Stay Clean!

Today I just wanted to emphasize the importance of keeping your home clean of clutter and food. The main reason why bugs enter your home is to find food and water. Most insects that enter your home are actually called Accidental Invaders. Accidental invaders do not puropsely try to enter your home, they just accidentally end up there. They need to scour the area to find food, and what better place to find food than in your home or trash.

The best way to keep bugs from coming in your home is to keep your home free of food and debris. Ants are notorious in finding foods and bringing in more of their friends. They release a pheromone in a trail that leads the rest to the food source. If you see ants, then that means you have a good food source for them to be there. Keeping the area clean will help prevent them from wanting to be there. Remember that even the smallest crumb can feed multiple insects.

The next thing you might want to to is limit the hiding places for the insects. Insects love tiny cracks and crevices. They will find anywhere that is tight to protect them from dangerous creatures. If you have lots of clutter on the floor or in the basement, this is just a ample place for bugs to live. It is difficult to spray within our limits if where the bugs are hiding are in your boxes of food or clothes. The best thing we recommend is organzing what you need to keep into plastic sealed containers. This will help keep the bugs from hiding in the boxes and allow us to get a safer, better spray in your home.

Just remember that food and hiding places are the main reason why bugs come into your home. Keeping your home free of food crumbs and clutter will limit the number of bugs and the ability for them to survive.

Time to Search for Bugs

In Iowa, spring time doesn't just mean warmer weather and flowers. It means plenty of checkups on your home too.  

In spring time, all the bugs start to come out of their hiding places. Unfortunately, these hiding places are usually in your home during the winter. You, the homeowner should look for any signs of bugs in your home.

What should you look for?

• Hiding places
• Cracks or holes
• Food sources
• Leaky faucets

Hiding places are important to the protection of bugs. One thing bugs don't like is being found by a bigger animal, mainly us. The best hiding places for bugs in your home during the winter are in areas that are undisturbed and have low traffic . Areas that are usually the best place to search are in the attic, in guest rooms, in the basement, under porches, in closets, and in boxes being stored in the garage or basement.

Checking in these areas not only helps you find the pests, it also disturbs the areas and helps keep them undesirable.  

Another thing you should look for in spring time are any cracks or holes created from the cold winter. Iowa always has harsh cold winters and hot summers. This fluctuation of temperature is rough on foundations and concrete. Just look at the roads, the potholes are created from water getting in cracks and freezing. the freezing water expands and breaks apart the pavement.  If you find any evidence of cracks or holes, you should fill or cover them immediately before wandering pests enter your home for food.

You should also look for food sources that pests like.  This may take some thorough inspection because the food pests like may just be little crumbs. Sufficient cleaning of the kitchen and food storage areas is highly recommended.

Fix any leaky faucets, indoors and outdoors. Water is very important to pests. Water is the basis of life. If water is leaking out all the time, it allows pests to have a good source of water. Also a leaky faucet outside can cause rotting to wood, making it a magnet to termites.

So, when you start your Spring Cleaning in Des Moines, be sure to look in these areas to keep pests out of your home.  A clean, uncluttered home gives no hiding places for bugs.

50309, 50310, 50311, 50312, 50313, 50314, 50315, 50316, 50317, 50318, 50319, 50320, 50321, 50327, 50391, and 50392.Downs Pest Control is family owned and operated pest control company that serves Des Moines and surrounding areas. We are dedicated to helping residents and businesses in Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Grimes, Johnston, Norwalk, Perry, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines, and Windsor Heights prevent and remove pest infestations. We are dedicated to safety and high quality customer service. Downs Pest Control