Trustpilot
September 8th, 2015 by
Nothing makes the skin crawl quite so much as the thought of pests like rats, cockroaches, flies and ants living in your home. But pests are a part of life, and dealing with them is every homeowner's responsibility.
The problem with pests is that there are so many myths surrounding them. So it's time to sort the myths from reality. Here's a guide to some classic household pest myths, as well as some facts that you can rely on.
As soon as you decide to use bait to catch mice, your thoughts will immediately turn to cheese. But this is not the most effective option. Irrespective of what you have seen in the cartoons, mice are more likely to be attracted by sugary food like biscuits, or wheat based cereals.
Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. Cats can certainly help keep rodents under control, but many cats are not particularly interested in rodents, and mice are also very good at avoiding cats. In fact, your cat's food may even attract the mice in the first place.
This myth comes from the fact that wasps often bother you when you are eating a picnic in the late summer. And while at this time of year they are indeed looking for sweet food, earlier in the year they look for protein when building their nest.
Keeping your house clean can help to reduce the risk of a pest problem, but it is not enough on its own. Bed bugs don't need a dirty house, and neither do cockroaches. Pests need food, and they can find that in any house.
If you attempt to destroy a wasp nest by pouring water over it, you are more likely to end up getting badly stung because you will just make the wasps angry. The same goes for kicking a nest or beating it with a stick, so don't attempt it!
Surprisingly, most species of mice get all the water they need through their food, even if they only eat dry food.
This surprising fact has been proven in the past. It turns out that cockroaches can often last for up to a week or longer without their heads and still respond to stimuli. The head is not that important for cockroaches because they have open circulatory systems.
This useful tactic can help you to keep smaller numbers of flies away without using chemicals. The light reflects on the water and confuses the flies, and this is enough to repel them.
Cockroaches carry bacteroides in their bodies that provide them with the vitamins they need, so they can eat what they want irrespective of its nutritional value, including soap, leather, glue and more.
The gestation period for female mice is about three weeks, and they can produce up to 14 offspring each time. When their offspring are a few weeks old, they can then reproduce themselves. So one pair of mice could theoretically produce up to 3,000 offspring in a year. Fewer natural threats like predators in your home mean populations can quickly get out of control, so it's important to deal with mice quickly if you find them in your property.
Sometimes separating fact from fiction can be difficult when dealing with pests. If you are in any doubt about pests in your house and you are unsure how to treat them, look for pest control products which are specifically made to eliminate the pests that you have. These are designed to rid your home of pests in the most efficient way possible. In extreme cases, you may also need to or call in a professional who will use tried and tested methods to get rid of them and make your home a pest-free zone.
Comments
Leave a reply
Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required
