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The best tip for keeping pests out of your home is keeping food sealed and garbage controlled. Crumbs and food scraps attract pests more than anything else, and pests are experts at exploiting every half-closed bag and forgotten trash can for food sources. To avoid accidentally inviting bugs into your kitchen, be sure to seal all food in the refrigerator or in containers made of glass or metal. Avoid leaving dishes unattended in the sink by locking them in the dishwasher after you’ve finished using them. Homeowners should also change garbage bags frequently.

One method of reducing waste that’s used by many people is composting. Since 30% of all household waste in the U.S. is organic material, composting is a great way to reduce the amount that goes to landfills.1 However, it also increases the risk of attracting insects and rodents to your home. Luckily, you can still help prevent pests by following these tips: If you think the smell of food in your garbage bag or compost bin is particularly strong, cover the waste with a layer of dried leaves or dirt to hide it from annoying insects. Avoid composting animal products, such as meat or bones, at home. Instead, store it in a sealed container until you can take it to a local composting facility. Or, simply make your compost bin less accessible to pests by surrounding it with wire, rocks, bricks or other obstacles.

It’s true: there are some pests that can actually help your garden. Slugs and pill bugs are definitely pests but they do offer small benefits to compost piles. For example, these pests aerate waste and soil as they move through it, helping your plants to get more oxygen. They also leave behind natural fertilizer. The problems begin when these pests start to multiply and become an infestation, damaging your garden and threatening your home. If you start to see signs of this, call Aptive’s Lakewood branch right away to make an appointment with a certified pest specialist and discuss custom solutions for your home.

Pavement ants are a huge nuisance in the spring when they’ve just woken up from winter hibernation. Earwigs also reemerge in the spring in places where they can find moisture, such as bathrooms and kitchens. Aphids take advantage of spring’s fresh blooms by feeding on flowers and tree leaves.

Wasps and bees increase in activity as late spring turns to summer. These stinging insects often nest in inconvenient places, like patios and roofs. Cockroaches are also especially active in the summer, searching through tall lawns and indoors for crumbs.

Fall is the season when your home is in danger of becoming a hibernation center for pests. Millipedes, carpet beetles and ants are three of the most common culprits in the Denver area. Spiders love to build webs in dark corners of cluttered storage rooms or low traffic areas. And mice can be the worst offenders, finding ways into walls and damaging wiring as they build winter nests.

Though many pests go into some form of hibernation during the cold months, cockroaches remain active year round. Mice, too, still need to eat. You might catch a glimpse of one scurrying back to its hole after scavenging for food during daylight hours.