The best time to call your local pest control company is before seeing pests in your home or workspace. That may sound like a joke, but it’s reality. It’s much easier and more cost-effective to prevent a pest infestation than to exterminate pests once they’ve settled into your home. Acting fast can stop unwanted visitors from becoming unmanageable houseguests if you’re already noticing signs of roaches, spiders, mice, ants, or other pests. 

That leads us to an important question: What is the best way to prevent pest infestation? Whether you’re protecting your home or workplace, we have a proven strategy to get you started. 

The Best Strategy to Prevent Pest Infestation 

There are a lot of tips for preventing pest infestations out there, but you don’t want just a tip or two. You want an effective strategy that allows you to make your home unattractive to the most common pests in Texas. If you’re willing to walk through the following eight steps, you can effectively deter pests from taking up residence on your property. Let’s get started! 

1. Identify Pests Most Likely to Infest Your Property 

What pests are you protecting your property from? Home and property owners often skip this step because it seems too simple to matter. It matters more than you may think because you can’t make your home unattractive to pests if you don’t know what pests you’re trying to deter. 

If you’re in Texas, some of the most common household pests include the following: 

• Cockroaches 
• Termites
• Fire and sugar ants 
• Mice 
• Spiders 
• Mosquitos 

These pests may enter your home for nourishment, hydration, warmth, and safety. Most are small and can enter any property through small cracks and crevices. That includes gaps under doors and around windows or cracks in the foundation of a building. 

2. Identify Potential Entry Points 

The next step is walking around your property and looking for any potential entry point. If you’ve seen mice in your home before, you may notice small holes that they used to get into your property. You may also notice gaps under doors and around windows, foundational cracks, and other small areas that leave your property vulnerable to intrusion. 

Before moving on from this step, seal all those entry points. You can use caulk for small cracks that roaches and spiders may use for entry. Mice can easily chew through caulk, so you want to seal larger holes or cracks with steel wool pads. 

3. Become a Neat Freak 

You don’t have to stay up all night frantically scrubbing down every room of your home. What we mean by a neat freak is someone who takes cleaning, decluttering, and maintaining an orderly home seriously. Bad habits like leaving dirty dishes in the sink overnight can encourage pests to invade your home. 

Here are some basic home maintenance tasks that you should embrace: 

• Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. 
• Wipe down all kitchen counters and then sweep and mop the kitchen floor every evening after dinner. 
• Clean up spills and other messes immediately. 
• Wash couch cushions, curtains, and other fabrics throughout your home regularly. 
• Don’t leave trash and dirty dishes around the house. Ensure every household member is consistently washing dishes immediately after eating and taking trash to a designated can. 
• Empty trash cans inside your home every night before bed. 
• Declutter every room. Piles of newspapers, magazines, clothing and other items can provide warmth and nourishment to some pests. 

If you haven’t been the best housekeeper in the past, it may take you some time to clean and declutter your home. It’s worth the time if you want to prevent pest infestation. Write down a dedicated home maintenance routine that you can stick to daily to keep your home clean and unattractive to hungry pests. 

4. Improve Food Storage Methods 

With your home tidy and sanitized, it’s time to look at how you store your food. Pests will come into your home for food before anything else, which is an important step in the pest prevention program. 

Take a trip to a local store and check out the plastic and glass storage containers for food. Make sure everything you buy has an air-tight lid to keep pests out. Go home and place your food in those containers rather than setting packaging from the store in cabinets or counters. 

Some foods that you can store in containers include:

• Dry pasta
• Cereal 
• Crackers
• Cookies
• Bread 
• Rice
• Dry beans 

You may even use large plastic containers to store boxed food that you can’t take out of the package. One large container can hold a lot of food. 

Also, consider refrigerating some foods to keep them off the counters. That may include fresh fruit and some bread or crackers. 

Ultimately, you want to look around your kitchen and see no food sources that pests can get into easily. 

5. Fix Water Leaks Inside & Out 

Leaking faucets and pipes likely run up your water bill, but they can also attract thirsty pets. Look at every faucet and plumbing fixture in and outside your home and fix any leaks. 

6. Move Your Outdoor Trash Can 

You don’t want your outdoor trash can too close to your home because it harbors aromas attractive to mice, roaches, and many other pests. Place it as far away as possible, even if you get a little exercise taking bags from your home to the can for disposal. 

If you take your trash to the dump or burn it for disposal, don’t delay that chore. Make sure you’re disposing of all trash as quickly as possible to avoid a buildup that is a food source for pests. 

7. Check Landscaping for Potential Issues 

This is where you can do the most to prevent a termite infestation. Some things to check include the following: 

• Make sure there is no standing water or source of moisture close to your home or building. If you have water features in your landscaping, try to place them as far away from your living structure as possible because they’re sources of hydration for termites and other pests. 
• Move your woodpile away from your home or elevate the stack so it isn’t sitting on the ground. Termites are attracted to woodpiles as nourishment, warmth, and security sources. 
• Don’t go overboard with mulch in flowerbeds and gardens. Those thick piles of mulch are big attractions for termites. 

Water sources also attract mosquitos, and some plants will do the same. Spend some time sitting outside to notice if there are mosquitos already on your property and where they’re located. You can then find their food and water sources and remove them if possible. 

8. Inspect Regularly 

At this point, your property is in good condition to prevent pest infestations. The job is to inspect areas you don’t often visit regularly. That may include: 

• Garage
• Attic
• Basement 
• Crawlspace 
• Outside buildings 
• Storage areas 

You may also have rooms that go unused much of the time, such as guest rooms. 

Go through each area at least once a month and look for signs of pest intrusions. Make sure to look inside cabinets, behind furniture, and in the dark, hidden areas where pests can easily hide. Some things to look for include the following: 

• Mice droppings 
• Dark black or yellow streaks or lines 
• Small holes 
• Termite wings 
• Chew marks on wood, books, and other materials 
• Piles of insulation, fabric, or paper that could serve as a mouse bed

Anything that is out of place or unusual could serve as a warning that a pest is trying to move in. Figure out where they’re entering and seal it as quickly as possible. 

Can You Deter Pests with Sprays? 

Pest sprays effectively eliminate some pests, but you don’t want to introduce toxins into your home unnecessarily. One option is to create a non-toxic spray that you can apply to any area of your home that may deter some types of pests. You need just three ingredients: 

• Water
• White vinegar
• Essential oils – peppermint or tea tree 

Fill an empty spray bottle half with water and half with white vinegar. Add a few drops of essential oil and spray as needed. For a professional grade, protective barrier for your home against pests, that is more effective yet non-toxic, call Natran at (281) 326-9915. We’re the green pest control experts serving the Austin and Houston areas. Our well-trained technicians can help you treat your home with a non-toxic, green solution that creates a barrier around your property. We give you peace of mind and allow you to relax instead of worrying about pest invasions.