spray the mixture around any cracks and all corners in your house. Hopefully, the smell will move any remaining spiders from your home or deter any new ones from moving in.

Mice

Trustworthy peppermint comes in handy yet again as mice do not like the smell.

Simply place a few drops of peppermint oil on cotton balls and place in common mouse areas, e.g. cupboards and entryways.

You can also use mint leaves if you do not have the oil.

If you do not want to harm the mice you can trap them instead.

Attract them into safe cages by placing cheese or peanut butter into a cage (these can be found at local hardware stores) that’ll trap them once inside.

When caught, you can then release them back into the wild. Just be sure to release them away from the home as they will likely return if simply released in the backyard.

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