And the roaches were hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there… What? That's not how it goes? Obviously the author of this carol never lived in Massachusetts. If you don't stay vigilant year round, those roaches will wreck your holiday plans.
I'm sure you have a horror story to share. Were you baking some holiday pies, and a roach crawled up out of the flour? Did you go in to get some sugar and see one scurry up the wall? Or is it worse than that? Roaches love sugar. They can consume a ton of things you wouldn't believe, like hair, books, glue, sewage, grease, soap, wallpaper paste, and rotting organic matter, but they prefer sweets, meats and starches. Have you ever walked into a room and found a pile of roaches feeding? It is the most disgusting thing you'll ever witness.
Holidays are the time of year when we have the most sticky, sweet spills, the most tasty smells, and the most open food. This is a paradise for roaches. Here are three ways to keep those roaches out of your holiday plans.
Proper food storage. Roaches are looking for food, and those cardboard and paper containers won't keep them out. If you get roaches all the time, consider investing in hard plastic containers. This will keep the smell of your foods from luring roaches in through your walls and keep them out of your food, if they're just passing through. Proper food storage will cause roaches to look elsewhere for food sources. Investing in wire shelves and keeping your pantry well ventilated will also help. Even if you have gone through the effort of sealing the holes and gaps in your exterior walls, roaches are incredibly resourceful. They can slip through a crack that is only ¼ of an inch. It may even be necessary to get a perimeter spray, if you are in a neighborhood with a larger roach population.
Deep cleaning. Another food source that will lure roaches in is the nasty grease and juices that drip down into that crack next to your oven. Pull your oven out and do a deep cleaning every once in a while. This will go a long way to preventing roaches from visiting you this holiday.
Daily cleaning. As a general rule, a clean home is a roach-resistant home. This isn't to say that roaches will never come in your home if it is clean. Your home will just be less enticing. What many people don't know is, if you see a roach running around in your kitchen or pantry, you probably have hundreds in the walls. The more you leave crumbs on plates, ketchup on the counter, sugar sprinkles on the floor, and juice in the bottom of cups, the more roaches will take interest in living in your walls. Keep the rug vacuumed, the dishes picked up, and always put dishes in soapy water. Don't leave food sources out, and you'll have fewer roaches.
It is never good to have roaches in your house. Consider having your home inspected and treated for roaches. A professional pest control company can help you seal your walls and keep roaches out permanently. This will reduce the illness in your home and prevent those holiday-wrecking roach incidents. Learn more and get roach-proof this holiday season.