Termites are one of the most dreaded of all household insect pests, because by their very nature they are guaranteed to cause real damage to your home. Other wood eating insect pests such as carpenter ants only bore into wood as part of an effort at home making, and therefore won’t destroy it totally, but given time voracious termites can do an incredible amount of structural damage.

The natural reaction of the home owner when his or her investment is threatened is to annihilate the problem, but years of combat against termites and other insect household pests has shown that we do more damage to ourselves with toxic approaches than we do to the pests. Integrated pest management means using a working knowledge of the pests in question not only to eliminate problems but to prevent future infestations from occurring. Let’s take a look at some ways to protect your home from termites.

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Ants are one of the most common of the household pests, and they come in several different varieties. Sugar ants are the smallest of the ants that can be found in the home, and aside from being a nuisance don’t pose too much of a threat. Still, no one wants to have a solid double line of ants moving around the house, exploiting every possible food source throughout your living space.

Integrated pest management offers a feasible approach to pest control through the least toxic methods possible. This means understanding pest biology and behaviour in order to implement sound prevention and control policies, without having to resort to insecticides which may prove to be more damaging to our own health than to the pests we are seeking to control.

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Spiders have a nasty reputation that is in every case undeserved. Even those spiders that are found in North America which pose a threat to humans aren’t nearly as dangerous as they are sometimes thought to be by people. It is true that spiders are pretty creepy looking and have some parts to their biology that make them fearsome, but it is important to remember that the very things that scare some of us when it comes to spiders are the things which make them effective predators.

Why do you want to keep that in mind? Because spiders are predators of insects, including every insect in the home and garden which we consider to be a pest. A healthy spider population will mean that the numbers of pests are kept right down. Still, no one wants to have a house or even a yard that is literally crawling with spiders, so let’s take a look at ways in which you can keep spider numbers down.

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When we are discussing the control of insect pests, there is one very important concept that must always be kept in mind: we will never be truly “free” of insect pests; they will always be present in some sort of numbers within our houses. Decades of war against insect pests have proven this beyond a shadow of doubt; some of the most toxic substances known to man have been used in the battle, and yet theses insect pests persist, many of them stronger than before. In waging this kind of pest warfare, humans have only damaged ourselves and our environment.

Integrated pest management means identifying the best ways of dealing with pests and then using the least toxic methods available to control their numbers. The best way to manage pest populations, of course, is to control their numbers through preventative measures.

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From turning into an Infestation

One mistake that a lot of people make when it comes to pest management is focusing on eliminating an animal population entirely. The problem with this approach is that it is just not possible; the nature of pests, both insect and mammal, is that they are adaptable, breed quickly, and often acquire an immunity to the measures that we use to try to control them (toxic measures).

Least toxic pest management means using the natural functions of certain pests against them in order to control their numbers. In this way, the population of any given pest can stay down to controllable numbers.

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The good thing about raccoons is that as pests go, they are on the more tolerable side because of their appearance, their intelligence, and because they do not breed as quickly as other types of pests. The bad thing is that sometimes, raccoons can be one of the worst pests there are, again largely due to their intelligence.

Integrated pest management calls for the least toxic approach to handling pests like raccoons, due to the harmful nature of the chemicals and poisons that have traditionally been used to keep pest animals under control. This is maybe more true of mammal pests such as raccoons than insects, because the poisons used against mammals can be just as deadly to humans.

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For such small creatures, rabbits can do a surprising amount of damage to a garden or a landscaping scheme in a very short amount of time. There are many ways in which you can use a least toxic approach to take care of a rabbit problem once it has started, but by far the best way is to take steps to make sure you don’t have a rabbit infestation in the first place.

Integrated pest management means not only dealing with pest problems, but also making sure that pest numbers do not grow so that the animal becomes a problem. The steps you take to ensure that your yard is rabbit proof will save a lot of time and money; let’s take a look at a few of them.

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As pests go, opossums aren’t particularly bad. They tend to stay out of people’s way, they don’t carry diseases, and they are non-threatening. Still, if you are a fastidious home owner, opossums may cause you a certain amount of grief, as they love to get into garbage and other easy sources of food.

Integrated pest management calls for pest control using an understanding of pest behaviours and using that to knowledge to limit the numbers of a specific pest. This is also known as the least toxic approach, because it rejects the chemical warfare approach that humans have waged against pests for so long with so little effect.

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Every year, notices go home to parents in schools all over the country informing them that some students have had lice found on them. A panic usually ensues, with people telling their kids not to hang around dirty children at school, buying litres of chemical louse killer, and so on.

Head lice are incredibly notorious for their ability to spread, so prevention is by far the best method of controlling the numbers of these little pests. Unfortunately there is no real way to totally ensure that your child does not get head lice, but there are some routine measures which can be taken to catch a louse problem before it gets too large.

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Like many household insect pests, house flies are one creature that we will never be rid of altogether. Flies are adept at exploiting any slightly favourable living condition, and their breeding capabilities ensure that their numbers stay strong. Moreover, flies are naturally attracted to the by products of human life, our refuse.

This doesn’t mean that you have to put up with swarms of flies every year, but it does mean that you will have to get used to seeing the odd one around. Integrated pest management encourages the control of pest numbers, including those of the house fly, through limiting using the least toxic approaches (sprays and other poisons used on house flies are very ineffective) and through preventing pests from breeding continuously through good prevention practices. Here are some ways to ensure that house fly numbers do not get out of control in your home.

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