Everyone wants to enjoy a delicious meal made in the kitchen. For some, this place is the most essential room in the house where they can express their culinary imagination. But how would you feel if you cannot wait to have a meal and catch pests walking around the kitchen counters and on the floor?
Kitchens are known to be vulnerable to pest infestations considering all the hidden holes we are unaware of. Not only they are gross and unwanted, but they can also pose a serious health risk to you or your close ones. Fortunately, there are a few ways to get rid of the seemingly indestructible creatures from your home once and for all!
The main types of kitchen pests you can encounter are:
– Ants
– Flies
– Rats and mice
– Cockroaches
– Pantry pests
– Stored product insects
What attracts insects and bugs to the kitchen?
Pests like most living creatures need the three essential elements to survive: shelter, water, and food. Kitchens can become an attractive harborage for pests when temperatures drop, particularly when they need shelter. The warmth provided by cooking appliances together with the abundance of food and water helps them feel right at home. Moreover, trash and cluttered cabinets serve as an ideal nesting site for rodents.
8 ways you can prevent pests and ants from infesting your kitchen
1. Peppermint spray
Unlike humans, ants hate the smell of peppermint. Now, you could unwrap a bunch of peppermint candies and strategically place them all over your house to repel ants. Or, you could make your own peppermint spray using distilled water, 2 tablespoons of witch hazel and 12 drops of peppermint essential oil. Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle, shake it up and spray it wherever the ants seem to be coming in. It’s a natural remedy that will leave your house smelling great.
2. Garlic
If you don’t mind the smell of garlic, you can use it as a natural ant repellent. Just cut up a few cloves of garlic to leave around the areas you’ve noticed the ants and your house will soon be pest-free. If you don’t want your house to smell like garlic, though, this tip might not be your best option.
3. Cucumbers
While people usually enjoy cucumbers as a refreshing summertime snack, the peel can be harmful to ants and other insects. To keep bugs out of your house, you can use cucumbers in two ways. You can slice a cucumber into thin discs and place those by entryways or you can peel the cucumber and lay the peelings around your doors and windows. Either way, the cucumber will either repel the ants or will attract and k.i.l.l them.
4. Coffee grounds
One of the best-smelling options for getting rid of ants is coffee grounds. If you can locate the anthill from which the pests originate, you can dump your used coffee grounds directly on top. If you can’t find the hill or just want to keep the ants out of your house, sprinkle used coffee grounds along any entrances the ants could utilize.
5. Lemon juice
You have two options for using lemon juice against ants. If you know where the ants are entering the house, put some lemon juice into a spray bottle and spray the entry points. If you’re unsure how they’re getting in, place small dishes of lemon juice near entrances to your house. The ants are repelled by both the smell and the acidity of the lemon juice and will avoid coming into contact with it. Make sure there’s no sugar in the juice, though, as that would attract the ants.
6. Vinegar
If you thought vinegar was just for cleaning, then you know nothing about vinegar. While most of the tips on this list are to prevent an ant infestation, this one is to help you out if the ants have already established dominance in your house. Make a half-and-half combination of vinegar and water, put it in a spray bottle and spray it on the ants. To get rid of the dead ants, just wipe them up with a damp paper towel.
7. Chalk
Chalk lines aren’t just for crime scenes anymore. There’s speculation as to why ants avoid chalk, but most believe it’s due to the calcium carbonate in chalk. Whatever the reason, ants will rarely cross a chalk line, so just draw some lines around doorways and windows to keep the ants from getting into your house.
8. Dish detergent
Due to their reliance on their sense of smell, cutting off the ants’ scent trail is one of the most effective ways to keep them out of your house. To do this, fill a spray bottle with water and add 1/4 a cup of dish detergent. Find the places the ants are using to access your home and spray these areas with your mixture. This will kill most of the ants that try to come into your house and those that survive will lose their original scent trail, leaving them unable to lead other ants back to your home.
Sources: healthylifeboxx.com, hometips.cooktopcove.com
