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Seeing a rat or two isn’t uncommon, especially in mild climates. That doesn’t mean they are actively a danger to your home. The problem is when you start seeing rats regularly in your yard, there’s a good chance they are also looking for ways to get into your house or other buildings. All they need is a small hole or gap, and they have a new place to nest -- which is bad news for you. Stay cautious if you start seeing rats in your yard all the time. 

To kill fruit flies outdoors, you'll want to make a homemade insecticide or find a plant-safe, nontoxic product. Fill a garden sprayer with your chosen solution and apply it on your plants and around the base of your home's exterior. Take care to limit your exposure to insecticides, as they can irritate skin and eyes. Always rinse garden fruits and vegetables before eating them.

When it comes to keeping birds from doing their business on your porch rails, you have several DIY options and home remedies you can try: 

• Tie a fishing line from one end of the deck post to the other. Birds won’t be able to see the line across the railing, so they can’t land on it.  

• Hang wind chimes close by, which may scare birds away. 

• Apply a bird gel repellent to the railings, which contains smells that birds generally don’t like. Or, similarly, you can apply citronella or lemon oil around the railings, since birds don’t like strong smells.

No, water bugs are not big roaches. Water bugs and cockroaches are different insects entirely, belonging to different orders. They are often confused for one another because they are similar in appearance, but water bugs and cockroaches have close-up differences in how they look, plus they behave and feed in very different ways.