john
What exactly are Pests?
A pest can be any plant or animal that has a harmful effect on humans, their place of living and their food. Some common pests are,
Mosquitoes, which carry various viruses and diseases.
Grasshoppers and caterpillars, they are responsible for destroying crops and gardens.
Mice and rats that burrow inside any place they can find and eat stored food and contaminate it with their large number of drippings.
Termites cause damage to timber.
Bed bugs bite people. Their bites can cause irritation and it can result in getting infected.
What is Pest Prevention?
Pest control is the regulation of a particular species that is identified to be a pest. Companies that offer pest control service in Surrey do this by monitoring the areas where there are high chances of them being there. To control these pests, they spray insecticides and take various other precautions that may hinder the pest from returning.
Pest Prevention Tips in Student Housing
Let’s talk about how to prevent pests in areas like school housings and hostels.
Dispose of trash properly
Removing trash regularly is a good start. Take out the trash on a daily basis and while it is inside the house, keep it in a basket or bucket that has a cover. This will prevent small insects and animals from going in it. so, always keep a trash can in your dorm room. You should familiarize yourself with the garbage disposal resources in your building. Landlords should also promote the importance of garbage disposal, try incentivizing the process. Offer a small reward for students who are regular in taking out their garbage, students do love freebees.
Keep Your Apartment Clean
A student apartment isn’t really that big and small messes start to add up and become one big mess that is the apartment. So, always make sure to keep your apartment clean and tidy. Whenever you eat something, make sure to store the left overs in an airtight jar or in boxes. Store food in dry places. After eating make it a habit of cleaning up the place thoroughly for crumbs and spills where you ate. Spills and crumbs almost always attract insects.
Maintain a cleaning schedule for your apartment which should include sweeping and vacuuming every alternate day. If there are people sharing an apartment then divide the cleaning tasks between yourselves. It will be much more efficient and fairer to all.
Store Food Properly
Dorm rooms usually allow small kitchenettes and small refrigerators so that students can store their own food there. This is a healthy practice, storing food in refrigerators is way easier and safer, the food does not go bad for a longer period of time and is safe from insects. Still, you should have a bunch of airtight jars in which you should keep leftovers like crisps and biscuits. Go for hard metal air tight jars as mice can bite through plastic. It is a common and favorite habit of students to leave snacks and wrappers lying around in their vicinity.
Well, pests really love it when you do that. They will start to come in more often and will keep on trying as they believe that they found food once so they are bound to find it again.
Which brings me to the next precaution you should take,
Manage Perimeter Properly
Now that your apartment is clean and the landlord and students have done everything, they can to keep the apartments clean and sanitized, that still does not stop the pests from getting inside the house. Well, they can’t help it, they’re curious and hungry.
So, you should check all the sides of your premise for any potential entrances for rats and mice mainly. Seal them up properly. Use materials that they can not bite their way through.
Rats and mice are pretty flexible and can wriggle their way through bricks, small gaps in stones, holes in screens, caulk and worn away seals. It is best to conduct an inspection at least once a week. Scan the apartments, the roof, the boundary of your building. Repair the vulnerable areas immediately because once rats and mice get inside, they probably won’t come out and start breeding their which will add to your problems even more.
Hope these tips help you in preventing pests from getting inside your building. The key is to communicate with the students and to keep them aware of the consequence’s pests can lead up to. If the problem worsens, hiring pest control experts may be your ultimate resort.
