How to Keep Your Home Pest-free this Winter

How to Keep Your Home Pest-free this Winter

(ARA) - Cooler weather is on the way and with it - unwelcome houseguests. And it won't just be your Uncle Bob and his brood of eight settling in for the holidays. Critters - from rodents to insects - will be looking to join the party too.

"Critters are on the move come fall, looking for a warm place to spend the winter," says Mona Zemsky of Bird-X, a company that specializes in products that help convince critters to take up residence elsewhere. "The best way to keep them out of and away from your home is to be proactive and make the area unfriendly to pests while the weather is still warm."

Mice, raccoons, bats, squirrels and a host of insects are all potential home invaders. The key to keeping your home pest-free this winter is to prevent infestations before they happen. Zemsky and the pest-deterrent experts at Bird-X offer the following tips for keeping your home critter-free:

* Stick with non-lethal removal and deterrent methods. "Lethal products will get rid of the pests you have, but they won't do anything to prevent new invaders from moving in to replace the ones you've killed," Zemsky says. "Rodents are smart and will quickly learn to go elsewhere if a location becomes inhospitable to them. And if the first group of unwelcome guests lives to tell the tale, others will get the message and avoid the area as well." Non-lethal methods are also safer since your family and pets will not be exposed to toxic substances, and the products are environmentally conscious as well.

* Bats are increasingly becoming a problem around the world, with families and businesses from Texas to the United Kingdom being affected by infestations. To combat these potentially disease-carrying pests, rely on sound. "Bats are successfully being combated with devices that are both sonic and ultrasonic, like the Transonic PRO," Zemsky says. Compact and safe for indoor use, and around children and house pets, the device repels bats and other rodents, insects and animals by using sound that is inaudible to humans but highly irritating to the pests.

* Convincing squirrels that their food supply is no longer edible, and an area in general just "tastes bad," is a highly effective way to drive off pests. Bird-X uses a capsaicin pepper base for its Scoot product line. The special formulation won't make your yard smell like a taco, but the time release formula will ward off invaders for up to 30 days per application.

Predator urine is the base for the 100 percent organic Shake Away line. While liquid predator urine is a common gardener's trick to repel raccoons, deer, squirrels, chipmunks and more, the Bird-X version is granular which eliminates the quick evaporation, freezing or sinking into the ground.

* Visual and physical barriers can also protect your home and property. "While most of us don't want a scarecrow in our back yards, there's a reason why they've been used for centuries - visual deterrents can work well," Zemsky notes. A new generation of visual deterrents - like Irri-Tape - combine sound and movement to scare off pests, yet remain inoffensive to the human eye. Strips of 2-inch-wide Irri-Tape can be hung anywhere in the yard and have a pleasing iridescent sheen. The constant movement of the tape ensures pests won't acclimate.

How much and how often you implement deterrent methods will depend on where you live, Zemsky says. While in extremely cold climates, rodents may hibernate through the winter, leaving little risk of them coming in doors, in more temperate climates, pests may be a year-round problem.

"Pests are creatures of habit and we can use that against them," she says. "The best thing is to take preventative action before they arrive. It's easier to keep them away than to convince them to go elsewhere once they've settled in."

To learn more about pest deterrent products, visit www.Bird-X.com/ARA.

Courtesy of ARAcontent