Stopping Outdoor Pests From Coming Indoors: 12 Simple Prevention Tips

The article on this page is original, but has been published in other places on the Internet.

Outdoor Pests Indoor Pests Simple Pest Prevention Tips

Keeping pests out of your home is pretty simple really. Just don’t give them what they are looking for. Deny them a place to live, food and cover, water, and a way to get inside. This article will describe a little bit about how to do just that.

Sometimes the pests from outside, like to spend a little time lounging around and snacking inside. It is far better to stop them from coming in, than to try to control them if they do. Here are a few ideas on keeping them outdoors.

1. Don’t plant climbing vines around your windows providing a freeway for a pest convoy into your home. Climbing vines can slowly invade your tiny window openings, spreading them wider, and inviting insects to travel through the openings.

2. Seal around all doors, windows, air conditioning, and plumbing coming into the house. Do this on the inside as well as the outside. Pay close attention to cable inlets, and all inside plumbing inlets.

3. Be certain that your door sweeps are all the way to the edges of the door opening, and reach all the way to the floor.

4. Check all weather stripping to make sure bugs can’t crawl through any gaps.

5. Keep brush and weeds as far away from the house as possible, so that the pests don’t have a base of operation nearby.

5. Rotting wood is the roach’s natural food, make sure that your immediate outside area is free of it, and anything else that might hide pests.

7. Check houseplants before you bring them inside when first purchased or brought in from your greenhouse, or after watering outdoors.

8. Check all shopping bags, fruits and vegetables carefully for insects.

9. It goes without saying, that your home should be clean, with no food sources for pests.

10. keep your trash can lids on, and the can away from the house as far as possible to keep flies away.

11. When you do see a trail of ants or bugs coming into the house, try to trace it back to it’s source, and plug that hole. A simple mixture of water, dish soap and vinegar will take care of the ones already inside.

12. If you have indoor pets, check them when they return from trips outdoors, for hitch hikers.

Of course there are always the things your mother told you. Things like: “Close the door when you go in or out.” You should have paid more attention, you probably wouldn’t have to be reading this list!

Flies have always been a nuisance to people and animals. They are troublesome, irritating, and they carry disease. Solomon noticed them enough to say that: “Dead flies make the ointment stink.”

Flies and ancient peoples

The ancient Phonecians thought that flies were the primal form of life. Wherever they saw rotting animals, and filth, flies seemed to rise up from it. They even develop a rudimentary religion based on this ancient version of  spontaneous generation, and they named their god ofter the creatures. In ancient Phonecian, the word for flies was zebub, the term for Lord, or Master was Baal, the Phonecian god was therefore called Baalzebub, the god of the flies.

Fly prevention

In spite of the reverence these ancient worshipers may have had for the fly, most modern people would prefer to avoid their presence. Here are a few things that you can do to control flies by practicing good fly pest control:

Excluding flies

Excluding flies from the home will follow the same rules laid down for exclusion in other parts of this site. See Preventing Pests From Coming In and, Outdoor Pests Indoor Pests Simple Pest Prevention Tips for more details.

The real problem is the outdoor problem. If they were not outdoors, they would not be coming inside to crawl across your sandwich and your tv screen. The pages listed above will offer more details, but we will cover a little of the information here.

Flies and pets

Flies like food, water, and shelter. Deprive them of these, and they go away. If you have pets, feeding more than they eat, will attract flies, their feces will also attract flies. Dog pens, because of the presence of the dogs, who themselves love the same things the flies love, will attract flies. Keep it as far from the home as possible, and keep it as clean as possible to prevent invasion.

Flies and trash

Flies like rotting food, and other rotten materials. Keeping trash cans sealed, and well away from the home will help keep them well away from your home as well. Keeping leftovers, and other food products that need to be discarded frozen untill trash day will also help.