Rodents

• 1). Find the area of heavy rodent activity. Start looking in your kitchen, as most rodents are searching for a food source. Look for droppings in and around your pantry, particularly around any bags of pet food. Rodents will chew through the bags and feast on the pet food inside.
  
  
• 2). Bait several rodent traps with peanut butter. Set the traps once they are sitting flat on the ground. Do not set the trap before placing it on the ground, as it could go off in your hand prematurely.
  
  
• 3). Check on you traps regularly. Put on a pair of gloves before handling any traps with dead rodents inside. Rodents can carry mites, fleas, and other parasites, so you should not handle them directly. You can also sweep the rodent into a dust pan instead of picking it up. Place the dead rodent and trap into a plastic garbage bag. Tie the bag shut, and throw it away in an outside trashcan.
  
  

Cockroaches

• 1). Find areas of heavy roach activity. Look around dishwashers, under refrigerators, around sinks, and around any loose flooring. Observe these areas for tiny droppings, or for the roaches themselves. Roaches often target kitchens first, because there are usually food crumbs on which they will feed.
  
  
• 2). Set several roach traps in the areas. Apply boric acid powder to the cracks and crevices on the floor where you notice roach activity. Both the traps and boric acid will kill the roaches.
  
  
• 3). Sweep up any dead cockroaches right away. The dead roaches can still transmit disease or contaminate an area. Dead roaches can also emit an extremely unpleasant odor, so you need to remove them immediately. Sweep the roaches into a dust pan, then dump them into a trash bag and throw it away outside.
  
  

Fruit Flies

• 1). Remove any rotten fruit from your kitchen. Fermenting fruit is a major breeding site for fruit flies.
  
  
• 2). Scrub the inside of your kitchen drain with a stiff wire brush. Fruit flies will often breed and emerge from drains, if there are no other suitable breeding sites. Remove the slimy layer on the inside of of the drain, as this provides food for adults and larvae.
  
  
• 3). Trap the fruit flies. Fill a jar with one to two inches of cider vinegar. Roll a piece of notebook paper into a funnel shape. Place the funnel into the opening of the jar so the tip is an inch or two above the surface of the vinegar. Fruit flies will try to get to the vinegar, and will drown inside the trap. Empty the trap and fill with fresh vinegar daily.