Rodent Prevention Tips For Every West Chester Resident

Step 1: Remove Attractants

There are many things that draw mice and rats into your yard. If you alter these conditions, you can make your yard less interesting and less welcoming to rodents.

• Keep your grass and vegetation trimmed.

• Install fencing around food sources, such as gardens, berry bushes, and fruit trees.

• Install fencing to prevent rodents from getting into the voids under external structures, such as decks, stairs, and sheds.

• Keep exterior trash in sealed containers.

• Move objects away from your home to reduce hiding spots.

• Remove unnecessary objects from your yard to reduce hiding spots.

• Address conditions that create standing water.

Step 2: Seal Your Exterior

While mice and rats can chew their way into your home, they often take advantage of gaps, cracks and holes. An adult mouse can fit through an opening the size of a dime, and a rat can fit through an opening the size of a quarter. If they find an entry point that isn't quite large enough, they can make it larger by gnawing on it. Here are some typical ways rodents get in:

• The gaps in weatherstripping around exterior doors

• Broken seals around door and window frames

• Gaps around plumbing pipes that pass through foundation walls

• Damaged screens

• Broken window panes

• Cracks in foundation walls

• Holes created by mice, rats, and other wood-damaging pests

If you have entry points, you can seal them up in the following ways:

• Use a caulking gun to fill in or seal up any holes, gaps, or cracks.

• Use a repair kit to fix cracks in your foundation wall.

• Apply expanding foam in large gaps.

• Replace rotting wood.

Step 3: Bolster Your Defenses

Once you've sealed up entry points, it is important to consider bolstering your defenses. You can do this by strengthening areas that rodents will target or by making it more difficult to get to vulnerable areas. Try these ideas.

• Add metal flashing to locations that are being gnawed on by rodents.

• Put wire mesh in your downspouts to prevent rodents from climbing up to your roofline and accessing entry points up there

• Trim tree branches away from your roofline to keep rodents from jumping down onto your roof.

Step 4: Reduce Rodent Populations

Once you've removed attractants, sealed entry points, and made it harder for rodents to get into your West Chester home, it is time to consider population control. Rodents can come into your yard no matter what the conditions are. It is important that you catch and remove them before they chew their way into your home. Be sure to get traps that won't harm children or pets that get into your landscaping. Take some time to learn about how to set traps properly, so that you can achieve the results you're looking for. It isn't nearly as easy to catch rodents as you might think. Once your traps are in place, be sure to check them routinely and remove the rodents from your property.

How Moyer Can Help

While you can do all of these steps yourself, it is much better to have an educated and experienced rodent control professional do the hard work for you. At Moyer, we provide comprehensive rodent control. This sets us apart from the competition. We can help you address some of the attractants that are present around your home, seal most entry points, bolster your defenses, and provide ongoing rodent monitoring and removal. While it is certainly a team effort—and we can't do it all—we do most of it. Best of all, we know how to do it the right way, so you'll get the control you're looking for. Reach out to us today. We're standing by to help.