8 Kid Safe Pest Control Solutions
These eight kid safe pest control solutions will tackle almost every pest you’ll encounter. All of them are totally safe around kids!
Roaches – yuk! In my pre-baby days, I had an occasional roach. I would run and grab the killer spray and spray it till it died. I got rid of ants the same way. I had never had an infestation, possibly because of my tendency to over-spray the moment I saw a pest
Until a couple of months ago, when the roaches moved in. These roaches were much smaller than the three inch monsters I had while living in Israel. The occasional roach did gross me out, but did not cause much worry, and I simply smashed them as they came. Then I started to see those babies…
Baby roaches are the first sign of an infestation. The big roaches might be scary, but baby roaches mean that the big ones are breeding and making many more…
I did not want to call an exterminator, as I refused to expose my child to harmful fumes. The problem kept getting worse. There came a point where I would wake up at night and see thirty roaches crawling over my kitchen counters.
I had obviously had enough. So, I started researching natural solutions, asking other bloggers for their ideas and recipes.
Before I had a chance to implement it, my landlord called an exterminator to take care of their roach problem (apparently we were sharing our guests…). The exterminator used a gel, which did not make me happy, but I allowed as there were no fumes. Regardless, next time I plan to use one of these natural fixes, as I hate the idea of a toxic gel on my counter tops…
Kid Safe Pest Control Solutions:
The obvious: start with prevention. Keeping a clean, crumb-free, and dry house can help prevent many pest problems. That being said, sometimes things are out of your control. It can come from a neighboring apartment too. There are also pests (the kind of roach that we had is a great example) that are brought in from other infested places, such as a grocery store. These solutions will help you tackle the pests once they’ve arrived…
1. Remove any hide-outs or infested appliances. Some kitchen appliances have a tendency to be infested. In our case it was our Keurig. When we got rid of it, we saw much fewer roaches. You can also use a caulk gun to seal cracks in roach-likely places, such as between kitchen cabinets. Watch where the roaches are running to to see where their hot spots are.
2. This Carpet deodorizer recipe from ALLterNATIVE Learning makes a great bug deterrent. Use it regularly for mild pest control.-
3. Food Grade Diatomaceous earth – this food grade dirt is extremely dangerous for bugs. When it goes on them, it kills them. It works great for fleas, ants, and bed bugs, but go ahead and try it on any bug! Thanks Nemcsok Farms for sharing this information! (P.S. don’t use this if you have a pet parrot.)
4. Mama Smiles tells me she uses Orange Guard for ants. Officially it works for roaches and other pests too.
5-6. The Thrifty Couple makes these homemade repellents for spiders and mosquitoes.
7. Adventures in Wunderland recommends EcoSMART, another kid-safe, non-toxic, commercial pest control product.
8. Try an ultrasonic pest repellent (not safe around smaller pets – see the link for a list) – it makes the pests uncomfortable and drives them away.
Remember that many repellents take a few weeks to show results, as there can be eggs still hatching.
You can read more tips for dealing with pests safely and information geared toward specific pests here.
I’m sure that there are more ways to do it, but this is what I’ve come up with after a little bit of research and asking around. I’ve heard people say that Borax works, but that’s not really very kid friendly. You can use that if you’re desperate – just keep it out of reach of little ones and pets.
Do you have any kid safe pest control ideas or recipes? Share them in the comments below!
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Great ideas! I just found some ants in our house, so I’m glad to have read this. Thanks! Sharing.
Thank you for all the great ideas! I need to find a safe way to get rid of centipedes. They are so creepy and I keep finding them all over the house. 🙁
We always have an ant problem in the spring. Hoping to try the natural solution this spring
I’ve used grits outdoors on ant piles. Apparently they aren’t able to digest it so they die out. You don’t need much to kill them. I use maybe a tablespoon worth. I would be extremely cautious if you have a problem with roaches or vermin though.
Thanks for the tip!
This is amazing thank for writing the blog and letting other moms like me know the safe stuff that is out there.
Great picks, glad I seen this post, I have been living a more healthy lifestyle, and am currently looking for safer products in general.
Thank you. I have too cats and I use vinegar for ants and hairspray for spiders,lol.
I’ve used peppermint essential oils to get rid of ants.
I sprinkle and spray with things that wont harm My Grand Kids…
the best non toxic one that we have found is our cat,,he will sit for hours to catch and kill a mouse,,he doesnt eat them just lays them where we can find them easily
We have never had a infestation thank gd. I would freak out! Thank for the good tips.
Thanks for all of the tips!
Great tips! I don’t have any but I need to look into it a little more since we haven’t had our house sprayed in years. Although we haven’t had any problems, I am sure bugs will find their way in soon.
Great tips Menucha! This really helps for us moms. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I used to work for a pest control company. Found your entry looking for greener options to treat my whole yard in hopes to kill some of all these biting flies. I have to corect you though, those were not BABY roaches, they were Asian or German roaches. The large roaches/beetles don’t infest, they just come in from outside. Also that gel is pretty safe, it dehydrates the pests it doesn’t poison them.
Hi Sarah, they were German roaches, however, I mean that we had babies of that variety too. They were breeding in our old apartment like crazy!! And unfortunately, having that gel all over our kitchen area was a nightmare – especially while prepping food for our toddler.