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Identify, Prevent, and Treat In-Home Pests

by on Sep 25, 2014

There’s nothing quite like sitting down to enjoy my morning coffee and hearing a blood-curdling screech coming from the kitchen. I flash back to my superhero daydreams of childhood and jump up, adrenaline pumping, rushing out of the sunroom to save the day. Sprinting into the kitchen, I see the perpetrator: A dark black cockroach in the middle of our kitchen floor. Unfortunately, this has become a regular occurrence in our home.

As a first-time homeowner, the number of new responsibilities can be overwhelming. How do I attack, control and prevent these pesky pests? I set out to answer these questions with help from a partnership with Raid®. I learned that there are a few things you can do to lessen the chance of a bug problem. Let’s work from the outside in.

Remove their hiding places 

Keep mulch, shrubs, and tree limbs at least 1 foot away from your home and stack firewood away from the foundation of the house.

Trim shrubs to prevent pest

Photo: Meghan & Al

Create a barrier

Use a product like Raid Max® Bug Barrier to prevent bugs coming in.

Bug prevention with Raid Max Bug Barrier

Photo: Meghan & Al

Close off pest entry points.

Use caulk to seal up windows, doors, and other cracks and crevices. Along with keeping pests out, this will also help with your power bills. Two Birds. One Stone.

calk windows to prevent bugs

Photo: Meghan & Al

Keep it clean!

This may shock you, but pests love filth. So additional measures you can take to help prevent bugs include keeping your home nice and clean. Wipe down countertops, regularly vacuum and mop, never leave dishes sitting in your sink, and keep lids tight on trash cans. 

clean your house to prevent bugs

Photo: Meghan & Al

To see how this worked for us, let’s go back to our little roach perp. Turns out while we just saw one or two every week, we probably had a whole host of their friends hiding in our home. Not really knowing what to do, I learned how to create a custom Defense System using Raid’s® online System Creator at RaidKillsBugs.com. The online tool allowed me to enter the type of bug issue and then it populated to provide a suite of chemical and non-chemical tips to help solve the problem. 

spot treat against roaches

Photo: Meghan & Al

The next time we saw a few of our unwanted house guests, we followed the instructions from the Raid® Defense System and attacked the bugs using the Raid® Ant & Roach Killer. 

Raid small roach treatment

Photo: Meghan & Al

place roach traps in trouble spots

Photo: Meghan & Al

Then we put out a few Raid® Double Control Small Roach Baits in some trouble spots. This helps take care of all the hidden friends we haven’t seen. Make sure you put these in areas you have not sprayed to make sure the roaches bring the bait back to the rest of the family.

protect windows and doors with raid

Photo: Meghan & Al

Finally, we sprayed the perimeter of our house with Raid Max® Bug Barrier mentioned earlier, focusing on easy entry points such as windows and doors.

Now it’s your turn to get the answers and beat the bugs. Learn how to outsmart the bugs in your home and achieve targeted pest control by creating a customized Raid® Defense System at Raidkillsbugs.com.

This post was sponsored by Raid®. All opinions are ours alone.