5 Pests That Commonly Invade Your Home

This page is an expert DIY guide on treating common home invading pests such as ants, cockroaches, rodents, flies, and fleas. Follow this guide and the attached links to learn more about these common home invaders and the effective products to guarantee complete removal.

Most homeowners face a type of pest infestation at some point in their lives. Pest infestations are common, with pest comes their activities causing minor to significant damages to property. Common household pests are ants, cockroaches, rodents, flies, and fleas.

In most instances finding a pest or two of these species is enough to begin an effective care program. The earlier you begin this program the better you can ensure your home is pest free. One of the most common times you will see these insects and animals is when the weather is changing within your region. These pests will invade your home for food, water, or shelter that they may not be finding in their environments.

Besides their activities posing serious concerns to the foundations structure they also provide health concerns as some of them may bite, pinch, secrete waste, or carry diseases as they travel throughout your home.

For these type of infestations, refer to the attached links and recommended products within our DIY guide for complete and successful removal of these 5 home-invading pests.

Ants

Most ant species typically have a scout ant that will leave a scent trail for the rest of its colonies to follow. Ants are prone to infest areas containing sugary or dry food such as syrups, sugars, powders, and other products within your kitchen.

Its unlikely that ants alone can destroy a homes foundation, but if species such as the carpenter ant is left untreated then their activities can cause significant wear and tear. These species of ants are especially problematic to your homes foundation as carpenter ants burrow through wood to create their homes.

Ants are a difficult pest to control, because they tend to invade your home in large populations and have numerous mounds throughout your yard and even inside your homes foundation. Dependent on moisture and food, ants can be found within your homes walls, attics, basement, underneath appliances such as the toaster, stove, or fridge, and plumbing sites containing moisture.

To prevent ant infestations within your home, begin by using an broad-spectrum insecticide such as Supreme IT. Apply as a spot treatment as according to the product label. For a standard application, mix 1 fl. oz. of Supreme IT with 1 gallon of water per 1,000 sq. ft. We recommended using a hand pump sprayer for easier control during spot application. Before you spray your mixture, remove all food and object from the treatment area and do not return them until 48 hours have passed.

Cockroaches

The warmth and availability of food and water in your home is enough to attract roaches. Once these pests invade your home, roaches will quickly reproduce within a matter of months to produce overwhelming infestations. Any species of roach is not ideal for you and your families health as these pests carry diseases and ingest bacterial matter such as feces. Due to the harmful diseases they can carry any object touched by a cockroach species becomes contaminated and detrimential to your health.

Cockroaches can be found everywhere and anywhere, but species such as the american cockroach, smoky brown cockroach, and oriental cockroack are the most predominent within homes. These species of roaches prefer to live in damp, moist areas such as the kitchen, bathroom, attics. 

Most species of cockroaches are nocturnal, with the ability to hide in hard to reach areas. This trait creates non-ideal conditions as roaches can increase their populations without notice by you. If your not sure of an infestation, keep an eye out for roach droppings (looks like black pepper) or shed body parts or skins.

Like most pest infestations, prevention is ideal for proper maintenance. Begin by throughly cleaning your home, floor, and food handling surfaces to the point where there is limited clutter and food debris. No food sources should be available as you lay out an Apex Cockroach Bait and Ficam Insect Bait indoors. 

Rodents

Rats and Mice are two different species of rodents, but still work to spread diseases and damage to your home. Once there is an opening in your homes foundation or weather changes within your region rats and mice are prone to invade. Areas that provide sufficent cover such as underneath appliances (fridge, stove, etc.), underneath or behind furniture, kitchen cabinets, and where the plumbing meets the wall.

A surefire way to confirm rodent activity within your home is to look for rodent droppings, rub marks along the wall (as rodents bodies are very oily), gnaw marks on wood or furniture, and burrow marks along your homes foundation. The most obvious sign is high pitch squeaking or scratching within the walls of your home.  

If you have these signs or witnessed a single rodent then prompt action is better than no action at all. Depending on your preference between lethal or non-lethal, we recommended using either a glue trap, snap trap, or live trap (non-lethal option).

Rodents are attracted to foods that have a strong odor such as peanut butter. Plus, peanut butter makes a great bait for traps since it cannot be removed without triggering the trap.

Flies

Many different species of flies are harmful to your health, but the most common flies to invade your home is the house fly and fruit fly. Like most species, a house and fruit fly are winged insects that travel through flight and are attracted to moisture and rotted or decaying organic matter.

This could include leftover food within your sink drain or garbage can, food sitting out, feces such as cat litter boxes.

While flies feed on the food they regurgitate their meal to ingest it and leave feces on the food. Both of these actions do not create the best health conditions for you due to the risk of transferable diseases and pathogens. 

To protect your health, effective fly control begins with proper sanitization of your home. Once this is complete treat drains and garbage disposals with Forid Drain Gel Cleaner to remove any food residue. Lastly, manage spaces within your home with Pyrid Insecticide Aerosol.

Fleas

Fleas are an invasive and hard to kill pests that invade your home by attaching themselves to you or your animal.

While fleas do not cause significant structural damage they do diminish your home with their irrating biting and defecation. Mainly fleas will leave microscopic black residue, which could be eggs or feces. A reason flea infestations are so significant is egg larvae cannot be harmed by pesticides until they have hatched. 

This greatly increases the advantages of these blood sucking pests as repeated applications are necessary for control. Fleas do not need to pets to invade your home and can be found in areas you frequent often such as your bed, pillows, sheets, or covers.

Application practices such as spot treatments with Supreme IT as according to the label is recommended. As well as disposing contents of your vacuum bag outside your residence. 

Key Takeaways

What are Common Pests that Invade Your Home?

• Pests such as ants, cockroaches, rodents, flies, and fleas are common within homes.

What Attracts These Pests to Your Home?

• For some species such as fleas the answer is you. Other pests are attracted to the warmth, shelter, and moisture your home environment provides.

How Can I Prevent Home Invading Pests?

• The best practice is proper sanitization and daily inspection of insect or rodent activity. Properly dispose of all decaying food within a timely matter as well as storing food products within plastic containers.