Each year at this time hundreds of homeowners in Southern Connecticut call for help with house mouse control.

Credits: Fall Preview: Mice Pest Control — Chagrin Valley Pest Control

House mice are Olympic gold medalists when it comes to entering and navigating your home. They are excellent climbers and can run vertically up a brick wall at top speed. A house mouse can effortlessly jump 5 or six times it’s body length (equivalent of a human jumping vertically 20-30 feet)! And house mice can slip through a crack the diameter of a pencil.

Inside your home, house mice find everything they need for a comfortable Winter:

• Insulation for a warm, soft nesting area
• Your kitchen provides all the food they need
• Water condensation on pipes ensures mice will never go thirsty.

House Mouse Control First Line of Defense: Make the environment immediately OUTSIDE your home unfriendly to mice.

• A wood pile, high grass and leaves provide perfect nesting areas.
• Bird feeders, dog food or any animal food provide all the nutrition a rodent needs.
• Ponds, bird baths, fountains and any standing water will attract a thirsty rodent.

House Mouse Control Second line of defense: Seal every crack larger than the width of a pencil.

Mice are part of the ‘Rodent family’ – this means their 2 front teeth constantly grow. To keep these teeth in check, they have to constantly gnaw to wear them down. This means mice can gnaw through floorboards, door frames, plastic pipes, and electrical cables and even lightweight aluminum. This provides a problem for the pest controller as any proofing works are often bypassed by the mice gnawing through the proofing product or simply gnawing another access hole next to the area proofed.

Credits: What can cause you to suffer a mice infestation? – Murray Pest Control

House Mouse Control Third Line of Defense: Eliminate any available source of food INSIDE your home.

Given a mouse only weighs around 10 grams, it doesn’t need much in the way of split food or refuse to live and raise a family.

Dog and cat food is nearly always left on the floor all day and night where it is easily accessed by foraging rodents.

Much like our food, it is high in proteins and vitamins and therefore is ideal for supporting mouse infestations. Pet birds can encourage an infestation, the canary & millet seeds used to feed them are ideal mice food, they usually come in soft packaging that is easily gnawed through and mice can fit through the bars to all bird cages. Credits: What can cause you to suffer a mice infestation? – Murray Pest Control

Other Food Sources on Your House Mouse Control Hit List:

• The cages of pet guinea pigs and rabbits – mice can easily get into their cages to feast on their food.
• Bulk food storage: House mice easily gnaw through those bulk bags of rice and flour from Costco that sit in your pantry for weeks.

Your house mouse control challenge dramatically increases once mice are inside your home. Each mouse can rear a litter of 8 within the first 6 weeks, and do this up to 10 times each year! The next generations are mature in 6 weeks, and rearing litters of their own. Do the math…that’s a lot of mice!

What’s more, by the time you see the first mouse, or mouse droppings, the mice may be 2 or 3 generations along!

House Mouse Control Ultimate Line of Defense:

Call ApolloX Pest Control Now: (888) 499-7378

info@apollox.net

Even if you do not see any signs of house mice, we can thoroughly inspect your home and yard, help you to an effective mouse control strategy, and discover a mouse control problem before long before you know it’s there, and way before it get’s out of hand.

The post House Mouse Control Problems? How to Win! appeared first on Pest Control.

Where did they come from?

Why Winter Pest Control?

Most people don’t think about Winter pest control. But the pests are there, just hidden. Actually, the pests Winter and multiply in your nice warm home, and as the weather heats up in the Spring, they emerge from hiding.

With a little Winter pest control, you can avoid the “Spring surprise”. It’s as easy as keeping up with your pest control program, though at a lower level, through the colder Winter months. According to the National Pest Management Association, homeowners need to continue implementing preventive measures throughout the season to ensure no pests will be disturbing them during the holidays, and then later emerging in the Spring.

Winter Pest Control Strategy

A good Winter pest control program starts with creating exclusion steps to keep pests out and eliminating their food sources as well as using chemicals and traps when necessary.  

The first step in your Winter pest control program is to conduct a pre-Winter inspection for entry points as well as schedule times when either you or your bug guy will apply external insect barriers.  Credits: Is Pest Control Necessary In Winter | – Horizon Pest Control

Your Winter pest control program will primarily target pests like German Cockroaches, house mice and brown recluse spiders:

Winter Pest Control for German Cockroaches

German cockroaches get inside your home by hitchhiking on grocery bags, boxes and furniture. Anything that you bring to your house, especially those that you bought from second hand sources, may contain German cockroaches. So you will need to very carefully inspect them before bringing them inside your home. With regards to grocery bags and boxes, you may opt to open them outside your home.

What makes German cockroaches dangerous is their ability to easily spread bacteria, human pathogens and allergens by contaminating your food. Also, it has been reported that they could also trigger an allergy attack and even aggravate asthma symptoms in children.

Winter pest control measures involve keeping your kitchens and bathrooms clean and dry. Do not leave leftover food or spilled crumbs on the floor or kitchen counters over night. And always dispose your garbage properly and regularly.

Winter Pest Control for House mice

These are the common mice that you often see scurrying around the house. They like to take shelter in dark and secluded areas of the house. So if you want to see where they’re hiding, you’d better check the basement and the attic. You’ll want to get rid of house mice as soon as you realize they’re sheltering with you because of the damage they can do to your home and belongings, as well as the risk they’re placing on you and your family’s health. Keep in mind that house mice are known to spread diseases including Salmonella and tapeworms by contaminating your food.

