Birmingham's Guide To Total Rodent Control

How To Make Your Property Less Inviting To Rodents

You have many options for keeping rodents out of your home. The first is to put out the unwelcome mat. Let rats and mice know that you don't want them around your exterior. There are a few ways you can go about doing this. Some may surprise you.

• Pick up stuff in your yard. It is not commonly understood that rats and mice use ground objects to navigate, and these objects are often the first reason why rodents enter yards. Rats and mice have poor vision. They have to use their other senses and will navigate in utter darkness using their whiskers to feel their way. If you don't have objects in your yard, that large open space will feel daunting to a rodent.
• Pick up junk. Along with removing objects that rats and mice use for navigation, it is good to remove anything rats or mice can hide under. Norway rats are particularly fond of establishing ground burrows underneath junk piles or pallets of stored objects. 
• Clean your trash receptacles. Rats and mice use their noses to help them navigate. They can't see that you have trash cans and that they might find a meal inside. They detect your trash by smelling it from a distance. That smell may provide an incentive for a rodent to enter your large open yard to get to the smell.
• Protect voids underneath structures. When rats and mice come near your home, they will look for places to hide. They'll get underneath your back deck, stairs, shed, or some other structure. If you apply hardware cloth, you keep rodents from using these hiding places. 
• Pick up nuts underneath trees. All rodents eat nuts. If you have a tree that produces acorns, do your best to stay on top of raking them up. Along with this, consider refraining from feeding the squirrels. When you feed squirrels, you invite rats and mice in your yard. 
• Pick up fruit underneath trees. Rats and mice love fruit and are more likely to eat fruit that is on the ground because it is easy to reach and is ripe and sweet to them.
• Remove bird feeders if you don't mind doing so. All rodents love seeds. Mice live on a strong diet of seeds. If you don't want to remove your feeders, consider hanging them on a tree in your yard, away from your exterior.
• Clear out your gutters and make repairs. A working gutter system is essential for the health of your home. It is also helpful for keeping rodents away from your home. When water spills over or leaks out, it saturates the ground and allows puddles to form. Those puddles provide drinking water for rodents.

Rodents don't choose every property equally. They have preferences. If you make your yard less preferred, they may avoid entering your yard and exploring your exterior. That can help you prevent a rodent infestation inside your home. If rats or mice are persistent, more control is needed. Some residents turn to traps and bait to solve their problems. These often fall short or make rodent problems worse because they require specialized knowledge. Rats and mice are domestic rodents. They have been living in close proximity to humans for centuries. If they were easy to trap and eliminate, they would almost certainly be extinct. So, what can you do about rodent pests? We have an idea.

Professional Rodent Control For Birmingham Residents

When you need a rodent control solution, it pays to hire a professional with the training and experience to get the results you want. Not only is rodent control a chore, there are many ways things can go in an unexpected direction. One of the worst outcomes of DIY rodent control is that rodents remain in a structure and residents have no idea that they still have a problem. A home pest control professional may do some or all of the following: 

• Inspect your property, catalog conducive conditions, track the rodents, and consider entry points.
• Share the finding of the inspection with you and offer rodent control options that meet your specific needs. 
• Apply appropriate products to remove the rodents and evaluate the success of the rodent control program and achieve the desired results.
• Institute a multi-pronged and complete solution that includes rodent-proofing and other critical measures to fully eliminate and exclude rodents.
• Follow-up to make sure no rodents remain in the structure.
• Provide advice or services to help you prevent future rodent infestations after the rodents are gone.
• Deploy tamper-resistant bait stations to capture rodents and reduce rodent populations around your exterior.

Do you live in Birmingham? If so, consider contacting Harvard Pest Control for assistance with rodents. We can help you remediate a current problem or provide you with proactive rodent protection if you do not have a rodent infestation yet. Navigate to our contact page and reach out to us. We're here to help.