Throughout our service area, rats and mice continue to be a big issue for both home and business owners, especially in the fall when temperatures begin to cool. With the turning of the leaves and the nip in the air, rodents begin seeking shelter any place they can get into, whether the building is occupied or not. So if you are considering a professional pest control company to keep those rodents out of your properties, here is what you can expect.
Snap Traps: Typically used indoors in out-of-the-way places from kids and pets (inside kitchen cabinets, in basements and attics, etc), these traps can be very effective at catching rodents. Baits used for snap traps may be peanut butter, chocolate, bacon, slim jims, or nesting materials such as string or cotton. Snap traps are:
Environmentally safe. Okay to use near food prep areas.
Spring activated with a quick-kill mechanism.
Equipped with a bait pedal for nesting or bait materials.
Easily disposed of.
Live-Catch Traps: These humane traps come in different sizes, including a multi-catch unit that is designed to trap and hold up to 30 rodents. Also, some traps are built with panels that are transparent, for easy checking. During months of freezing temperatures, if a rodent is caught between visits, you can release the animal in an area well away from your home where there are abundant oak trees and a water source. For this reason, some people prefer other rodent control options during the winter. These traps are:
Simple to use and environmentally friendly.
Able to provide no-touch trapping and removal of live rodents.
Easily implemented for high rodent population areas where multi-catch units are needed.
Tamper Resistant Rodent Bait Stations: Used to control rodents outside your walls, these RBSs can be located discreetly in places where rodent activity has been discovered by a pest professional, and they are tamper resistant to non-target wildlife as well as pets. Not to be confused with traps, these units allow mice and rats to come and go freely to consume the rodenticide bait. A rodent bait station can:
Cover an area approximately ΒΌ of a mile in radius.
Be weighted by cement blocks, and locked.
Have metal rods used to keep rodenticide blocks inside the unit.
Have a label placed inside the unit, which is useful to help with documented inspections.
RBSs are safe for pets, even if they consume a rodent that has been killed by the rodent bait. The lethal dose to kill a rodent is much smaller than the dose to kill a pet and, if a pet eats the dead rodent, the poison has already been absorbed into the tissue of the rodent, greatly reducing its potency. So you need not worry about pets. However, it is important to keep snow, leaves, or other debris from blocking the opening to the RBS.
Exclusion To Seal Entry Points: A pest professional will work to find potential entry points in the exterior of your home where rodents might squeeze through. Typical spots are areas around wires or pipes, crawl space vents, and around or under garage doors and loading docks. Exclusions may include:
Door sweeps.
Copper wire mesh for around wires and pipes.
Hardware cloth for vented areas.
Expandable foam or caulk for sealing up gaps or cracks.
If you are interested in learning more about how rodent abatement services work here at Thomas Pest Services, we're just a call away. Feel free to reach out to us.