It is common that, during the cold months of the year, animals enter houses to protect themselves against the weather and predators. Of course, they also need to eat, so once they get in your house, they’ll look for food and places to build a shelter. A common sign of rodents’ presence in your home is chewed wires and insulation since they can chew anything.
Luckily, there are ways to avoid rodents entering your house during fall and winter. Let’s see how to make your house rodent-proof.
Remove Possible Food Sources
To prevent rodents, it’s important to control food sources. For example, do not leave pet food outside where it can attract small animals, and minimize spillage from your trash container by placing a plastic cone over the opening.
Maintaining a clean kitchen will also help keep pests away, so be sure to clean up crumbs and spills on countertops before they become food for rodents and cockroaches. In addition, take care of your garbage cans. If possible, place an old shoe or tennis ball in the opening to prevent pests from getting inside. Also, dispose of your garbage regularly and properly.
Store dry goods in tightly sealed containers so they don’t attract rodents or other types of animals, like cockroaches. It is a good idea to avoid leaving stagnant dishwater in the kitchen overnight since rodents also need to drink water. Besides, still, water is the perfect place for Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for diseases such as dengue, to lay its eggs.
Search for Entry Points
It is crucial to search for possible entry points in your house since mice and rats can enter through any hole as big as the size of a quarter. Check every part of your house, including the walls and floor behind furniture.
Look for any tears in window screens and repair them if you find them. If there’s any crack in your foundation or walls, properly seal them with wire mesh. Examine all spots where pipers enter your home to make sure that there isn’t any gap. If you find some, make sure to cover them with mesh and caulk. Add a cap to your chimney since rodents are great climbers.
You should make it harder for rodents to enter your home, so that’s why it is necessary to cover any place that they can use to squeeze in. Remember that they can chew through many things, including wires, to create their own entry point.
Some other common places where rodents can invade your house are openings for utility lines and open garage doors. Be sure to take care of the attic and basement, keeping them well ventilated and dry and replacing all loose mortar and weather stripping around the foundations and windows. Besides, all moisture sites, like leaking pipes and clogged drains, need to be eliminated.
Clean Your Environment
Rodents are animals just like us, so they need food, shelter, and water to survive. It is important to keep your environment clean to ensure they can’t find any of this in your house, or else they’ll invade it.
Clutter is great for them since it provides plenty of hiding spots, especially in areas in your house that you don’t frequently use, such as the attic, basement, and garage. Therefore, make sure to keep everything clean. Neat stacks of old newspapers and other types of junk, disposing of them properly in the garbage. Don’t keep your laundry on the floor, and keep your stored items organized and elevated off the ground.
You can easily see signs of rodents in your house if your clutter or clothes start to show up chewed, so keep an open eye for that.
Elevate Your Firewood
Who doesn’t love to use the fireplace to burn some wood during autumn and winter to make the house warmer? This is one of our greatest pleasures during the cold seasons. However, for that, it is necessary to keep a stockpile near your fireplace, right? No one wants to go to the garage only to get more wood.
Unfortunately, firewood is a great hiding spot for mice and rats. But don’t worry; all you need to do to make it less rodent-friendly is to elevate your logs at least 18 inches off the ground. If possible, keep it away from your house and bring it only when you know you will use it.
Install a Brush Strip
A brush strip or a sweep are great additions to your house to ensure that rodents cannot enter it since they block small gaps at the base of the building, which are quite common with older doors. It is easier to install a brush strip with an adhesive strip than using screws. Besides, it also helps you to keep the house warmer during winter.
Maintain Landscaping
Perform yard maintenance before the weather gets awfully cold. This is the perfect task for your autumn and the start of winter weeks. You should accomplish many activities, such as trimming branches that are hanging too close to your house since they can provide easy entry spots for rodents to enter your home using the attic or roof. Tidy up the overgrown vegetation as well, removing leaf piles and weeds so the rodents can’t hide there.
Hire a Licensed Pest Company to Control Rodents in Your Home
Although there is much you can do to avoid rodents from entering your house, it is hard to keep them out once they are in. Therefore, if you see any signs of rodents, call a licensed pest company so they can get rid of rodents for you. Besides, they can help you ensure the house is rodent-proof.
Universal Pest & Termite is the right choice of a licensed and experienced pest company that can help you with everything you need. Schedule a visit right now.