What is your favorite way to get warm after being out in the cold? Do you enjoy getting cozy near the fireplace? Maybe your go-to is a steaming cup of hot chocolate. What about a blanket freshly pulled from the dryer? Whatever it is, it is undeniable that nothing beats something warm after a day out in the winter cold. Rodents feel the same way. As winter comes into full swing, rodents will be looking for any way possible to stay warm. More often than not, this drives them into our homes where they don’t belong. To keep this from happening in your home this year, we have put together a comprehensive list of prevention tips to keep rodents at bay.
Why You Don’t Want Rodents In Your Home
It can seem harmless to have rodents sharing your living space with you. Besides, aren’t rats and mice kept as pets? Although many rodents are indeed pets, there is one big difference between our furry friends and the furry foes looking to invade our homes - lifestyle.
Pet rodents live in a regularly cleaned environment and are fed safe store-bought foods. Pest rodents, on the other hand, live in filthy environments such as sewers or around garbage, and their diets can range from human food to a dead carcass. These lifestyle choices make pest rodents far more dangerous than pet rodents; mainly because eating dirty things and living in dirty places is a great way to pick up bacteria and potential viruses. When they get inside homes, pest rodents threaten you, your family, and your pets with the diseases they can spread.
On top of this, rodents can also be extremely destructive with their teeth, chewing through walls, electrical wiring, utility piping, and other important assets in your home. As you can imagine, this can cause some major issues throughout your house.
Prevention Tips For Winter Rodents
To keep rodents out of your home, you have to do two things: limit potential entry points and reduce attractants around your home. You can do this in a number of ways. Here are some things we recommend:
- Keep your yard well-trimmed, and your landscaping maintained. Trim tree branches and other foliage away from the walls of your home.
- Reduce the clutter in your yard.
- Invest in a caulking gun and some steel wool. Use these things to seal gaps, cracks, and openings in your exterior foundation and around utility piping.
- Install steel wire screens over any vents exiting your house.
- Make sure your chimney has a rodent-proof chimney cap.
- Limit where you consume food in your home to the kitchen and dining room. This will reduce the amount of cleaning you have to do and ensure no messes are hiding for rodents to find.
- Store all leftover food inside tightly sealed containers.
- Repackage cereal and other foods stored in cardboard boxes into larger glass, metal, or plastic containers.
- Pick up and thoroughly clean out pet food and water bowls before going to bed at night.
What To Do If Rodents Get Pest Your Defenses
If, as you are reading this, rodents are already in your home, do not worry. We have a solution for you here at Alta Pest Control. We take rodent control very seriously, and with just one call, we will send one of our highly trained pest technicians your way with a solution. During their scheduled visit, your expert will thoroughly investigate and set in place rodent control measures that are guaranteed to work. Reach out to us today for effective pest control!
