1. Eliminate Standing Water

   Standing water invites critters to make themselves comfortable in your neighborhood. It’s important to make sure that there are no leaks in your plumbing. Check under sinks, toilets and around the tub to ensure that there are no wet spots that cockroaches and silverfish can use as watering holes. 

2. Keep Your Kitchen Tidy

   Ants and beetles love your kitchen for the same reason you do; it’s where all the snacks are. It may seem obvious, but sweeping up periodically is a big help. Little crumbs are perfect morsels for worker ants to pick up and carry home. Ants have organized scavenges if there are crumbs scattered everywhere, or a large source of food like spoiled fruit, they will quickly mobilize to gobble it up. Keeping loose foodstuffs in airtight containers also helps to keep beetles and weevils from getting a free lunch.

3. Declutter

   Routine spring cleaning can really ruin the day of the spiders and rodents in your basement or attic. Stacks of cardboard boxes and storage containers create dark spaces where pests know they can skitter around undisturbed. Go through your storage spaces and get rid of anything unnecessary. Whatever you keep should be stored in sealable plastic tubs which can’t be burrowed into and are inhabited by mice or rats.

4. Give

   The Exterior of Your House a Quick Inspection – Rats become more active during their breeding season from April to June, during that time they will try to get into your house. If you notice any holes in your siding or foundation ¾ of an inch or larger it could be used as an entrance for rodents. You can also make sure to install quality weather stripping beneath doors and keep your garbage cans covered to deny access to a rodent buffet.

Adult bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed. They can live for 6-12 months and can survive for long periods of time without feeding, and they mostly feed and appear at night. This makes the bed bug hard to find and spot in the first place. It doesn’t help that once they settle in a new environment, they can hide in furniture, outlet covers, and drywall openings.

Once you spot them, finding out where they came from can be challenging as bed bugs hitchhike on travelers by clinging to luggage, purses, briefcases, backpacks, pillows and shoes. They then travel anywhere from hotel bedrooms, public and private transportation seating, luggage storing compartments in airports, and other places where textiles in transportation interact.

Because of this, there is little you can do to prevent bed bugs from thriving, but you may be able to prevent them from spreading in your home or hotel. Guests naturally don’t want to sleep in a bed that has bed bugs, though they may have unknowingly brought them. The following may help in the prevention of an infestation:

1. Using metal luggage racks for luggage storage (bed bugs have a hard time climbing on smooth metal objects)
2. If you are providing a washer and dryer, consider providing a closed hamper with a lid to contain any clothes that may be contaminated
3. Protect your mattress and box spring with a bite-proof, zippered, polyurethane-lined cover 
4. Do a light dusting with Diatomaceous Earth in crevices, hard-to-reach spots, and areas in near contact with the bed or luggage/clothes areas. This desiccant powder penetrates their bodies and dries them out