There’s a very good reason why so many homeowners and renters have an innate aversion to mice and rats. Rodents are known to be the source of more than 35 diseases that afflict humans, including rat lungworm (angiostrongylus), Hantavirus, leptospirosis, rabies, and rat-bite fever.
In addition to spreading diseases, rodents do significant damage to homes and other structures. They also contaminate food and create health hazards by spreading their urine, feces, and nesting activities over huge areas. These “guests” are clearly unwelcome at any South Florida home or business.
Keeping rodents and other vermin off your premises is an ongoing process that combines eradication when the pests are discovered with prevention once the infestation is cleared out. The best rodent control methods for South Florida residents involve a thorough inspection by a trained rodent control service technician and effective application of traps and rodenticides when the pests are found.
Rodent Control Methods: Trapping, Exclusion, Bait Boxes, and Sanitation
If you discover signs of rodent activity inside or outside your home or business, your first reaction may be to place traps baited with poison around the premises. However, doing so may create more problems than it solves as the poison may be consumed by pets or other animals, and if not placed in the right spots, it will fail to eliminate the pests.
A much more effective remedy is to contact a professional pest control company such as Nozzle Nolen that has years of experience in the area and employs trained pest control technicians. Rather than taking a one-and-done approach, Nozzle Nolen works to clear out any existing rodent problems and takes steps to ensure that the pests won’t return.
There are four effective rodent control methods, which include:
- Trapping is the safest and most effective method for eliminating rodents from your property. In addition to traditional snap traps that use a spring-loaded bar to kill the rodent, newer traps use battery-powered electronic traps that zap the pest with electricity. Live animal traps allow the rodent to be caught and safely released in a more accommodating environment. Note that the CDC recommends against using glue traps because of the suffering they cause animals and the threat of disease the traps pose.
- Exclusion ensures that mice and rats are prevented from gaining access to your home or business by sealing up potential access points. Rodents may enter the building via plumbing and roof vents, bathroom exhaust vents, and cracks in walls, siding, and foundations. A certified pest control technician has the know-how to find and close any hole in your exterior that’s as small as a half-inch wide.
- Bait boxes or bait stations place a rodenticide inside a small enclosure that only a mouse or rat can enter. This prevents children, pets, and other wild animals from ingesting the bait, which is typically in the form of loose pellets, pellet packs, soft bait, wax blocks, or liquid. The boxes can be safely used indoors or outdoors by being securely anchored, and the bait kept firmly in place.
- Sanitation is critical when dealing with mice and rats because of the diseases they spread by tracking their urine and feces throughout your home or business. A pest control technician will disinfect all surfaces that rodents may have traversed and use HEPA-grade vacuum treatment to decontaminate the air.
Keeping rodents away requires eliminating their favorite habitats and food sources. Cardboard boxes, gardening tools, lumber, and other material need to be stored off the ground, and all garbage, debris, and other waste must be kept in tightly covered containers. Store pet food in rodent-proof containers and keep vegetation around the home or business well pruned, so it doesn’t create good nesting locations for rodents.
Inside and Outside Locations that Mice and Rats Prefer
Favorite outdoor habitats for mice are fields, woodpiles, trash heaps, bushes, plants, and inside appliances and furniture that have been left outside. Mice are also attracted to indoor spaces near furnaces and boilers, inside walls and ceiling insulation, in basements and attics, and behind counters, cupboards, and bathtubs.
Some rats are arboreal and favor attics and trees, such as Roof rats, while others, including Norway rats, will build their nests in burrows under buildings and other structures. In both instances, the rodents pose a threat of causing a fire by gnawing through electrical wires. This is in addition to the damage they do by chewing furniture, ductwork, luggage, and other possessions.
Getting Started With Nozzle Nolen
When you suspect the presence of mice or rats in or around your home or business, it’s important to act quickly but also to act wisely so that the problem is addressed for the short term and the long term. Partnering with the trained and experienced professionals at Nozzle Nolen ensures that your mice or rat problem will soon be nothing more than an unpleasant memory.
Nozzle Nolen has provided the residents and businesses of South Florida with expert rodent control methods for more than 70 years. If you suspect you have an issue in your home or business, give us a call at 800.226.6536, or Contact Us to schedule your free evaluation. We look forward to serving you.
