How to Keep Pests Out Of Your Garden Shed

Warmer weather is on its way, and as spring beckons the plants and flowers to bloom on Long Island, it also beckons all of those pesky bugs, rodents, and other pests to come out and wreak havoc on your home and garden. To help homeowners prepare for spring, the experts at A&C Pest Management, your Long Island pest control company, have compiled a list of common pests and some of the best ways to keep your garden shed pest-free this season.

How to Keep Mice Out of Your Shed 

Whether mice and rats are looking for a place to sleep or wanting personal shelter, look for these tips to keep your shed rodent-free: 

• Store trash, birdseed, or pet food in rodent-proof containers.
• Store firewood away from your shed, and keep vegetation and low-hanging tree branches away. Rodents like to hide in shrubbery. 
• Inspect your shed for any open cracks and crevices, keeping in mind mice can get through openings as small as a quarter of an inch. Fill them with wire mesh and sheet metal or concrete to prevent rodents from entering.
• Consider insulating, especially if the shed is wood. Fiberglass is good, but be sure it’s covered with craft paper, plywood or drywall because mice, rats, squirrels, and other rodents make nests out of loose fiberglass.

Our rodent control services in Long Island are designed to remove rodents and prevent them from returning with comprehensive exclusion work. Contact our professional exterminators to learn more. 

Using Mothballs to Keep Mice out of Your Shed

Mothballs are a great deterrent for mice, however, they leave a lingering odor. They are also just a deterrent, they do not ensure that mice and rats don't make their way into your shed. For complete removal, you'll need to contact a rodent control company to come in and perform extermination efforts and identify how rodents are getting in. At A&C we also offer preventative exclusion methods with our rodent control service so we can help you avoid any future infestations. 

How to Keep Mosquitoes Out Of Your Shed

If you are wondering where mosquitoes are coming from once the sun sets, you could be harvesting a mosquito haven without having any idea. Tips to keep mosquitoes out of your shed can include securing all entry points and adding mosquito traps, but the best way to keep these pests away would be eliminating any possible breeding spots. These would include: 

• Standing water
• Flower pots
• Trash cans
• Tires
• Drip trays

How to Keep Fleas and Ticks Out Of Your Shed

Fleas and ticks are often one of the most annoying nuisance insects because of their capability to carry dangerous diseases and their attraction to your pets. A lot of times, it’s hard to find the actual culprit into where these pests are coming from. If you notice a high amount of flea and tick activity in your yard, they could be coming from your shed. Tips to follow to make sure they don’t infest your entire lawn include: 

• Mow your lawn regularly. 
• Weedeat around your shed to eliminate vegetation for hiding spots. 
• Reduce the amount of clutter in and around your shed. 
• Limit other wildlife in your shed where fleas and ticks could be hosted to.
• Open up your shed to sunlight by adding windows as fleas and ticks tend to stay in shaded areas. 

Make Sure Stinging Insects Don't Make Hives on Your Shed

Don't let these stinging insects create a home in your shed. Once they make their home, they can be hard to remove. Yellow jackets can expand their nest into a wall, meaning you have to destroy the wall to completely remove the nest. Honey Bees, while they are less harmful than yellow jackets, can cause destruction even after they've been removed. If their nest isn't professionally removed, the honey can begin to melt and cause staining and a foul odor. Carpenter bees damage the wood that they nest in and often cause a need for repair. Here are some steps you can take to prevent stinging insects from causing damage to your shed: 

• Bees usually nest underground, so seal any holes, cracks, or crevices in the ground near and around the shed.
• They’ll also nest in soffits, vents, and any openings in the shed, so plug any holes.
• Prune and cut away nearby dead limbs, shrubs, and brush. Bees like to nest in dead and old wood, so keep firewood away.

How to Avoid Snakes in Your Shed

Again, don’t keep firewood near the shed since snakes hide there. The same goes for rock piles and other debris. Installing chicken wire under the shed that extends at least a foot from the base also prevents skunks and other critters from burrowing underneath. If you can prevent mice, rats, and other rodents from entering your shed, you're already a step towards preventing snakes from entering. 

Look For Professional Pest Control

Getting rid of pests from your shed can sound like an easy task at first, but the hard part is keeping them away for good. If you have tried a plethora of these tips and are still struggling to see results, look to our expert technicians at A&C Pest Management for pest control services. We service the Long Island area and surrounding areas including Nassau and Suffolk counties.