(StatePoint) While you may primarily associate insect invasions with warmer weather, bugs are liable to make themselves at home in your living spaces during all four seasons.
In fact, it is actually common to see an uptick in spider activity in your home during the colder months around their mating season. What’s more, most bugs are far more resilient than you may realize, and can survive on little food and under strange conditions. (A cockroach can live for an entire week without its head!)
To make your holiday guests’ stay more pleasant, banish these unwanted visitors by taking the following steps:
• Clean up: The holiday season means more meats, crumbly sweets and sugary treats around the house. But most bugs don’t need much food to survive. In fact, a cockroach can survive for months on a single crumb of food! After cooking and baking, be sure to wipe down surfaces and sweep up crumbs thoroughly. You should also shake out carpets and vacuum rugs in your dining room or anywhere crumbly cookies and cakes are enjoyed.
• Defend entry points: Did you know that many of the steps you can take to improve energy efficiency in cool weather have the added benefit of helping to keep bugs out of your home? Keep entry points of your home sealed, such as the garage door, and caulk small cracks in your home’s foundation and siding. These measures will go a long way toward regulating the temperature in your home, and also toward preventing insect infestation.
• Banish bugs without hesitation: While many traditional bug sprays direct you to clear the room during and after use, there are effective alternatives that allow you to spray and stay that won’t disrupt your holiday festivities. Zevo, a brand of nature-inspired insect control products, has sprays for spiders, ants, wasps and whatever other critters are hunkered down in your house this season. Zevo’s BioSelective technology, made of essential oils, targets and shuts down biological pathways found in bugs. It’s safe for use around people and pets when used as directed. For more information, visit www.zevoinsect.com.
• Mind firewood: Everyone loves a roaring fire during the holidays. However, bugs can commonly make their way into your home via firewood. Store firewood outdoors under a tarp to keep it dry (moist firewood attracts bugs) and don’t bring it inside until you plan to burn it.
While the holiday season is all about welcoming guests, you don’t need to extend that invitation to pests. Make your home more inviting to your friends and family by taking steps to keep bugs at bay.
Photo Credit: @UnexpectedBlessings (Jenny Ashbay)