Rodent Control Austin: How to Guide

One of the most frequent questions I am asked by customers, especially during the winter months, is how to stop unwanted guests (aka rodents) from entering their house. My first answer to them is to trim the trees away from the house. As beautiful as trees may be they can act as a highway for rodents to easily access your roof. From the roof there are many different avenues the rodent can use to get inside the property. The chimney is a great example of such an entry a point; roof intersects and vent pipes are very common entry points as well. When closing any entry points found do NOT use foam. Rodents can chew through foam very easily (flashing or hardware cloth is best). In central Texas we deal with several different rodents but the one most prevalent is the roof rat. The roof rat is the smaller of the two most common rats, the other being the Norway rat. Mice do come up from time to time but more often than not the intruder is the roof rat. The roof rat is easily identified by its very long tail and large ears. The tail of the roof rat is longer than the body and if the ears were folded down they would actually cover the eyes. Roof rats are great climbers. They travel along fence tops, through trees and even along overhead wires. They generaly nest off the ground in tree hollows and they lover attics and crawl spaces as well. Sometimes they will nest in shallow burrows however burrows are typically a sign of the Norway rat. Other fall and winter time intruders include squirrels, raccoons and sometimes opossums. Maintaining clearance between your roof line and tree limbs can go a long way in preventing rodent infestation and there are many other steps that can be taken to prevent the damage that these unwelcome guests can create. A thorough inspection of your entire property is paramount to both rodent control and prevention.

To recap Austin rodent control:

• Trim all trees back away from the roof
• Check for any openings around the house where rodents may enter
• Close all holes found with hardy materials, NOT foam

Bug master offers a free ten point guide to help you ensure that your property stays rodent free year after year. If you would like to download a copy of this report simply follow the link below and get this report downloaded right to your devise. Again this guide is completely free with no obligation