KEEP UNWANTED GUESTS AWAY THIS CHRISTMAS
The hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is now upon us!
Christmas trees (live and artificial) are being set up and decorated. Holiday baking has begun with tasty cookies and treats filling festive tins. Holiday parties, events and activities are well under way and continue to fill calendars. As for Christmas shopping, well...by the look of all the Amazon boxes piled on front porches, it appears solid progress is being made crossing gifts off lists!
The holidays are a magical time of year that we share with family and friends. It's also a stressful time too, with so much time, effort and money spent, and high expectations that it will be fun, festive, and 'perfect'. It can be a huge disappointment if things do not work out as planned or hoped.
One of the biggest spoilers during the holiday season are unwanted guests. You know who we're talking about. They may be family or friends, or they may also be rodents and insects.
While it may be cute and sweet this time of year to read a children's story about a Christmas mouse or see an adorable picture of a rat wearing a festive Santa hat in your Facebook or Instagram newsfeed, actually having a mouse (or mice) catch you by surprise in your home at Christmas is not cute, or sweet. It's horrible, stressful and concerning.
To help make your Christmas merry and bright (and pest-free), our gift to you is helpful holiday pest control advice to keep unwanted pests away this Christmas:
- If you store your Christmas decor in cardboard boxes in a garage, basement or attic, inspect them before bringing them indoors or into the main areas of your home.
- Look for signs of chewing, nesting, live rodents or insects, insect eggs or larvae that resemble seeds.
- If you find any signs of an infestation, dispose of the cardboard immediately by sealing it in garbage bag and storing outside your home. Depending on the decoration, you may be able to wash it or need to discard it.
- Store your holiday decorations in rigid plastic storage containers with tight-fitting sealable lids.
- Pests cannot chew through the hard plastic so they will be unable to get inside to destroy your decorations or hitch a ride inside your home.
- Inspect all packages you receive that are in cardboard boxes before you bring them inside. Packages sent in cardboard boxes could contain some unwanted "guests" like bedbugs, cockroaches or spiders.
- If you can’t inspect them at your front entrance or in your garage first, keep the package contained until you open it and remove all garbage as soon as possible.
- If you find any signs of an infestation, dispose of the cardboard immediately by sealing it in garbage bag outside.
- Depending on what was inside the box, you may be able to wash the item(s) with warm or hot soapy water, or it may need to be thrown out.
- If you get a fresh cut tree:
- While picking out your tree, look for signs of pest infestations, like nests, webs, empty casings, or a large number of live insects. Watch for spiders and overwintering insects. It's true that outdoor winter temperatures can kill off many types of pests, but not all. There is a risk that your tree is home to overwintering insects, who can and will wake up due to the heat in your home.
- Shake the tree to dislodge any pests before securing to your vehicle for transport and before bringing it into your home.
- Never use pesticides on your tree. They are extremely flammable and can pose a health and safety risk to you and your loved ones.
We hope you have a wonderful December preparing for and celebrating the Christmas season pest free.
Happy Holidays from the team at Environmental Pest Control!
