Rodents! ~ Not a Cheesy Situation
It is getting cooler out, and the seasons are changing. And our little friends with fur coats are looking for a cozy place for the winter to snuggle in and have their young! Rodents, is the general term for mice, rats, voles, shrews, chipmunks and even squirrels.
The most common of the rodents that end up sharing our house holds, restaurants, barns, warehouses and other buildings are the
- house mouse
- deer mouse
- field mouse
- Norway rat
- roof rats
Some people find rodents cute and furry. Like I did when I was a child. I used to take cheese from the fridge and feed the little mouse un-be-known to my mother, that we had in our broom closet. My cheese was later discovered and replaced with a small box of Decon. Not like the cute little critters that run on stationary wheels and travel through bright colored plastic tubes, wild rodents are messy and often destructive little creatures that sometimes carry disease.
Unwanted Rats, Mice ~ Rodents
If you find your self, hosting a Bed and Breakfast for some unwanted furry guests, there are several things that you can do.
- Inspection- Walk around the exterior of your home or building and look for any droppings, tracks, gnaw marks, burrowing, urine stains, rodent sounds or odors, and foundation vent openings, just to name a few.
- Food- Get rid of any food sources that may be attracting rodents (yes, including squirrels and chipmunks) to your home. Such as starting from the outside: bird feeders, improperly stored pet food or uncovered barn animal grain bins. Inside: Improperly stored pet food, or pet food left out in bowls on the floor that the pets have not cleaned up. As a rule, anything left after 45 minutes of initial feeding should be properly discarded. And you may think about schedule feeding your pet if they are generally free fed, until the rodent situation is under control. It is very common for some people who raise birds or have multiple birds in their home to attract rodents inside due to birds love to fling their seeds everywhere. Rodent’s love bird food. In fact when you have a pet rat or mouse from a pet store, their food you buy is a mixture of bird seed and dog food! If the rodents have full little bellies, they will not look twice at any bait you may set out for them later.
- Habitats – This is any area, which rodents can utilize and thrive in. These areas must be eliminated from your property. Such as wood piles, close to or leaning against your home, boards, tall grass, lots of shrubbery, open crawlspaces that have insulation, and un-sealed boxes in the garage.
- Obstruct or seal- any openings or small holes about ¼ inch or larger that rodents could be using to enter you’re crawlspace or walls. Doing a visual inspection around the outside of your home may reveal openings such as broken foundation vents, cable-wire holes, drier vent openings, and no door on your crawlspace access area. The rule of thumb is, if it’s big enough for the rodent to fit his little head through than he can squeeze his body in as well. Areas under sinks, should be checked for any gaps around pipes leading from the crawlspace, or walls into your home.
- Trapping and Baiting- Setting up a baiting and trapping program, is imperative. Unlike spraying for bugs, rodents are never an over-night elimination. This takes a couple days minimum to begin seeing results. Trapping have several options, there are the old fashioned snap traps, sticky strips or pads (works best for mice only, rats are stronger and can sometimes pull themselves off), and live traps are great if you don’t like seeing a squashed mouse. Checking on baited areas and traps often is recommended and even moving them around when they are not getting hit on helps confuse the rodents and tend to make them want to check them out!
Feeding Wild Birds & Squirrels!
Squirrels ~ Awe, how cute are they? Their furry little tails, big brown eyes, funny little personalities. People love to watch them run and frolic in the trees and often feed them to watch their antics. Seriously folks, customers hate this when I say this but they are rats with fuzzy tails! They too carry rabies, and chew, and get in attic vents. But some folks don’t see it that way. Personally I do like them. So don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I get the biggest chuckle when Grandma Jones says, “No I will not stop setting food out for my birds or squirrels! BUT, I want those disgusting rats gone!” All feeding has to stop until the rodent situation is under control and all possible openings are sealed. Wild birds…love sifting through their seeds, and kicking out the ones they don’t like, even if they are 20 feet in the air, in a hanging feeder, the seeds hit the ground. At least temporarily remove the feeder, and burry or clean up any seed debris from the ground again until the rodents are under control and all openings are sealed.
A very cool way to continue feeding your birds …if you must, is to get a empty bird bath and set it on your deck or yard where you can watch the birds and set a small handful of seed directly in the middle of the bath dish. This allows the birds to move the seed about and pick through with out kicking any out onto the ground at all. If you do get any seed on the ground, just set out a smaller portion, this works very well, and inexpensive plastic bird baths can be found at any home and garden store! Rats generally don’t jump into them, so make sure they are out in the open away from any railings etc. …. a squirrel might, but you like them right? The furry rats!
Now all this seems like a lot of work and to be truly successful it often is. But professional exterminators have good deals on rodent prevention and exclusion program options for the homeowner that just wants there unwanted guests gone. So I hope these tips are helpful and if you are up to the challenge, you can be successful; if not Interstate Pest Management would be very happy to take care of this issue for you. 1-888-844-4476
