Cartoon rats eating food and chewing on electronics.

Cartoon rats eating food and chewing on electronics. With winter coming, rodents and pests are looking for a warm place to nest and avoid the cold. That makes rodent proofing your house an essential part of winter preparation.

Reasons why your house needs to be rodent-proofed:

1. Avoiding structural damage

Mice and other rodents can chew through almost anything, including plastic and wood, so they can do a lot of structural damage to your home. Rodent teeth never stop growing so they chew, especially hard items, to wear them down and avoid developing a painful overbite. Squirrels and mice chewing wires have caused many electrical fires.

2. Disease

Mice, rats, etc. can carry diseases such as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Lassa fever, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, leptospirosis, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM), rat-bite fever, Omsk hemorrhagic fever, bubonic plague, salmonellosis, a wide range of South American Arenaviruses, and more. Rodents can also carry ticks and mites that transmit disease.

3. Droppings

Rodent droppings are disgusting and unhygienic. Worse, when they dry the particles can become airborne and be inhaled which can, in turn, make your family sick. Rodent urine, saliva and droppings can also contaminate exposed food and make people sick when they eat it.

Rodent proofing is especially important if your home was treated for an infestation. The last thing you want is a nearby colony of mice, rats, etc. to follow the same path in as the last batch of rodents.

How Do I Plug Holes to Stop Rodents?

Whether used as a preventative or after treatment for a rodent infestation, it’s important to keep other mice from entering and how to keep rats away from your house. That requires a mix of blocking them and avoiding things that attract mice and other rodents.

Steps you can take to prevent mice infestation:

1. Block all holes and entry points

Check your home’s foundation and walls for places mice and rodents can enter. Mice can crawl through a hole as small as a quarter and sometimes even the size of a nickel, so all holes need to be plugged. Use masonry repair materials for foundation cracks, stuff steel wool or metal mesh into gaps around pipe entrances, fill cracks, etc. Also remember to check the weather seal at the bottom of garage doors. All of this is essential to keep mice looking for a warm nest in your home and to prevent mice or rodents from hiding acorns in your home for winter.

2. Don’t feed birds.

Rodents love bird seed as much as your local cardinals. While feeding birds is nice, it can also draw mice, squirrels and rats to your property.

3. Store food properly

Rodents can easily chew through bags and cartons. If you buy dry food for your cat or dog transfer the contents to an airtight container and keep it tightly sealed. Do the same with flour, sugar, etc. Solid plastic containers are good but glass and metal are best. Don’t store food on the floor either.

4. Watch your landscaping

Mulch serves its purposed but when it’s too thick, it can be a nesting spot for mice. Store firewood away from the house for the same reason. Plantings too close to or touching the building can hide rodent nests or holes they chewed to get into your house.

5. Keep garbage tightly closed

Trash is a magnet for rodents and raccoons. Making sure your garbage cans have no holes, can seal tightly and can’t be opened by animals is important.

Arrow Exterminating Is the Rodent Expert

If you have a rodent infestation problem – or think mice and other rodents might be in your walls, call in the professionals at Arrow Exterminating. The sooner you contact us then the sooner we can help you live in a critter-free environment. To get started, contact Arrow Exterminating today.

3 Reasons Why Rodent Proofing Is Important Serving Long Island and surrounding areas

Richmond | Kings | Nassau County | Suffolk County

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