Ok, so we know that our whiskered friends are sharpening their teeth just waiting for the next real cold snap to sneak their way into our homes….just what can we do about it?  Most rodent control falls under the category of common sense.  It’s very logical but it’s not something most people think about that often.  Here are a few things you can do to keep rats, mice, and even possums and raccoons away from your house that don’t involve chemicals.

1.       Don’t feed them.

When it comes to food most rodents have a veritable smorgasbord to choose from at the average house.  In fact most homes have so many food choices that they actually attract rats, and mice to their homes.  The 2 biggest food sources that I have seen are dog food and bird seed.  If you feed Rover outside you’re most likely feeding a small army of rats as well.  Unless Rover stands guard 24/7 the rats can easily steal his food at night or when he’s off barking at the mail man.  Rodents are very opportunistic in this way.  What’s worse is some dog foods contain elements that counteract the action of many rodent baits!  It’s always best to only feed as much as your dog will eat in one setting or to not feed him outside at all if possible.  To be on the safe side dog food should be stored inside or in a sealed metal container.  Rodents can chew through bags or plastic storage bins.  The same goes for bird feeders.  Bird feeders are little more than rodent buffets.  The seed that drops to the ground becomes easy pickings for rats and mice.  It’s best to keep these well away from the house or just to eliminate them altogether.   The same can be said for trash containers and dumpsters.  These should be sealed off to prevent an easy meal.

 

2.       Don’t let them in.

Depending on how old your home is the chances are that it has plenty of pest entry points built into it.  Mice and rats can squeeze through some really small holes in the outside of your home and gain entry to the attic and the interior of the house.  We recommend sealing any gap in the exterior greater than ¼ inch.  Most of this sealing can be done by the average handy man but there are companies that specialize in this service.  The most important thing to remember when trying to exclude rodents is that they love to chew on stuff.  We recommend hardware cloth be used in conjunction with some sort of caulk.  The combination of this screen mesh and a good outdoor caulk usually deters most rodents.

 

Here’s a list of some of the most common entry points we see on homes;

-Weep Holes-never caulk these as they are designed to vent moisture in the walls-use screen

-Gaps around plumbing, gas, A/C, and water lines

-Holes in eave/soffit screens

-Gaps around dryer and Jen-Air vents

-Gaps in weather stripping around doors

-Holes in the siding or brick

-Attic vents

-Pier and Beam Home-seal up the stem wall vents to the crawl space

Professional Engineering’s article on sealing common gaps on your home. 

3.       Don’t build a home for them.

Now that we’ve blocked their entry into your home we can focus on making the outside less rodent friendly.  In addition to removing food sources we also have to remove their hiding places or harborage areas.  One thing I see a lot when I’m at our residential accounts is wood and debris stacked up against the house or garage.  Whether its firewood, fence slats, or just those extra materials left over from a weekend project, this type of debris pile creates a perfect habitat for rodents and other pests to hide in.  Wood piles close to the structure can also attract termites. 

Wooden decks are also notorious as rat habitats.  The Norway rat is common in the Houston area and they love to make burrows under decks and other man-made structures.  There’s not a lot you can do about decks other than remove them and start over with another patio type.

 

Trees and Landscaping- We all love trees and ornate landscapes.  They provide shade, beauty, and, you guessed it, homes to pests.   I won’t suggest we slash and burn our hedges and cut down our trees but it’s not a bad idea to think of rodents when we plan our landscaping.  Less is typically more when it comes to landscaping with rodents in mind.  The smaller the bush the less rodents it can hide.  Stay away from thick ground cover right next to your home whenever possible and keep bushes trimmed off the ground.  It’s also a wise idea to keep tree branches trimmed away from the edges of your house.  Roof rats are excellent jumpers and consider anything less than 6 feet a pretty easy jump.  So make sure they can’t long jump their way into your house.

 

Keep these tips in mind for this coming winter and you’ll be well on your way to a quiet rodent season.

Well it’s that time of year again.  It’s a time when we get a break from the brutal heat and humidity of summer and finally cool off a bit.  These weather changes aren’t lost on Houstonians as most of us take full advantage of our unusually pleasant surroundings.  You’ll see people outside on patio’s and decks, people driving with the windows down, and Memorial park will brim over with joggers on crisp fall evenings.  Yes it’s a good time to be alive and an even better time to start thinking about……. Rats.

