Rodents are unwelcome guests in your home just as much as they are in your yard, but as summer warms up and they get more active and more curious, rodents may try to infiltrate the tranquillity of your yard. Maybe it’s because you have such a great space for family BBQs, a gorgeous garden or a flower bed and perhaps you have a wood pile stacked against the house for bonfire nights with friends. Keep having bonfire nights, but we’ve got a few tips for you on how to keep rodents from causing damage to your yard!
Know What to Look For
Perhaps over your spring cleaning or the last time you were mowing the lawn you thought you might have found a few indications of a rodent problem. The most obvious sign is spotting the rodent itself and the best time to catch any of their movements would be during the dawn or dusk hours, paying particular attention to tree or fence lines, along the walls and foundation of your home, garage, shed or greenhouse. But if you’re seeing droppings that look like little black grains of rice, evidence of gnawing on a large variety of materials including wood, wiring, rubber, tarps, cardboard, plastic packaging and in some cases even concrete, because rodents will chew on darn near anything, you might have a rodent issue on your hands. Plants will go missing, particularly sprouts and seedlings, and mice will often eat the plant from below. You may find indications of tunnels through the grass from voles, or numerous soft hills that make a mess of your yard from moles, tunnel entrances and digging from gophers and mice and you’ll likely find tracks and runs. Mice will travel the same route against walls and create little tracks. If you actually see a live rodent, you might have a bigger problem than you think.
What To Do
You want to make your yard very unfriendly for a rodent and a big part of doing that is removing debris and possible shelter for the critters. That wood pile might be convenient by the house, but that’s a prime hiding spot for rodents to hang out and potentially follow you inside, bringing that infestation indoors instead of just in your yard. Instead, elevate the wood pile off the ground a bit with a palette or a homemade wood stand lined with a tarp, put it as far from the house as you can, and cover it with another tarp secured around it to keep it dry. Remove leaf piles, stacks of things like newspapers, crates or boxes and make sure to clean around your stoop, back deck, around the walls and any other nooks and crannies debris might collect. Try not to leave much standing water in your yard as well as you want to eliminate as many things that rodents need from the scenario and what they need is shelter, food and water. Because you’re growing food in your garden, keep it tidy to impede rodents from moving in because they don’t like open, clean spaces.
Call the Experts
If you’re experiencing a bigger issue with mice or other rodents, don’t be afraid to ask for help from the experts. If you’re seeing the critters during the day, you definitely have more of an issue than you can see. Chewed utility wires can quickly become expensive to replace and the damage a rodent hoard can do to property, including buildings and gardens, becomes a costly problem faster than you can say “cheese.” Give us a call at 403.262.1666 and we’ll get started on a plan to eliminate any rodent trouble as soon as possible!
