Rodents like living in Greensboro homes. Our homes offer them a few things that they love most. Top of the list is a place to hide. Rodents are motivated to find places to hide. There are many animals that would attempt to kill and eat a mouse or a rat. This is why they hide under everything, and scurry from one hiding place to the next.
You may not know this, but your home offers a lot of wonderful hiding places. It also has food. That is another thing rodents love. But you might not know why they love the food in your home above all of the many things they can find out in the wild. It has to do with the first point. When a rodent goes hunting, it is also hunted. This is why they tend to establish themselves as close to food sources as possible. In your home, they can be right inside the wall of your pantry. You can't get much closer to a food source than that! So the last thing you want is for a rodent to know how wonderful it is in your home. But keeping them out can be hard. Here's why.
1. Rodents Are Attracted To Holes, Gaps & Cracks
Have you ever seen a mouse or a rat running along a wall? This is because they are thigmotactic. They like to be touching solid objects. But they're not just drawn to having one side touching. They like to be squeezed into spaces where more than one side is against a hard surface. This is one of the reasons they get into homes. When they see a tight space, they explore it.
2. Rodents Squeeze Through Small Holes
Mice and rats have an interesting ability. They're able to shift their internal organs around. This allows them to get through holes that seem too small. A typical rat can fit through a hole the size of a quarter. A typical mouse can fit through a hole the size of a dime.
3. Rodents Chew Holes
If a hole is too small for a rodent to get through, it can make it larger. A determined mouse can chew right through a timber of wood. A determined rat can chew through brick mortar and concrete. Both of these animals can make short work of weatherstripping and door sweeps if they are motivated.
4. Rodents Are Drawn To Warmth
When mice and rats explore the outside of Raleigh homes on a cold night, they can sense the heat that leaks out doors, windows, and gaps around pipes. In late fall and through the winter, rodent invasions increase as temperatures make living outside less than ideal. This is particularly true of house mice.
5. Rodents Can Climb
There are many videos available on the internet that show mice and rats scaling walls. Some of them are amazing. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching one, we encourage it. You should know that these rodents don't just scurry along your foundation walls and hide in your landscaping. They can climb right up the side of your home if they find the right surface. They can also climb up a downspout on your gutter system and gain access to vulnerabilities on your roof. Roof rats are particularly good climbers and will often use tree branches to leap onto roofs.
6. Rodents Can Jump
Rats can jump as far as three feet straight up in the air. Mice can also jump quite high—for their small size. A mouse can make a vertical jump of up to 13 inches. This allows them to get into trash receptacles and other places you wouldn't expect. It also helps them conquer obstacles that should keep them from getting into your home.
What Is Required To Keep Rodents Out
You can apply flashing to vulnerable points and attempt to keep on top of filling in holes that rodents create, but the best way to keep rodents out is to control the rodent population around your Greensboro home. You can do this by reducing food, water, and harborage options, or by investing in ongoing pest control.
At Go-Forth Pest Control, we help Greensboro homeowners reduce the number of rodents by reducing one of the food sources rodents eat: bugs. We can also provide rodent management to capture and control rodents around your home. Reach out to us today. We'll help you find the right solution for your specific pest control needs and budget.
