The Trick To Getting Rid Of Rodents On Your Frisco Property

In our area, mice, rats, and sometimes squirrels, can become a problem. All of these are rodent pests. A rodent is an animal that has strong teeth that can chew through wood and other building materials. If a rodent gets the bright idea to live inside your Frisco home, there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. The key to keeping them out is to prevent them from having that bright idea. Here's how it works.

Why Rodents Get Inside

When a rodent runs along your foundation wall, it doesn't know that just on the other side of that wall is a temperature-controlled environment. It doesn't know that there is food aplenty. It has no idea that your home has hidden compartments inside the walls for a rodent to make the perfect nest. All it knows is what it is experiencing on the outside of your home. Here are a few ways you can discourage rodents from entering your home.

• Remove attractants. If you have lots of rodents near your home, you have a greater chance of having rodents get into your home. One of the first things to consider is attractants. We'll get into that in our next section.
• Remove rotted boards and address conditions that lead to wood rot. If a rodent finds a rotted board, it might decide to gnaw on that board to file down its teeth. The teeth of a rodent never stop growing. They must be filed down. If this exposes a void within your home, the rodent is likely to climb right in.
• Fill in gaps and holes. If a mouse or rat comes upon a gap around a water pipe, it is likely to explore it. Why? Because they're drawn to tight spaces. What's worse is that a mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime, and a rat can fit through a hole the size of a quarter. When you use a caulking gun to fill in gaps and holes, you don't provide tight spaces for rodents to explore.
• Make sure your exterior doors are sealed. If a rodent explores an exterior door and smells the scent of food or notices cool air coming out on a hot day, it might be inspired to make a small hole larger, or make a hole. It doesn't take long for a rodent to chew through weatherstripping and door sweeps. A good seal will help to prevent rodents from getting the wrong idea.
• Remove obvious food sources. If you feed squirrels nuts and then place the bag of nuts inside your screened-in porch, don't be surprised when you find a hole in your screen, and a hole in the bag.
• Protect louvers and vents. Some rodent species are incredible climbers. They can scale many exterior walls with ease. If you have an unprotected louver or vent, a rodent could chew its way inside simply to get out of the weather. Hardware cloth can help to prevent this.

What Makes A Rodent Explore Your Exterior?

We mentioned above that one of the most important things to consider is rodent populations. The more rodents you have near your home, the greater your chances are of having an indoor infestation. Here are a few things that can make your exterior rodent friendly.

• Dense vegetation. A mouse or rat will prefer a home that has dense landscaping near it. They hide in landscape vegetation. Squirrels don't care if you see them. This won't be an attractant for squirrels.
• Organic yard clutter, such as leaves, sticks, wood, etc. Not only can rodents hide in these, they'll find bugs to feed on in these places. Yard work is essential for rodent control.
• Objects stored in your backyard. Norway rats are particularly interested in stacked objects. They create burrows in the ground underneath.
• Seeds on the ground below a bird feeder. Rodents love seeds as much as birds do.
• An open or dirty trash receptacle. The scent of decaying food can attract rodents (particularly mice and rats) from quite a distance. Keep your trash in clean, covered receptacles to remove this attractant.

What Makes A Rodent Come Into Your Yard

A rodent can come into your yard for no reason at all. It could just find its way over from a neighboring property. There are, however, some factors that can make your yard more interesting and inviting to a rodent, particularly mice and rats.