Pests, Small Children and Pets: Prevention at Floor Level

If you share your home with a crawling baby or a dog that sleeps on the rug, your view of pests shifts. You are likely to be more cautious about sprays, and quite right to be. This article therefore concentrates on what you can change without a product: how the home is arranged, cleaned and watched. It makes no claim that any particular product is safe, because that depends on the product, how it is used and who is exposed.

Get down on your hands and knees

Look at the room from the height of a toddler or a cat. What you see there is often different from what you see standing up: crumbs along the skirting board, hair collecting in the corners, forgotten toys under the sofa, and the grubby edge of a pet bed. These are the places where small insects find food and shelter.

Feeding time

Food bowls attract ants, cockroaches and flies faster than almost anything else in a house. A few habits make a difference:

• Serve meals at set times and lift the bowl after about half an hour.
• Wipe around the bowl so no crumbs remain.
• Keep dry food in a tin or a jar with a tight lid, and not in the opened bag.
• Change the water daily, which also prevents stagnant water becoming a mosquito nursery.

The US Environmental Protection Agency makes the same point in its guide to smart pest control: pests need food, water and shelter, so keep food and scraps tightly sealed, remove rubbish regularly and do not leave pet food and water out overnight.

Fleas: the usual guest in pet households

Fleas often start on the animal, but eggs and larvae develop in carpets, bedding and floor cracks. The University of California’s flea guide recommends treating the pet with a product chosen by the vet, laundering pet bedding in hot, soapy water at least once a week, and vacuuming carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture and crevices often, especially where the pet rests. We compare fleas with ticks and lice in a separate article, and our flea page describes the service we offer when cleaning has not been enough.

The garden and play area

For families with a garden, the lawn is the busiest room in the house. A few rules reduce encounters with the wrong animals:

• Mow regularly, since long grass shelters ticks and other creatures.
• Keep the play area away from dense shrubs and heaps of cuttings.
• Do not let water stand in paddling pools, toys, buckets or the sandpit.
• Cover the sandpit at night to keep out animal droppings and insects.
• Clear piles of stones and wood near play areas, which can shelter centipedes. Our guide to centipedes and millipedes explains what you might find.
• Teach children to stay away from nests of bees and wasps.

What children can learn

Fear helps nobody, but a few rules do:

1. Do not touch an animal you do not know.
2. Show a grown-up what you found.
3. Wash hands before eating and after playing outside.
4. Leave muddy shoes by the door.

“Look from a distance and tell us” is a better instruction than “bugs are bad”, because it lowers both fear and risk.

The bedroom

If a child or pet shares your bed, wash sheets and covers often. Check the seams of cots, baby beds and pet beds from time to time. Dark specks, tiny spots of blood or shed skins near the bed deserve a photograph and a date. Do not guess; a photograph is the best way to get a reliable identification.

Bathrooms and damp corners

Baby baths, pet washing areas and wet towels keep humidity high, which draws drain flies, silverfish and mould. After bathing, wipe up the pooled water, leave the window or extractor on for a while, and dry toys. A hair trap in the plughole stops pet fur from blocking the drain.

What pests leave behind

An insect does not have to be visible to cause trouble. Droppings, cast skins and dead fragments gather at floor level, exactly where babies crawl and pets lie. Washable rugs and play mats are easier to keep free of this residue than a fitted carpet that is only vacuumed. Wipe the floor in crawling areas with a damp cloth, wash soft toys that have lain in a dusty corner, and wipe the lid of the toy box from time to time.

Things that arrive from outside

Shoes, sports bags and picnic blankets can carry ticks, seeds and insects indoors. After a walk in woodland or scrub, check children and pets, and put clothes straight into the wash. On furry animals, parting the coat with a comb and fingers reveals ticks sooner. Look at our bed bug article for what to do with luggage after holidays, and open bags in the hallway rather than the bedroom.

Before using any product

Pause and put these questions to the label, the vet or the professional:

1. Which pest is it designed for, and what exactly does the label say?
2. Are there instructions for homes with children and pets?
3. How long must people and animals keep away afterwards?
4. Will it touch food, toys or surfaces that mouths reach?
5. Where will it be stored, and can children reach it?

If you cannot answer, do not use it yet. Mixing products or increasing the amount makes things worse, not better.

Different animals, different risks

A cat that roams brings ticks and fleas. A dog in the garden may meet bees, wasps or snakes. Birds’ seed and droppings attract ants and moths, and aquariums and terrariums are sensitive to anything that drifts through the air. Always tell your vet what species you keep and what has been seen.

A small box for evidence

Keep a box in a cupboard: torch, jar, sheet of paper, gloves, sticky trap, labels and a notebook. When you or a child spot something suspicious, you can catch it, photograph it and write down the date straight away. That makes later conversations with a doctor, vet or pest specialist much shorter.

Seasonal reminders

Whatever the season, it is your observations, a doctor’s or vet’s advice and a calm routine that protect your family best, in that order.