Rodent Resources - Rodent Control Strategy

Rodent Control Strategy
Eliminating rodents from your home, workplace, or barn can be done in three simple steps: Seal, Kill and Clean. Seal all access to food, water, or harborage. Kill rodents using Just One Bite and Rodentex products. Clean your environment so rodents won’t find it inviting. Below are specific tips to help you create your own rodent control strategy.

Sealing off rodents’ access to food, water, or harborage is the first step in controlling rodents. Below are tips to help you seal your home, workplace, or barn.
  • Prohibit access to food -- that’s why rodents are there in the first place. Seal all food in rodent-proof containers or secure storage cabinets
  • Find and seal any cracks or holes large enough for the critters to enter– and it doesn’t take much. A mouse can slip through an opening the size of a dime – a rat only needs a nickel’s worth of clearance
  • Check condition of attic and foundation vents – and cover with ¼” wire screen mesh – screen over dryer vents, too
  • Cover foundation cracks with concrete mortar, metal flashing, or copper wool (steel wool can rust away)
  • Be sure to check where pipes and wires enter the building, and seal snugly around them. Don’t use anything they can chew through like plastic, wood, or cardboard. Metal is best
  • Cover chimney top with spark arrester screen
  • Fit snug fitting covers on crawl spaces
  • Keep doors and windows securely closed and sealed – make sure screens have no holes
  • Put sealing gasket on bottom of garage door – check each end for gaps – and seal

Once sealed, eliminating the rodents from your home, office or barn is the next step to ridding your life of mice and rats. Below are tips to killing rats and house mice.
  • Use rodent traps or poison baits (rodenticides)
  • If rodenticides are used – be certain to carefully follow all label directions
  • Always place poison baits so they cannot be accessed by children, pets, or other non-targeted animals
  • Just One Bite† EX and Rodentex™ products are highly effective, convenient methods for controlling rodents in the home, workplace, or in agricultural structures
  • Just One Bite* II is made exclusively for farm and other agricultural facility use

Cleanliness can be the biggest deterrent to mice and rats taking up residence where they aren’t welcome. Below are tips for keeping sanitary conditions in your home, workplace, and barn to deter rodents from making these places their home.
  • Keep garbage in tightly secure containers
  • Keep fruit off the menu by harvesting when ripe and promptly picking up any that falls on the ground
  • Don’t leave pet food out where rodents can enjoy it
  • Use rodent-proof bird feeders
  • Mow grass and weeds and prune shrubs at the base, and cut back vines to eliminate any natural cover where rodents can nest or hide
  • Prune tree limbs that overhang the roof
  • Keep firewood, lumber, and other materials neatly stacked at least a foot from walls or fences, a minimum of 18 inches off the ground. Avoid making piles of rocks or anything else that would make a good hiding place
  • Routinely check for dead rodents and remove them as soon as possible. Use gloves to pick them up, double-bag the carcass and dispose of in a secure outside trash container