Family

A mosquito and housefly-free home

Mosquitoes and flies breed in large numbers in this season. The heat and the dampness are favourable environments for their multiplication. No matter how smart your home is these two pests may somehow find their way into your home. It is therefore our responsibility to keep our families safe. In this article DUMASE ZGAMBO-MAPEMBA looks at simple ways to eradicate the two pests with help from various sources.

 To begin with, flies and mosquitoes can be a nuisance when buzzing around the home. However, most species of fly and mosquito also pose a health risk.

In particular, house flies transmit a wide range of diseases including dysentery, tuberculosis, cholera, salmonella, and parasitic worms.

Mosquitoes are associated with malaria in this country. Even if there was no risk of disease the irritation caused by the bites can still is distressing particularly for children.

Here are a few tips to safeguard our homes from these two pests.

Houseflies

Make it a point to cover all food and leftovers. Cover all trash bins all the time.

Wash floors, countertops, appliances and other surfaces with a disinfectant cleaner to clean and remove germs left by flies.

I personally use Domestos bleach house hold cleaner on the floor and kitchen countertops. It works. You just need to wipe down the area after a thorough cleaning. Just be careful not to put food directly on the treated area as the

Fill glass jars with one to two inches of apple cider vinegar. Cover the tops of the jars with plastic wrap and secure the plastic with rubber bands. Poke holes into the plastic wrap so flies can enter the jars to get to the vinegar. Place the jars of vinegar in locations where flies have been seen. Once inside the jars, the flies cannot get out and drown in the vinegar.

Drop eucalyptus essential oil on a cotton ball to repel flies.

Mosquitoes

Mix 1 cup garlic juice and 5 cups water in a spray bottle. Saturate cloth strips with the garlic solution and lay outside your home and any areas inside where mosquitoes are frequenting. The garlic smell works as an effective mosquito repellent.

The garlic spray repellent can be used on people and pets to keep mosquitoes away while outdoors.

Do the overhaul that I like to do every four to six months: fumigate.

The advantage of fumigating is that you eradicate almost every pest in the house including those that inhabit in difficult to reach places. It’s expensive but it’s worth it.

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