How To Rodent-Proof Your Home This Holiday Season

The holidays are here! Whether you have travel plans or are staying home, the last thing you want to do is end the year with a rodent infestation. Unfortunately, though, this is the time of year when mice and rats are very motivated to get into your house. The weather is colder outside, and food and water are harder to come by, which makes a warm house with lots of provisions a very tempting option.

If you don’t want to spend your holiday fighting off a rodent infestation, you need to know how to rodent-proof your home this holiday season. The following rodent prevention tips for Pee Dee and Grand Strand will help you keep your home rodent-free.

Make your lawn unattractive

Rodents won’t get into your house if they’re not spending time on your property. You can make them less likely to show up on your lawn by removing the things that will attract them to your property. Do this by:

• Keeping your grass trimmed.
• Removing lawn debris and leaf litter.
• Cutting back branches and foliage around the sides of your house.
• Storing firewood and garbage cans a safe distance from your house.
• Removing unnecessary items and clutter around your lawn and around the exterior walls of your house.
• Removing food sources that are outside, such as bird seed or pet food.
• Eliminating areas of standing water and excess moisture.

Removing food, water, and shelter areas around your property will make it less likely that rodents will visit your lawn.

Make it difficult for rodents to find a way inside

If rodents do show up on your property, you don’t have to concede the fight. Instead, make sure they can’t get inside. To do this, you have to seal up all of the potential entry points they might use to access the inside of your home. 

Rodents don’t need large openings to get inside. Mice only need a space the size of a dime, and if they can’t find one that big, they can often find a smaller opening and chew away at it until it’s big enough to fit through. Because of this, you have to look carefully at all the areas that might be susceptible to rodent invasion. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Gaps around windows and doors
• Cracks in the foundation
• Holes in the siding
• Gaps under the garage door
• Damage to shingles or the roof
• Open downspouts
• Uncapped chimneys
• Open vents
• Window or door screens with tears or holes
• Openings around plumbing and electrical entry points

Once you’ve made a list of all the areas where rodents might enter, work to seal up or cover all of these areas to make them inaccessible.

Make the interior of your house unwelcoming

If rodents do find a way to get inside your house, you’ll want to make sure they find nothing of interest to them there. You need to keep your home free of available food and nesting areas. To do this, do the following:

• Do not store food out in the open on your counters. Instead, keep all food in sealed containers or in the refrigerator.
• Remove pantry items, such as flour or cereal, from cardboard or paper containers and place them in hard-sided containers instead.
• Wash dishes immediately after use or place them in the dishwasher right away.
• Wipe off counters and tables after cooking and eating.
• Take out the trash on a regular basis.
• Vacuum your floors frequently to remove crumbs and other food particles.
• Make sure you don’t have any leaky pipes or faucets.
• Remove clutter from every room in your house, especially rooms that don’t get a lot of traffic.

When you make your home a difficult place for rodents to survive, they are unlikely to stick around. 

Contact Harris Pest Control for effective rodent control

If you want to be sure that rodents don’t get inside your home and ruin your holidays, the best thing you can do is contact Harris Pest Control for rodent control. Serving Florence, Myrtle Beach, and communities throughout the Pee Dee and Grand Strand areas, our services start with a thorough inspection and include a customized treatment plan to eliminate and prevent infestations, as well as a 30-day guarantee. 

For ongoing protection from rodents and other house-infesting pests, we highly recommend signing up for one of our year-round home pest control plans. Compare plans and pricing below, or give us a shout. We’re here to help you enjoy a rodent-free holiday season!