Home remedies for household pests

Living in the suburbs has its advantages and disadvantages. Noise and pollution are a lot less but there is a lot more pest menace to tackle. A little less than a week after torrential rains, leads to all open plots filling with water. The stagnant water teams with many a menace. All kinds of insects especially mosquitoes, ants and flies start breeding so do frogs, rodents and inevitably snakes.
The best way of keeping pests at bay is to judiciously keep surroundings squeaky clean. Clearing debris and keeping ground plants to the bare minimum is one such way. Cultivating a lawn is definitely risky if snakes are a common feature. Potted plants should never be kept on soil as snakes can make holes under these pots. Moving the pots will only then reveal their presence. A plant called Andrographis panaculata commonly known as Siria Nangai was suggested to keep snakes at bay. Keeping the rodent population under control also keeps snakes out of our territory. Applying a paste of powdered camphor, neem, turmeric and rock salt especially along boundary lines also, does the trick. Summer brings with it ants and flies which can be pretty annoying, especially when we have small children, whose activities are mostly floor bound. Adding a cap full of kerosene to the floor mopping solution solves the ant headache. Flies can be got rid of by adding powdered camphor to the floor mopping water. What about those mosquitoes that come charging in and stay with us like uninvited guests? Here are a few tips that worked for me and didn’t involve chemicals whatsoever. Dusting is an age old exercise that our grandmothers used to follow especially in the days before the vacuum cleaner. One such exercise revealed that mosquitoes can lay eggs in really weird places like plug points, dark, intricately carved furniture, unused cupboard shelves and under bed planks. All it took was a wipe with some surface cleaner to ensure those eggs didn’t hatch. French doors have gaps under the door which allows mosquitoes enough access to enter in the middle of the night. Those gaps can be sealed off with cloth stuffed. Spiders and moths don’t survive in cupboards when a small bag of spices such as cloves, cinnamon, star anise and crushed camphor is placed. Make sure all drain covers especially in bathrooms have naphthalene balls as that keeps cockroaches at bay. To ensure bees and wasps don’t enter the house, hang a bag of odonil in all balconies. The sweet fragrance from them keeps the insects attracted to your home only on the outside.
Using a little prudence and a lot of practice all of us can discover eco-friendly methods of pest eradication. After all a sensitive citizen is a world citizen.