No Food or Drink Allowed Take away food and water. General cleanliness is the key to starving pests out of your house. Store flour, cereal, and similar foods in plastic, glass, or metal containers with tight-fitting lids to prevent cockroaches, flour moths and beetles, ants, and similar pests from infesting the foods. Don't keep flour and dried foods for long periods of time, even when properly stored - purchase only as much as you will use within a month or so. By constantly rotating stored foods, you eliminate or prevent pest problems caused when boxes or bags of food are infested when you bring them home from the store.
Water is just as important to certain pests as food.
If these pests can't find water, they may die. Common sources of water include liquid left in empty soda and beer cans, leaking plumbing or dripping faucets, and pet water bowls. Pests will also drink from spills on kitchen counters and water in dish drainers, as well as from soggy sponges left near the sink. No Vacancy Take away shelter. Even if pests do get into your house, they may seek more hospitable accommodations if there's no place for them to nest or hide.