The Dangers of Rodents in Your Raleigh Home: Rodent Prevention Tips
Rodents might be some of the smallest nuisance wildlife species that invade homes in Raleigh but they’re also some of the most troublesome. Mice and rats are the most prolific pests around the world, and our area is no exception. Rodents can slip into your home through the smallest breaches in its exterior and then they’ll start wreaking havoc.
Because their teeth never stop growing, rats and mice are always gnawing on everything to file them down. This can result in extensive damage to the interior of your home in Raleigh. Rodents’ gnawing habits can even prove dangerous; in many cases, rodents have started house fires by chewing through electrical wiring. Another danger of rodents is their propensity to spread diseases like leptospirosis and hantavirus through their waste.
To avoid rodent issues in your home in Raleigh, it’s best to implement rodent prevention techniques to keep mice and rats out of your home. If you’d like to learn some useful tips for keeping rodents away, read on.
Top 4 Rodent Exclusion Tips
Secure Your Food – While rodents may choose to invade any home in Raleigh, homes with easy access to food will always be at the greatest risk. Rats and mice will happily nibble away at almost anything; baked goods, table scraps, pet food, and bird seed. To keep from attracting rodents into your home, make sure all of the food in your kitchen is stored in secure containers. The same goes for bags of pet food and bird seed, especially if they’re out in the garage or a shed where rodents can get at them more easily. Make sure outdoor garbage cans are tightly lidded so that mice and rats can’t raid them.
Block Entry Points – The reason that rodents are such successful pests is that they have no trouble getting into our homes. Rodent entry points can include holes in your home’s exterior, cracks around your home’s foundation, and vent openings with ineffective covers. Rats can squeeze through an opening the diameter of a quarter while mice are even more adept infiltrators, able to fit through a space the diameter of a dime! Inspect your home for possible entry points and block them off using a durable sealant. Make sure all exterior vent openings have a secure mesh cover.
Set Up Traps – If you’re concerned about rodent activity around your home in Raleigh, it may be time to place some traps. Install rodent bait stations around the exterior of your home. These stations contain a poisoned bait that will lure lurking mice and rats in and kill them. Inside your home, place traps in areas that rodents frequent such as the attic and garage. Many different types of rodent traps are available, including glue traps, snap traps, and electronic traps. Note that you may need to purchase both mouse traps and rat traps; mice are too small to trigger rat traps, while rats are too big for most mouse traps to be effective.
Professional Rodent Prevention – For the most thorough protection against rodent intrusions, hire a professional pest control company in Raleigh. Licensed rodent control technicians will be able to effectively prevent mice and rats from entering your home by using a variety of techniques, including sealing entry points, baiting, trapping, and removing rodent attractants. These professionals are specially trained on rodent behavior, allowing them to more successfully rodent-proof your home.
The Proactive Solution to Rodent Problems
To make sure you never have to deal with an infestation of mice or rats in your home, work with an experienced team that specializes in rodent prevention. Give Sustainable Pest Systems a call today if you’d like to schedule rodent exclusion services in the Raleigh area!