Rodent Control Done Right For Streator Properties
No matter what pests are pestering you, Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators can help you find answers to your questions or provide you with professional pest control in Streator. We also help you by providing resources like this blog so you can tackle small problems or take steps to make your pest control as effective as possible. Today, we're going to look at common rodent pests. We'll explain how different types of rodents create different problems; we'll cover why effective rodent control is critical; and we'll get into ways you can identify and remove factors that attract rodents. Along the way, you'll learn the secret habits that bring rats and mice into your yard, why they want to live with you, and more importantly, what you can do to get rid of them for good. If you need immediate assistance with a rodent problem, remember that we're only a phone call away.
The Kinds Of Rodents That Invade Streator Properties
There are two kinds of rodents in Streator that will get into your home. Yard rodents that would rather live outdoors and common house rodents that prefer to live indoors indefinitely. We're not going to discuss the third kind of rodents, which are the rodents that never get into homes. If you're curious about them, check out our blog posts about voles.
Temporary invaders are rodents that aren't able to find an ideal environment inside your home—well, mostly. The most common rodent in this group is the grey squirrel. They bound across your yard, scramble up trees, and nibble on nuts. In most cases, that's all they do. A similar animal is the chipmunk. It has a preference for woodland habitats and doesn't have any interest in living inside your home.
In the category of temporary invaders, we have two that are worth considering closely. They are the Norway rat and the deer mouse.
Norway Rats: These are big brown rodents that burrow in the ground. If not given sufficient reason to live in your home, they may never try. But, Norway rats that get inside and find food may decide to stay. If they do, they can create many serious issues.
Deer Mice: These little rodents have a tawny and white coloration like a deer. While they can get into your home and stay permanently, they are more at home in a shed, outbuilding, storage locker, or garage. In your home, they'll likely create a nest in your attic space. While in many ways, deer mice aren't as troublesome as house mice, they present a risk for Hantavirus, which is important to consider.
Now it is time to look at the worst kind of rodent in the world. It isn't much to look at but boy can it cause trouble inside your home. It is aptly called the house mouse.
House Mice: These mice are gray or brown with a cream-colored underbelly. They live in wall voids, drop-down ceiling voids, attic spaces, storage rooms, and other secluded spaces. They reproduce quickly and grow large populations if food permits. As they move about in your home, they do things that are harmful.
We're going to look at how you can control all of these rodents and take extra measures to address house mice. Before we do, it is essential to consider the risks of having rodents in your home. While rodents are small animals, they are not a small problem.
Rodents Spread Disease And Damage Property
All rodents carry ticks and fleas. The number of diseases carried by ticks is greater than fleas and rodents combined. They present a growing threat to the health of Streator residents every year. Ticks are associated with Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, bartonellosis, and many more.
All rodents leave their droppings and urine as they explore the interior of your home. They even leave this material where they sleep. As they explore your kitchen cabinets and pantry, their tiny hairs are a source of disease contamination. They may also leave fecal pellets in food or on dishes. In your attic, they soil your insulation which creates a smell that is not only offputting, it is a scent that attracts more rodents. Along with the bad odor is the risk of disease. If you have rodents in your attic, always wear a mask or respirator when going up there.
Certain rodents are a bacterial threat. They climb in trash containers and are exposed to germs and parasitic worms. When they climb around in your kitchen or pantry, these contaminate food packages, surfaces, shelves, dishes, and silverware.
When rodents crawl around inside your home, they chew holes. They can make holes in food packages, allowing the contents to spill out onto your shelves and floor. They can chew holes in baseboards, sheet rock, and other wall materials as they go in and out of your wall voids. They chew holes in weatherstripping, door sweeps, and door frames, allowing other pests to enter. This also creates the conditions for moisture damage.
How To Identify And Remove Factors That Attract Rodents
Now we get to the meat and potatoes of our discussion on rodent control in Streator. You know what rodents to expect in your home and what those pests do as they explore your home. Here are some management tips that will help you identify factors that lead to or inspire rodent infestation and steps to keep rodents out. It all begins in your yard.
Clutter: A rat or mouse doesn't know that your home is a great place to live. In fact, it can't even see your home. Rodents have poor eyesight. As they run on the ground, they use their whiskers and fur to feel ground objects. They use their ears as sonar and their noses to pick up smells in the environment around them. All of these work together to allow rodents to move quickly and efficiently in utter darkness. Therefore, the first step in preventing an infestation is maintaining a yard that is clutter-free.
Cover: Rodents know that there are animals that soar above and swoop down to carry them off and eat them—at least on some level. When they enter your yard, where do you think they'll head? They're going to slip underneath a shed, hide under a deck, or take cover in dense vegetation. You can block access to prefered hiding places by using fencing made of hardware cloth. In your landscaping, you can make rodents feel exposed by trimming the bottoms of plants.
Trash: Rodents can smell your trash from a distance if the smell isn't masked. That smell will bring them up close to your home. Store trash in a plastic bag, put your bag inside a clean receptacle, close the cover, and make sure you don't overfill your container which will cause the cover to be propped open. Along with these steps, it is essential to get your trash to the curb weekly. All of this is to prevent the rodent-attracting smell that leads to rodent problems. It has nothing to do with rodents climbing into your trash and finding a meal—though it would likely startle you to see that they can do this.
Openings: Rodents are thigmotactic. They love to touch objects around them with their bodies. They don't just do this for navigation. There is something comforting about squeezing into a tight space. If you offer a rodent a gap, crack, or hole, you can expect them to explore it. Often, it is possible to keep rodents out of a home by applying silicone caulk to key areas. Even though they can chew through the material, they may not try. The same is true of applying new weatherstripping.
Pathways: Rodents can get onto your roof in many clever ways. They scale trees, run down branches, and leap as far as five feet to get onto a roof. They use pipes that run up the side of a home to get up there. Some exterior surfaces are rough enough for a rodent to scale as though they were climbing a tree. Trim tree branches. Install guards on pipes. And protect high entry points you don't think rodents can climb to, such as gable vents.
Containers and Sanitation: If a rodent gets into your home and you deprive them of food, they may go back out and not get inside again. Protect your stored foods, remove food options, and keep your home clean to remove the food rats and mice want to find.
These are some of the many ways you can naturally deter rodents and keep them from getting into your home. When you remove exterior attractants and hiding places, seal exterior entry points, and remove the reasons rodents want to live in your home, you're on your way to living a rodent-free life.
Streator's Secret Weapon To Complete Rodent Control
Rodent control is hard. If you need help keeping rodents out of your home, remember that Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators can take a lot of the hard work off your plate. We understand rodent pests, and our technicians use industry-leading home pest control solutions to get effective and sustainable control of rodents. If you'd like to discuss your rodent concerns, we're here to listen. You can reach out to us by text, e-mail, or phone. You don't have to live with rodents. Not ever.
