9 Familiar Habits That Attract Pests

Familiar habits that attract pests

1. Leaving food out
2. Negligent house maintenance
3. Keeping paper bags beneath the kitchen sink
4. Leaving a messy room
5. Having a lot of wooden furniture
6. Not taking out the trash
7. Not repairing what needs to be repaired
8. Not covering the trash
9. Negligence in plant care

Have you ever wondered why pests keep appearing in your home? No matter what you do, whether it’s calling pest control in the Philippines to treat your house regularly or applying your own techniques, like bug spray or traps, they just keep coming back after a while, and it’s costing you an arm and a leg to constantly have to get rid of them.

Before you make another call to your exterminator or buy another bottle of bug aerosol, stop to consider how you and your family have been treating your home. Yes, the focus is on your daily routines. There are many bad habits we unintentionally do that cause these pests to return.

And while bug spray and other modern techniques kill these pests, the reason why they keep coming back to your house is because you only deal with the effects, and not the root of the problem: bad habits. Today, we’ll look at 7 bad habits we may not be familiar with that attract pests to your residence.

1. Leaving Food Out

Leaving food out in the open is like giving these pests an invitation to infest your home. Unsealed foodstuff or groceries and unswept crumbs could attract a group of ants in a matter of minutes or become a late night snack for a mouse or rat. Place food in airtight containers when done eating or not needed and keep away from the dining and kitchen tables. If possible, store all food in the refrigerator. Sweep away crumbs on the floor to prevent these pesky invaders from ever returning.

2. Negligent House Maintenance

Insects can pass through the tiniest cracks, while rodents like mice and rats can squeeze their bodies through an opening the size of a quarter. Other damaged portions of your home can become entrances for these tricky trespassers. Repair and seal all wall cracks, broken doors, windows, and other areas that may act as gateways for pests into your home.

3. Keeping Paper Bags Beneath the Kitchen Sink

You may do this as part of your routine to keep the bags for further use, but in reality, it only draws cockroaches to live in them. Worse, they may release their fecal matter in the bags. This causes even more cockroaches to stay in the paper bags. If you have paper bags under the sink with a few cockroaches inside, immediately take them out and burn them. From now on, fold unused paper bags and store them in drawers instead.

4. Leaving a Messy Room

A pile of clothes and other items on the floor do attract pests. Rodents, like staying beneath dirty clothes because it keeps them warm, while crumpled pieces of paper can become a home for spiders, since they can spin webs onto them. Also, when your room accumulates a large amount of dust, the more likely it is for cockroaches to flock around and scurry about.

With that said, the moral of the story: Clean up your room. You’d be amazed at how much this can benefit you.

5. Having a lot of Wooden Furniture

Wood is a termite haven, since they eat the material to live and make a home. Ridding your house of all wooden furniture will definitely lower the risk of a termite infestation.

6. Not Taking out the Trash

In every household, the accumulation of waste is unavoidable at best. Why else would a house keep trash cans?

Anyways, the best way to handle this is to take out the trash when your bin is too full. Otherwise, expect to see more roaches in your home.

7. Not Repairing What Needs to be Repaired

This is more for home maintenance than warding off pests, as well as a continuation of Habit #2. Bear with it though as this is still a factor in attracting pests into your home.

Nowadays, people are always too busy to do anything. With their work entailing them a huge amount of responsibility, people tend to see that as a top priority than maintaining their home. If one does not maintain their home, a number of things can happen, which in turn can attract more pests.

For instance, a leaking pipe is more than just a household inconvenience. Cockroaches tend to gather around in dark and moist areas, making it more likely for them to gather around for some coolness. Also, an issue like leaking is more than likely to happen during the rainy season, which is also the time where a lot of pests gather above ground and go about their business, at the cost of your peace of mind as a homeowner.

With that said, it’s best to take care of and repair these problems as soon as you spot them. That way, you’ll be able to make things indoors easier and ward off any pest from wandering inside your home.

8. Not Covering the Trash

Speaking of trash (see number 6 above), there are instances where the trash is left without its lid on, especially outdoors. This further attracts pests to your home due to its foul and pungent odor.

For this, all you have to do is keep your trash cans with their lids on at all times. That way, you’ll be able to prevent yourself from seeing another cockroach, rat, ant, or any other pest for as long as you wish.

9. Negligence in Plant Care

When one has a green thumb, it’s their nature to care for any plant-life that comes their way. When one doesn’t have a green thumb, or any penchant in caring for plants, then the more likely these green masterpieces will be left in the dust, which in turn can attract pests to take dispose of it.

For this, all you really need to do is give your best in caring for any plants you may have in your home. Otherwise, if your plant is as good as dead, then dispose of it as soon as possible.

Key Takeaway

These habits can be understandably hard to kick. It’s become part of daily life that it’s been instilled in your mentality. But, if ever you’re guilty of practicing these habits, now you know what kind of repercussions they can bring.