Kitchens are common gathering places in many homes because, well, who doesn’t love food? Unfortunately, more than just humans enjoy snacking on easily accessible food. Pests such as cockroaches, fruit flies, ants, rodents, and more love to invade the kitchen and make themselves a cozy home. Aside from the fact that no one wants to share their kitchen with bugs, these unwanted guests can also pose a threat to your health. The following are a few tips for keeping your kitchen pest-free.
1. Wash the Dishes Regularly
If there’s one thing pests don’t like, it’s a clean kitchen. One step toward having a clean kitchen is to wash the dishes regularly. If insects and rodents are attracted to food, just imagine how enticing a sink full of food-covered dishes is to them. While it’s not always convenient to immediately wash the dishes after a meal, it’s probably worth it to prevent a family of cockroaches from invading your kitchen. Do your best to get the dishes loaded in the dishwasher or washed and in the drying rack as fast as possible.
2. Cover Your Trash Can
A common way to store a trash can is under the sink, and while this might give your kitchen a more aesthetic look and keep the family pet out of it, it’s not very pest-proof. The best way to avoid luring in pests with your kitchen trash is to keep a sealed lid on the garbage can.
3. Store Food in Airtight Containers
Did you know that some bugs can chew through cardboard and paper in order to gain access to your food? A helpful tip to keep your food free of contamination and your kitchen pest-free is to store your food in airtight containers. Some containers that work include:
- Zip-lock bags.
- Glass jars.
- Plastic containers with tight lids.
Items worth storing in airtight containers are pantry foods such as these:
- Sugar.
- Flour.
- Oats.
- Cereal.
- Chips.
- Cookies.
4. Keep Surfaces Clean and Crumb-Free
Food preparation and meals can be a messy business, especially when kids are involved. While crumbs may not seem like a big deal to us, one crumb could feed an entire colony of ants. The best way to keep your kitchen clean and crumb-free is to regularly wipe down any surfaces, stove tops, and floors.
5. Eat Your Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
While fruits and veggies are great healthy snacks to have on hand, they can also be a serious attraction to pests. Once a fruit or vegetable becomes overly ripe, it’s a prime target for the dreaded fruit fly. A female fruit fly will lay about 500 eggs on your fermenting fruit in its short lifetime, so if you notice that your fruit has become home to some fruit flies, make sure you dispose of it outside so those eggs don’t become adults in your kitchen trash.
If you find that your kitchen has become overrun with pests, it might be time to contact one of the professionals in pest control Houston has to offer, such as Bulwark Exterminating. Keep your kitchen a friendly gathering place and take action right away.
