7 Tips To Keep Rodents At Bay This Winter
Why do rodents enter the house in the winter
Rodents seek warmth, food, and water and these three things are available in people’s homes in the winter. Similarly, rodents, for instance mice, like areas where they can nest, so they look for clutter, wood piles, cardboard storage boxes and quiet corners.
The prevention, however, starts from the outside of the home. If there are no points of entry, then rodents cannot enter your home and they will go find somewhere else.
7 tips to prevent rodents from entering your home:
1. Seal your exterior and points of entry
Rodents enter your home through holes or small gaps. Mice for instance, can fit into gaps as thin as 1/4 of an inch according to Terminix, to put that into perspective that is the width of a pencil. It is because they do not have collar bones.
To fix this, look for holes and cracks around the foundation of your house, check spots that lead to the outside of your home, like doors, vents and windows.
If you find holes or gaps, seal them up with caulk. For the holes, apply steel wool then seal up with caulk or use expanding foam especially for larger gap. Some areas to caulk are your baseboards, and window frames. For your doors try installing brush strips.
2. Maintain landscaping
During the fall and your winter maintenance tasks, keep up with landscaping. Clean up the leaves pile, maintain your plants and vegetation and trim the bushes and branches that are close to the house. Squirrels can jump from branches to the top of your roof and get their way inside the attic. Mice, like to hide in yard debris. Make your home’s exterior look uninviting to them.
3. Move away woodpile
On the topic of landscaping, move away wood pile from your home. It may be that you burn wood in the winter so, you keep them close for easy access. But the pile can become a hiding spot for rodents. According to Victor, also elevate firewood at least 18 inches off the ground.
4. Clean up the clutter
Clean up and organize the garage, the attic and the basement. Mice likes clutter, cardboard boxes, paper, laundry. Organize these places to keep mice from having hiding spots.
Store items especially paper, in plastic totes with lids.
5. Store food away
Store your food away in the pantry or cabinets. Wipe cupboard and corners. As you may already know a clean and organized home will keep pests away. Food is one of the resources rodents seek, so keeping them away in sealed containers and leaving no food crumbs on the ground is good.
6. Store pet food away
Similarly, if you have a pet, do not let bowls sit and pet food left on the ground, that will also attract rodents.
7. Call rodents prevention
Finally call a rodent prevention company near you, they will guide you on how to thoroughly keep your home rodent free this winter. If you already have rodents, do these things above, if they do not work call a rodent prevention company.
Image from unsplash @alexas_fotos
