Outdoor Rodent Control
It goes without saying that no one wants mice or rats in their home. However, some of the most effective methods for rodent control begins outdoors, before they ever enter your house. By understanding rodent behavior and employing a few effective techniques in your yard, you can keep these pests away year-round.
Make the Environment Inhospitable
Like any animal, rodents are looking for shelter, food, and water. To discourage them from sticking around, ensure your property provides as little of these things as possible.
- Try to feed pets indoors or take up the bowl containing any uneaten food. Remove crumbs right away.
- Ensure all outdoor trash cans have tight-fitting lids. Don’t leave exposed bags of garbage out overnight.
- If you wish to feed the birds, use rodent-proof feeders. Conventional feeders spill seed and tend to attract rodents.
- If you have a compost pile, turn it weekly and spray it with water. Compost piles are prime pickings for rats and mice, providing not only a food source but shelter as well.
- Cut your grass regularly, and trim around your house, garage, and shed. Don’t let weeds get high or allow thick vegetation along fences.
- Eliminate lawn grubs. These white, beetle larvae are not only rodent bait, but left unchecked, they can damage your grass. Use milky spore, a safe, ground-dwelling bacteria, to rid your yard of lawn grubs. It can be purchased at most hardware stores.
Safe and Effective Rodent Control
Despite setting up your outdoor environment to be as unattractive to rats and mice as possible, if your area has a heavy rodent population you may have to be more aggressive. If you have children or pets, electronic traps provide a safe, humane alternative to snap traps or poison. One electronic trap kills as many as fifty or more rodents per set of batteries. If you prefer, you can use catch and release traps instead, but make sure your region doesn’t prohibit releasing rodents back into the wild.
To end your battle with rodents once and for all, let Home Run Pest & Termite Control give you a hand. After doing a thorough inspection, we’ll apply the best treatments for your home and property. Contact us today for more information on rodent control.
