Get Rid of Rats and Mice Naturally
9:54 AM Posted In RODENTS Edit This 0 Comments »
Rodents in the home can be a problem, but some homeowners may be reluctant to use poisons. Pets or children can get into the chemicals, and soft-hearted homeowners might dislike the ideal of killing mice or rats. A number of natural remedies exist that can help clear your home of rodents without resorting to chemicals or poisons. Many of them involve easy-to-obtain components and can be set up with a minimum of fuss and effort.Set bowls of used cat litter around the entrances to your house. This includes cracks and crevices, as well as doors and windows. The rats and mice will catch a whiff of the cat urine and decide that your home is not the place to be. This also works with snake droppings, which you can buy at a pet store or reptile house.
~
Place 2 drops of peppermint oil in a cotton ball and allow it to soak up the scent. Repeat this process with as many balls as you need, then place them near the entryways to your home, as well as any small holes or places where rodents might lurk. Rodents hate the smell, but it's more pleasant to human nostrils than cat litter, so it may be a preferable option. It also helps hide the smell of food from mice or rats.
~
Use an electronic deterrent. These are small devices, sold in any home-improvement store, that emit ultrasonic signals to drive mice and rats away. Some can also keep away other pests, such as squirrels.
~
Seal up any possible entryways to the house by using pieces of steel wool. Rats and mice aren't able to push the wool out of the way, and they can't chew through it as they would with wood or plastic. Green scrubbing pads also work well for sealing up mouse holes.
~
Keep your kitchen and pantry areas clean. Spilled food attracts pests, and the more rapidly you can wipe up spills, the less likely it is that rats or mice will arrive.
~
Use a humane trap. Snap traps work well, but they can be cruel. Gentler traps will capture a rodent without killing it and allow you to remove it from your home. Don't just set the mouse free nearby, however. Otherwise, it may come right back to your house. Take it some distance away before setting it loose.
~
Start off by cleaning the whole house. Yes, that means throwing out all of the trash, getting rid of all clutter and scrubbing everything. Rats and mice love to burrow and make nests, so if you provide a lot of clutter, you’re providing them with a home. Clean everything with bleach. Remember that rats carry disease, so you want to make sure that any feces is cleaned out of cabinets. You want to make sure that you use a strong mixture of bleach.
~
Next, check under your sinks, make sure that there aren’t any holes. A mouse only needs a tiny hole to get into your house. If there are any holes, spray the spray foam into it. The foam expands and makes a complete seal to keep out pests. You would be surprised how many openings there are in and under your house. Remember, if there is a hole big enough for a mouse other things – spiders, roaches and snakes – can come in as well.
~Go under the house, and use the spray foam on any openings around plumbing pipes, electrical wiring, heating and air vents. Anywhere there is an opening, you need to apply the foam or cauking to seal it. Watch out for spiders and snakes while you are under the house. Remember, snakes like to eat rats and mice, so if one is around the other is usually close by.
~
Put weather stripping on the doors to make sure that there aren’t any places that a mouse can squeeze through.
~
While your outside, make sure you cut the grass, clear the weeds and remove debris away from the house. It gives rats and snakes a place to hide. They, usually, dislike short grass because they can’t hide in it.
~
Apply the rat poison in areas that children and pets cannot reach. Remember that is poison, and it can hurt or kill children or pets.
~
Set the mouse traps up in the kitchen and in the attic. Mice tend to love those areas. Everyone seems to think the best bait for a mousetrap is cheese, but they come to peanut butter a lot faster. If you have larger mice or rats, don’t bother with a glue trap. It won’t hold them.
~
Keep the house very clean for the next few weeks, and keep checking the traps and areas that you put poison in. Once you kill the one’s inside the house, you shouldn’t see any more rats or mice if you closed off all of the holes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment