"The vast majority of the time, bugs can be eradicated or persuaded to leave your home, whether it’s through a homemade remedy or a professional pest controller"
- Colby Short - GetAgent
GetAgent.co.uk, may have the answer. Experts from the estate agent comparison site have shared their wisdom on how homeowners can stop all sorts of creepy crawlies from getting into their homes this Halloween.
But more importantly, they also suggest how best to get rid of the little blighters if they do manage to infiltrate.
Bed bugs are small, flat, parasitic insects that feed on the blood of sleeping humans and animals. They are not dangerous, but their bites can be irritating, and a particularly severe allergic reaction might require medical attention. They are difficult to get rid of because they can survive several months without a blood meal.
If you have bed bugs, you might notice small, red bite marks on your body, and spotted blood on your bed sheets, and some people will also experience painful swelling.
But while bed bugs are headline news at the moment, an outbreak of this magnitude is incredibly unusual. Here in Britain, we’re far more likely to be confronted by different creepy crawlies in our homes, especially as winter arrives and the little critters seek out the warmth of our homes. Common examples are spiders, flies, and cockroaches.
Blocking entry
The best way of deterring bugs from entering your home is to spend some money on blocking their initial entry. Resealing any small cracks in windows or walls will give insects fewer entry points to the home. This will cost between £150-£200 for each repair job. If your door needs resealing, it can cost around £300.
Another useful way of deterring pests is to make sure that your rubbish and bins are properly stored, reducing the temptation for everything from flies to rats.
Finally, staying on top of your garden is another way of better dealing with creepy crawlies. This means weeding and trimming regularly and year-round. Reducing the amount of wayward shrubs reduces the opportunity for insects to thrive, but don’t go over the top because it’s vital for the environment that our gardens are home to a certain number of creepy crawlies
Homemade remedies to scare bugs away
But once they’ve found a way in, how do you persuade creepy crawlies to leave the home? There are lots of cheap, homemade remedies that many will say have proven successful.
Most remedies revolve around ingredients that bugs dislike and won’t go anywhere near. These include peppermint, vinegar, cinnamon sticks, and citrus peel. If you leave these ingredients in strategic places around the home, such as close to cracks in the wall where you know crawlies are getting in, it helps keep unwanted pests away and can even result in them leaving your home altogether…for now.
It also helps to maintain a regular cleaning routine, ensuring that crumbs and spilt sugary drinks, etc, don’t end up an easy meal for bugs.
Finally, it’s good to reduce the amount of lights you keep on during the night, decreasing the chances that insects will be attracted to visit and settle down in your home. This is especially true for outdoor lights, such as porch or security lights.
Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:
“It’s not every day that bed bugs rampage through Europe, but here in the UK, we’re more than familiar insects and bugs in the home. Luckily, very few of them present any risk to us, but they can be incredibly annoying, especially if they exist in large numbers.
"The vast majority of the time, bugs can be eradicated or persuaded to leave your home, whether it’s through a homemade remedy or a professional pest controller. But it’s really important to remember the ecosystems that exist among and between these insects.
"If, for example, you start culling all of the spiders in your home, there will be nothing to control the number of flies making themselves comfortable.”
