Don’t you just love Winter! The Bluebird days, the fresh crisp cool air… waking up everyday to a pantry full of rodent droppings and all your food boxes full of holes with rice and floury little mouse foot prints all over your floor…… Vvvvvvvrrrrrrt!!!
While winter is a glorious season it also brings, without a doubt the influx of Rodent Plagues together with the frustration of trying to eradicate them and get a “Rodent Free Home” once again!
While you sip on your long island ice teas, in your togz, working on your tan in the bliss of summer (wishful thinking for most of us), rodents are busy also enjoying the warmer weather by breeding, in huge numbers. Statistics show a female mouse can litter up to 15-20 mice per month! By the time winter rolls around there are hundreds and thousands of mice & rats desperate for food, warmth and shelter.
Other factors such as exceptional crop seasons and excess rain can also trigger a plague to hit outside of the colder months but on average Australia will experience a Rodent Plague every four to ten years. The last plague was in 2011 where the plague caused severe damage to homes, buildings, cars and even destroyed farming equipment and caused the deaths of large numbers of livestock!
While there are more then 20 native rodent species in Queensland alone and approximately 60 Australia wide, it is the introduced species of rodent that cause us the frustration in our homes!
- Brown or Sewer or Norway Rat
- Roof Rat
- House Mouse
While there are DIY Rodenticide products, over the last 50 years it seems the rodents have either built up immunity or developed evolutionary adaptation towards some of these products due to excessive and widespread use and they don’t seem to be as effective as they once were.
DIY products can also be a little more cost effective then hiring a professional, but consider some of the issues you may encounter such as secondary poisoning to your pets (if your not careful where the baits are being placed) and also bait or poison shyness – a common problem with DIY products.
There is also evidence to suggest that due to rodents’ sensitive and acute sense of smell, if human hands touch the baits, rodents may dismiss the bait.
While baiting, whether with DIY or by a professional is the best option there are a number of things you can do around your home to help prevent the plague moving in and ensure the baits will work as effectively as possible.
- Keep your home tidy, trees, foliage, fire wood piles etc
- Fill or patch any holes leading into your home around service pipes, plumbing etc *anywhere you little pinky will fit is big enough for rodents to get inside
- Clean up rubbish, accumulated newspapers/ paper etc
- Dispose of piles of clothes – left undisturbed for a period of time can be prime nesting territory
- Clean up pet food, bowls and chicken pens and birds cages
- Store your food in sealed containers where possible
- If you have fruit tress – discard the fallen fruit
- Install mesh to drain pipes & seal holes around service pipes
- Install draft blockers at the bottom of your doors
- Keep wheelie bin lids closed
- Remove water sources from the home to encourage rodents to leave the house once baits have been installed.
There is currently a plague on the Gold Coast that is proving to test the patience of homeowners and residents. An increase in rodents will result in an increase of Rodent enquiries and Treatments that is exactly what we have been seeing! Don’t be discouraged! Accurate Pest Management specialise in Rodents and helping you to claim your home back as your own.
While some of our clients are receiving regular visits from us to help with supply and demand of baits and bait station installs due to the large number of rodents they are experiencing in the areas, this is quite normal with a plague. It is important to maintain the bait upkeep until the numbers minimize to nil.
Unfortunately, as a Pest Management company we can’t control where the rodents invade, but if you follow the helpful tips above together with contacting us to assist you, you will be rodent free in no time!
Don’t spend the rest of you winter months sharing your air conditioning, netfilx and yummy dinners with these unhygienic, disease-ridden vermin. Call Accurate Pest Management today!!