Cruelty Free Pest Control

by Christy

Question:
We have ants in our office. My husband and I are the owners, so we will decide what to do about this. We've stopped eating in the office and removed all the food we were keeping here. The ants even ate holes in packages of granola bars and stuff like that! They aren't swarming really, but they are still prowling around. I'm getting bit too! I do not believe in spraying insecticide everywhere and killing every last living thing in the place. What do other vegans do about bugs?

Answer:
Great question! This is a big deal with many vegans around this time of year because while most of us adore animals and want to do no harm, we also don't really want to live with bugs inside our homes.

If you simply can't co-habitate any longer, here actually are a few great, easy options for cruelty free pest control. In some cases they will help deter insects and some other options help to humanely remove "pests" from inside your home/business. I know your main concern is ants right now, but I'll include a few other cruelty free pest control options.

1. Depending on your tolerance for the smell, garlic is a great way to control ants from coming into your building. You can rub a clove of garlic along the perimeter of either the cabinets, the door stop, the windows, or any other point of entry. Hot peppers also do the same trick. Just make sure not to touch your eyes afterwards!

2. Plant spearmint, peppermint and/or pennyroyal plants right outside your building in order to deter ants from coming inside. You could also try the essential oils of these herbs inside along the areas of entry to deter the insects. (Flies are also turned off by mint and basil).

3. For other flying insects like mosquitos, citronella oil is an amazing deterrent. You can use candles from the store, or you can make your own bug repellant from equal parts citronella, lavender, and clove oil. Those are often sold very cheaply on the internet and you can make a huge batch that will last quite a long time.

4. Moths are also deterred by garlic. You can hang some by your doors to discourage entering the building.

5. If you are bothered by furry creatures inside your house and cannot begin to think about killing one of them, consider a humane mousetrap. These are endorsed by humane societies and animal rights organizations and basically work like a tiny house that a mouse would be able to enter but not leave. Then you can take the critter outside and free him away from the house. Of course, I highly recommend checking it often so you don't freak the mouse out or leave him in there without food for too long.

6. If you have cockroaches, bay leaves work really well to keep them away. You can put them in all your cabinets and near any food source and they will stay away.

Hope that helps with your cruelty free pest control!

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