how-to-keep-mice-from-entering-your-camper-or-boat

How to Keep Mice from Entering Your Stored Boat or Camper this Winter

how-to-keep-mice-from-entering-your-camper-or-boatMany of us are all too familiar with storing boats or campers for the winter months when we are not able to use them. The age old question is how do we keep mice from entering your stored boat or camper? There are many ideas and suggestions including mothballs, Irish spring bars, or dryer sheets. However, we have an additional suggestion that will keep the mice from entering your stored boat or camper not just for winter but all year long.

Exterior Baiting Programs from Erdye’s Pest Control keeps the mice from entering your stored boat or camper. Whether your boat or camper is in a storage facility or stored outside, our exterior baiting program will keep the mice away.

Our exterior baiting system allows rodents (mice, rats, and other small species) to enter the baiting system. The mice or other rodents will eat the bait which makes them very thirsty. As the rodents thirst for water, they will typically leave to find water directly after eating the bait. When this occurs, the rodents do not come back. With the baiting system, there is very little chance of any second-hand poisoning because the rodents only eat enough bait specific to their size. View the video below for a deeper look into Erdye’s Baiting System.

As with any mice or rodent issue, Erdye’s Pest Control provides a FREE comprehensive inspection and we will help you determine the best way to keep mice from entering your stored boat or camper. Call us today to schedule your appointment at 920.455.0373.

Best Way to Kill Mice and Keep Them Out

Remove mice from your homeSo, you can tell you have mice in your home. Whether you’ve heard the scratching or gnawing in the ceiling or in the walls or simply see the mice or droppings, it’s time to get rid of them. Today, we’ll look at the best way to kill mice in your home.

Traps

There are pretty much four basic types of traps; mechanical snap traps, multiple catch traps, glue traps, and electronic traps. We find the mechanical snap traps are the most reliable and best way to kill mice in your home. Why? It’s economical and quick. They are easy to set up and most (especially the wooden Victor snap trap) can be used repeatedly. We don’t typically recommend poison for several reasons. First, once the mouse eats the poison, it doesn’t usually leave your home. That means it’s still in your home. Second, the dead mouse in your house causes more issues from decomposing. A decomposing mouse smells bad and can attract other insects. This also creates a mold problem which in turn causes unhealthy air quality for you and your family. And lastly, we do not recommend poison if there are small children or pets in the home that could possibly get into the poison.

Glue Traps or Sticky Traps

We do not recommend glue traps. Glue traps or sticky traps have a sticky surface with an attractant for the mice or other rodents. As they run across the glue/sticky trap, the mice get stuck in the glue. The mice typically do not die right away. They die from starvation or dehydration over a period of several days. This is a very inhumane way to kill mice and even though we do not want mice in our homes, we do not recommend glue/sticky traps as the best way to kill mice.

Baiting Stations

Bait stations are sealed components with poison placed inside the station. These bait stations are placed outside in strategic locations around your home. These stations are safe as the poison cannot be accessed by pets or small children. These baiting stations allow rodents to enter the station through small holes, eat the poison, and then leave the station. Our bait stations are maintenance free and offer protection year round. This is one of the best ways to kill mice or rodents around the exterior of your home (not inside, remember; Do not kill anything in your home you cannot get out of your home) which will prevent them from getting into your home.

But, before you start killing those mice, take a look to see how they are entering your home. If you do not seal up your home properly, the mice will continue to enter your home. This continues the cycle of having to kill the mice. For more prevention and sealing of your home techniques, please see our blog post on “Common Places Mice Get Into Your Home.”

The Best Way to Kill Mice

1) Seal Your Home to prevent Mice from Entering
2) Set Mechanical Snap Traps
3) Place Bait Stations Around the Outside of Your Home

If you have a rodent infestation, but can’t get rid of mice, call Erdye’s for a FREE inspection of your basement, attic or crawlspace – we’ll track down your unwanted guests and come up with a safe, reliable plan to get rid of them.

7 Tips for Keeping Mice from Entering Your Home-Erdyes-Pest-Control-Wisconsin

7 Tips to Keeping Mice from Entering Your Home

7 Tips for Keeping Mice from Entering Your Home-Erdyes-Pest-Control-WisconsinMost of us prefer not to have mice in our homes and with good reason. Mice can carry many diseases and a mouse infestation could be making you and your family sick. Today’s 7 tips to keeping mice from entering your home will keep you from having a mouse infestation.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and now is the time to plan before fall heads into town to protect your home and family from mice.

Implement these 7 tips to keeping mice from entering your home today.

1) Walk around your home and inspect the outside of your house. Look for any holes or cracks on the exterior of your home. Look where utilities enter into your home and make sure that all holes are sealed with caulk, steel wool or both.

2) Check your vents and chimney openings. Use a fine mesh screen to control mice from entering your home via these routes.

3) Check all window screens to make sure there are no holes. If you find a hole, replace the screen to keep those unwanted critters from making your home theirs.

4) Store firewood away from your home and up off the ground. Stacked firewood is a great place for mice to make homes. You don’t want mice to be by your front door now do you?

