- Out with the old, in with the new- Are there broken or old and warped attic, dryer or gable vents on the exterior of your home? Now is the time to replace them. Rodents and squirrels have no trouble tearing through vents to enter your attic or home.
- Don’t hang bird feeders- Bird feeders are prone to both squirrel and mouse feeding. Squirrels are exceptionally good climbers, so breaking into bird feeders is a treat for squirrels. Even if squirrels don’t touch your bird feeders, birds will. Birds fling seeds around, leaving piles on the ground while they feed. Mice and rats flock to this easy food source, attracting them to your property. Next stop? Inside your house.
- Seal it up- Take a walk around the exterior of your home. Look for cracks and crevices that can be sealed with foam or stuffed with steel wool. Mice are not able to chew through steel wool, so getting it right the first time is important. Mice have collapsible bodies and can fit through tiny holes and gaps as small as ¼ inch. Once they enter your home, mice nest in wall voids, insulation, attics, under refrigerators, under stoves, and under dishwashers. It’s better to take a proactive approach as soon as you find these vulnerabilities.
- Stop using essential oils- They do not work for pest control. If it was this easy, pest control companies would be out of business. If mice or squirrels are getting into your home, the entry point needs to be sealed. Think about it this way. If a bird keeps flying through a broken window in your house, would you spray essential oils onto the broken opening or would you fix the window?
- Keep it clean- Sweep up crumbs inside your home on a regular basis. Make sure that you pay close attention to the hard to reach spaces that are easily ignored such as under stoves and under dishwashers. In garages, move bird seed and grass seeds into heavily secured Tupperware or containers.
- Lift pet food- Dog and cat food are easily accessible to mice that have entered your home. Be sure to toss away pet food at the end of the day instead of leaving it out overnight.
- Don’t ignore your garage- Garages offer easy access points into your home. Gaps under garage doors and small cracks around your foundation can lead directly into your garage. It’s not uncommon that mice can easily squeeze through a garage and into the basement. Seeing droppings in your basement? Your attached garage can be to blame.
- Have a Professional cover your gutters- By covering your gutters and repairing or replacing broken gutters, you are eliminating exposed gaps that mice can squeeze through and squirrels can chew through to gain access to your attic. Clogged or neglected gutters pose problems for even more pests that tend to breed in standing water such as mosquitoes.
- Don’t trap and release – Although this may sound like an appealing humane option to get rid of squirrels, it actually causes more harm than good. When you relocate a squirrel, it will most likely result in death. Placing the squirrel in an unknown environment will put them at a severe disadvantage with no way to find water, food, or shelter. Squirrels are very territorial, so they could be pushed out of the area, exposed to predators and without immediate shelter. You may also be unknowingly taking adults away from their babies, leaving them vulnerable without any protection.
- Inspect on a regular basis- Take a walk around the exterior of your home. Look for gaps around utility pipes that run into your basement that may have been overlooked. If you find cracks in the foundation in your home, follow the line to find possible holes. Do you have fruit bearing trees on your property? Toss fallen fruit into the trash and seal the trashcans securely to avoid squirrels. Go into your basement with a flashlight. Inspect any cracks you find and check for a sight line outdoors. If you can see outside, it’s probably big enough for a mouse to squeeze through. Seal all of these areas up to avoid possible infestations.
Are you unsure if the pests in your home are mice or squirrels? Read our blog post for further identification.
How can Cooper Pest Solutions help?
Our One-Time Mouse Service is a service that targets homes with current mouse activity. Our skilled service technicians will analyze the sources of your mouse activity and will place tamper- resistant bait stations to eliminate the current mouse activity in your home. Our One-Time Mouse Service is 100% guaranteed. You will have coverage for 90 days with unlimited, free service calls within this time.
Rodent and Wildlife Exclusion Service
If you experience recurring problems with mice, squirrels, flying squirrels, or other rodents getting into your house, a permanent (and highly recommended) solution is available. When our Exclusion Experts visit your home, they will perform a thorough inspection to identify the rodent and squirrel issues at your home and then create a customized plan to remove them and keep them out.
We will exclude these pests from entering your home in the future. Our dedicated Exclusion Experts will conduct trapping and wire mesh installation for low-lying areas. They will also perform sealing, capping, and metal flashing installations on the roof and in the crawlspace. Additional programs such as GutterLock are available for even more protection.
Home Services
The Intensive Service Plan is designed to provide preventive pest and rodent control for your home, year round. This is our most popular service for homeowners. The service plan includes four preventive services per year. Each service is unique and will be accompanied by a detailed 30-point inspection report with detailed findings as well as providing you with important recommendations for your home. Each year you will receive three exterior maintenance services (March – November) and one interior service (December – February). The winter service will focus on the interior of the structure and is geared towards rodents and other pests that may live within the structure.
We can also proactively monitor your home for bed bugs. Learn about adding Bed Bug Assurance to your home service.
The Traditional Service Plan is a substantial value for the homeowner that does not want to be bothered by crawling insects, mice, and wasps. The Traditional Service Plan provides preventive pest and rodent control for your home, year round. As part of your plan, you will receive four services per year. Each year you will receive three exterior maintenance services (March – November) and one interior service (December – February). There are some exclusions in the Traditional Service Plan when compared to the Intensive Service Plan.
