Having both passive and active pest repellents is necessary to keep your home running smoothly. Below are some of my favorite ways to keep pests away from your property.

1. Motion Sensor Light (To Spot Wildlife)

While motion sensor lights can deter pests by themselves, their effectiveness can vary depending on the animal. In some cases, you’ll need to pair the motion sensor light with something else to make a negative experience for an animal (a motion sensor water sprinkler for instance).

One thing motion sensors are FANTASTIC at is spotting animals at night. This is crucial for determining just what problems you might be facing at your home.

For instance, you may hear animals out in your yard closeby, but may not be entirely sure of what’s out there. You might have coyotes in your backyard, raccoons filtering through your trash, or other surprising wildlife nighttime activity. Plus, it can help spot anything else that happens outside of your house at night.

You’ll want one that’s battery operated (so you can move it around) and that has a strobe light (to daze predators). Click here to view current prices for one of the better motion sensor lights on the market.

If you’re using the motion sensor light solely as a pest and wildlife repellent, see my motion sensor water sprinkler recommendation below.

2. A Quality Caulk (To Seal Cracks)

So, caulk is this paste-like goo that you place over cracks. You use caulk to fill cracks between windows and spaces between both walls and doors.

Really, anywhere there’s a crack that bugs or wildlife can enter, you can fill it with caulk. We’ve used it in our basement when we noticed there were cracks between the floor and wall so bugs or even mice couldn’t get in

Animals like bats have the ability to squeeze into INCREDIBLY small spaces, so caulk can help deter them as well.

You can check out this fantastic Gorilla Glue caulk here.

3. Anti Predator Light (To Keep Large Animals Away)

One product that I absolutely love the concept of are anti-predator lights. These lights are designed to keep larger nighttime predators such as coyotes, bears, wolfs, etc. away from your house at night.

The way these lights work is fascinating. Basically, you set them up outside at the eye level of whatever animal you’re trying to repel and then you turn them on. The lights on the device mimick the eyes of another predator and in turn, scare away any other predators from wanting to come any closer to the device.

It’s a pretty great concept and one that should be able to help you in various situations. These lights can be extremely useful if you have coyote issues or problems with animals rummaging through your garbage at night.

One of the more well-known products on the market is the Predator Guard. A lot of the online reviews back up its effectiveness. You can view current prices for the Predator Guard by clicking here.

4. Motion Activated Water Sprinkler (To keep pests away)

These things are fantastic at helping to deter pests from your property. Simply put, you place down a motion sensor water sprinkler at an area in your lawn where animals are visiting.

Some likely places to put the sprinkler are under your deck or in your garden (it’ll water your plants too).

Whenever an animal comes up to the area your trying to protect, they’ll get BLASTED with a thick spray of water.

Personally, I believe that pairing this with a motion sensor light will do wonders at deterring animals. The motion sensor sprinkler will help deter animals in the day and by pairing it with a motion sensor light at night, this sprinkler will reinforce the effectiveness of the light – causing animals to stay away from your home.

The motion-activated sprinkler system that I recommend is the Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer.

This sprinkler system can reach up to 70 feet and is battery operated, making it extremely mobile. If you’re on a well, this sprinkler is prioritized for water conservation and has a quality motion tracking system.

If you’re interested in checking out the Yard Enforcer, click here to view current prices.

5. A Reliable Trail Camera (To Keep Track of What’s On Your Property)

Trail cameras are a thing of beauty and if used correctly, can be extremely beneficial for spotting animals. No, you don’t have to be a hunter to use them. Trail cameras are useful for keeping track of what’s happening on your property.

Essentially, trail cameras are just motion sensor cameras / recorders.

You can either place one outside in the woods or somewhere outside on your house, and you’ll be able to see if there are any animals coming up to your property at night. This is extremely useful in making sure your house is being kept safe.

Funny story, I actually used a trail camera to catch an individual who was breaking into our college dorm rooms. The trail camera worked like a charm and helped to get everyone their stolen property back.

I highly recommend checking out the Campark Trail Camera – as it has a night mode which allows you to be able to record in the dark.

You can view the current prices for the Campark Trail Camera here.

6. Reflective Bird Tape

For a long time, we’ve had a huge problem with geese landing on our pond and making a mess of things. Maybe you don’t have a pond – but you might have a garden. There are many types of birds that would absolutely love to land in your garden and eat the great stuff you have grown.

For keeping both geese and birds away from whatever area you’re trying to protect, using some reflective bird tape is a great way to get started. You’ll want tape that is long enough and can hold up on windy days without flying away from where you tied it.

If you’re looking for a quality bird tape, Aspectek makes a great one that should keep most birds away. You can view the current prices for that here.

7. Chimney Cover (To Keep Wildlife Out of Your Chimney)

Here’s why I think EVERYONE with a fireplace needs a chimney cover. Chimnies are essentially just a wide-open hole that something can drop down into your house from.

Chimney covers still allow for smoke to get out of the fireplace, so they’re fantastic to use year-round.

A common animal to drop down into your chimney is a bat. It doesn’t just stop there, however. Rats, squirrels and other birds can crawl on your roof rather easily and get into your chimney if they desire.

One of the best chimney caps you’ll be able to find is the HYC BigTop Multi-Flue Chimney Cover. This cover comes in a HUGE variety of sizes so you won’t have to worry about it not fitting your chimney (unless you measure wrong).

All you have to do is measure your chimney opening, which you may already have those, and then match the length up with their sizing chart.

You can view current prices for the HYC Big Top Chimney Cover here.