As cold weather arrives, the mice and rats start searching for more comfortable places to live than outside in those harsh winter environments.
If your home is close to their summer homes you're at risk for rodent invasion.
Those heated areas you make available are mighty tempting to them, and they know that human presence normally means an abundant, and readily available, source of food that they won't need to work hard to find.
Act now to defend your home from the rodent onslaught, and minimize the threats to your family's health that rat and mouse infestation brings to your home.
The first step in fortifying your home is barricading the outside perimeter against rodent access.
Check the foundation for any openings large enough for a mouse or rat to fit through.
Plug all that you find.
The best materials for this purpose are metal, or concrete, that completely closes the hole.
Wood works if you make the plug thick enough.
Just remember that mice and rats can chew through wood.
The more solid the closure looks, the more motivation for the rodent to look for entry elsewhere.
Once you have all the openings closed off you'll get extra protection if you place bait boxes around the foundation.
I recommend at least two on each side of the structure, one near each end of the outside wall.
For long stretches of wall place a third box in the middle.
Get the plastic boxes for outdoor use, they'll last you for a number of years.
Every week or two check the boxes to verify they still have bait in them, and replenish the low or empty ones to keep your protection strong.
One thought on the bait boxes.
If you have a population of chipmunks around your home, and don't want to kill them, be selective when you purchase those bait boxes.
Boxes designed for rats the entries are large enough for ground squirrel access.
Bait boxes for mice have smaller openings that chipmunks can't fit into.
Now that you have the outside sealed as well as possible create your indoor rodent control program.
Here you have more tools for keeping mouse and rat infestation to a minimum.
Glue boards are effective for trapping rodents indoors.
Fold them into a tunnel (or buy a plastic tunnel, and place the glue board inside).
Position them along a long stretch of wall.
Rodents think these tunnels are great places to hide, especially after running across a long open space.
Be aware that glue boards, when used for mice or rats, are single use only.
Once a rodent sticks to the glue, you must throw the board away.
Also, the glue traps a live rodent.
That means you must kill the creature after you trap it.
If you feel that's too gruesome a task use different methods of capture.
Various mechanical traps exist these days for your selection.
If you choose this method of control be sure to read the descriptions on the packaging, and make sure before you buy that you're comfortable with the disposal methods.
Poisons are useful inside too.
If you go with this method keep the baits out of reach to pets and children, and check often to keep the baits replenished.
If you do use poison baits understand that the rodent that eats the poison often crawls inside a wall and dies.
That means you'll suffer through the stink of the decaying body for up to a week if it's a mouse, and two to three weeks for a rat.
Rodent control isn't difficult.
With proper approach, and a structured pest control plan, you'll be free of rats and mice this winter.