Unwanted Guests and How to Deal With Them – We’re Talking Bugs & Rodents Mamas

We’ve all heard the horror stories – cockroaches residing in ovens, bedbugs travelling in suitcases and cereal packets alive with ants (ugh my skin is crawling at the thought). I am completely phobic of all things creepy crawly – a one time encounter with a cockroach the size of a small dog (ok maybe an exaggeration but it felt like it at the time) was enough to send me running to the nearest hotel while the entire house was de-bugged.

Whether there are bugs making themselves snug in your rug, there’s a rat in your kitchen and you don’t know what to do or you just want to do anything you can to make sure that you never come face to face with any uninvited pests, it’s best to call in the professionals to deal with or prevent an infestation from ever happening.

The cockroach incident still firmly etched in my memory plus an increasing number of those teeny tiny ants seeking refuge from the heat in my kitchen, I gave Bug Busters a call to give my home the once over and put my mind at ease. An awesome pest control company founded by Kim Ashworth, a very sassy mama of 2, the Bug Busters team get to grips with everything from roaches to rodents using only the very best treatments possible and will go the extra mile to make sure that your home stays free of any uninvited house guests.

Kim and her technician Ralph arrived promptly at my door to assess any problems (thankfully none – I held my breath each time they moved furniture in search of evidence) and reassured me by zapping each room with a special spray that’s much safer for homes with kids and pets and that’s also much more effective than its cheaper off-the-shelf, highly toxic counterparts. An hour and a half later, the house and garden had been totally nuked and we stayed away for the recommended 4 hours to make sure that any chemicals had sufficient time to do their thing without harming us.

I asked the Bug Busters team for their top tips on preventing and dealing with unwanted house guests (and no I don’t mean the in-laws mamas) – and this is what they said:

1. Get your home pest-controlled by a professional company every 6 months (even if you have never seen anything horrible lurking in it). The climate in Dubai is ideal for nasties and while you might be the cleanest family on the planet, some of your neighbours may not be.

2. Keep all food in the fridge or in sealed plastic containers. Roaches, rodents and all those horrible things love cardboard so decant your flour and cereals into jars or put the boxes into plastic bins with lids. And – it goes without saying – sweep up crumbs and wipe kitchen surfaces.

3. Don’t leave pet food out on the floor – this is an open invitation for rats to come and have a feast.

4. Clean hinges in kitchen and bathroom cupboards – creepy crawlies love a dirty hinge!

5. If you have guest bathrooms that aren’t in regular use then make sure to flush toilets and turn the taps in sinks/baths/showers on regularly to get the water moving.

6. If you have date palms or fruit trees then make sure to collect any fallen fruit which are a huge temptation for rodents, ants and all the other nasties!

7. Keep a regular eye on the Bug Busters Facebook Page for tips and offers!

Treatments for a villa start at AED 500 and come with a follow up service and 3 month guarantee
www.bugbusters.ae