|
It’s fall and cooler termperatures are settling
in. That means mice and rats are
heading indoors. As rodents look for winter
harborage, human dwellings and buildings
start to feel the pressure of encroaching
rodents.
Agile and adaptable, rodents enter buildings
any way that they can. They squeeze
through spaces as big as their heads: mice
need only 1/4'', young rats, 1/2''. Anywhere a
pencil fits through, a mouse can too.
RODENT ENTRANCEWAYS
Rodents can enter dwellings in multiple
ways. They arrive via ventilation grills, sidewalk
gratings and large sidewalk cracks.
They gnaw through wooden doors and crawl
into spaces where pipes meet wood siding.
They scale vertical wires, pipes and tree
limbs. Rats burrow under foundations of
building lacking basements. Rodents also get
into hollow walls between floors and floor
sills. They can also hide in pallets and rush in
through open doors. They easily come inside
through defective drain pipes, travelling inside
the pipe or burrowing alongside it.
EXCLUSION MATERIALS
A series of material will help you keep
rodents out of buildings:
1) Galvanized, stainless
or other non-rusting metals: a) sheet
metal, 24 gauge or higher; b) expanded metal,
28 gauge or higher; c) perforated metal, 24
gauge or higher; and d) hardware cloth, 19
gauge or higher with 1/4'' or less mesh.
2)
Cement mortar: 1 part cement, 3 parts sand
mix or richer.
3) Concrete: 1 part cement, 2
parts gravel, 4 parts sand mix or richer.
Adding broken glass to mortar or cement will
deter rodents from burrowing through it as it dries.
EXAMPLES OF RODENT PROOFING
Creative use of materials combined with
knowledge of rodent behavior will help you
exclude rodents from buildings. Here are a
few ways to use the materials for rodent
proofing. Patch holes around plumbing with
concrete or mortar. Cover a drain, vent or
chimney with 1/4'' hardware cloth. Along the
bottom of a door, use sheet metal flashing.
Place a metal, circular rat guard on a drain to
prevent rats from wedging themselves
between the building and the pipe to crawl
upwards.
RODENT RE-ENTRANCE
Keep an eye out for new holes and tunnels
into buildings a week or two after the
building has been sealed up. Efforts by rats
and mice to return to old feeding grounds
will be strongest then.
--From University of Florida Institute
of Food and Agricultural Science
and ''Rats and Mice,'' Bobby Corrigan,
Handbook of Pest Control
|
Norcross, GA 30093
