By William Coleman
There really is nothing worse than sitting back with your feet up and then out of the corner of your eye you spot a trail of ants marching across your caravan toward something that has been dropped in the kitchen. Or even worse than that a couple of those horrid little mosquitos buzzing around just waiting for their dinner. Here are some handy little tips to keep the bugs at bay.
A caravan does come with a few built in bug defences as standard such as the bug screen, but we all know that only does so much. During the hotter times of the year you’re in and out the van a lot and who has the time or patience to keep pulling that screen back and forth?
To help your summer days and nights pest free here are some of our top tips to keep bug free on site all season.
Keep Ontop Of The Cleanliness
It is an obvious one but it is also the most common cause of attracting little critters into the van. As with camping you really do need to keep the food waste to a minimum and make sure all the crumbs are swept away.
Always keep an eye out on the sweeter food items, I do have a guilty sweet tooth and tend to like a snack on the sofa which inevitably leads to me dropping food. So be sure to check you’ve not dropped some pastries flakes or chocolate.
Feed Their Sweet Tooth
The most common bug I battle is the little pesky ant, which is usually due to me not being the most vigilant when it comes to cleaning at I go when making food, see previous advice.
But despite how clean I try to be there are still times when they just will not leave me alone so I use the advice passed down to me from the grandparents, the cheap jar of strawberry jam.
Like a moth to a flame! All ants want to do is eat and carry on with their day so leaving them some food it also a god deed. All they want to do is have a nibble and move on about their business.
A little tip is to put it under the van and leave a little trail so can find it easier and not get accidently trod on by people. Or worse yet tread it into the van on the bottom of your feet.
The Ones That Bite
The mosquito has to be one of the most disliked creatures of all the animal kingdom, probably as much as wasps actually. So I go out of my way to avoid these vampire insects.
Not only are the bites extremely uncomfortable and itchy but they can also get very infected, something you really do not want. Or in some cases they can pass on other diseases which can lead down a very bad path.
These little ones seem to be bug screen proof and they always seem to appear when you’re about to get your head down for the evening.
The best way to keep these monsters away is using mint, yes mint. It’s not only for mojitos. If you have any peppermint mouthwash you can splash some around the van as a repellent.
If throwing mouthwash on the ground is not something you feel would go down well on site you can invest in a mint candle. Once it is burning you will get a great smell and zero bites. Both the smell and the smoke really does a great job without bothering any neighbouring pitches.