5) Dispose of garbage regularly, mice want to eat just like we do so they are always looking to be close to food sources.

6) Store food in airtight containers.

7) Replace or install door sweeps on exterior doors. It takes only a small opening for a mouse to get into your home. Proper door sweeps keep mice from entering through this passage.

Mice reproduce quickly. If you have suspicion that you already have a rodent infestation, but can’t get rid of them, contact Erdye’s for a FREE inspection of your basement, attic or crawlspace – we’ll track down your unwanted guests and come up with a safe, reliable plan to get rid of them.

Getting Rid of Mice

Getting Rid of Mice the Fastest Way Possible

What’s the first thing most homeowners think when they spot a mouse? “Ewww!” OK, what’s the second thing they think? “What is the fastest way to get rid of mice?”

This is certainly understandable. After all, the longer those mice hang around the more likely it is that they’ll quickly multiply, spread disease and wreak general havoc. With those potential developments in mind, it’s no wonder getting rid of mice – and fast – is such a priority.

Unfortunately, there’s no overnight solution for getting rid of mice. The process isn’t particularly complicated, but it does require the time and effort to go through the following steps:
Continue reading Getting Rid of Mice the Fastest Way Possible

Why D.I.Y. Pest Control Is Not a Good Choice

We all know the term D.I.Y. and “Do It Yourselfers” are a growing community of people. The D.I.Y. approach is big business in the U.S., therefore there’s a real push in marketing to encourage people to get the job done themselves. With Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards and many other Big Box stores focused on the person who gets the job done themselves, and an entire television network dedicated to the D.I.Y. approach, it seems almost second nature to choose to do it yourself when you have a project that needs taking care of. While this is usually a terrific way to save time and money, it isn’t always, and we want to lower the risk for you in deciding when to take on the work yourself, and when to hire a professional.

When it comes to pest control, there seem to be an infinite number of people who have suggestions, advice and tips on handling the problem yourself. We want to share why D.I.Y. pest control can be extremely harmful.  One particular form of pest control where I have observed nearly everyone having opinions and advice on how to help yourself is with mice. I have experienced it myself…you have mice in your house and you just want them gone! They are a menace, and along with freaking out your entire family, they can also cause illness as mentioned in our previous post. While on the surface, it seems as though these are the only issues when mice come into your home; however, it goes so much deeper than that. Mice can destroy your home, wreak havoc on your electrical system, and cause a tremendous mess in your walls, attics and septic systems and if they die inside your home, it’s worse than you can imagine! Because of these things, doing the job yourself to rid of mice can be a terrible decision, leading to destruction and ultimately a much larger problem then you ever had to begin with.

Do it yourself

Largely, people who attempt to rid their home of mice do not simply just find and remove the mice. Let’s face it, they’re kind of gross, and not many of us want to deal with them. It seems easiest just to bait them by setting out some poison that will kill off our problem and let life return to normal. The real problem with that is that baiting a mouse in your home can be the worst possible way to “take care” of the issue. When a mouse ingests poison, it gets sick, and omits a distress signal, letting other mice know not to eat the poison. This is completely counter-productive to what you are attempting to do. Essentially, you are pre-warning whatever mice are in your home not to fall for your tricks. The poisoned mouse will then find a water source in your home and die near it. When a mouse dies inside of your home, it causes a smell that is unbearable. Even worse than just one mouse dying is when a mother mouse brings poison back to her babies to feed them all. Multiple dead mice can cause a smell that will make you want to just leave your house behind all together.   Baiting mice is not only a poor choice in how to rid your home of these rodents, but can cause issues you never even expected, making everything worse then when you began. When you need to rid of mice that have entered your home, hiring a professional that can easily find and remove them is your best and most safe option.

There however are some tips you can utilize to help prevent the entrance of mice into your home for those of you who really want to get a job done yourself, before it becomes detrimental to your investment. Blocking holes or entrances to your home with caulking or pest block is a great way to exercise preventative maintenance. (Pest block is an excellent solution for mice, but will not work on squirrels and chipmunks, which are more aggressive and will find their way through that.)  Some common places to look for available entranceways for mice into your home are around your entrance and garage doors. Old weather stripping that is dry or cracking is easily penetrable by mice. Replacing weather stripping and ensuring there are no openings around it is a great way to prevent the issue. Look for any holes around your home that are the width of a pinky finger. That is the only space a mouse needs to crawl into your home. These holes should be sufficiently sealed. Another point of entry for mice is where any power or water comes out of your home. Spigots, air conditioning units, and furnace/dryer vents can be an access way into your home. Sump pump hoses are another way that mice will try to enter your home, often causing them to drown inside, and causing an awful smell and a massive expense when you need to have sump pump work done. Making sure all of these entryways are closed off and sealed is an important way to prevent having to deal with mice in your home.   While doing projects yourself is often a way to save on expense and get the job done right, when it comes to pest control, it’s best to protect your major investments and to call for professional help. Erdye’s has extensive experience to get the job done, and to get it done right the first time, without damage being done to your home and your health.

To contact us, simply click here: Contact Erdye’s.