For effective Winter pest control, conduct an overall home inspection and look for any gaps or holes. Tightly seal these cracks and holes. You may opt to use caulk and steel wool to seal them. You also want to keep your garage, basement, and attic free of clutter as these could serve as great hiding places for mice.

Winter Pest Control for Brown Recluse Spiders

You will often find these spiders inside your closet, attic, crawl spaces, basement, and any other secluded area inside your home. Aside from these, they are also often found inside boxes, in clothes and shoes that you seldom use, and along window moldings.

What makes brown recluse spiders dangerous is their venom, so don’t disturb them when you see them or you could end up being bitten.

Winter pest control measures that will help keep these spiders away from your home involve keeping trees and shrubs trimmed. Make sure no branches or limbs reach your home or overhang your roof. You should also store unused clothes and shoes in tightly sealed containers. You can opt to use plastic or clear containers so it will be easy for you to see inside the container without opening it and sealing it back. Credits: Start Early With Your Winter Pest Control | AAA Pest Control Myrtle …

A good Winter pest control program will help you avoid a “Spring surprise”. Conduct a pre-Winter inspection, and keep up with your pest control efforts even if it appears that everything is under control. We suggest a pre and mid-Winter professional pest control visit and application. This will give you a head start in the Spring as well as keep you and your family safe and secure during the colder winter months.

Winter Pest Control Help

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378 

The post Winter Pest Control or “Spring Surprise”? appeared first on Pest Control.

Winter rodent pest control becomes an issue beginning in later November when rodents are likely to be seeking a warm place to ride out the Winter, and that warm place may be your home!

Why Winter Rodent Pest Control?

Winter rodent pest control is important because rodents are carriers of a vast array of diseases, such as Salmonella, murine typhus, infectious jaundice, rat-bite fever and the potentially fatal Hantavirus. They can also chew through drywall, insulation, wood and electrical wiring, increasing the potential risk for fires. 

Your Winter Rodent Pest Control Checklist

Check your home for these 5 signs of a possible rodent invasion:

1. Droppings: A trail of rodent droppings is typically found in kitchen cabinets and pantries, along walls, on top of wall studs or beams, and in boxes, bags and old furniture.
2. Noises: Rodents often make scurrying sounds, especially at night, as they move about and nest.
3. Gnaw marks: New gnaw marks tend to be rough to the touch and are light colored.
4. Burrows: Inside, rodents often nest in various materials such as insulation, and they are drawn to areas that are dark and secluded.
5. Damaged food packages: House mice prefer to feed on cereals and seeds, while Norway rats prefer meat, fish and dry dog food. Credits: Hulett Environmental Services encourages public awareness of …

Winter Rodent Pest Control Most Wanted List

House Mouse

House mice are gray or brown rodents with relatively large ears and small eyes. An adult weighs about 1/2 ounce and is about 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches long, including the 3 to 4 inch tail.

Although house mice usually feed on cereal grains, they will eat many kinds of food. They eat often, nibbling bits of food here and there. Mice have keen senses of taste, hearing, smell and touch. They are excellent climbers and can run up any rough vertical surface. They will run horizontally along wire cables or ropes and can jump up 13 inches from the floor onto a flat surface. They can slip through a crack that a pencil will fit into (sightly larger than 1/4 inch in diameter).

Your Winter rodent pest control most wanted list begins with the house mouse because in a single year, a female may have five to 10 litters of usually five or six young each. Young are born 19 to 21 days after mating, and they are mature in six to 10 weeks. The life span of a mouse is about nine to 12 months. This breeding activity can continue throughout the Winter.

Rats

Norway rats are husky, brownish rodents that weigh about 11 ounces. They are about 13 to 18 inches long including the 6 to 8 1/2 inch tail. Their fur is coarse and mostly brown with scattered black on the upper surfaces. The underside is typically grey to yellowish-white.

Rats will eat nearly any type of food, but they prefer high-quality foods such as meat and fresh grain. Rats require 1/2 to 1 fluid ounce of water daily when feeding on dry food. Rats have keen taste, hearing and sense of smell. They will climb to find food or shelter, and they can gain entrance to a building through any opening larger than 1/2 inch across.

Your Winter rodent pest control most wanted list contains rats because, like the house mouse, they are active breeders. Rats have litters of 6 to 12 young, which are born 21 to 23 days after mating. Young rats reach reproductive maturity in about three months. Breeding is most active in spring and fall, and the more abundant the Winter food source, the more energy they have to breed. The average female has four to six litters per year. Rats can live for up to 18 months, but most die before they are one year old.

Voles

Our Winter rodent pest control list has a final character, the vole. Most people go their whole lives without ever so much as hearing about voles, let alone controlling them. Voles are sometimes referred to as “meadow mice” or “field mice.” They construct well-defined, visible tunnels, or “runways” at or near the surface, about two inches wide. Vole runways result from the voles eating the grass blades, as well as from the constant traffic of numerous little feet beating over the same path. And if any lawn and garden pest can literally “beat a path” through the grass due to their sheer numbers, it’s the voles. Rabbits don’t have anything over this prolific rodent! They can cause a lot of damage to your landscape. Credits: Mice, Rats and Voles – Omaha Pest Control, Inc

Why not celebrate Rodent Awareness Week this year by initiating a Winter rodent pest control program.

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378

The post Winter Rodent Pest Control Inspection Checklist appeared first on Pest Control.