Rodent infestations are a common nuisance that homeowners throughout Alabama have to deal with. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for mice and rats to get into your home. Rats can squeeze their furry bodies through cracks and holes half an inch wide, and mice can slip through spaces much smaller than that. Rodents often find these openings on our walls or roofs, and will widen them by gnawing if necessary in order to fit through. Within your home, mice and rats will spread through walls, ceilings, and other remote spaces, breeding rapidly to overrun your property.
If you have a rodent infestation in your Alabama home, there are a few measures you can take to get rid of them. Continue reading to learn more about problems with mice and rats, and what you can do to solve them.
4 Ways to Get Rid of Rodents in Your Attic & Walls
- Place Bait Traps
The most direct and effective way to remove rodents from your home in Alabama is with properly baited and well-placed traps. Rodents are opportunists; they come into our homes in search of warm shelter, and also to look for an easy meal. Placing something appetizing on a trap in the right location can lure rodents out from your walls and attic to eliminate them. Mice and rats eat just about everything, but some of the best rodent baits are peanut butter, jelly, marshmallow, bacon, seeds, and pet food. Equally important is where you place your traps. Target remote areas such as the attic, basement, and crawl space, where mice and rats often lurk. If possible, place traps in wall voids as well. With luck, you may be able to get rid of a rodent infestation for good with a few well-placed traps.
- Seal Entry Points
You can get rid of all the mice and rats under your roof but unless you find a better way of keeping them outside, more will just keep coming in. It’s crucial to also track down rodents’ entry points to your Alabama home and close them off. Carefully inspect your walls for any possible rodent entry points in the siding or along the foundation. Use weatherproof caulk to seal off these holes so that rodents can’t use them to infiltrate your home again. You might also need to get up on your roof and look for missing shingles, which can allow rats and mice to access the interior of your home. Vent openings often serve as rodent entry points, too; keep rodents from crawling into your vents using mesh covers, which are challenging for rodents to chew through.
- Prevent Food Access
As long as your home provides plentiful food, you’ll have a hard time getting rid of rats and mice in your attic and walls. Plus, if there’s an easy supply of food in the kitchen, rodents are less likely to bother with the bait in traps. Oftentimes, rodents wait for people to go to sleep at night, then sneak into kitchens to munch on scraps off plates and crumbs on the floor. If you know you’ve been having rodent issues lately, take extra care to clean your kitchen so there’s nothing left behind for mice and rats to eat. You should also never leave uncovered food out overnight, even if it’s something that won’t spoil. Store all food in airtight containers to prevent rodents from getting into it.
- Professional Rodent Control
Because rodents are both persistent and fast-multiplying, getting rid of them on your own can prove quite the challenge. Usually, the fastest way to restore your home to rodent-free status is to hire a professional rodent control company in Alabama. Trained pest control technicians can inspect your home to find out where rats and mice are living, how they’ve been getting in, and what seems to be attracting them to your property. Implementing the most effective treatment methods, exterminators will be able to completely remove all rats or mice from your attic, walls, and all other parts of your home.
Do You Need Professional Rodent Control in Alabama?
SafeSpray Pest Control is an Alabama rodent control company that specializes in efficiently removing infestations of rats and mice from our customers’ homes. If you have a rodent problem that you’d like our help to solve, contact us today!