They say your college years can be some of the best years of your life. And they are, until one night you come home to find cockroaches all over your roommate’s dirty dishes and hundreds of empties. Sounds like a nightmare!

Dealing with the stress of school is already overbearing enough, students don’t need the added stress of dealing with pests and unsafe living conditions. Some pests can pose serious health risks and that’s why we’ve created some helpful best practices for prevention, identification, elimination that can be shared with students.

Prevention – Identification – Elimination

Pest Prevention

Pest Prevention is one of the most important efforts you can make to ensure living in a safe, pest-free environment. This is an often overlooked step, especially as a young student who has much more important things to worry about. Here are some simple tips to keeping pests out:

• Keep Food tightly sealed

 Food should be kept in tightly sealed glass or plastic containers. This will prevent food contamination in the event of a pest infestation, but also remove food sources.

• Keep things Clean! 

 This is probably the hardest. By keeping your living space clean you will be removing many food sources and hiding spots for pests to harbourage. Piles of dirty dishes, greasy stovetops and mucky floors will only invite and feed pests within your home. Keep things clean.

• Take-Out should stay out!

 We all enjoy ordering from our favourite restaurant, but take-out containers create a great hiding spot for pests, such as cockroaches. Be diligent in disposing of all take-out containers outdoors and leave recycling bins and garbage bins away from the home.

• If it’s dry they will die!

 As most pests thrive in high moisture areas, keeping your home dry will pose an unfavourable harbourage area for pests. Keeping humidity levels down by using a dehumidifier will go a long way. Also reducing the amount of pooling water, and fixing any leaky taps will also prevent pests from thriving.

Pest Identification

While you’ve done everything right and you still see bugs! Know what? Before jumping to the closest can of Raid and spraying it all over your home, there are a few things to think about first.

1. Identifying the Pest
   1. Each pest reacts differently to different treatment methods. Sometimes spraying can actually make things worse. Be sure to properly identify what you are seeing before doing any DIY treatments.
2. Securing a Sample
   1. If you are unable to identify the pest, always ensure to secure a sample so a pest professional can help you identify what you are dealing with. This will allow your trusted pest prevention company to provide you with proper protocol in eliminating that pest.

Pest Elimination

Still, seeing those unwanted pests in your home? Always seek professional help first. By consulting with a trained pest control exterminator in Toronto not only will our team be able to help provide elimination, but we will also provide you with the education and tools you need to keep pests out in the future.

About the Author:

Amanda Pereira, the Operations Manager at GreenLeaf Pest Control, is always happy to help customers with their pest issues. She is a proud Golden Hawk graduating with an Honours BBA (Marketing) from Wilfrid Laurier University. In her spare time, she likes to walk and take pictures of nature.

The GreenLeaf Way, Way Better!