Barbecuing is one of the best things about summer, but it can quickly become a nightmare when pests decide to invade your BBQ. Insects, rodents, and other pests can make themselves at home in your grill, ruining your outdoor cooking experience and putting your health at risk. If you’re dealing with a pest problem in your BBQ, here are some effective ways to prevent pests and rodents from making a home in your grill.
Keep Your Barbecue Covered
Covering your BBQ when it’s not in use is important to protect it from the elements, but it can also make it more inviting to pests. However, you can combat this by purchasing a cover with tie-up straps at the bottom. This allows you to seal your cover tight around the barbecue more and prevent larger pests from entering in through the bottom.
Clean Your BBQ
Keeping your BBQ clean is essential to prevent pests from being attracted to it. Food scraps and built-up grease on the plate and fat containers are major attractions for pests. You don’t have to do a thorough deep clean every time, but at least remove food scraps and built-up grease from the plate and fat container. All you’ve got to do is a light scrape over your plate, disposing of the scraps in a bin. Heatlie’s cleaning kit is a great option for a thorough cleaning.
Put a Lid on It
A lid is the best way to protect the plate from the elements and pests. The plate is the last place you want an infestation to occur, due to your food being cooked on there and all. Make sure you use the lid every time you grill and keep it closed when you’re not using your BBQ.
Block Up Your Burners
Burners are a great hiding place for smaller pests like spiders, wasps, and ants. They’re small, dark, and hidden away. To avoid this happening in the first place, you can simply put a physical barrier over the openings at either end of your burner. Just don’t forget to remove it when you go to use the BBQ.
Mouse Nests in Your BBQ
Mice are small, agile, and hard to track. Worst of all, they carry disease. Their droppings are poisonous to humans, so the sight of droppings is almost an excuse to completely right off your BBQ and get a new one. If you do find this in your BBQ, be sure to use protection when removing it. Wear gloves and a facemask, and clean your plate thoroughly with disinfectant soap and searing hot water.
Preventing pests in your BBQ is essential to maintain a clean and healthy outdoor cooking experience. Using the deterrents mentioned above, you can make your BBQ as uninhabitable as possible. Keep traps nearby if needed and use physical barriers to plug up holes and entry points. With these simple steps, you’ll achieve a clean and pest-free barbecue in no time.