As the bustle of the holiday season begins, are you dreaming of curling up next to the fire with a cup of cocoa while you admire your holiday decorations? Unfortunately, a warm, cozy home full of holiday cheer — and cookies — is particularly appealing to many pests. As the colder weather of winter sets in, you may discover you have some surprise holiday guests!

Are you wondering what pests are active around the holidays in New York and Connecticut? In particular, roaches, spiders and rodents may have moved in hoping to find an easy meal and a warm place to hang out. Here are some suggestions for keeping those pests away.

Keep Your Kitchen Clean

Over the holidays, you may find yourself cooking and baking more as well as welcoming family and friends. Keeping your kitchen clean is a helpful deterrent for insects, such as roaches, and mice. Make sure to clean up food spills and crumbs on countertops and floors. Storing food in airtight glass or plastic containers is also useful in preventing pantry raids by annoying pests.

Inspect Your Christmas Tree

Bugs can easily make their way into your home on a live Christmas tree. So before you traipse into your house with that evergreen, take a moment to shake out the tree and look for any insects. Spiders, beetles and roaches may be making your new Christmas tree home. Don’t make it easy for them to take up residence inside your house.

Keep Your Holiday Decorations Stored Well

Storing your decorations in airtight plastic bins can prevent unwanted surprises — like nesting mice. Mice have an amazing way of burrowing in the most unexpected places, and an open box of ornaments in your attic may be the perfect place to call home. And the last thing you want is to open that box of ornaments in your living room only to have rodents running everywhere.

Move Your Woodpile

When it’s cold and snowing, you probably want to grab wood for the fireplace as quickly and easily as possible. But storing the woodpile next to the house can have some very unwanted consequences. Rodents, roaches and spiders often live in woodpiles, making it easy for them to move in when the mercury drops. And don’t forget to inspect those logs before bringing them into your house. Bugs can hitch a ride on the wood.

The holidays are a special time of year. Keep your home pest free. At ABC Exterminating, we offer residential and commercial pest control services in Fairfield County, CT and Westchester County, NY. Contact ABC Exterminating today and arrange for your free estimate!