With the heat starting to lose its sizzle and the days starting to feel a little bit cooler, autumn is the prime time for all of those household nasties and garden pests to take over. So let’s take a look at what you need to keep an eye out for to avoid any surprises in your home. It can be a bit of a shock to find a spider, cockroach or do we dare say – a rat!

If you do stumble across an uninvited guest, don’t forget you can always post a task for a spider removal (you’re not alone here, see below) or even complete household pest control inspection.

Spider Removal

Need to remove a spider (possibly) huntsmen from my bathroom. It might be dead, but too scared to look. Will still pay if nothing is there for the inconvenience. Not sure how much to charge, but can negotiate.

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List of Home and garden pests in autumn

1. Mice and rats

Let’s get the worst one over and done with. Rodents are the biggest pests of all because not many of us would put up our hand to catch one ourselves, not to mention how hard they actually are to catch. But let’s take a look at why they come into your home in the first place.

Just like us, rodents love the warmth and dryness of our homes and they’ll look for safe areas where they can set up their own little homes, such as your ceiling and floors. As they tend to come out for food at night it can take some time for you to realise that they are even there.

It’s definitely worth calling in the professionals for this one but also make sure that you check around your home for any gaps that need to be plugged.

2. Cockroaches

These seem to be more of a year-round pest and you’ll usually find them in your kitchen, unfortunately. The reason that they become more of a problem in autumn and winter is that as the weather cools it’s prime breeding time and also as we move inside to eat/ live, they go also go inside to where their food supply is.

Minimising their access to food is really important, so make sure that you’re not leaving food out, clean up your crumbs, use airtight containers, ensure your bin is tightly sealed and that you’re not keeping food near the floor.

You can use sprays and insecticides but that will only get the ones that you can see. A trained pest controller will be able to look for where the eggs are hatching and try to nip the problem in the bud.

3. White ants

White ants (termites) are extremely destructive and are still active during the cooler months. They absolutely love timber and will chew on your fences, interior walls, floors etc and have a costly and devastating impact.

Getting an inspection yearly can mean that even if they are present hopefully the damage is kept to a minimum.

You can also source materials that are termite resistant (e.g. stainless steel) for fencing, sheds etc. But if you still want wood, look for varieties such as redwood, juniper and cedar as they aren’t as attractive to white ants.

4. Slugs & snails

We spend a lot of time in our gardens both in terms of upkeep and also enjoying the great outdoors. So when you spend countless hours at the nursery, preparing flower beds, planting and waiting for your garden to take shape, it can be crushing when snails and slugs attack your beautiful garden.

Autumn and winter is when they are at they’re in full-flight and so it’s important to protect your plants with water-resistant and pet safe bait and spray.

Tip: You can buy snail traps and fill them with beer.