It's Saturday! Instead of waiting for something to go wrong with your house, be preventive. After a couple shots of morning espresso, let's spend 15 minutes taking a quick look around... and maybe making a couple of quick repairs.
Saturday Shots: Rodents!
Last week, we took a stroll around the house, looking at the surfaces that stuff can fall on. If you found droppings, go back outside and see if there are more. (Here's a hint... really old ones are gray or white. Older droppings are usually dry and brittle. (Feel free to use plyers to test them – or wash your hands well) I expect you can figure out how to tell if you see new "sign".
Rodents are not good housekeepers. Anywhere they go, they'll leave a bit of a trail... on window sills, in corners of cabinets and closets, even where they go in and out of a wall. They're not clean - and they like to chew on stuff. Let's avoid illness, energy inefficiency, and fires from rodent damage.
Look in corners of the garage, behind things. In the basement, look on the high surfaces 1 inch or wider (window sills, floor joists, the sill plate where the house is bolted to the foundation) Look inside and outside for:
- rodent droppings (this should be obvious) look like black rice. Generally, small is mice, large is rat, chipmunk, or squirrel. Rats are not consistent in shape or size from one moment to the next. (Round is from rabbit, goat, sheep, deer.) This time, before you clean 'em up, think about how you're going to address the problem. If you're going to hire a professional, leave 'em so they can see what's really going on.
- a dirty patch (usually gray or brown) on the wall outside in the upper corners near the roof, around doors or windows. All animals have oils in their hair. The oils rub off when climbing or squeezing through an area... and dirt will stick to the oils. The larger patches are usually from larger rodents like squirrels or rats. Mice usually leave a small ring around the hole.
- chewed corners of wood or plastic. Rodents are gnawing pests. Their teeth never stop growing, so they need to keep them to a manageable length. And it is amazing how sharp rodent teeth are... but usually they only use them for plastics (coating on wires must contain a sweetener) and wood. These items, along with fiberglass are often used for nests, but my experience is that we can rarely get to the nest without destroying the house. (Remind me to tell you about the rat in our house in NY when we talk... bbbrrr, I still get the chills when I think about it.)
When you're done, I'd recommend making notes in a small notebook or computer file, in case you find something similar in a couple months or years.
Remember that exclusion is the best method of pest control... keep 'em out! Before you put out chemicals, make sure you've properly identified the pest... Most pesticides are targeted to specific pests, even particular types. Do your homework (or contact me) before attacking the rats. There are lots of sources online... npic.orst.edu (the National Pesticide Information Center) is a very thorough resource.
"A shot of prevention is better than a venti of cure."
"A shot of prevention is better than a venti of cure."
The Fine Print: Because of the general nature of this advice and the individual application thereof, neither the Merriam Agency nor Jon Barron assume any responsibility for any loss, cost, damage, injury or expense which may be incurred or suffered as a result of the use of this information or your own foolishness
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