Ok, I’m sure rats and mice are the last thing any of us wants to think about any time, but this is the best time of year to start thinking about fortifying your house against these pesky creatures. 

Just as we notice the changes in our environment and in turn change our habits, most pests and especially rodents will do the same.  Right now Mr. Rat is most likely enjoying the weather outside just as much as we are, especially since food and harborage areas are easy to find in a mild climate.  However our rodent friends don’t like the cold any more than we do and once we make the transition into actual winter they’ll be looking to cozy up with you in that nice warm house of yours.

Rats and Mice are referred to as “Commensal “creatures.  This basically means that they live with and off of us.  Rodents have adapted from very early on to live in and around the structures created by man.  They also learned early on that hanging around humans is usually good for an easy meal.  Rats are kind of like that deadbeat friend that hangs out at your house; sleeps on you couch making a mess and eating all your Cheetos.  They know they don’t have to find their own food or shelter as long as they have you to leech off of.  This is the perfect time of year to evict those deadbeats, and it can be done with minimal chemical means.  In this way Rodent control of your home can be quite green.   So how do we safely eliminate rodents from our homes?  Stay tuned for my next post on Green Rodent Control.

 

Welcome to the world of the Pest Detective.  Here you’ll follow the adventures of Hunter Pest Control’s very own bug sleuth as he attempts to solve everyday pest control mysteries.  Think of him as the Columbo of pest control….”Just one more question ma’am”

The Case of the Clueless Client

 

It was one of those mornings when everything seems right in the world. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and my stack of messages from the evening before was small. However, bad things can come in small packages too. The first message had the word URGENT!  across the top and the phone number for Mrs. Carlyle.  She had been a fairly regular customer for the previous two years but suddenly had stopped using us. Oh Well, these things happen, I thought as I dialed her number.

The phone clicked to let me know she had picked up and as I started my standard,”This is Hunter Pest Control and I’m Jesse Nugent-Pest Detective” she cut me off with a pitiful cry.”Bugs are eating our new house! You have to come right away.” I realized the caller I.D. had alerted her that it was me calling and she was already at DefCon 3 on the scale of homeowner panic. She started an almost incoherent ramble about the new house and paying over a million dollars and everything was fine on all her inspections. She reminded me of the Summer showers we get almost every afternoon somewhere around town-pops up-dumps an inch of rain and then is gone , totally depleted. Well it took her about five minutes to “rain out” all her frustration and anxiety. I had seen this before, many times, so I just sat back and waited for her rant to subside.

Her story was one that was all too common in the real estate market of Houston. They bought a “new to them” house for over a million dollars. Because they were spending so much money on the house they tried to save money on everything else, including the inspections. I began to ask her a series of  leading questions, designed to enlighten her as to her situation. I already knew all the answers.

How long was the termite inspector there?   Oh, maybe 15 or 20 minutes. This is an 8,000 square foot house with an attached 4 car garage and maids quarters!

Did the inspection report recommend any treatment or correction of conducive conditions?

I don’t know. I wasn’t there but my agent said everything was fine.

Did you read the report?

No, Why should I?

How much did the inspection company charge?

I was $35.00. No wait $37.50 with tax.

You spent $37.50 on a 1.2 million dollar investment?

Hmmmmmm!

What makes you think you have “Bugs eating your house?”

Well, we started to paint the Master Bathroom and the sheet rock has all these little holes and tunnels and it’s full of these little white bugs. Outside we were starting to paint and the wood  just crumbled and there are millions of these little black pellets falling out. Is that bad? Can you come out today and spray them? Is it still $75.00 for a treatment like you used to charge every quarter on our old house? I then realized she was totally clueless as to her predicament. I slowly and gently informed her she most likely had an infestation of Subterranean Termites as well as Drywood Termites and no a $75.00 dollar quarterly spray would not solve the problem. The treatment for both would probably be in the $8,000 to $10,000 range. I did not tell her that if she hadn’t cheaped out on the inspection that all the treatments as well as the cost of repairing the damage would have been paid for by the seller.

I could sense the panic in her voice start to build like those summer storms. What should I do? We can’t afford that kind of expense.

Call your real estate agent and the Termite inspector, maybe they can help you.

I knew as I was saying the words that she would get nowhere with either. Her day was going a lot worse after our conversation but it was just another case for “Jesse Nugent-Pest Detective.