Dealing with pest infestations is a lot easier on the front end if just a few preventative steps are taken. Being one step ahead of the pests saves time, money and sometimes, your sanity.

One of the simplest ways to prevent pests is to think of the basic needs of any bug (or rodent, snake, etc…) and these include food, a place to hide and maybe even moisture. If you make it as difficult as possible for the pests to get comfortable in your home then you are less likely to have a problem.

So what are some good pest prevention practices to avoid an infestation?

• This is probably common sense but clean up any spilled food or drinks…these can attract pests
• Declutter – don’t give pests a place to hide
• Repair easy access points to the structure.. i.e. window seals, door jams, etc…
• Be conscientious – don’t leave doors open, avoid leaving dirty dishes for the morning, keep screens in the window when it’s open, etc…

Even if you try to prevent pests from moving in, you may still face an infestation. One of the most important steps to controlling the infestation is to properly identify the pest. If you figure out what you’re dealing with then you can take steps to make their life more difficult i.e. dumping out stagnant water so mosquitoes don’t have a place to breed near your house or structure. Another positive to properly identifying the pest is the correct pesticide can be used for the problem.

Yes, bed bugs do exist, they are about 1/5th of a inch long, reddish brown in color, wingless, and love to hide in yes, you guessed it, beds. Well more specifically, bed bugs prefer to hide inside furniture, in the seams of mattresses, behind picture frames and other similar spots.

Just like fleas, bed bugs can typically go without a meal for 140 days but in rare circumstances, an adult has gone without a meal for over 500 days!

More about the bed bug life cycle.

Bed bugs do suck blood (also similar to fleas) and leave large, itchy bumps after feeding but don’t typically carry diseases.

So how do you avoid bed bugs?

• Bed bugs can not fly or climb polished surfaces — think about coating the legs of the bed in petroleum jelly, stand the legs in glass jars or even sit the legs of the bed in soapy water
• Often times, travelers come across the bugs — do a thorough inspection before crawling into bed at night — don’t forget to check luggage stands for bed bugs!
• Avoid picking up furniture that has been left at the side of the road, this includes tables, drawers, etc…, not just beds and couches
• Prevent bugs from getting in the house by caulking windows and doors, repairing cracks, etc..
• Bed bugs don’t like heat (97°F to 99°F) or cold (below 48°F); so washing and drying bedding will kill bed bugs

Treating bed bugs is best left to a professional pest control company since the job requires very detailed work and a pesticide that is not sold over the counter.

Did you know that bed bugs were almost eradicated from the United States? Read more about the return of the bed bugs.

The maintenance of controlling pests varies depending on the pest, the location of the building and several other factors. But here in Southern California where the weather is warm year-round, pest maintenance is most beneficial when performed every month or two.

It’s important to remember maintenance. The pests are gone after the initial treatment but since insects and other pests are constantly breeding, they can come back. So just because the pests are gone right now doesn’t mean they wont return which is why controlling pests is a never ending job, especially in pest control in Orange County, California.

Did you know?

• Worker termites live between two and five years and queen termites can live up to 25 years
• It takes three to four months for an egg of a cockroach to develop into an adult cockroach
• For two to five years, a queen bee lays several thousand eggs a day
• Male black widow spiders are sometimes killed by the female black widow after they mate