Pesky Pests

I recently came across a few ways to repel pesky pests. I don’t mean your little sister or the guy who keeps asking you to go to the annual company holiday party with him. I mean the sneaky, food stealing, welt inducing biters and general gross you out things that occasionally hide in the kitchen at night. Even in the cleanest of homes, they sneak in to check it out. They’re casing the joint.

Here’s what I found. Peppermint, long loved by the Purple Fig and it’s clients, seems to be the most common denominator in insect repelling oils. It deters ants, earwigs, silverfish and even mice! Wiping out your cabinets and counter tops with peppermint oil in your solution will help keep the critters out of there. If you have larger problems, find a discrete, child-free zone to drop a couple of drops in corners.

Cockroaches. Nature’s little tanks. The only thing I found is to bait them. The easiest solution provided by Insight Pest Control Colorado according to what I read was to mix some borax and sugar and set it out. They’ll carry the borax back to the nest. Obviously, you don’t want to do this where the kiddies or the kitties can reach it. But apparently, cockroaches like high places. Set your traps for these penthouse pests on top of the cabinets or any high, out of reach place they might wander!

Another multi-pest repellent I saw frequently was bay leaves. Just leave them in the cabinets or really anywhere you see pests.

A more general and lovely solution to things like mosquitoes and pests in general is Thai Lemon Grass. It’s an attractive piece of greenery that naturally contains citronella. You can use the pulp to rub on yourself for an active mosquito repellent, but if you’ve taken care of most of your pest problems, I recommend setting a couple of these around the house and on the patio to let those pests know that you’re on the job!

Happy hunting!