Controlling a Rodent Pest Problem
Sharing your home with cherished friends and family members can be tough at the best of times, but sharing your home with a family of uninvited lodgers who urinate and defecate all around your home is very disconcerting. If you hear scratching noises on your floorboards, and spot urine and dropping deposits, then you are probably living with rodents. While these problems are most effectively dealt with by professional pest control teams, there are a few DIY approaches that can be effective.
Cats
Darling of the internet, and gods of ancient Egypt, cats are born to kill birds and rodents. Many of them do it instinctively whether they are hungry or not, and they take pleasure in playing with their prey. It might sound like a horrific solution to your problem but it is natural, and when there are shelters full of unwanted felines you could consider it a reasonable option. There’s no guarantee your cat will be a killer of course, but they also make loveable, if bipolar companions.
Getting a cat is unlikely to solve a large rodent problem, but a proficient hunter will eliminate a small rodent pest problem fairly quickly, and enjoy it. Having a cat in the house and around the premises will also discourage rodents from entering.
Traps
Mouse and rat traps are another classic method of eliminating a rodent problem. A caught rat can be a tough thing to face, and there can be some cleanup required in the aftermath, but a simple mechanism can be one of the easiest ways of nipping rodents problems in the bud and at least you can be sure that they it is gone. All you need to do is place some sort of appetising food on the trap to attract the rodent’s attention.
Poison
Poison is a relatively easy way of combating a rodent problem yourself. Buy special rodent poison and simply lay it down on the floor, especially in areas that you think the rodents use. It could take some time for the poison to take its effect, but the result will be clean and quiet, you simply need to demonstrate some patience.
Deterring Rodents
Prevention is the best cure, so if you don’t already have a rat problem consider filling your home and garden with peppermint plants, kitty litter and even snake faeces to deter rodents. When they smell predators rodents will look for a more welcoming habitat.
Infestation
Amateur techniques such as the ones describes above can be effective ways of getting rid of rodents, but if pest problems aren’t dealt with swiftly then it could result in an infestation, which is significantly more difficult to deal with.
If your home becomes infested with rodents, you should contact a professional pest controller as soon as possible. They should have specialist treatments for rodent infestations, and will be able to provide expert advice into how to avoid the problem in the future. It inevitably comes down to small holes and cavities in walls, doorways and floors. Rats can crawl through incredibly tight spaces so a home needs to be water-tight to truly keep them out.
Alan Derry is a pest control expert and writes on numerous topics related to pest control. His latest content looks rodent control in the home and writes on behalf of pest control brighton. for more information on these services see http://www.pestcontrolbrighton24hr.co.uk/